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Elbow Bend Hotel

Hotel in Elbow Bend, New Mexico Territory, in 1876.[1]

In September of 1876, Bret Maverick checked into the Elbow Bend Hotel[1] after a long ride from Cimarron.[2] Cliff Sharp, who had just robbed the Wells Fargo office of $40,000 in nearby Hallelujah and killed its clerk, had seen Bret ride into Elbow Bend, stable his horse at the livery and register at the hotel. Assuming Bret was a stranger in town, Sharp sneaked into his hotel room after he was asleep and planted incriminating evidence for the crime Sharp had committed. In the middle of the night, the Hallalujah posse arrived in Elbow Bend on Sharp's trail. Asking the livery if any strangers had come into town that night, they were directed to Bret at the hotel. Finding Bret in possession of some of the stolen Wells Fargo money and the culprit's gun and hat, he was immediately arrested and taken to Hallelujah to stand trial.[1]

See: The Day They Hanged Bret Maverick