404: Gunfighter Clay Allison w/ Donna Blake Birchell

Most Notorious! A True Crime History Podcast

Erik Rivenes

True Crime, History, Education

4.7 • 2.8K Ratings

🗓️ 3 September 2025

⏱️ 61 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Clay Allison was both liked and loathed in his lifetime, embodying the contradictions of the American frontier. He could show moments of kindness for the downtrodden, but also carried deep hatred for Northerners and Black people. Dangerously unpredictable, he was capable of generosity one moment and chilling violence the next, a quality that made him as frightening as he was fascinating. His legacy is forever stained by his acts of cold-blooded killing, making him a symbol of admiration, fear and contempt in the West. In today's interview, New Mexico historian and author Donna Blake Birchell discusses her book Tall Tales and Half Truths of Clay Allison and helps shed light on the man behind the myths. The author's books at Arcadia Publishing: https://www.arcadiapublishing.com/collections/vendors?q=Donna%20Blake%20Birchell&contributorID=325 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello, this is Matt from the Explorers podcast.
0:08.0	I want to invite you to join me on the voyages and journeys of the most famous explorers
0:11.9	in the history of the world.
0:13.7	These are the thrilling and captivating stories of Magellan, Shackleton, Lewis, and Clark,
0:18.4	and so many other famous and not so famous adventures from throughout history.
0:22.8	Go to Explorespodcast.com or just look us up on your podcast app. That of the Most Notorious Podcast.
0:58.8	I'm Eric Rivenis.
0:59.9	Great to have you with me, and happy September.
1:02.8	I am very excited to speak to Donna Blake Birchow.
1:07.4	Today, she has written numerous books about New Mexico history, including Hidden History
1:13.5	of Southeast New Mexico, wicked women of New Mexico, New Mexico scoundrels, outlaws,
1:20.9	rogues, and blatantly wicked men, and the focus of our interview today, Tall Tales
1:27.1	and Half-Trus of Clay Ellison.
1:31.2	Wonderful to have you on.
1:33.0	Thank you for joining me.
1:34.7	Well, thank you very much for having me and letting me talk about my favorite gunfighter.
1:41.0	Absolutely, yeah.
1:43.1	So tell us about your interest in New Mexico history. When did it first start? And what is so
1:50.3	special about the state to you? Well, my interest started probably when I was about 10 or 11,
2:00.4	traveling the state with my father and he would be telling
2:04.7	me all sorts of great tales about all of the stories that went on. Of course, I unfortunately
2:10.9	wasn't listening. But later in life, I really wish I had listened a lot harder, but some of it sunk in, and that was great.
	...

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