.Place Names. Fairplay "Fairplay is a queer name for a town. There are several legends explaining it. One is that James Reynolds, Texan highwayman-soldier, so named it after a show-down between one Tom Payne and some miners over gold dust Payne had. Another tells of a fued originating between two men in Texas and ending here. One came on the other digging in a prospect hole and was about to shoot when the other demanded fair play (a duel) and got it. Another version is that miners, angry at tarryall settlers for refusing claims to newcomers, proclaimed to the world, through the name of their new town, what sort of town it was." C C p.121-22