The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1891-07-17
The Sport Furnished q Rough Western
Crowd by q Hoosisr Schoolmaster
and = Young Englishman.

NSAoAasSo 80 oNSAy LUCIA Va PiOA4lluGllCO,
reputable and disreputable, in that region.
There were a good many of the latter.
The follow who used to deal in star routes,
would come across some pretty tough speci-
mems of hu~manity-tough even for that
section. I presume / was intimately known
by all of tho lufians and outlaws out
there. At least, it so appeared to me be-
fore I got away.
"Along in ~, down in Cimmarron, the
county seat of Colfax, New Mexico, we used
to have pretty lively times. The place is
one of the most important and one of the
Oldest settlements in Northern Mexico, and
the headquarters of the Maxwell land grant
people. All of the cattle men and outlaws
rendevoused here. 1t had from 600 to 700
inhabitants. Most of them had been driven
out of Texas, or had fed from other states
for various crimes. One of the ruling spirits
there was the notorious Clay Allison, who
was one of the wealthiest cattle men in
New Mexico. His sudden departure from
Texas, several years before, had been at
tributcd to various reasons, not unconnected
with the vigilance committee. He owned a
big ranch twenty miles from Cimmeron and
was frequently seen in town. Whenever
no came into town he practically "owned
it," The sheriff of the county was a rene
gade from Texas, and, therefore, a friend
of Allison's by birth and inclination. Alli-
son had made himself additionally solid by
having killed a negro soldier, a member of
the Ninth cavaly, who so far forgot south
western etiquette as to call for a drink owe r
the same bar. These negroes had just come
in from Chicago and st. Louis. and didn't
understand the local rules of Cimmeron.
Allison actually stood of a whole company
with a brace of six-shooters. He had a
record of twenty-five dead men. His
brother was killed by q constable up in
Colorado. As soon as Clay heard Of it he
rode night and day till he reached Los Ami
mas, and killed. that constable as soon as
he got into town. He was arrested and &C
tons.
"Allison and a couple of other despera-
does and myself were playing poker in n
little hotel kept by a Frenchman-one of
the early residents of New Mexican land
grants, In the midst OF the game tho land
lord came rushing in and said excitelly
that there was a fight goingon in the street
just outside. A fight out there meant
blood. So we jumped ny, hastily put our
chips in our pockets and ran out to learn
the difficulty. Much to our surprise we
found the fellows pummeling each other all
over the sidewalk. One of the combatsnts
was n Hoosier, who had come out there sew
eral years before and had made a failure as
a cowboy, and had finally taken up school
teaching. The other was a young English
man, a number of whom owned lands near
by. When we came upon the scene. the
EnGlishman WAS on top and had his oppo-
nent by the throat.
"'Shall I disfieure his face?' he shouted.
I'VE all cried no. then jumped in INC
separated them.
1T appeared that they'd both been in
love with the same girl-a yonng and good
looking native. She had kept them both on
the string, playing them alternately in true
woman fashion.
"Allison regarded them with great con-
tempt. He told them that this was no way
to fight in this part of the country. He
would furnish them either pistols or knives
and then they could fight it out like men.
instead OF scratching each others faces
like a couple of OLD women. The men were
pretty full and pretty angry. and were
ready to agree to anything that promised
revenge. Allison said that's right.
There hasn't been anybody killed
here for nearly q week and we can't
stand no such foolishness as scratching
He agreed to act AS second for
the school teacher. and l told him I'd SEQ
fair play for the Englishman. We ill went
in and had a drink topether. for which the
Enalishnan settled. My principal told me
to arrange for any kind of a meeting | saw
fit, incidentally remarklng that he was a
dead shot with a pistol and had been cut a
dozen times before; had fought that many
duels and had acted as second in twenty
one others. he also declared that in several
instances his opponents had been English
noblemen of high rank.
II sized him up at once as a man only
vain and gloriously drunk, in all probability
u blowhard and Il coward. Brave men don't
talk that way. Allison and l debated some
time whether it was best to let them kill
each other or not. We finally arranged to
bnve the duel como off at six o'clock next
morning, with Colts revolvers at ten PAGES,
three shots each.
Daring the evening the school teacher,
by the advice of Allison, drew up his will.
All the property the poor fellow possessed
was an old pony and a saddle and a bride
snd n Winchester in the last stage of disso-
lSslon. My principal also made his will.
He claimed he had $1,10O 0 deposit with
his brother. Twenty of this he willed to
the Mexican girl over whom they were fight
ing and the remainder he wanted spent on
his funeral.
The prospective duel was noised about all
over town and by daylight half of the resi-
dents of the place We're in front
of the little frame hotel. The landlord took
in much hard cash for early business. He
was quite self important, having been select
cd az referee. the probability is that he
sent Information everywhere so as to draw
Il crowd to the bar. At any rate, there was
the crowd somewhat to our dismay. That
crowd would never be satisfied with any
thing but human gore, and any attempt to
cheat il of its expectations would be likely
to result in the rough handling Of the &C
cessories. The fight WIS announced to take
place directly in front of the hotel. and the
landlord wanted to postpone it as long as
possible, as the crowd grew more and more
thirsty rs the hour approached. In the
meantime Allison and l entered into n
secret agreement to load the revolvers with
blank cartridges, extracting the balls and
Btutiing their places with wndding. The
humor of the thing seemed to strike AL
lison just about right. and no gave up his
idea of bloodshed after a little talk and a
couple of drinks.
"Well, the time arrived whom the fight
could no longer be put off without risking
the hotel itself. Orr men had been steadily
fortiiying their nerves with sundry drinks
OF whisky and they came up nobly. We
had expected quite differently, but the pres
ence of an excited and cheering crowd en-
couraged them and put each man on his
mettle. At tho signnl. to fire, the English
man rapidly delivered his three shots while
tho school teacher WA firing one. My
principal, with smoking pistol in hand
walked over to receive the congratulations
of hia friends. The crowd rushed In with II
shout and filled up tho street. A good
many, when they saw nobody was hurt,