Bat Masterson

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Bat Masterson 1879

Bartholemew William Barclay Masterson , called "Bat" Masterson (born November 26, 1853 in Québec , Canada , † October 25, 1921 in New York City , USA ), was a legendary personality of the American Wild West . His adventurous life included activities as a buffalo hunter , scout for the US Army , gambler , Deputy US Marshal and as a journalist and writer.

Life

Childhood and youth

Bat Masterson was the second of seven children to Irish Thomas and Catharina Masterson, née McGurk. Masterson's birthday, place and first name are not entirely clear due to conflicting documents. Most likely, however, is that he was born as William Barclay Masterson on November 26, 1853 in Henryville in the Canadian province of Québec . , Says that the local acceptance for this church his Taufunterlagen custody and that of his children. In addition, Masterson was listed in a census in St. Claire County , Illinois in 1870 as Bartholomaeus Masterson, age 17, born in Canada. In a later census, however, he claimed he was from Illinois.

Masterson grew up on various farms in New York State , Illinois , Kansas, and Québec. He and his brothers Ed and Jim left the family's farm in Kansas in their late teens to become a buffalo hunter. While traveling without his brothers, he was drawn into the second battle at Adobe Walls , Texas , in 1874 . There Masterson, together with almost 30 other buffalo hunters, holed up in a trading post, fought victoriously against around 700 to 1000 Indians . Bat Masterson was then a US Army scout on a campaign against Kiowa and Comanche Indians.

Gunslinger and vigilante

Bat Masterson (r.) And Wyatt Earp 1876

The first shootout Bat Masterson was involved in took place in Sweetwater (later Mobeetie), Texas, in 1876. He was attacked by a man, allegedly because of a girl, whom he inflicted fatal wounds in battle. Masterson himself was shot in the pool . The consequences of this injury forced him to use a walking stick for the rest of his life .

In 1877, in Dodge City , Kansas , Masterson met his brothers Ed, the local deputy sheriff , and Jim, now co-owners of a saloon . Soon after his arrival, Masterson ran into a conflict with the area marshal over the treatment of a detained man. He was arrested and fined, which the city council later returned to him. Masterson then worked alongside Sheriff Wyatt Earp as his deputy and was elected County Sheriff of Ford County , Kansas within a few months .

Masterson then fought in the so-called Royal George War , a dispute over rights of passage through the Royal George Gorge in Colorado , between the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway and the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad . Here he led an armed group of the Santa Fe, to which u. a. his friend Doc Holliday belonged to until a court order granted Denver & Rio Grande rights and Masterson left the conflict. He remained a district sheriff until he was elected from office in 1879. At the same time, Masterson's brother Ed was the Marshal of Dodge City, where he was killed while in office on April 9, 1878.

In the years that followed, Bat Masterson made his living as a gambler and continued touring the "Wild West". He visited Wyatt Earp in Tombstone , Arizona, and only traveled on shortly before the famous OK Corral shooting . Masterson was also Marshal of Trinidad , Colorado for a year during this time .

In 1883 Bat Masterson took part in the so-called Dodge City War, a bloodless power struggle in which many gunslingers on both sides were involved. Around 1889, Masterson lived in Denver , Colorado, where he and Soapy Smith attempted an unsuccessful election fraud attempt . In contrast to Smith, who was evicted from the city due to this scandal, Masterson stayed in Denver, bought the Palace Variety Theater there and married actress Emma Walters on November 21, 1881.

In 1882 he directed the Denver Exchange Club in Creede , Colorado, and then continued his travels through the burgeoning cities to the west. Besides gambling, Masterson earned his living promoting boxing competitions. He also opened the Olympic Athletic Club to market boxing.

In 1902, Bat Masterson left the Wild West for New York City, where he continued his work as a law enforcement officer. President Theodore Roosevelt himself installed Masterson on the advice of a friend, journalist Alfred Henry Lewis, as the US Marshal's deputy for the southern metropolitan area of ​​New York. Roosevelt had met and befriended Masterson on several occasions. Masterson divided his time between writing for the New York Morning Telegraph and keeping the peace in the courtroom whenever the US prosecutor held a trial in the years that followed.

In 1909, Masterson was removed from office by newly elected President William Howard Taft . This came about as part of Taft's efforts to remove Roosevelt's supporters from all public office. Bat Masterson returned to Dodge City one last time in 1910.

Masterson as an author

In addition to his career as a law enforcement officer, Bat Masterson also made a name for himself as a journalist and author . His writing career spanned from around 1883 until his death in 1921.

A text by Masterson was first published on June 9, 1883 in the Daily Kansas State Journal . It was a letter that mentioned his arrival in Dodge City as well as the arrival of his friends known as gunslingers. The letter also mentions the well-known Long Branch Saloon, which was the headquarters of the Masterson group during the Dodge City War . During that time, Bat Masterson also met journalist brothers Alfred Henry and William Eugene Lewis, who would play a role during Masterson's later career.

The publication of his letter was followed by Masterson's own publication of Vox Populi . This once-only newspaper focused on politics in Dodge City in November 1884. In the late 1890s, Masterson wrote a weekly sports column in George's Weekly , a Denver paper.

The real career of the author Bat Masterson began, however, only after moving to New York City, where he met the Lewis brothers again. Inspired by Masterson's life, Alfred Henry Lewis subsequently wrote several short stories and a novel, The Sunset Trial , while at the same time encouraging Masterson to write down some of his own adventures. Lewis later published these stories in Human Life magazine, which he edited (around 1907-08). Masterson describes in his articles the days together with his gunslinger friends and what he believes are the most important qualities of a gunslinger.

Masterson continued his writing career around 1904 as a sports columnist for the New York Morning Telegraph , employed by William Eugene Lewis. He also shared his views on politics, sporting events, theater, nightlife and the like in his three times weekly Masterson's Views on Timely Topics column . After Eugene Lewis was promoted to general manager and president of the company, he even promoted his friend Masterson to vice president and general manager .

Masterson became friends with the writer Damon Runyon at the time. This also lived and worked in New York and was in the same circles as Masterson. Masterson is believed to have been Runyon's inspiration for the character Sky Masterson in the short stories Guys and Dolls . Damon Runyon commented on Masterson's writing skills with the words: "Bat had no literary style but he had plenty of moxie." ("Bat had no literary style, but he had a lot of guts.")

death

Bat Masterson's headstone in the Bronx , New York

Bat Masterson died at the age of 67 on October 25, 1921. At that time he lived and worked in New York City. Shortly after writing his last column for the New York Morning Telegraph , he suffered a heart attack at his desk .

His body was transferred to Campbell's Funeral Parlor and, after a simple service, buried in Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx, New York. Above the inscription of his large granite tombstone "Loved by Everyone" is his full name "William Barclay Masterson".

Nickname

There are various theories as to how William Barclay Masterson got his nickname "Bat". The simplest explanation is that it is a short form of his first name Bartholomew.

Other assumptions suggest that the nickname refers to Masterson's mandatory walking stick. He allegedly often used this as a bat (also called "bat" ) in fights , which is said to have given him his nickname.

There is also the theory that “Bat” is derived from the short form for “Boxer” that was used at the time. These were derived from the English word for "battling" or "battle", also often called "bats". The nickname would then specifically refer to Masterson's work as a boxing promoter while in Denver.

Masterson's reputation as a gunslinger

Bat Masterson had a reputation as a gunslinger in his lifetime that preceded him by a long way. However, Masterson only killed a single enemy in direct combat (not including the victims of the battle in Adobe Walls). Accordingly, Bat Masterson is listed in the Encyclopedia of Western Gunfighters with only three shootings and just that enemy killed. Other famous gunslingers of the Wild West such as Billy the Kid , John Wesley Hardin or "Wild" Bill Hickok were involved in far more shootings with numerous dead. The fact that he became known as a gunslinger was also down to Masterson's ability to stage himself.

In film and television

Bat Masterson was the name of a television series that was broadcast in 108 episodes in the late 1950s and early 1960s by NBC in the United States. The series was relatively loosely based on the life of historical character Bat Masterson. This one was played by Gene Barry .

Masterson was in the series as well-dressed gambler in black suit and bowler hat shown, the more inclined to beat fraudsters with his walking stick, the handle of which was gold-plated, ( "bat") than to shoot them. The half-hour episodes were filmed in black and white. The script written by Gaylord DuBois used - compared to the westerns of the time - a comparatively upscale language. The series was sponsored by the Sealtest company .

Dell Comics Verlag also published a short-lived comic booklet based on the series. The first edition was launched in 1960 and, like all of the following, had a photo cover. The comic was published until 1962.

The character Bat Masterson played a leading role in several western films:

literature

  • Dietmar Kügler: You died in your boots. Motorbuch Verlag, Stuttgart 1976, ISBN 3-87943-415-8 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The Big Book of the Wild West . Thomas Jeier Ueberreuter, Vienna 2016, p. 175
  2. ↑ Extensive biography of Masterson (including his letter from 1883 in English)
  3. ^ Bill O'Neal: Encyclopedia of Western Gunfighters . University of Oklahoma Press, 1979 - Information from the English wikipedia - source not viewed
personal data
SURNAME Masterson, Bat
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Masterson, Bartholomew; Masterson, Bartholomaeus; Masterson, William Barklay
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American gunslinger, vigilante, and writer
DATE OF BIRTH November 26, 1853
PLACE OF BIRTH Quebec , Canada
DATE OF DEATH October 25, 1921
Place of death New York City , United States