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 In the meantime, Manuel Cardenas, the man who Vega had implicated prior to his death, was arrested and questioned in Elizabethtown. He claimed that Vega had shot the minister, adding that Santa Fe Ringers Mills and Longwell were also behind the killing. When word of this got out, Mills barely escaped a furious lynch mob in Cimarron as he alighted from a coach Longwell fled in a buggy to Fort Union and safety just ahead of pursuers, Clay and his brother John.
However, during his protracted hearing, Cardenas retracted his earlier accusations against Mills and Longwell, stating that he had been coerced at gunpoint, at which time, Mills and Longwell were cleared. However, the vigilantes obviously didn't believe his testimony and when Cardenas was escorted back to the jail, he was shot to death. Believing that Allison was the head of the vigilantes, this last shooting so enraged the Mexican population of Cimarron that they were determined to have Clay's scalp. Armed Mexican bands roamed the street and the atmosphere was so charged that Sheriff Orson K. Chittenden and Deputy Burleson hid Clay for a time at the Chittenden ranch, 20 miles south of Springer. When Allison again began to go about Cimarron, he was said to be a walking arsenal, accompanied by forty-five
cowboys.
The truth about Tolby's murder later suggested that the parson unfortunately witnessed Griego shooting a man in an argument. When the man later died, Tolby planned to seek an indictment against Greigo, who set up Tolby's murder to silence him. The Santa Fe Ring was dragged into it after Cardenas was "questioned" at gunpoint in Elizabethtown by Joseph Herberger. Evidently Herberger had been promised a political position by Ring men Mills and Longwell, during the earlier elections earlier in 1875. When the two had failed to follow through, Herberger reportedly forced Cardenas to implicate them. Cardenas later retracted his statement about the Ring men. It was never known who killed Cardenas.
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Between the Ring men, the anti-grant vigilantes, and the Mexicans, who had solicited the support of the native Indians, Cimarron was out of control. The Reverend McMains was busy enlisting additional aid from the settlers, telling them that the anger of the Mexicans and Indians was the work of the Grant men, urging them to place themselves at the disposal of Allison. Eventually, guards were posted at all entrances to Cimarron and no one was allowed to leave town without Allison's permission. On November 9, 1875 the Santa Fe New Mexican informed the public that Cimarron was in the hands of a mob. Cimarron was in the midst of the Colfax County War, which took approximately 200 lives.
Heaping more fuel on the fire, Governor Samuel Beech Axtell, a Santa Fe Ring tool, signed a document on January 14, 1876 that attached Colfax to Taos County. He claimed the change would mean improved law and order. The citizens reacted in a fury over the bill, correctly surmising the interference of the Santa Fe Ring
At about 11 p.m. on January 19, 1876 Allison and two other men, reacting to a scathing editorial where the paper had pointed a finger at Clay Allison as a leader catering to mob violence, broke into the News and Press office and set off a charge of black powder. Then they threw the press into the Cimarron River. Later, he returned to the newspaper office and paid $200 for damages.
Governor Axtell, bothered by Allison's antics and spurred on by the attorney Mills, was quoted as saying that he "intended to have Allison indicted and punished, or compelled to leave the county." On February 21, 1876 the governor gave life to a dormant Allison warrant by issuing a $500 reward for Clay, "who is guilty of the crime of murder in killing Charles Cooper", Chunk Colbert's friend who had disappeared back in January 1874.
In May or June 1876, as Governor Axtell passed through Cimarron in a stage coach, Allison climbed aboard and rode with him to Trinidad, Colorado. Clay asked what kind of man it was who had so interfered with his personal freedom. Axtell countered by asking why Allison did not surrender himself on bail and face his judgment like a man.Clay replied that he had no objection if he could get a fair trial, but that he would "never submit to a real trial in Taos County by greasers." The governor responded that he would demand a fair trial for Allison. And later, Allison turned himself in.
Represented by Charles Springer, the trial was held in Taos. Springer's main defense was that a body had never been found and everyone was simply guessing Cooper had been murdered, because he had not been seen. Allison was acquitted and Axtell, true to his promise, declared him a free man. Clay's most loyal companion was his brother John and on December 21 1876, having just come off the trail, the two decided to have some fun in Las Animas, Colorado. Spotting a local social going on, the two drunk
cowboys crashed the party, dancing with very some very unwilling partners.
Charles Faber, the deputy sheriff and town marshal, asked the Allison brothers to remove their weapons but his request went unheard. Faber then left, deputized two local men and with shotgun in hand, led them back into the social. As they came through the door, someone shouted "Look out!" When John reached for his gun, Faber shot him. Standing at the bar, Clay spun around and fired four shots at Faber, one proving to be fatal. John had already been shot in the chest and arm, and was shot yet again in the leg as Faber's shotgun discharged when he fell. The two deputized men ran from the dance hall, Allison behind them in pursuit, but lucky for them, they escaped.
Clay ran back into the dance hall, calling for a doctor, and slid over to his brother, bringing Faber's body with him. To John he said, "Look here! John, this is the s.o.b. that shot you. Everything's going to be all right. You will be well soon!" Both Clay and John were arrested and charged with manslaughter, but the charges were later dismissed on grounds of self-defense. John recovered from his wounds.
Finally, the restless Clay moved on. On March 3, 1877 he sold his ranch, land and stock to his brother John for $700. He spent a brief period of time in Sedalia, Missouri but finally established himself in Hays City, Kansas as a cattle broker.
Continued Next Page
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