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Red Buffalo Trading Company

Introduction

The Red Buffalo Trading Company is located on Allen Street between Fourth and Fifth. It is on the site of the former Campbell and Hatch Saloon and Billiard Parlor, where Morgan Earp was killed on March 18, 1882. The Red Buffalo has glass doors near the back of the store that would be about where the back door of the Campbell and Hatch was located. Through glass panes in that back door, Morgan's fatal gunshot was fired. Morgan would have been playing pool about ten feet away from that door, so guests visiting the Red Buffalo could get a sense of where he was standing.

One of Morgan's bullets was a through-and-through shot that injured a second customer, George A. B. Berry, who was minding his own business at the Campbell and Hatch. The bullet struck Berry in the leg but was removed by one of the doctors attending Morgan. A local legend states that Berry later "died of fright," but that part of the story cannot be true since about four months after his injury, he was part of a coroner's jury investigating the death of the Mexican consul.

Some of the folks who work at the Red Buffalo report that a spirit is present that they believe is Morgan Earp because he had died a violent death at this location. That spirit sometimes seems to move merchandise around in the store after hours, as if it is trying to be helpful and put things away. Unfortunately, the spirit sometimes gets things mixed into the wrong bins, and it takes a few minutes to straighten them out again.

Several years ago, a woman working at the Red Buffalo early in the morning was prepping to open. She could not get over the feeling that someone was in the store watching her. She looked all through the store and did not find anyone there. Finally, as she was stocking shelves near the front of the store, she heard a gunshot from the back of the store. She immediately left and ran across the street to Big Nose Kate's, where a friend was helping to open that place for the day. Together they went back to the Red Buffalo and found nothing amiss. After that day, she often told her friends that she had never felt like that before.

Location

The Red Buffalo is located at 412 E Allen Street, midway between 4th and 5th streets.