Deadliest Men by Kirchner Paul

Author:Kirchner, Paul
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: BIOGRAPHY … AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Historical
Publisher: NetRead Software and Services
Published: 2001-08-31T16:00:00+00:00

Kansas State Historical Society

On February 25, 1881, an altercation arose between Luke Short and gambler Charlie Storms, another friend of Masterson. Fearing that Storms might make the mistake of underestimating Short, Masterson separated the men. Storms left the scene. In Famous Gun Fighters of the Western Frontier, Masterson described what followed:

I was just explaining to Luke that Storms was a very decent sort of man when, lo and behold, there he stood before us. Without saying a word, he took hold of Luke’s arm and pulled him off the sidewalk, where he had been standing, at the same time pulling his pistol, a Colt’s cut-off .45-caliber single-action, but . . . he was too slow, although he succeeded in getting his pistol out. Luke stuck the muzzle of his own pistol against Storm’s heart and pulled the trigger. The bullet tore the heart asunder, and as he was falling, Luke shot him again.

Storms reflexively fired as he fell but was dead when he hit the ground, his wool shirt aflame from the muzzle flash of Short’s gun. Short turned to Masterson and said, “You sure as hell pick some of the damnedest people for friends, Bat.”

Masterson testified in favor of Short, and the case was dismissed.

The shooting had the effect of intimidating local gamblers, but eight months later Earp’s difficulties with the “Cowboys” erupted in the shootout at the O. K. Corral. Masterson might have been a participant had his stay in Tombstone not been cut short by a telegram entreating him to return to Dodge City because his brother Jim’s life had been threatened by two business associates, Updegraff and Peacock. Bat took the first train available.

Thirty hours later, not knowing whether Jim was dead or alive or what kind of reception to expect, he swung down off the train as it pulled into Dodge and walked toward the depot. He spotted Updegraff and Peacock walking ahead of him and called out, “I have come over a thousand miles to settle this. I know you are heeled—now fight!” Recognizing Masterson’s voice, the men ducked behind a building, and within seconds the Colt fandango was on, with supporters of each faction joining in. A bullet hit the ground close enough to Masterson to kick dirt into his mouth and then ricocheted into a bystander, wounding him slightly. Updegraff took a bullet in the lung but eventually recovered. The brief shootout produced no fatalities. Bat declined to be arrested but condescended to a fine of $8 for shooting inside the city limits. The authorities were no doubt relieved when he and Jim left Dodge that evening.

In the spring of 1883 Masterson was again out of town when he received a call for help, this time from Luke Short, who had returned to Dodge to operate the Long Branch Saloon.

Short’s license had been revoked and all his girls arrested by Masterson’s old nemesis Larry Deger, now Dodge’s mayor. When Short found that Ab Webster, a rival saloon keeper and Deger crony, was still in business, he “smelled a mouse.

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