On the Dodge Read Free Page A

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large reputation gone glimmering. Mr. Brooks fled to the fort, took the
train from the siding, and shook forever the dust of Dodge from his
feet. Whither he departed deponent sayeth not.
    How do I explain this? I don't. I record a fact. Many gunmen were at
one time or another subject to these panics during which the yellow
streak showed. Not all of them by any means, but a very considerable
percentage. They swaggered boldly, killed recklessly. Then one day some
quiet little man with a cold gray eye called the turn on them, after
which they oozed out of the surrounding scenery.
    Owen P. White gives it on the authority of Charlie Siringo that Bat
Masterson sang small when Clay Allison of the Panhandle, he of the
well-notched gun, drifted into Dodge and inquired for the city marshal.
But the old-timers at Dodge do not bear this out. Bat was at the Adobe
Walls fight, one of fourteen men who stood off five hundred bucks of
the Cheyenne, Comanche, and Kiowa tribes. He scouted for Miles. He was
elected sheriff of Ford County, with headquarters at Dodge when only
twenty-two years of age It was a tough assignment, and Bat executed it
to the satisfaction of all concerned except the element he cowed.
    Personally, I never met Bat until his killing days were past. He was
dealing faro at a gambling house in Denver when I, a young reporter,
first had the pleasure of looking into his cold blue eyes. It was a
notable fact that all the frontier bad men had eyes either gray or
blue, often a faded blue, expressionless, hard as jade.
    It is only fair to Bat to say that the old-timers of Dodge do not
accept the Siringo point of view about him Wright said of him that he
was absolutely fearless and no trouble hunter. "Bat is a gentleman by
instinct, of pleasant manners, good address, and mild until aroused,
and then, for God's sake, look out. He is a leader of men, has much
natural ability, and good hard common sense. There is nothing low about
him. He is high-toned and broad-minded, cool and brave." I give this
opinion for what it is worth.
    In any case, he was a most efficient sheriff. Dave Rudabaugh, later
associated with Billy the Kid in New Mexico, staged a train robbery at
Kinsley, Kansas, a territory not in Bat s jurisdiction. However, Bat
set out in pursuit with a posse. A near-blizzard was sweeping the
country. Bat made for Lovell's cattle camp, on the chance that the
bandits would be forced to take shelter there. It was a good guess.
Rudabaugh's outfit rode in, stiff and half frozen, and Bat captured the
robbers without firing a shot. This was one of many captures Bat made.
    He had a deep sense of loyalty to his friends. On two separate
occasions he returned to Dodge, after having left the town, to
straighten out difficulties for his friends or to avenge them. The
first time was when Luke Short, who ran a gambling house in Dodge, had
a difficulty with Mayor Webster and his official family. Luke appears
to have held the opinion that the cards were stacked against him and
that this was a trouble out of which he could not shoot himself. He
wired Bat Masterson and Wyatt Earp to come to Dodge. They did,
accompanied by another friend or two. The mayor made peace on terms
dictated by Short.
    Bat's second return to Dodge was caused by a wire from his brother
James, who ran a dance hall in partnership with a man named Peacock.
Masterson wanted to discharge the bartender, Al Updegraph, a
brother-in-law of the other partner. A serious difficulty loomed in the
offing. Wherefore James called for help. Bat arrived at eleven one
sunny morning, another gunman at heel. At three o'clock he entrained
for Tombstone, Arizona, James beside him. The interval had been a busy
one. On the way up from the station ( always known then as the depot ),
the two men met Peacock and Updegraph. No amenities were exchanged. It
was strictly business. Bullets began to sing at once. The men stood
across the street from each other and emptied their weapons. Oddly
enough,