".......the debatable ground between civilized and savage life......" Very succinct description.
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".......the debatable ground between civilized and savage life......" Very succinct description.
Let me know if I put up the sketch on Ben Kilpatrick and the "last train robbery" (not really).
A REAL hero saved the day.
7:00 central
The Tall Texan's last ride.
The glory days of Butch Cassidy/Kid Curry and their "Wild Bunch" had just faded. The death of Butch and Sundance in South America had drawn the curtain on a melodrama that had been going on for around 46 years. The era of the old style bank/train robbery had given its final curtain call and the lights had dimmed. . . but there remained in the newly formed state of Oklahoma, Henry Starr, and in west Texas Ben Kilpatrick, who both still practiced, more or less the old time robbery style. The latter will be our next subject. Ben went to federal prison shortly after the turn of the century but when he got out his world was no more, he just did not realize it. Kilpatrick would have meshed well in Peckinpah's "Wild Bunch". Grasping for something that was gone and dying violently. He sat like a Prince with the Fort Worth Five in 1901, but a little more than a decade later he would die, ignominiously.
Fort Worth Five, Ben is dead center:
http://www.texasescapes.com/MaggieVa...raphwkpdia.jpg
Big Ben:
http://www.cowansauctions.com/itemImages/x1839.jpg
On November 5, 1901 Ben Kilpatrick arrested at a St. Louis cathouse, and the next day Laura Bullion at the LaClede Hotel, for trying to pass stolen banknotes from the Wagner robbery. Bullion had $8,500 in bank notes in her possession. She was eventually convicted of forging signatures to the notes and received a 5 year sentence; she did 3 1/2 years. Ben was eventually convicted of passing forged notes and train robbery. He got 15 years.
All of this grew from the July 3, 1901 train robbery neat Exeter switch. Certainly a "jinxed" robbery.
"Their [stolen] money had been identified and traced to a pawn shop where Ben had bought some jewelry. On 12/12/1901 he pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 15 yrs hard labor at Ohio state penitentiary. In 1905 he was transferred to the still unfinished Federal prison in Atlanta, Georgia. He was ultimetly [sic] released 07/03/1911 [actually, it was June 11, 1911], ten yrs to the day of the Great Northern robbery [error]."
He was immediately rearrested by Concho County, Texas authorities and charged with the murder of Oliver Thornton- a farmer who had been involved in a dispute with Harvey Logan (Kid Curry). Unhealthy. Logan waxed him. Kilpatrick was never convicted of the offense and evidently charges were dismissed, when the incident came up for trial on September 4, 1911 in Paint Rock.
Upon her release, Bullion moved near to Kilpatrick's respite, AKA The Federal Penitentiary in Atlanta. Tormented by Pinkertons and the press she eventually moved to Birmingham. When Ben was released and after waiting for years, she spent only a few months with him before they parted. She next moved to Memphis, Tennessee where she lived until her death in 1961! She spent the years employed as a seamstress and never saw Ben again.
Laura Bullion, "mug shot":
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...shot,_1893.jpg
Ben Kilpatrick:
http://thetalltexan.net/uploads/3/0/...74/3811817.jpg
So, roughly 101 years ago Big Ben Kilpatrick was free and clear and headed for his brother Boone Kilpatrick's ranch in Sheffield, Texas. It was mid September, 1911. It appears that Ben had made friends with a fellow named Ole Hobek in the Atlanta Penitentiary and the two men were in regular contact after both were released around the same time. Below we get some insight into what Ben, a friend or two, his brother Felix, his brother-in-law Dan Sheffield, and Ole had going almost immediately after Ben got free of the murder charge.
According to "thetalltexan.net",
"Circumstantial evidence indicates Ben and his entourage (Brother Felix Kilpatrick, Brother in-law Dan Sheffield and others) and Ole Hobek robbed a train just outside of Memphis, Tennessee on November 1, 1911 and again on February 6, 1912. Ben’s partner Ole Hobek worked at the L.B. Price Mercantile Company at Memphis, Tennessee from July 1911 through February 5th, 1912, quitting just one day prior to the second train robbery. Ole had made an appearance in San Angelo in the Spring of 1911, anticipating Ben’s release. The robbery of the GH & SA train was likely to have occurred in the spring of 1911 but was delayed by Ben’s failure to secure probation, parole or pardon from his Federal Prison sentence.
By mid February 1912 the gang was back in Pecos and Terrell County Texas finalizing plans for the robbery. Several in-law's of Ben’s would witness his presence and actions at Brother Boone’s ranch just outside of Sheffield, Texas. They stated Ben spent a lot of time writing letters and would go on long horseback rides. Likely, Ben was trying to secure additional help and was scouting escape routes and learning the terrain. Several witnesses were treated to impressive displays of Ben’s marksmanship watching him shoot the heads off of chickens and apples off of sticks."
Heads off chickens? Remember the opening scene in "Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid"? The directors cut opens with Billy and friends shooting heads off live chickens. Ben now planned to rob the Galveston, Harrisburg and San Antonio Railroad on March 12, 1912 between Dryden and Sanderson, Texas. The location made a lot of sense with the exception of the site of the robbery being so closed to home. . .
Again from "thetalltexan.net:
"On Saturday March 10, 1912 Ben, Ole and what was described as two young white men and two Mexicans would leave Sheffield by horseback. On the evening of March 11, 1912 Ben and Ole would be spotted at the depot at Sanderson. Shortly before midnight on March 12, 1912, the train pulled into Dryden and was boarded by Ben and Ole. They first asserted there were no soldiers on board. They then cover Engineer D.E. Grosh with pistols and order him to stop at the first iron bridge west of Eldridge. The location is about half way between Sanderson and Dryden."
The stage is now set for aging outlaws to try one last train robbery.
"While there are conflicting accounts as to which robber was killed by a rifle shot and which was dispatched with an ice mallet the basic facts concerning the robbery are clear. On March 12, 1912 at 8:02 p.m. GH&SA RR (Galveston, Harrisburg, and San Antonio Rail Road) Train No. 9, engine No. 709 left Del Rio, Texas with engineer D. E. Grosh at the throttle. It was making a scheduled passenger, baggage, and mail run to its final destination of El Paso. Shortly before midnight, it stopped in Dryden, Texas to take on water for steam generation. As the train was preparing to pull out, the two robbers (Ben Kilpatrick and Ole Hobek) climbed aboard the engine and ordered Grosh to proceed to the first iron bridge east of Baxter’s Curve. The official time of the robbery is listed at 12:05 a.m. on March 13, 1912 by the railroad.
The events that followed after the train stopped at the iron bridge are best related by using the official statement taken from David A. Trousdale on March 15, 1912 at the Wells Fargo and Company’s office in San Antonio, Texas. Mr. Trousdale was the express manager Wells Fargo assigned to Train No. 9 and as such was responsible for overseeing the mail, baggage, and any gold or other valuables that the combination mail and baggage cars were carrying."
David Trousdale, the hero's full account:
“The first I knew of being held up was when the train came to a stop at Baxter’s Curve. I did not go to the door, and did not know there was any trouble until the train porter, or the engineer called me and asked me to come to the door. I opened the door, and when I looked out, there was a man with a mask on, standing there pointing a rifle at me. The train porter told me that I was wanted out there; that there were robbers and I had better come out. I stood there for a few seconds and the robber told me to ‘fall out’ with my hands up. When I got out of the car, he walked up to me and searched me for arms; and then made me stand back with the train crew. He made the conductor and the train porter uncouple the baggage cars from the coaches and move away about 10 to 12 feet….He searched the helper, and gave the conductor and porter instructions to go back and stay with the coaches; the mail clerk, the helper, and I to go on the engine. One of the robbers rode on one side of the engine in the gang way and one on the other side. They carried us something like a mile from the place they held us up.
“The robber going by the name of ‘Partner’ stayed with the engineer and fireman; and the other one going by the name of ‘Frank’ had the mail clerk, the helper, and myself line up by the side of the engine tank and marched us back to the baggage car and made us get up into the car, holding our hands up. He then carried us over to the safe and had me open it. I only had sever money waybills in the safe, and out of the seven, I told hem that there were only two of any value to him. I got him to take two packages one valued at $2.00 and the other $37.00. After he had looked over the car, he said he would go through and see what Uncle Sam had and he carried the three of us back to the mail car. He cut one mail pouch open and put all of the loose registers in it; and threw it out with four others, filled with registers; and told me that he would take me across the river (meaning the Rio Grande) with him.
“I thought if there was any chance for me to get the advantage on him, it would be by taking him back through my car where I could find some means of turning the table on him. We passed through the combination car and I opened two or three packages of express; and he took his knife and cut one telescope grip open. He took out a Mexican hat and said there was nothing in the baggage that he wanted. The robber, helper Reagan, and I went on into the through car. I told him that I was not getting fighting wages and did not care how much he took out. In this way I gained his confidence and he quit treating me as roughly as he had been. Before this, he would jab me with his rifle and command me around in a boisterous manner. When we passed by a stack of oysters, I had an empty packer standing in about the center of the car, and the robber and I had to pass between the oysters and the packer, and this crowded me close to the oysters; and as we passed, I picked up the ice-maul which was lying on them. I placed it behind my overcoat so that he could not see it and got him away from the door and showed him a package which was going to Sanderson, and told him that the package was worth more than all he had gotten, I thought. He rested his rifle against his leg and started to pick up the package in his right hand. While he was in this position, I saw my chance, and so the first blow I struck him was at the base of the skull, adjoining his head from his neck. Then I struck him two more blows in the top of the head after he had fallen, and knocked his brains out the third blow.
“I took two .45 caliber Colt revolvers and a 401 Model Winchester off this man. I gave the mail clerk and the helper each a revolver and I kept the rifle. I sent the mail clerk and helper to the rear end of the car. I turned the lights out and then joined them and the only way we could see was from the lights in the combination car. I waited something like two hours for the second man to come back. He did not show up for sometime, and I fired a shot through the top of the car, and in a few minutes, he came to the door and called the name ‘Frank’ three times; and waited about five minutes, then I saw his head sticking out from behind a trunk forty feet from me. The first time he put his head out I did not get a chance to shoot, but the second time he was looking toward the rear of the car. I fired one shot – the bullet striking him about an inch and a half above the left eye, passing through his head and started going through the end of the car. After waiting about an hour, we pulled the air and the engineer backed the engine and baggage cars back to the coaches. The fireman came back to the coaches and called me. I told him to get the conductor and some of the passengers before I could open the car, that I had killed two men. In a few minutes he came back with the conductor, porter, and fifteen or twenty passengers. When I found that there was no one out there to harm me, I opened the door and admitted the train crew.
“After getting the train coupled up, we moved up to where the US mail had been unloaded and found everything there as it had been unloaded, and I got the two sealed packages that had been taken out of my safe. I transferred all of my money run to Helper Reagan and went as far as Sanderson and unloaded the dead bodies with the six guns taken from them. I then went before the Grand Jury and the coroner’s court and was released.
“In conclusion, I will state that while on the way to Sanderson, I removed six sticks of dynamite and a box of dynamite caps and an ‘Infernal Machine’ from the man called ‘Partner’. The man called ‘Frank’ had a pint of Nitro-Glycerine in his side pocket.”
For his actions in stopping the attempted robbery and preventing potential harm to the passengers, Mr. Trousdale was awarded $51 collected on the spot by the passengers. The Wells Fargo Co. awarded him $1,000, the Federal government gave him $1,000 and the Southern Pacific Lines added another $500. In addition Wells Fargo presented him with a gold watch engraved with: “In recognition of the courage and fidelity displayed in an attempted train robbery near Dryden, Texas, March 13, 1912, Wells Fargo and Co.”
To go with the gold watch; the train passengers gave him a gold watch fob inlaid with a diamond inside the star of Texas. The inscription reads: “Presented by passengers, west-bound Sunset Express, for bravery displayed March 13, 1912, near Dryden, Texas.”
The robbers, after being posed for a picture at the Sanderson Train Depot, were buried together in the Cedar Grove Cemetery in Sanderson, Texas. Their joint grave has a marker erected by the Terrell County Historical Commission and is still a spot of interest to tourists and also draws those who are students of the Wild West era."
[img]While there are conflicting accounts as to which robber was killed by a rifle shot and which was dispatched with an ice mallet the basic facts concerning the robbery are clear. On March 12, 1912 at 8:02 p.m. GH&SA RR (Galveston, Harrisburg, and San Antonio Rail Road) Train No. 9, engine No. 709 left Del Rio, Texas with engineer D. E. Grosh at the throttle. It was making a scheduled passenger, baggage, and mail run to its final destination of El Paso. Shortly before midnight, it stopped in Dryden, Texas to take on water for steam generation. As the train was preparing to pull out, the two robbers (Ben Kilpatrick and Ole Hobek) climbed aboard the engine and ordered Grosh to proceed to the first iron bridge east of Baxter’s Curve. The official time of the robbery is listed at 12:05 a.m. on March 13, 1912 by the railroad.
The events that followed after the train stopped at the iron bridge are best related by using the official statement taken from David A. Trousdale on March 15, 1912 at the Wells Fargo and Company’s office in San Antonio, Texas. Mr. Trousdale was the express manager Wells Fargo assigned to Train No. 9 and as such was responsible for overseeing the mail, baggage, and any gold or other valuables that the combination mail and baggage cars were carrying. Here is his statement:
“The first I knew of being held up was when the train came to a stop at Baxter’s Curve. I did not go to the door, and did not know there was any trouble until the train porter, or the engineer called me and asked me to come to the door. I opened the door, and when I looked out, there was a man with a mask on, standing there pointing a rifle at me. The train porter told me that I was wanted out there; that there were robbers and I had better come out. I stood there for a few seconds and the robber told me to ‘fall out’ with my hands up. When I got out of the car, he walked up to me and searched me for arms; and then made me stand back with the train crew. He made the conductor and the train porter uncouple the baggage cars from the coaches and move away about 10 to 12 feet….He searched the helper, and gave the conductor and porter instructions to go back and stay with the coaches; the mail clerk, the helper, and I to go on the engine. One of the robbers rode on one side of the engine in the gang way and one on the other side. They carried us something like a mile from the place they held us up.
“The robber going by the name of ‘Partner’ stayed with the engineer and fireman; and the other one going by the name of ‘Frank’ had the mail clerk, the helper, and myself line up by the side of the engine tank and marched us back to the baggage car and made us get up into the car, holding our hands up. He then carried us over to the safe and had me open it. I only had sever money waybills in the safe, and out of the seven, I told hem that there were only two of any value to him. I got him to take two packages one valued at $2.00 and the other $37.00. After he had looked over the car, he said he would go through and see what Uncle Sam had and he carried the three of us back to the mail car. He cut one mail pouch open and put all of the loose registers in it; and threw it out with four others, filled with registers; and told me that he would take me across the river (meaning the Rio Grande) with him.
“I thought if there was any chance for me to get the advantage on him, it would be by taking him back through my car where I could find some means of turning the table on him. We passed through the combination car and I opened two or three packages of express; and he took his knife and cut one telescope grip open. He took out a Mexican hat and said there was nothing in the baggage that he wanted. The robber, helper Reagan, and I went on into the through car. I told him that I was not getting fighting wages and did not care how much he took out. In this way I gained his confidence and he quit treating me as roughly as he had been. Before this, he would jab me with his rifle and command me around in a boisterous manner. When we passed by a stack of oysters, I had an empty packer standing in about the center of the car, and the robber and I had to pass between the oysters and the packer, and this crowded me close to the oysters; and as we passed, I picked up the ice-maul which was lying on them. I placed it behind my overcoat so that he could not see it and got him away from the door and showed him a package which was going to Sanderson, and told him that the package was worth more than all he had gotten, I thought. He rested his rifle against his leg and started to pick up the package in his right hand. While he was in this position, I saw my chance, and so the first blow I struck him was at the base of the skull, adjoining his head from his neck. Then I struck him two more blows in the top of the head after he had fallen, and knocked his brains out the third blow.
“I took two .45 caliber Colt revolvers and a 401 Model Winchester off this man. I gave the mail clerk and the helper each a revolver and I kept the rifle. I sent the mail clerk and helper to the rear end of the car. I turned the lights out and then joined them and the only way we could see was from the lights in the combination car. I waited something like two hours for the second man to come back. He did not show up for sometime, and I fired a shot through the top of the car, and in a few minutes, he came to the door and called the name ‘Frank’ three times; and waited about five minutes, then I saw his head sticking out from behind a trunk forty feet from me. The first time he put his head out I did not get a chance to shoot, but the second time he was looking toward the rear of the car. I fired one shot – the bullet striking him about an inch and a half above the left eye, passing through his head and started going through the end of the car. After waiting about an hour, we pulled the air and the engineer backed the engine and baggage cars back to the coaches. The fireman came back to the coaches and called me. I told him to get the conductor and some of the passengers before I could open the car, that I had killed two men. In a few minutes he came back with the conductor, porter, and fifteen or twenty passengers. When I found that there was no one out there to harm me, I opened the door and admitted the train crew.
“After getting the train coupled up, we moved up to where the US mail had been unloaded and found everything there as it had been unloaded, and I got the two sealed packages that had been taken out of my safe. I transferred all of my money run to Helper Reagan and went as far as Sanderson and unloaded the dead bodies with the six guns taken from them. I then went before the Grand Jury and the coroner’s court and was released.
“In conclusion, I will state that while on the way to Sanderson, I removed six sticks of dynamite and a box of dynamite caps and an ‘Infernal Machine’ from the man called ‘Partner’. The man called ‘Frank’ had a pint of Nitro-Glycerine in his side pocket.”
sandersonchamberofcommerce.info:
"For his actions in stopping the attempted robbery and preventing potential harm to the passengers, Mr. Trousdale was awarded $51 collected on the spot by the passengers. The Wells Fargo Co. awarded him $1,000, the Federal government gave him $1,000 and the Southern Pacific Lines added another $500. In addition Wells Fargo presented him with a gold watch engraved with: “In recognition of the courage and fidelity displayed in an attempted train robbery near Dryden, Texas, March 13, 1912, Wells Fargo and Co.”
To go with the gold watch; the train passengers gave him a gold watch fob inlaid with a diamond inside the star of Texas. The inscription reads: “Presented by passengers, west-bound Sunset Express, for bravery displayed March 13, 1912, near Dryden, Texas.”
The robbers, after being posed for a picture at the Sanderson Train Depot, were buried together in the Cedar Grove Cemetery in Sanderson, Texas. Their joint grave has a marker erected by the Terrell County Historical Commission and is still a spot of interest to tourists and also draws those who are students of the Wild West era.
David Trousdale, a true and modest hero, was 32 years old at the time of the robbery. He retired in August of 1945 after 43 years of faithful service with the Railway Express Agency, formerly Wells Fargo and Co. He lived in San Antonio until 1949 and then moved back to his birth state of Tennessee. He died peacefully in 1953."
Trousdale:
http://www.davidkilpatrick.com/Trousdale.jpg
Ben Kilpatrick and Ole Hobek:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...rson_Texas.jpg
Sanderson Train Station:
http://ww2.hdnux.com/photos/07/41/57.../3/628x471.jpg
Interesting?
It kinda makes me feel melancholy. Ben rode the outlaw trail to its bitter end though, didn't he?
Always a soft spot for the old-time badmen (from a distant temporal perspective, of course). But then again Trousdale was a pine-knot, eh?
I wish I could get the wherewithal gathered to tell the story of "The Wild Bunch" but legions of entire books have been written about them.
What about "a pint of nitro"?
16 fl. oz.? Whew. . .
BTW: Looking at the images, I should think Trousdale meant to say below the left eye rather above it.
David A. Trousdale - man came up with a good plan and executed it to perfection. I agree that you have to feel bad for the bad guys and I agree that the world was changing fast. Why was no one armed on the train in the first place? Had train robbery gone the way of the Dodo by 1912? Once again, thanks
Appreciate the post Mr. Mortimer.
Thoughtful as always.
Hope your research is going well!
Okay.
Brand new one on Ed and Bat Masterson, that is Edward J. and William Barclay, respectively.
Stay tuned.
Next up:
Ed Masterson and a brother's loyalty. Look for this sometime tomorrow. . . or in the case of "castboolits", today :)
The day Bat dropped two, maybe.
Settle in, several images, some damned good newspaper accounts (though, as you will learn, I think they may have been a bit shaded, possibly to protect Bat from the Texans' revenge), just grab a cup and relax. . . we are headed to Dodge City in the years of 1877-1878. The time when cow-puchers and cowtowns were both rowdy and violent. Lock & Load.
Edward Masterson, no nonsense lawman:
http://img.kansasmemory.org/d00000495.jpg
The older brother of William Barclay Masterson, Edward J. Masterson was, without any doubt, an honorable and decent man. He was fearless. I want to lead into this short piece with a contemporary newspaper report of a bloody incident involving Mr. Edward Masterson, LAWMAN. If this contemporary account does not firm up my second sentence then I'm uncertain what would. An 1877 shootout in Dodge City, I ask you does it get any better. :)
Dodge City Times
November 10th, 1877 issue:
"Last Monday afternoon one of those little episodes which serve to vary the monotony of frontier existence occurred at the Lone Star dance hall, during which four men came out some the worse for wear; but none, with one exception, being seriously hurt.
Bob Shaw, the man who started the amusement, accused Texas Dick alias Moore of having robbed him of forty dollars, and when the two met in the Lone Star the ball was opened.
Somebody, foreseeing possible trouble, and probable gore, started out in search of Assistant City Marshal Ed. Masterson, and finding him hurried the officer to the scene of the impending conflict.
When Masterson entered the door he descried Shaw by the bar with a huge pistol in his hand and a hogshead of blood in his eye, ready to relieve Texas Dick of his existence in this world and send him to those shades where troubles come not and six shooters are not known.
Not wishing to hurt Shaw, but anxious to quiet matters and quell the disturbance officer Masterson first ordered him to give up his gun. Shaw refused to deliver and told Masterson to keep away from him, and after saying this he again proceeded to try to kill Texas Dick. Officer Masterson then gently tapped the belligerent Shaw upon the back of the head with the butt of his shooting iron, merely to convince him of the vanities of this frail world and to teach him that all isn't lovely even when the goose does hang antitudilum. The aforesaid reminder upon the back of the head, however failed to have the desired effect, and instead of dropping, as any man of fine sensibilities would have done, Shaw turned his battery upon the officer and let him have it in the right breast, the ball striking a rib and passing around came out under the right shoulder blade, paralyzing his right arm so that it was useless, so far as handling a pistol was concerned. Masterson fell but grasping his pistol in his left had he returned the fire giving it to Shaw in the left arm and the left leg, rendering him hors du combat.
During the melee Texas Dick was shot in the right groin, making a painful and dangerous though not necessarily a fatal wound, while Frank Buskirk who, impelled by a curiosity he could not control, was looking in at the door upon the matinee, received a reminiscence in the left arm, which had the effect of starting him out to hunt a surgeon. Nobody was killed, but for a time it looked as though the undertaker and the coroner would have something to do. The nerve and pluck displayed by officer Masterson reflects credit both upon himself and the city, which has reason to congratulate itself upon the fact that it has a guardian who shirks no responsibility and who hesitates not to place himself in danger when duty requires."
So much hyperbole has been lavished on guys like Wyatt Earp and Bat Masterson, even I tend to dismiss them as incredulous. And it should be clear that I bend over backwards to give these old timers their due.
However, I have recently done a sketch on William F. Cody- another overblown character- which has caused me to rethink some things. Clearly, even taking into account his known lies and the lies of his horse**** shoveler, Stuart N. Lake, only someone who is a liar himself could deny that Earp was a man not to be messed with. Wyatt Earp was a lot of things and one of them was tough. So, I thought I'd take a look back at the Brothers Masterson. Be it known! I have always believed that James and Edward Masterson were true blue brave lawmen. Still do. But recent scholarship has shed light on old Barclay. Indeed, Bat Masterson had tough friends because he fit in. Sit back you may be surprised about Bat. Yeah, he was much show, but he was also some go.
Dodge City, Marshal Dillon's Territory:
http://www.midwesternadventures.com/...eCity-1876.jpg
Plenty more. . .
Nice backdrop on "The Queen of the Cow-Towns":
Robert Wright in his work, "Dodge City, the Cowboy Capital":
"What made Dodge City so famous was that it was the last of the towns of the last big frontier of the United States. When this was settled, the frontier was gone, it was the passing of the frontier with the passing of the buffalo, and the Indian question was settled forever.
Here congregated people from the east, people from the south, people from the north, and people from the west. People of all sorts, sizes, conditions, and nationalities; people of all color, good, bad, and indifferent, congregated here, because it was the big door to so vast a frontier. Some came to Dodge City out of curiosity; others strictly for business; the stock man came because it was a great cattle market...; the cowboy came because it was his duty as well as delight, and here he drew wages and spent them; the hunter came because it was the very heart of the greatest game country on earth; the freighter came because it was one of the greatest overland freight depots in the United States, and he hauled material and supplies for nearly four hundred miles, supplying three military posts, and all the frontier for that far south and west; last but not least, the gambler and the bad man came because of the wealth and excitement, for obscene birds will always gather around a carcass."
Texas Cowpunchers, 1884
http://www.lib.utexas.edu/books/texa...0393-f-200.jpg
Famous Dodge House!
http://www.dodgehousehotel.com/image...2009%20019.jpg
Legendary Front Street Business of Dodge City, York and Draper Store:
http://www.legendsofkansas.com/towns...er%20Store.jpg
Hoover's Saloon:
http://www.skyways.org/orgs/fordco/g...oversaloon.jpg
So let's set the scene and give an overview. . . In June of 1877 Edward J. Masterson became assistant marshall in Dodge City, Kansas. He was well liked by the townsfolk and not so well liked by some of the cowboy crew. His brother Bat was elected sheriff of Ford County in 1877, by three votes. On the night of April 9th these two lawmen brothers would be earthly parted.
Does that not look familiar? Note the steps on the viewers left, quite similar to Doc Adams' steps, no?
http://www.legendsofamerica.com/phot...201878-500.jpg
Two contemporary newspaper accounts of the death of Ed Masterson, an overview of our main event:
Ford County Globe
April 10th, 1878 edition:
"At ten o'clock last night. City Marshal Edward Masterson, discovered that a cowboy who was working for Obum of Kansas City, named Jack Wagner, was carrying a six-shooter contrary to the City Ordinance. Wagner was at the time under the influence of liquor, but quietly gave up the pistol. The Marshal gave it to some of Wagner's friends for safe keeping and stepped out into the street. No sooner had he done so than Wagner ran out after him pulling another pistol, which the Marshal had not observed. The Marshal saw him coming and turned upon Wagner and grabbed hold of him.
Wagner shot Marshal Masterson at once through the abdomen, being so close to him that the discharge set the Marshal's clothes on fire. Marshal Masterson then shot Wagner.
About this time a man named Walker got mixed up in the fight. He, it appears, was boss herder for Obum, and Wagner was working under him. He also got shot once through the left lung, and his right arm was twice broken.
Marshal Masterson walked across the street to George M. Hoover's saloon, where after telling that he was shot, he sank to the floor. He was immediately removed to his room, where in half an hour he expired.
Walker and Wagner were nearly all night insensible, and none thought that either of them could live through the night. However, morning has come and neither are dead; both are in a very precarious condition and their chances for recovery very small.
The city is in mourning; every door is draped with crape; business is entirely suspended till after the funeral of Marshal Masterson, which will take place at two o'clock p. m., and will be attended by everybody in the city.
Marshal Masterson will be buried in the Military Cemetery, at Fort Dodge."
Dodge City Times
April 13th, 1878 edition:
"Died. In this city, on Tuesday, April 9th, in the 26th year of his age, Edward J. Masterson, City Marshal.
The subject of this sketch was born in Henryville, Canada East, on September 22d, 1852, and removed to Wichita, Kansas with his parents in 1869, where he continued to reside until attaining his majority when he left his home and became one of the first inhabitants of this city.
In June 5, 1877 he accepted the appointment of Assistant Marshal, and in the December, 1877, having displayed marked adaptability for the position, he was promoted to the Marshalship, in the discharge of the duties of which he continued until his unfortunate death.
Possessed of a geniality of temperament, a kindness of heart and a richness of personal bravery, he had many warm friends and admirers.
As an officer he followed the dictation of duty, striving at all times for its honest and complete discharge and gaming for himself the dignity and respect that of necessity followed from his determined intrepidity.
He died in the service he performed so well, and has added one other to the list of those who, living, were so many representatives, each of his day and generation, but who dead, belong to all time, and whose voices ring down the ages in solemn protest against the reign of violence and blood."
http://www.skyways.org/orgs/fordco/w...ages/drive.jpg
Stay with me. Next will be telling the story of the gunfight plus the what has come to light.
There are or were two scenarios as to which Masterson actually shot down Ed Masterson's attacker, Jack Wagner, and his boss Alf Walker, who let his rear end overload his brain. . . we will look at both sides. The first is told by eminent Bat Masterson historian, Robert K. DeArment, who in this account was swayed by the lack of mention of Bat by the newspapers of the day as well as the inconsistencies of the old timers who were there, in their accounts. (As the old timers always lined up with the story that it was Bat who plowed out the saloon and blazed away with his Colt's sixshooter, killing one and all but killing the other. . .)
Modern/Restored Long Branch:
http://www.legendsofamerica.com/phot...ch-KW-0504.jpg
Robert K. DeArment:
http://img809.imageshack.us/img809/4152/bat1u.jpg
http://img690.imageshack.us/img690/2391/bat2i.jpg
http://img163.imageshack.us/img163/8783/bat3o.jpg
http://img690.imageshack.us/img690/8562/bat4v.jpg
http://img189.imageshack.us/img189/8307/bat6a.jpg
http://www.legendsofkansas.com/towns...et,%201875.jpg
So, there we have the first incarnation of DeArments thoughts. Balance that against the following. . .
Now from Mark Dworkin and Wiki, we have the following. First Mark- a first rate old west historian- then "Wiki"
"The evidence is now conclusive that Bat killed Jack Wagner and wounded Alf Walker after they killed Ed Masterson. There are now court records where Bat testified to this very thing that Miller and Snell were unaware of.
For example, according to Robert DeArment's Broadway Bat: Gunfighter in Gotham, "aside from his Indian fighting experience, Bat Masterson actually used a firearm against a fellow man on only six occasions. In January 1876 he shot and killed army corporal Melvin King at Sweetwater, Texas, after King killed a woman and wounded Bat in the groin. As lawmen in Dodge City, Bat and brother Ed fired at a rampaging cowboy named A. C. Jackson and succeeded in killing his horse. Jackson was unhurt. In April 1878 after cowboys Jack Wagner and Alf Walker shot and killed Ed Masterson, Bat downed them both. Wagner died. James Kenedy, a fugitive wanted for the murder of a woman at Dodge, was pursued by a Masterson-led posse, brought down by a bullet from Bat’s rifle, and captured in October 1878. Bat wounded saloon man Al Updegraph in a wild shootout in the Dodge City plaza in April 1881, and he nicked a man named C. C. Louderbaugh during a polling place altercation at Denver in April 1897."
wiki:
"There has been some debate as to whether Bat Masterson or Ed shot Wagner and Walker. Local papers [2] reported that Ed, after being shot, staggered across the Santa Fe tracks to the north side and into Hoover's Saloon. All the "Texan" bars were on the south side of the tracks and this is the area that Ed Masterson patrolled, while the more "respectable" establishments were on the north side of town. Bat was the elected Sheriff for Ford County and thus did not have direct jurisdiction in town. The incident occurred approximately 10:30 at night and the local newspapers were ambiguous, perhaps trying to shield Bat from Texan vengeance, although Dodge City residents of the time generally suspected that Bat had been responsible. In later years, the newspaper reports led some historians to conclude that Ed had shot his own attackers, and two or three reminiscences have come to light that suggest that Ed might have shot Wagner at least. However,far more of the published accounts by those who were in Dodge at the time were clear that Bat shot both Wagner and Walker. This is supported by accounts by another Masterson brother, Tom, and Alf Walker's family always believed that Bat had shot him. The recent discovery of two court cases in which Bat testified that he had shot both men when it was hardly in his interests to do so means that it is now generally accepted that Bat avenged his brother."
So, what are we left with? It was Bat Masterson who who ran down that desolate old street blasting away at the drunken cowboys who had shot Ed. He unloaded his sixgun and inflicted multiple wounds, three to one man and one to the other. Damned lucky Walker did not die.
Sometimes legends are moved into the fact camp.
Alleged to be Masterson's Colt's Revolver, very clean for a vintage revolver but it does bear a striking resemblance to the image below:
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-uFgihhxNvZ...thumbnail1.jpg
One of Bat's Colt's:
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_FfetiF7C9v...stersonGun.jpg
Bat's $190,000 revolver. It sold at auction in 2002 for that figure.:
http://ww3.hdnux.com/photos/10/36/05.../5/628x471.jpg
Now, if you are not convinced that it was old Bat Masterson himself who dove out of that ramshackle saloon and cut down on two armed cowboys one of which had just shot down Edward in cold blood, then how about this for evidence. . . Bat Masterson brought a libel suit against a NewYork City newspaper. The paper hired future Supreme Court Justice Benjamin N. Cordoza to defend it. Bat was getting hammered with questions about his past. He was on the defensive, denying the dime novel tales of his past one by one. Yet when asked point blank, how many men he had killed, when it could do nothing but hurt his case. Bat admitted the following. In my mind, that's it.
http://img594.imageshack.us/img594/6015/batpdf1.jpg
http://img268.imageshack.us/img268/8214/batpdf2.jpg
http://img69.imageshack.us/img69/5975/batpdf3.jpg
Somewhere in this cemetery, resides the final resting place for a true frontier lawman, Edward J. Masterson:
http://image2.findagrave.com/photos/...6984847711.jpg
Damned decent job cobbling together stuff, there, if one ignores my own interludes of prose combined with poor typing. . . ;)
Sometimes, I think I lose sight of the fact that these are people. One distances himself from the hard fact that these folks who died were often darned decent God fearing people. Edward J. Masterson being one such example.
It's easy to get caught up in seeing them as spectacles not people.
Remember the 18 year old kid who brought the Colt's HEAT to the saloon in Newton? My goodness, can you imagine that happening today? That kid rose up and rained death on multiple victims scoring 10 hits from his two sixshooters. Now those guys weren't exactly good God fearing folks, but did you notice how he walked out of the bat wing saloon doors and was never seen again? No one even looked.
Imagine that, today. . .
That was very interesting stuff. I am enjoying this soooooo much.
Gibson, do you do requests?
I know he wasn't a gunman, but Zachary Taylor was an ancestor of mine. I know he was a highly regarded general in the southwest. Do you have anything on him?
Mike.44:
Let me look into it. Maybe after 1st of the year.
Another superb series of presentations, sir. THANK YOU!