No. 2. Quit-Claim Deed. From Patrick Breen. To P[at] Garrett and L.W. LLewellyn.

Las Cruces, New Mexico: Republican Office, 6 April 1900. Partially printed document, 348 x 211 mm, printed on both sides, folding into four panels. CONDITION: Slightly worn, some black ink stains on one blank panel, several chips and 15 mm losses to the text.

A New Mexico Territorial mining document involving Pat Garrett and his mining partner and colorful friend W. H. H. Llewellyn.

This quit-claim deed was submitted by mining prospector Patrick Breen of the Organ Mining District in New Mexico to certify his sale for the amount of one dollar of the Black Prince mining claim to mining partners Pat Garrett and W. H. H. Llewellyn of Las Cruces, New Mexico. The verso gives an account of the monetary, property, and contractual exchange between the parties and specifies that the Black Prince claim is located in the Organ Mining District. The precise whereabouts of the claim is recorded and it is noted that this is the “same claim conveyed by Theodore Roosevelt on April the 5th 1900 to grantor herein.” The document is signed by Llewellyn, Breen, and notary public Louis Horteller of Las Cruces. Curiously, Llewellyn’s name as specified in the body of the document is “L. W. Llewellyn,” but he has signed as “William H. H. Llewellyn.”

Pat Garrett—who is most famous for killing Billy the Kid—moved to Las Cruces in 1885. When this document was issued, Garrett was between jobs, having recently left his position as Dona Ana County Sheriff in 1897. Around this time Garrett befriended Theodore Roosevelt, who later nominated Garrett to the post of collector of customs in El Paso in 1901. Major William H. H. Llewellyn (b. 1851),originally from Wisconsin, was a Rough Rider, lawman, Indian agent, and a friend of Teddy Roosevelt. In 1905, Roosevelt would appoint Llewellyn as U.S. Attorney for New Mexico Territory. Llewellyn is known to have worked with Garrett when the latter served as Doña Ana County Sheriff, and was also apparently involved in various mining ventures, as this document attests.

In 1883, Patrick Breen discovered the Mountain Chief Mine, one of the most productive mines in the Black Mountain Mining District of Nevada.

REFERENCES: Dearment, R.K. “Major Llewellyn: In Good Company.” Wild West Magazine at History Net online