Crockett 's grandson no chip off the old block The Oct. 15, 1876, edition of a New Mexico weekly carried a report from Cimarron detailing the death of a Texas outlaw named Davy Crockett. Just a coincidence? That was what everyone thought until Robert Crockett, son of the famous frontiersman and Alamo martyr, came to visit the grave. David Crockett was born in Tennessee 17 years after his legendary grandfather gave his life for the independence of Mexico's northernmost province. He was still just a boy in the 1850s, when his family moved to Texas and settled on a homestead in present-day Hood County that the state set aside for his widowed grandmother. Davy, as the youth was known, struck out on his own in the early 1870s. He wound up in northern New Mexico, where he bought a small cattle ranch east of Cimarron. Bored with the day-to-day drudgery of punching cows, Davy sold the spread, took a room in town and lived off the proceeds. For companionship he chose his former foreman, a no-count sponge named Gus Heffron, who was happy to help his old boss spend his money. Except for the occasional night in the local drunk tank, Davy managed to stay out of serious trouble. Handsome and generous to a fault, he was well-liked by the residents of Cimarron, who were willing to overlook his growing attachment to the bottle. All that changed on the night of Mar. 24, 1876. Davy, in his usual state of intoxication, reached for the door handle to exit a bar at the same exact moment an army cavalryman tried to enter the watering hole. Enraged by the short but spirited tug-of-war, the inebriated Texan pulled his pistol the instant the door flew open and shot the soldier dead. Remembering three other troopers seated at a table behind him, Davy spun around and emptied his six-gun into the trio. He hit all three cavalrymen, fatally wounding two. When the case came to trial six months later, the defendant blamed the triple murder on booze and his bad temper. Had the victims been white, Davy probably would have hanged. But the fact that they were freed slaves made all the difference in the world to the community and the judge, who let the killer off with a $50 fine and court costs. Davy should have thanked his lucky stars and taken the opportunity to turn over a new - and sober - leaf. Instead, he and his drinking buddy Heffron went on a two-week tear....