Hysterical Journey To Historic Places

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GOOD FELLOWSHIP GONE AWRY



Clay Allison was a fine stockman and successfully operated a ranch near Cimarron in partnership with his brother, John. Clay was respected in the community, but he was awfully fond of the bottle. No matter how drunk things got he was never afraid to stand behind principles of good citizenship where needed; with a blazing six-gun if necessary. In the fall of 1870 a man named Charles Kennedy stood accused in Elizabethtown on several counts of murder and robbery. When it looked as if Kennedy might go free Clay was among a merry band of citizens who stormed the jail, lynched Kennedy, and allegedly chopped off his head and mounted it on a pole outside of Lambert’s Saloon. Clay enjoyed merriment as much as he enjoyed hooch, but too much hooch was liable to lead him into doing things he normally would not do. Making people dance by firing at their feet seems to have been one of his fondest misdeeds. It is how he shot himself in the foot in 1872. The injury left him club-footed until the end of his days. He married Dora McCollough in 1874 and was a devoted husband and father to the two daughters they had together. In other acts of merriment he killed a man named Chunk Colbert after a horse race at the Cliff House, and helped another merry band of citizens in the lynching of Cruz Vega. It was supposed that Vega had information on the identity of the man responsible for murdering the good Reverend Tolby, but was reluctant to share the information with those interested in justice. In addition to the hanging Vega was also shot in the back and set on fire, but at least nobody chopped his head off. The man that Vega implicated was brought to trial in Elizabethtown but was assassinated by the real killers before he could rat them out. Pancho Griego held Clay Allison responsible in the death of Cruz Vega. Pancho and Cruz were cousins. With his usual aplomb in such matters, when Pancho confronted Clay drinks were shared and then Clay calmly dispatched him. Pancho was a bad man of some repute so charges against Clay were not filed. The photo shows the bluff upon which the Cliff House once stood. In all perhaps half a dozen men died where Clay Alison was implicated, but he was not a vicious killer. It was good fellowship gone awry.

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Photos

GOOD FELLOWSHIP GONE AWRY
Take I-25 south of Raton about 4.5 miles to the Hwy 64 exit. Cross over the freeway and proceed southward along the east side of the freeway. It is a good gravel road that breaks away to the southeast from the freeway. The bluff where the Cliff House once stood overlooks the Canadian River about 2 miles from the freeway offramp.

NEVER KILLED A MAN THAT DID NOT NEED KILLING
Everyone should hope to be remembered for their acts of kindness.

A GENTLEMAN GUNFIGHTER
Clay was dug up and reburied outside of the Museum of West Pecos, The new grave is near yet another rebuilt Jersey Lillie Saloon. The museum claims that Judge Roy Bean sometimes heard cases in Pecos.