Clay Allison

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Robert Clay Allison around 1870

Robert A. Clay Allison (born September 2, 1840 in Waynesboro , Tennessee , † July 3, 1887 in Pecos , Texas ) was a gunslinger of the " Wild West ".

Life

Allison lived and worked on his family farm in Tennessee until he was 21. Despite a clubfoot , he volunteered for the Army of the Confederate States of America when the Civil War broke out and served in various units until the end of the war. A few months after the end of the war, the three Allison brothers (Clay, John and Monroe) moved to Texas with their sister Mary and her husband Lewis Coleman. In Texas, Allison first worked as a cowboy for the ranchers Oliver Loving and Charles Goodnight . He was probably one of the 18 drivers who accompanied a herd of the two ranchers through Texas and New Mexico to Colorado in 1866 . This cattle drive would later become famous as the " Goodnight-Loving Trail ".

In the late 1860s, Allison rode for ML Dalton and worked as a trail boss for his brother-in-law, who now also ran a cattle farm - together with Isaac W. Lacy. In 1870 Coleman and Lacy moved to New Mexico, Colfax County . Allison drove her herd there and received 300 head of cattle as a reward. With this herd he founded his own ranch in Cimarron, New Mexico, which developed into a profitable business.

On October 7, 1870, Allison led a lynch mob that broke into Elizabethtown Jail near Cimarron and hanged a man accused of murder named Charles Kennedy at the local slaughterhouse. Allison beheaded the body and displayed the head in "Henri Lambert's Saloon" in Cimarron. In January 1874, he shot gunslinger Chunk Colbert. During a meal together at "Clifton House" Colbert secretly reached under the table for his revolver, but got stuck on the edge of the table and shot into the table. Allison then drew his gun and hit Colbert just above the right eye. On October 30, 1875, Allison was again involved in a lynching. This time the victim was called Cruz Vega. Despite the name of the real perpetrator, it was hung on a telegraph pole. Allison then dragged the body by the saddle pommel over rocks and through the brush.

On November 1, 1875, Allison shot the gunslinger Pancho Griego, a friend of Cruz Vega, who had been lynched two days earlier. This wanted to avenge his friend. In a corner of the St. James Hotel saloon, Allison fired three shots at Griego, who died shortly thereafter. After a failed attempt to steal a herd of mules from the army, he accidentally shot himself in the right foot while fleeing, making his disability even worse. Since then, Allison has had to walk on a stick. On December 21, 1876 he shot and killed the deputy sheriff and local policeman Charles Faber in Las Animas (Colorado) . Allison and his brother John celebrated a drinking bout in the Olympic Dance Hall. Faber asked both of them to hand over their weapons, which the brothers refused. After the brothers insulted several guests and deliberately stepped on the feet of other couples while dancing, these complaints reached Charles Faber. He then recruited two deputies, got a shotgun and went to the dance hall.

As Faber entered the hall he fired one of the two shotgun barrels, the load of which hit John Allison's chest and shoulder. Clay Allison drew his revolver and shot Faber four times. In the fall, the second run of Faber's shotgun went off and hit John Allison a second time. The two deputies turned to flee, but were followed by Clay Allison. In front of the steps to the "Olympic", he shot his revolver at the deputies without hitting them. After John Allison was carried away, Clay Allison surrendered to the county sheriff. John Allison recovered from his injuries and Clay Allison was released from custody.

In 1878 Clay Allison drove a herd of cattle east and took part in the East St. Louis Scrimmage. A short time later he sold his ranch and settled as a cattle broker in Hays ( Kansas down). In 1880 he moved again; this time on a ranch in Hemphill County (Texas). A year later he married and had two daughters. Patsy was born crippled and Clay was not born until after his death. In 1886 he founded a ranch again in Lincoln County, New Mexico. That same year, he drove a herd to Rock Creek in the Wyoming Territory . On July 1, 1887, Allison was going to Pecos, Texas, to buy supplies. On the way about 40 miles outside of town, he got under his car and suffered a fatal fracture of his skull.

Adaptations

  • An episode of the American western series "" Tales of Wells Fargo from 1959 revolves around Allison.
  • One of the characters in the video game GUN is called Clay Allison

literature

  • Bill O'Neal: Billy the Kid and His Brothers . Oesch Verlag AG. Zurich, 1997. ISBN 3-596-14366-7

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ http://www.rebeltrail.de/wildwest/die_gunfighter/allison_robert_a_clay.htm
  2. ↑ http://www.imdb.de/title/tt0717123/
personal data
SURNAME Allison, Clay
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Allison, Robert A. Clay (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American gunslinger
DATE OF BIRTH September 2, 1840
PLACE OF BIRTH Waynesboro , Tennessee
DATE OF DEATH July 3, 1887
Place of death Pecos , Texas