PHIN CLANTON FIGHTS BACK WITH COMPLAINTS TO THE ST. JOHNS HERALD
THE ST. JOHNS HERALD                                                                       July 1, 1886

A CARD
___________________________

         I deem it a duty I owe to my friends, as well as myself, to address a Card for publication in your paper to one Abner Johnson, who resided near me in Socorro County, New Mexico.  It appears that this man Johnson lost some mares several months ago, and I am credibly informed that I am accused of stealing or instigating the theft of said horses.  Now this man Johnson has been called upon several times to give his authority for such an accusation, which he declines to give.  I pronounce all such statements of Johnson's wilfully and maliciously false; and furthermore, its author is not worthy of notice, and were it not for the fact that there are many good citizens, whose minds have been prejudiced by the stories of this man Johnson, I would pass them by with contempt.  I have been living within 120 miles of where I now reside for the last 10 years, and anyone can satisfy himself, very easily in regard to my past record.  This vender of calumny about his neighbors, I challange to give his own record in Sansaba and McCullough Counties, Texas, and also to tell the public where and how he obtained a certain fine red roan mare, which he accuses me of getting away with, to cover up his own iniquity.  This man Johnson would do well to cleanse himself of the filth clinging to his own garments, before throwing mud upon his neighbors.

                                                                                                                       Phin Clanton

From Jack Becker's Collection