After Abilene incorporated in 1883, its first city officials tried to replace the young railroad town’s lawless reputation, which had grown since its 1881 founding, with a more civilized image by enacting strong ordinances against disorder, especially in places serving alcohol, including bans on firing guns within the city limits and on gambling. On the evening of January 8, 1884, City Alderman Frank Collins and his brother Walter, a Taylor County deputy sheriff, entered a saloon at the northeast corner of North First and Pine streets, where proprietor Zeno L. Hemphill confronted Frank Collins over the newly passed anti-gambling laws. After angry words and punches, Hemphill drew a gun and shot Walter Collins as he stepped between the men, and gunfire followed between Frank Collins and Hemphill. Walter Collins and Hemphill were killed, and Frank Collins died of his injuries two months later. The violence made enforcement of the new ordinances a top priority, led to the appointment of John J. Clinton as city marshal, a post he held for 37 years, likely influenced Abilene’s dry vote in the June 1887 state prohibition election even though the state rejected prohibition, and foreshadowed the city’s 1902 vote to ban alcohol sales within the city limits, which kept Abilene saloons closed for 75 years.