Last call at Hargrove’s
by J.Young

On a cold night on January 10, 1880, Jim Chisum, brother of Cattle King John Chisum, and several ranch workers had recovered some of Chisum’s missing cattle, on which Chisum’s jinglebob brand had been terribly altered. While driving the cattle back to the ranch, the group decided to stop and camp near Fort Sumner. Suddenly, out of the darkness, Billy the Kid and his gang rode into their camp. The Kid asked to inspect the brands on the cattle, which likely had been stolen – possibly by Billy and crew just recently. After examining the brands, Billy decided to invite Jim and his workers to Fort Sumner for a drink, either to end any conflict or perhaps to plot a ruse to steal the cattle back. The men went over to Bob Johnson’s Cantina, also known as Bob Hargrove’s Saloon, in the northeast corner of the old quartermaster’s building on the parade grounds. 

When they walked into the saloon, a man named Joe Grant, also known as Texas Red, was belligerently drunk. He invited Billy up to the bar to have a drink. Grant ordered two drinks, one for the Kid and one for himself. Bob Johnson put two glasses on the bar in front of them. He also placed a bottle on the other end of the bar for a group of New Mexicans: Saval Gutierrez, Antonio Saavedra, Dolores Gutierrez, and Lorenzo Jaramillo. As Grant leaned back and took his drink, he looked at Billy and told him,
“I bet I kill a man before you do.”

The Kid replied,
“What do you want to kill a man for?”

 Joe Grant became silent.  Some accounts suggest that Grant had also told Billy this earlier in the day – either way, it had been said, and the potential threat was in Billy’s head. 

Billy called to his pals at the other end of the bar:
“Come on up, boys, let’s have a drink!”
The men slid closer down the bar and continued drinking from the bottle they already had. 

Grant moved over next to Chisum’s helper, Jack Finan, and swiftly lifted Finan’s ivory-handled pistol out of its holster without being noticed, replacing it with his own revolver. Having seen what Grant was doing, the Kid went over and told Joe that the gun he had was a beauty and asked to take a look. Billy took the pistol from Grant and spun the cylinder so that the next shot would fall on one of its three empty chambers; he then  returned it to Grant and casually strolled back to his pals.
Suddenly, from across the room, Joe Grant blurted out,
“I want to kill John Chisum!” 

Billy looked over, saw that Grant was giving Jim Chisum the “Death Stare,” and quickly spoke up:
“You’ve got the wrong pig by the ear, Joe, that’s his brother!”

 
“That’s a lie!” 
  barked Grant as he began smashing bottles behind the bar. 

While Joe was wreaking havoc, Francisco “Frank” Tafolla entered the saloon. Frank was a member of a local tribe, possibly Navajo. Billy recognized his friend and invited him up to the bar.
“Line up, Frank!” 

As the Kid and Frank were chatting, Grant crept up behind them and interrupted:
“I don’t mind that you line up with Mexicans, but I can’t line up with someone who lines up with Indians!”

 When Frank heard this, he left the bar angrily, and it was suspected that he was going to get his own gun. Billy took a few steps to follow Frank to the door. At that moment, Grant pulled up the “borrowed” ivory-handled pistol, with his arm extended, and yelled out,
“Billy!”

Billy turned… click… The gun did not fire. Before Joe could pull down on the hammer for another try, Billy reeled up his pistol and fired three rounds into Grant’s head, killing him instantly.

The other occupants of the saloon immediately rose up and tried to get out the door, but Billy pleaded with them:
“Don’t leave, boys! I want you all as my witnesses to prove that I killed Joe Grant in self-defense!”
The small crowd gathered around the corpse and took note in amazement that the bullet wound pattern on Grant’s chin was so tight that a 50-cent piece could cover it completely. The results of a deadly accurate pistoleer! 

Billy walked over and said,
“I’ve been there way too often for you, Joe.”

Everyone in the saloon next proceeded to the home of Don Alejandro Segura, the justice of the peace. Although there was no official court at Fort Sumner, the justice did order Don Antonio Saavedra, Saval Gutierrez, and two others to take Grant’s body, put it in a coffin, and bury it. 

After Billy had been cleared of any charges resulting from the shooting, Frank Tofalla reappeared. He had his gun out and was ready for business. He asked,
“Where is that son of a bitch?”
The crowd knew he had come back for Joe Grant. When informed that Billy had just killed Grant, Frank replied that if Billy hadn’t done it, he would have.

A few days later, at the Sunnyside Springs post office just outside of Fort Summer, Postmaster Milner Rudolph asked Billy about the recently deceased. Billy replied, “It was nothing but a game of two, and I got there first!”

Some sources have reported that Grant was actually at Fort Sumner that night to kill Billy to earn a bounty offered by John Chisum. A witness who was at Hargrove’s Saloon during the killing said that less than two weeks earlier, Billy and his pals – Charlie Bowdre, Tom O’Folliard, Tom Pickett, Billy Wilson, and Dave Rudabaugh – were at the saloon, loafing around and playing cards, when unexpectedly John Chisum came wandering in out of the cold. John walked up to the bar and invited all the boys inside to have a drink, and that’s when he noticed Billy’s presence.

Chisum said,
“Oh, hello, Billy, I didn’t see you!” 

Billy replied,
“I don’t think you want to see me.” 

Chisum continued to coax Billy to have a drink. When John put his hand into his coat, maybe to get his money out, the Kid quickly pulled his pistol up and put it into John’s mouth, saying,
“Don’t move your hands, son of a bitch! Now bite this pistol and follow me, son of a bitch!”

 

As they moved around the room in a circle, the sound from John’s teeth scraping on the gun barrel could be heard in the silence of the room. Billy led John onto a pile of wood near the stove, took the gun out of Chisum’s mouth, and put it into his belly, ordering him to get on top of the woodpile. The Kid then instructed him to flap his arms like wings and cluck like a chicken. Billy turned to his compadres.
“Have you ever seen how owls fall out of the cottonwoods when you shoot them?” 

Billy terrifyingly moved the trigger of his double-action pistol back and forth so that the hammer would rise and look like it was about to fall, before slowly going back down. The Kid yelled,
“Write me a check right now, or I’ll blow your head off!”

 John replied,
“Billy, I swear I don’t have my checkbook, but I promise as soon as I get home, I’ll send you a check!”

Billy exploded,
“You are lying, you son of a bitch! How many times have you
told us lies? Because of you and your lies, we are here, exposed to the danger of being sent to the penitentiary for doing your bidding! You old son of a bitch! You are the cause of the death of many men who were much better than you! Many of us stood up on the front lines for you and McSween! You made promises to pay us…and what have you paid us?” 

After a couple of minutes, Billy let up and then warned Chisum. “Get down. As soon as you get home, send me that money you always said you’d pay. I’ll give you ten days. If at that time you have not done it, I’ll go to your house and kill you!”

Shortly after that incident, the widow Luz Maxwell, queen of Fort Sumner, ordered Bob Johnson to close the cantina. Bob then sold the saloon to Justice of the Peace Don Alejandro Segura, who later moved the business.
            Story based off of accounts given by Paco Anaya.