Billy the Kid and Pat Garrett: Their Puerto de Luna Story

Billy the Kid and Pat Garrett were known to have been frequent visitors to Puerto de Luna. However, each of the two had very different reasons for their visits. Billy the Kid had established a reputation as an outlaw and Pat Garrett earned his fame as a lawman. Both have been written about extensively in New Mexico's history about the Old West and the Lincoln County War. The paths of the outlaw and the lawman frequently crossed. And for Billy the Kid, the final meeting between the two on July 14, 1881 at Pete Maxwell's in Fort Sumner would prove fatal. Alexander Grzelachowski had immigrated to the United States as a young man from Poland. In the early 1860's he was a chaplain at Fort Union. By the 1870's he had left his vocation as a Roman Catholic priest and eventually settled in Puerto de Luna as a storekeeper, freighter, rancher, and farmer. He would also rear his eight children (his last daughter was born after his death) in Puerto de Luna. The outlaw and the lawman often visited his store. And on one occasion, December 25, 1880, both visited together and shared Grzelachowski's hospitality.