BAT MASTERSON

THE DEADLY AND DANGEROUS LIFE OF THE MAN WHO INVENTED WYATT EARP

- MARSHALL TRIMBLE

Thanks to a 1960s television show starring Gene Barry, Bat Masterson was called a "legend in his own time," at least in the popular imagination. But the legend actually began long before that, in August 1881, in the boomtown of Gunnison, Colorado. A reporter for the New York Sun was in town looking for a colorful story about the Wild West for his eager readers in the big city. He was expecting to see hourly gunfights in the streets, and having seen none, was disappointed. He asked some of the locals if those wild and woolly escapades were just tall tales, pulling legs attached to tenderfeet. One of the men, Dr. W. S Cockerill, agreed and then said, "There is a man who has killed 26 men and he is only 27 years of age."

The writer could barely contain his eagerness to hear the rest of the story. With his pad and pencil in hand he anxiously waited for the doctor to say the name of this deadly gunfighter.

"He is W. B. Masterson, of Dodge City, Kansas." Dr. Cockrell then proceeded to regale the young man with lurid tales of the superhuman acts of the fearless lawman known as Bat Masterson. While the scribe wrote furiously, the doctor finished his tale with a spectacular finale.

The sensational story appeared in the New York Sun and the eastern folk swallowed it hook line and sinker. It might have had a short life except that it was picked up by several Western newspapers, including the Ford County Globe, published in Dodge City. A reporter for the Kansas City Journal just happened to be in Dodge and managed to get an interview with the man who had gunned down 26 men.

Bat was also a practical joker. He managed to answer his questions with the skill of a politician. He dodged, double-talked, evaded and spun his answers. The legend of Bat Masterson had begun, and like all legends, there was a whole lot of reality thrown in.