Have sheriff's helpers emptied saloons? (7)
I believe the answer is:
possess
'have' is the definition.
(I know that have can be written as possess)
'sheriff's helpers emptied saloons?' is the wordplay.
'sheriff's helpers' becomes 'posse' (I've seen this in another clue).
'emptied' means to remove the middle letters.
'saloons' with its centre taken out is 'ss'.
'posse'+'ss'='POSSESS'
(Other definitions for possess that I've seen before include "Have and hold" , "Consume" , "Have ownership of" , "influence" , "Have as one's own" .)