8The New Mexico Territory of the 1870s-1880s was as wild and dangerous as any part of the American west. Murders were commonplace, corruption was the norm, and the Santa Fe Ring controlled the courts. Every man went armed and bad whiskey was common, as was over-indulgence. Rustling was, for many, a way of life. But it was a way of life that threatened the honest ranchers and herdsmen of the time. Liam Clancy, Irish immigrant and recently-discharged veteran of the Union Army, had lost his young wife and unborn child to cholera. Grieving, he sold his homestead and headed west. More by accident than design, he ended up in Lincoln County of the New Mexico Territory. This is his story.