kill Cruz Vega, who was suspected of murdering Reverend F.J. Tolby, a Methodist circuit-rider. The mob hanged the man from a telegraph pole near Cimarron. On November 1, Vega's family members, led by his uncle Francisco Griego, began making threats of revenge. They went to the Lambert Inn (now the St. James Hotel), where they confronted Allison and accused him of taking part in the lynching. Griego reached for his revolver but Allison was faster and shot Griego twice, killing him. On November 10, Allison was charged with the murder of Griego, but after an inquiry, the charge was dropped and the shooting was ruled self-defense. In December 1876, Allison and his brother, John, rode into Las Animas, Colorado, where they stopped at a local saloon. Constable Charles Faber of Bent County told the Allisons they needed to surrender their pistols, as an ordinance made it illegal to carry weapons inside the town limits. When the Allisons refused, Constable Faber left. He deputized two men and returned with them to the saloon. When the posse stepped inside, someone yelled, "Look out!" The constable and his men promptly opened fire. John Allison was hit three times (in the chest, arm, and leg). Clay Allison fired four shots, one of which killed Faber. The two deputized men fled. Both Allison brothers were arrested and charged with manslaughter, but the charges were dismissed as the constable had initiated the gunfight. Alleged confrontation with Wyatt Earp In March 1877, Clay Allison sold his ranch to his brother, John. He relocated to Sedalia, Missouri and eventually moved to Hays City, Kansas, where he established himself as a cattle broker. When he first arrived in Dodge City, Kansas on business, his reputation had preceded him. Dodge City was a cattle town, and Wyatt Earp was the deputy marshal at the time. One time, several cowboys working for Allison were purportedly mistreated by the local marshal's office. Earp and his biographer both claimed Earp and friend Bat Masterson confronted Allison and his men in a saloon, and that Allison backed down before them. However, Masterson was not in town at the time and there is no evidence the encounter ever took place. Earp did not make his claim until after Allison's death. According to contemporaneous accounts, a cattleman named Dick McNulty and Chalk Beeson (owner of the Long Branch Saloon), convinced Allison and his cowboys to surrender