Daily inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1881-1901, 1899-03-15

son had been at the polls all lay. AFTER
the polls We're closed Allison stood drink
ing among a group of men lined up at the
counter in Lambert's barroom. Next to
him a mar named Cation stood waiting to
be served. Happening to turn his head
and see him, Allison, without a word,
pulled his heavy revolver and knocked
Cation down with a savage blow on the
head. 1t was supposed that he mistook
Cation for another man whom he disliked,
but no explanations We're asked or Of
fered; the man was taken away, half
stunned and bleeding, and the drinking
went on with no break in the previous
conversation.
"In 1878 1 saw in a corner of the same
barrOom two splashes of red against the
wall which marked the place where
Pancho, a Mexican desperate, fell by AL
lison's pistol. The two men were hunt
ing each other and came together there.
Pancho stood in the corner, and as he
talked with Allison held his sombrero be-
fore his body as a cover to his right hand.
which he was working down toward his
pistol, when Allison fired twice. The
light went out in the shooting. and Lam
bert closed the barroom without relight-
ing them. Allison had gone out and rid
den away, but Pancho could not be
found. The next morning when Lambert
opened his bar he saw Pancho, asleep as
he supposed, in a chair in the corner OF
the room and tried to wake him. The
Mexican was dead, shot through the head
and heart.
IN the period when Las Animas, Colo,
was a terminus Of the Kansas Pacific
railroad branch from Kit Carson, and the
New Mexico beef herds were driven up
there to be shipped east, Allison made
things lively at that town every season.
One night when he and his friends had
started in to run the town the city mar
shall, by way of remonstrance, came to
the door Of a dance hall where they were
and fired in on hem with a shotgun,
dropping Allison's brother to the floor
badly wounded. Allison at the time was
dancing, but before the marshal could
dodge back he had drawn his pistol and
shot him dead. Running to the door, he
| caught the dead man by the collar and
pulled him in to where his brother lay
bleeding on the floor.
Here's the fellow tina shot YOU he
said.
During the year that Allison was on
| the warpath in New Mexico his doings
occupied a good deal of public attention.
Eut while his name was one to conJure
by, ard his courage was never ques-
! toned, there were men in New Mexico
but little heard Of who We're as brave
and as quick on the trigger as he, and
who would go no great lengths to avoid
trouble with him. Pete Burleson, the
sheriff of Colfax county, was one of these.
Mace Bowman, who was at one time a
deputy sheriff in ColfaX county, was an
other. Clay Allison had reason to re-
member a call down that he once got
from wma 1t occurred at Las Ami
mas. where Allison had killed the city
marshal. He am into a dance hall one
night Whirling his revolver round his
forefinger, announcing that he was Clay
Allison, and that everybody present must
take off his hat. Bowman. who was in
| 4l,n arowul Iun,,lln't have il 81 and said
that all the Allisons that ever came from
Tennessee couldn't make him take his
hat off.
THE men looked at each other and AL
! lison invited him to drink. They drank
together and then Allison said:
"'BoWman, you and I both can't be the
best man. but there's a way we can settle
which is high. Let's lay our guns on the
! bar and take our places across the room.
At the word each man goes for his gun,
and the one that doesn't set there first
is out of luck
two men Laid their revolvers on the coun-
ter, with the muzzles crossed, and stepped
backward across the room. Somebody in
the crowd called Go"
Bowman sprang across the room like
a panther, and Allison was looking into
the muzzlcs of both revolvers Whlcf
Bowman had grabbed.
How do you like the color of it?
, asked Bowman.
Its all right, Mace said Allison
throwing up his hands. Your the bes
man
"And Bowman laid Allison's pistol OF
the
), Gwen call it off this time, Clay h
said. Only, when you're playing chic
again, don't try it on with me-
There We're drinks all round, the or
; chestra struck up a tune, and the dane
, ing and gambling went on, with Clay Al
, lisOn much less in evidence than usual
t He had received one of those jolts tina
| illustrate the frontier saying: There
: no man that's best all the time
/ Il saw Allison last in the train gOin;
t south from Trinidad. He was a tai
< strongly built man, of good appearance
with full Gray-blue eyes that kindlet
with a cold glitter like that of pOlishc'
steel. He limped slightly from the eff
feet, | presume of some early wound o
, other injury. In the first of the %journe.
l his talk and manner We're that Of
suave, genial fellow of the cattlema
: stamp. Put after a few drinks from III
, pocket TASKS that were plentiful on tn
l train, his manner changed and he bccam
i, ugly and bullying in look and speech. Hi
: man-killing career ended with the deaf
/, OF Pancho at Cinlarron. A year or tw
later he went south on the PeCOs, Wher
} he bought or took charge Of the WidoV
t McSwayne's cattle. Her husband ha
been killed in one Of the cattle wars tina
= were a part of New Mexicois history i
, those days, and it needed a man like Al
| | lison to keep the stock from becomin
; public property. Allison had married
/ and he now settled down to live in peace