The most interesting story in Allison's life did not involve a gunfight. In about 1876 or 1877, Allison was approached by some Texas cattlemen who hired him to go to Dodge City, Kansas, and settle the hash of one of the local policemen, a fellow named Wyatt Earp. Legend has it that he met Earp on the street and made attempts to instigate a fight. Earp is supposed to have struck Allison in the belly with his Colt Peacemaker and ordered the New Mexico gunman to drop his gun. Allison noted that Bat Masterson was standing nearby with a sawed-off shotgun aimed in his direction. Allison might have indulged in drink a little too aggressively, but he was not a fool. He is said to have made his apologies, mounted his horse, and left Dodge City in his dust.

It must be noted that there are a number of Western historians who doubt this encounter ever occurred. And there is no independent documentation to authenticate it. Like the fabled encounter between "Wild Bill" Hickok and John Wesley Hardin, it may just have been one of those wild stories that the cowboys told to while away the evenings around the campfire.

Allison's final gunfight of record occurred in 1876 at Las Animas, Colorado. Allison and his brother were attending a local dance and probably had taken on too much of a load of Who-Hit-John. In the midst of the merriment, a local deputy sheriff, Charles Faber, came after them with a shotgun. Deputy Faber shot Allison's brother with both barrels of the scattergun before Clay could get his .45 Colt into play. Triggering his sixgun, Clay killed the deputy and then surrendered to the sheriff. Surprisingly, Allison's brother recovered from his wounds, and the charges against Clay were dismissed.

By 1880, Clay Allison had turned over a new leaf. He moved to Hemphill County, Texas, and got married. Perhaps as the result of getting hitched to the right woman, he abandoned the whiskey bottle and laid aside his ivory-handled .45 revolver. The gunfighter had become a family man.

The good life was short. Of all the old gunfighters, Allison died perhaps the most unexpected and peculiar death. In 1886, while on a supply-buying trip to Pecos, Texas, Allison fell off the seat of his wagon, and a wheel rolled over his head. This famous Southwestern gunfighter was dead within the hour.

Northeastern New Mexico is still good ranch country, and the people there still have a strong sense of the old frontier ethic. Many times in the evening, after the first round of drinks are poured, some old-timer will push his hat back and start out by saying, "My grandpappy used to tell about the time that him and Clay Allison... ."

In many ways, the West is still the West. And many of us are thankful for it.