Sheriff Pat Garrett never received the $500 bounty on Billy the Kid because he was never able to prove that he actually killed Billy the Kid.

No picture, no body, no proof.

End of story.

I can't tell you how many times I've heard people say this and it is patently false.

Pat Garrett absolutely did receive the bounty, along with several thousand dollars

in additional money from grateful citizens. And what's more, I can prove it. Now, I don't know where

this rumor first began regarding Garrett not being paid the bounty, but there was a slight delay

in receiving payment. So maybe that's where the confusion stems from. And spoiler alert, the delay

had absolutely nothing to do with him failing to provide adequate proof. Okay, so in December of 1880,

Governor Lou Wallace issued the following notice in the Las Vegas Gazette, I will pay $500 reward

to any person or persons who will capture William Bonney,

alias the kid, and deliver him to any sheriff of New Mexico.

Satisfactory proofs of identity will be required.

And then, of course, later on that July is when Garrett shot and killed Billy the kid over at Fort Sumner.

But he wouldn't receive the bounty until mid-February of 1882.

So why the seven-month delay? Well, believe it or not, it was on account of a technicality,

nor to be precise, two technicalities. The first being that Garrett did not carry out the exact

directions, as outlined on the notice.

Remember, Wallace explicitly stated that the bounty was for anyone who captured Billy the kid.

In other words, this was not a dead or alive offer.

The official notice specifically stipulated that the kid be captured and delivered alive to the authorities.

Not dead.

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