Ironically, the death of a man of peace led to violence in Colfax County, New Mexico. Methodist Pastor Franklin J. Tolby had taken sides in the dispute between the Santa Fe Ring and local residents, who the Ring was trying to force off the land. Tolby backed the farmers.
Tolby was found shot to death in a canyon near Cimarron on September 14, 1875. Newspapers said it was an assassination, and it started the Colfax County War. A month later, a mob led by Clay Allison lynched alleged trigge

True West March/April 2025
In This Issue:
Western Books & Movies
More In This Issue
- Truth Be Known
- What Has Taught Me: Deb Goodrich
- Earp, Cowboy Songs & Prairie Hygiene
- Trails of the Old West
- The Frontier Characters of South Dakota
- The Bowie Knife
- The Kindled Flame 1835
- King of the Scatterguns
- Selling the Mythic West and the Real West
- A Gut Punch Turns into a Miracle Reprieve
- The Beginnings of the Bird Cage
- Frontier Colossus