The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1894-12-23
Cimarron's historic Bar-Room,

"Cimarron was lively town in tho
sventies," said land surveyor from New
Mexico. II have seen Clay Allison ride
into the place with following Of cow
boys and start in 10 make night OF
II. lie would buy out Lamberts bar
room 10 begin with, turn everybody out
OF the room except his own crowd, and
then their fun would be fast and furious
On such an occasion 1 glanced through
the window and saw u cowboy dancing
naked on the counter TO the accOmpani
ment Of yells and pistol shots from his
comrades.
Through this little adobe town amona
the foothills, three-quarters Mexican IN
its population, came and went the var
iOus bad men of the region. Many of
them went no further, dyins there with
their boots on I'm quarrels over land and
stock transactions. politics. women,
cards. or i'm the ambitious attempt to as
sert their supremacy as desperddoes
When | last visited Cimdrruu, in 1875
the town was quiet, the cowboys being AL
out on the ranges gathering beef cattle
In the fall roundup 1t was the same
old place with it's hat-roOfed adobe build
ings struggling along the banks Of tho
deep rayine through which the Cimlr-
ron river flows, its few pitch-rooted,
WhiteWashed residences Of the Weather
people. and Lamberts At that excel
lent hosiery of sanguinary record / was
welcomed by the host the most genial
and pacific of Frenchmcn. who, as We
chatted together over a glass of native
wine, spoke with evident pride of the
tragic events connected with his historic
bar-roOm
" Twenty-Five men have been killed in
this room he said. seven i'm one year.
Look at this and he led me 10 one cor
per and pointed to two great splashes.
.sulr red i'm color, upon the wall. one
above the other. These are the blood
stains made when Pancho was killed
"Pancho was a Mexican desperate. and
between him and clay Allison enmitv had
long existed Allison rode into town one
day and fell TO drinking, quietly enough,
as he usually did in the beginning. A.
soon as Pancho heard that Allison was
i'm town he likewise began 10 drink. and
then the tOwnspeOple looked for difficult
~ between the two. They did not meet
until late in the evening, when. as Ali
son stood i'm Lamhtrt's bar-rOom, his
elbow resting on the counter. Pancho
came in and walked over to the further
corner Of the room. Two other Mexicans
entered with him, one of whom took a
position a little in the rear Of Allison,
while the other threw himself I'm a
Longing attitude upon a corner of the
billiard table in the centre Of the room,
ana taking a revolver from his pocket
laid it on the cloth.
"TO these manOeuyreS TO distract his
attention Allison gave no apparent heed
but kept his eye on Pancho, who began
to talk 20 him, proposing that they adjust
their difference in a friendly way. As
he talked thus plausbly the Mexican
held his SombrerO before him in his
left hand. cOnceaiing a weapon with his
rilht hand all the time slipping down to-
ward the hat. As Pancho passed ms
hand beneath the brim. AllisOn's pistol
came out like flash, and lis two quick
reports sounded like one. PanChO shot
through the forehead and the heart, stag
gcred against the wall and sank i'm sit
ting posture into chair that stood i'm the
c, rner. The other TWO MeXicans made
themselves scarce at Allison's first mo
ton, and Lambert. running in from the
kitchen, blew out the lights and closed
up the bar-room without percelying the
slain man in the corner
ALLISON at once took horse for his
ranch. saying nothing 10 any one Of the
shooting. and that night the friends of
Pancho hunted far and wide for him.
not knowing where or in what condition
he was. The next morning, when Lam
bert opened up his bar-room he saw
Pancho sitting asleep, as he thought. i'm
the corner. and, going to wake him, dis
covered that the man was dead"