Mannie Clements – Lawman and Cattleman

Emmanuel Clements, Jr.

Emmanuel Clements, Jr.

Emanuel “Mannie” Clements, Jr. was a Texas lawman and cattleman involved in the Frazer-Miller Feud in west Texas.

Clements was born in Gonzales County, Texas.

on January 16, 1868, to Emanual and Mollie Robinson Clements. He was raised in Ballinger, Texas, and called “Little Mannen” or “Mannie” to distinguish him from his cattleman father, Emmanuel “Mannen” Clements, Sr., who was called “Big Mannen.” His sister, Sallie, grew up to marry the notorious “Killer Jim” Miller. In 1891, Miller managed to get himself hired as a deputy in Pecos, Texas. However, just a few months later, his boss, Sheriff Bud Frazer fired him, touching off the Frazer-Miller feud in which Mannie Clements would be involved. Miller then got himself appointed as Pecos City Marshal and hired Mannie to work for him.

Clements later drifted to El Paso in 1894, and for the next 14 years, he wore a badge as a deputy constable, constable, and deputy sheriff. During the 1890s, he was united in El Paso with his cousin John Wesley Hardin, just released from prison, and his murderous brother-in-law “Killer Jim” Miller.

In 1908 Clements was indicted for armed robbery, and even though he was acquitted, his career as a law officer was ruined. He turned increasingly to drinking and was shot and killed in the Coney Island Saloon in El Paso on December 29, 1908. He was said to have been killed by a man named Joe Brown, a former constable of El Paso County. Rumor at the time suggested that Clements had been killed because he attempted to blackmail Albert Fall, threatening to provide proof of Fall’s complicity in a plot to murder Pat Garrett. No one was ever charged in Clements’ Murder.

 

© Kathy Alexander/Legends of America, updated November 2022.

Also See:

Bud Frazer and the Frazer-Miller Feud

Lawmen of the Old West

Lawmen & Gunfighters Photo Gallery

Texas – The Lone Star State