Clay Allison, Portrait of a Shootist

Although no television producer has created a series dealing with the life and adventures of Clay Allison, and no movie producer has yet made his name a household word, Allison does stand out among the top dozen or so of the gunfighters of the wild, wild west. One of the most famous of the western lawmen — W. B. ‘Bat’ Masterson — classed him with ‘Wild Bill’ Hickok and Wyatt Earp. By reputation Allison stands as one of the most respected among the Old West's gunfighters — those men who, because of their place in history, the social conditions in which they lived, and their inclination to right their own wrongs — frequently resorted to the gun. With this instrument, and usually it was the famed six-gun revolver, Allison and others like him have earned a high degree of renown which to this day remains a significant aspect of our western heritage. The Handbook of Texas, certainly one of the most prestigious works dealing with Texas history, devoted a 250-word entry to Alli