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Alexander McSween was born in about 1843. He became an attorney and on 23rd August, 1873, he married Susan Hummer.
The couple moved to Lincoln County in 1875 and soon afterwards McSween did legal work for John Chisum. In 1876 John Tunstall arrived in Lincoln County. The two men became business partners.
By this time James Dolan, Lawrence Murphy and John H. Riley had established the Murphy & Dolan mercantile and banking operation. The company was highly successful and won contracts to supply beef to both the Mescalero Apache Reservation and Fort Stanton. Murphy and his friends were disliked by the small farmers in Lincoln County as they were forced to pay high prices from Murphy & Dolan while at the same time they had to accept low prices for their cattle.
In 1876 McSween and John Tunstall set up a rival business. These two men were given the support of John Chisum, the owner of a large ranch and over 100,000 head of cattle. McSween and Tunstall now established J. H. Tunstall & Co, a shop and bank close to the one owned by Dolan, Murphy and Riley.
Dolan attempted to goad Tunstall into a gunfight. Tunstall refused to use violence himself but he did recruit Billy the Kid to help him in his business dispute. On 18th February, 1878, Tunstall was killed by William Morton, Jesse Evans and Tom Hill. This incident started the Lincoln County War.
Billy the Kid joined the Regulators, a group that supported McSween. It was claimed that Tunstall had been murdered on the orders of Lawrence Murphy and James Dolan. Over the next few months the Regulators killed Sheriff William Brady, George Hindman, William Morton, Buckshot Roberts and others who they claimed they had been involved in the killing of John Tunstall.
On 19th July, 1878, McSween and his supporters, including Billy the Kid, were besieged by Sheriff George Peppin and a group of his men. McSween's house was set on fire and several people were shot dead as they came out of the house. This included an unarmed Alexander McSween. No one was ever convicted of his murder.
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