James Allen Working as a waiter, he shot to death a customer over an order of breakfast eggs...

James Allen is best known for a March 2, 1880 incident at the St. Nicholas Hotel in Las Vegas, New Mexico.  Working as a waiter, he shot to death a customer over an order of breakfast eggs.

Allen was tried, convicted and sentenced to death.  But he and several other prisoners broke out of the Las Vegas jail in November 1880.  That’s when his luck ran out. He and another escapee were gunned down by a posse as they made their way toward the Mexico border.  James Allen was just 20 years old.