Alexander Nixon (1847-1878)

Gone but not Forgotten- ALEXANDER NIXON (1847- 13 June 1878)- Shot by Tom McDonald in a “drunken argument.”

Alexander Nixon (1847 - 1878) Aged 31 years.

President of the Miners Union. Native of Tyrone, Ireland. Nixon was killed in a shootout at Gallagher and O'Brien's Saloon by his friend Tom McDonald in “a drunken argument over which was the better man.”

Epitaph reads: "Gone but not forgotten."

Sacramento Daily Union, 6/14/1878

Alex. Nixon was shot and killed by Thomas McDonald, Wednesday night, at Bodie.

Pacific Rural Press, 6/22/1878

Thomas McDonald shot and killed Alexander Nixon, at Bodie, in a drunken brawl. Nixon was President of the Miners' Union

Sacramento Daily Union, 6/14/1878: 

Killed in a Drunken Brawl. Bodie, June 13th. – Thos. McDonald shot and killed Alex. Nixon last night in a drunken brawl. Nixon was President of the Miners’ Union here.

Esmeralda Herald (Aurora), 6/15/1878: 

The Shooting at Bodie

About half-past two o’clock last Thursday morning Alex Nixon and Tom McDonald had a difficulty in Gallagher & O’Brien’s Saloon.

Nixon was abusive and finally knocked McDonald down. The latter appeared stunned for a few moments, and when he arose from the floor, he told Nixon “it was hard for a man to be knocked down for nothing.”

Nixon called him “a son of a bitch,” and either struck at or struck him again. McDonald drew his pistol and Nixon did the same. Bystanders could not say “exactly who fired first,” but Nixon at the crack of the pistols— fell to the floor.

Here Nixon continued to whirl and writhe, but still kept shooting with his whistler.

McDonald shot at him twice on the floor, but did not hit. McDonald’s first shot struck Nixon in the right side, passing through the lower ribs, and producing a wound from the effects of which he died in a short time.

Several bullets “went wide of the intended mark,” some passing through the Back Door and some into the Walls. One bullet went through the Back Door, and through a window on the opposite side of the street where it lodged over a sleeper’s head. Considering that both men had whistlers, and fired very rapidly it was miraculous that no outsiders were injured.

Nixon, when sober, is said, “to have been a good fellow,” but in liquor was very quarrelsome. He had some trouble of a serious nature in Pioche some years ago. A year ago last April at Belleville (Nevada), he shot and severely wounded Ramon Montenegro, a young Spaniard well known in this locality.