William Davis “Dave” Allison.
William Davis “Dave” Allison was a career lawman who was described as the most efficient lawman in Texas.
Born in Ohio in 1861, he moved to Texas as a child and, at 27, became the youngest sheriff in the Lone Star State. First elected sheriff of Midland, Texas, in 1888, he served six terms.
After many years in Texas, Allison moved to Arizona in 1903 and joined the Arizona Rangers, where he served for two years until the organization was disbanded. During his tenure, he reportedly killed Three-Finger Jack in a chase following a train robbery at Fairbank, Arizona. He was also credited with capturing the outlaw pair of the Owens brothers and Tom “Bravo Juan” Bowes.
At other points in his life, Allison served as a Texas Ranger, the Roswell, New Mexico, chief of police, a bodyguard for former Tombstone boomtowner and mining magnate Bill Green during the vicious 1906 mine strikes at Cananea, Mexico, a West Texas constable, and a stock association detective. He is most noted for leading the posse that caught and killed Mexican revolutionary turned outlaw Pascual Orozco in 1915.
Along the way, he was known to associate with and befriend other Old West characters such as John Hughes, Thomas Rynning, Frank Canton, Frank Hamer, Charles Siringo, and a young George S. Patton, who would say of Allison, “The most noted gunman here in Texas.” Though known for his fearlessness, lack of bravado, and deadly aim with a gun, some also alleged he was not a perfect lawman. Having a serious gambling habit, there were claims made of misappropriation of funds at various times, and Allison sometimes left his positions under a cloud of suspicion.
Cattle Rustlers.
However, he was still working on the side of the law in 1923 when he was shot down and killed by two infamous cattle rustlers, Hill Loftis (aka Tom Ross) and Milton Paul Good.
Working as a detective for the Texas Cattle Raisers Association, he and Horace Roberson, another detective, were in Seminole, Texas, on April 1 to testify against the two cattle rustlers. The night before the trial, Allison and Roberson sat in the Gaines Hotel lobby when the two suspected cattle thieves opened fire with a pistol and a shotgun. Both detectives were killed. Allison’s death was recognized as the end of the Lone Star State’s frontier era. Numerous Texas lawmen and cattle kings heavily attended his funeral. Â
©Kathy Alexander/Legends of America, updated October 2026.
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