On August 11, 1871, the two men began arguing over local politics on election day in the Red Front Saloon, located in downtown Newton.
[citation needed] McCluskie fled town to avoid arrest, but returned a few days later after receiving information that the shooting would likely be deemed self defense, despite the fact that Bailey never produced a weapon.
[citation needed] On August 19, 1871, McCluskie entered Newton to gamble at Tuttles Dance Hall, located in an area of town called Hide Park.
[citation needed] Hugh Anderson, the son of a wealthy Bell County, Texas cattle rancher, also entered and approached McCluskie, calling him a coward and threatening his life.
At that point a young man named James Riley, believed to have been around 18 years of age at the time, opened fire on the men.
[2] The 2019 album The Cowboy Iliad: A Legend Told in the Spoken Word written by Walter Hill and produced by Bobby Woods was inspired by the story.
[citation needed] The gunfight at Hide Park has also inspired the Spur Award-Winning Author Johnny D. Boggs of other western novels to write "Bloody Newton: The Town From Hell", copyright 2024, Kensington Publishing.
The story combines the factual history of this fateful summer in 1871 and its characters with the fictional Hardee ranch family from Texas who have herded their cattle to the new railhead in Newton.