Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1899-03-16
BAD BAD MAN NAN AND AND HIS HIS iIAsTER 'AAsTE.
Clay Allison. OF New Mexico, Meets a
Quiet Citizen.

Clay Allison. OF Now Mexico, Meets q
Quiet Citizen.
"InJa recent number of tho Sun
read an account Of the killing Of .:he
desperado Chunk by Clay Allison at
Red River Station, in New Mexico
said a man who lived several years in
that Territory. "The story Of the
event, as it was told me on the spot
where the shccting took place, wss
that Chunk had come to New Mexico
from tho Indian Territory to kill Alli-
son, who had shot his uncle. He was
known as bad man with a reputa-
ton for quick shooting to match
Allison's. The two men met at
Red River Station, where the over
land stage had stopped for dinner,
and they sat at the dining table op.
posite each other, each Watching his
chance to get the drop on the. other.
Presently Chunk dropped his knife
on the fl ,r and reached his hand
down below the table as if to pick it
up. Instantly Allison pulled his pis-
tol and shot him between the eyes.
Chunk fell forward, dead, against
the table, and Allison went on with
his dinner as if nothing had hap
pened. The occurrence naturally
disturbed the appetites of the other
guests, but Allison cautioned them
to remain seated until he had finish
ed his dinner, and they all took his
advice. After dinner he mounted
his horse and rode away aud the
affair ended with that.
"Thore was long list of casual
ties to the account of Clay Allison's
pistol, but they all occurred in face
to-facc encounters, with no working
up of the drop or any unfair advant-
age on his part. Ho was in good
repute as a cattlcman, and when free
from liquor his behavior was that of
free-hearted, good fellow. When
drunk the violent, hom:cidal side of
his character asserted itself. | saw
an exhibition of this trait soon after
my coming to New Mexico. 1t was
1T Clmarron, tho county seat of Col.
fax county, on the occasion of an cx-
citing election, and Allison had been
ut the polls all day. After the polls
were closed Allison stood drinking
among group of men lined up at
the counter in Lambert's barroom.
Next to him man named Cation
stood waiting to be served. Hap
pcning to turn his head and see him,
Allison, without n word, pulled his
heavy revolver and knocked Cation
down with a savage blow in the
head. 1t was supposed that he mis-
took Cation for another man whom
he disliked, but NO explanations were
asked or offered; the man was taken
away, half stunned and bleeding,
and the drinking went on with no
break in the previous conyc ycrsation.
ain 1878 | saw in corner of the
same bar-room two splashes of red
against the wall which marked the
place where Pancho, a Mexican des-
perado, fell by Allison's pistol. The
two men were hunting each other
and came together there. Pancho
stood in the corner, and, as he talked
with Allison, held his sombrero be-
fore his body az cover to his right
hand, which he was working down
toward his pistol when Allison fired
twice. The lights went out i'm the
shooting and Lambert closed the
bar-room without rclighting them.
Allison had gone out and ridden
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
the heart.
"ln the period when Las Animas,
CAL, was terminus Of the Kansas
Pacific railroad branch from Kit Car
son, 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 marshal,
by way of rcmonstrance, came to the
door of dance hall, where they
were, and fired in on them with
shotgun, dropping Allison's brother
to the floor, badly wounded. ALI
son, 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 to where his brother
lay bleeding on the floor. Ilero's
the fellow that shot Won bo ao;d