After negotiations that spanned two decades, the famous horse-drawn hearse that carried Sheriff Pat Garrett to his final resting place in 1908 is back in Doña Ana County. The antique hearse, owned by the Woman's Improvement Association until 1912, was recently purchased privately and then donated to the Doña Ana County Sheriff's Department for permanent installation in the Historical Museum of Lawmen, located inside the lobby of the department's main headquarters at 845 N. Motel Boulevard in Las Cruces. Las Cruces resident Cal Traylor, a lifelong New Mexican and history buff with a particular fondness for information related to the murder of Pat Garrett, spearheaded the negotiations for the hearse and subsequently donated it to the museum. Traylor spent the past 20 years working to acquire the hearse, which was traced to an art museum in Pinos Altos, with the intentions of returning it to Doña Ana County.
"It was simply misplaced at its former location in Grant County," said Traylor, whose research concluded the Women's Improvement Association sold the hearse to local farmer Hal Cox, who converted it to a farm trailer until selling it to Grant County resident and antique collector Frank Tatsch in 1935. Tatsch later restored the hearse to its original condition and placed in the Piños Altos museum. After Tatsch's death, the hearse was willed to his son, who sold the hearse to Traylor. "Unfortunately, that museum was hard to find and rarely open," said Traylor. "This is a rare piece of local history, and it was important that it not only be returned to Doña Ana County, but also made accessible to anyone who would like to see it." The popularity of Western history, and Garrett's affiliation with Doña Ana County, was of particular interest to Traylor. He contacted the sheriff's office and was connected with Jim Beasley, a retired deputy of the department and curator of the lawman's museum...
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