Pat Garrett, the Lone Rider, Approaches Wallace

You can't believe everything you read in the papers.

For instance, take this bit from the El Paso Times of January 25, 1894, out of El Paso, Texas. The writer claims to be directly quoting former New Mexico governor Lew Wallace concerning the killing of Billy the Kid.

This leaves us with two options: either the writer fabricated the story and attributed it to Wallace, or by 1894, Lew Wallace was already greatly embellishing events related to his experiences with William H. Bonney:

"...One day there rode up to my residence a travel-stained six-footer in wide sombrero hat, mounted on a pony worn out with hard work. He got off, let his pony wander loose and came up to the door. I met him on the front steps with my guns ready for instant use and asked him his errand. 'I am Pat Garrett, governor, and have just shot Billy the Kid out here at Fort Sumner.'"

From what I gather, Lew Wallace left New Mexico in May of 1881, two months before Pat Garrett killed Billy the Kid in Fort Sumner.

Contemporary newspapers from those times can be an invaluable resource, but at no point in the history of humankind have people been above complete and fanciful fabrication.