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191

Bat Masterson

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles / Autographs Start Price:NA Estimated At:20,000.00 - 30,000.00 USD
Bat Masterson

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Auction Date:2011 Nov 17 @ 18:00 (UTC-5 : EST/CDT)
Location:5 Rt 101A Suite 5, Amherst, New Hampshire, 03031, United States
ALS - Autograph Letter Signed
ANS - Autograph Note Signed
AQS - Autograph Quotation Signed
AMQS - Autograph Musical Quotation Signed
DS - Document Signed
FDC - First Day Cover
Inscribed - “Personalized”
ISP - Inscribed Signed Photograph
LS - Letter Signed
SP - Signed Photograph
TLS - Typed Letter Signed
Gambler, lawman, saloon keeper, journalist (1853–1921). In 1873, he left home and began working as a buffalo hunter and Indian scout in Dodge City, Kansas. Over the next decade, he worked intermittently as the Ford County sheriff and a deputy US marshal, but made his living mostly as a saloon keeper and gambler. His brothers, Ed and James Masterson, were also Dodge City lawmen. Bat Masterson was a good friend and associate of the legendary lawman Wyatt Earp in both Dodge City and Tombstone, Arizona. ALS signed “Bat,” written at the conclusion of a three-page typed biography of Masterson by Robert M. Wright, 8.5 x 11, no date, but circa 1912. Wright intended to use it in his upcoming book, Dodge City, the Cowboy Capital. Wright’s glowing biography offers some amazing incidents during Masterson’s career as a lawman, including the midnight rescue of an innocent man whisked away to ‘Buffalo Bill’ Cody’s ranch, as well as the murder of Masterson’s brother Ed in 1878. Wright concludes the biography with, “He [Bat] was greatly affected by the horrible crime and when Ed told him he had his death wound he gathered the particulars and bidding his brother an affectionate farewell hastily departed to avenge his death and I have no doubt he made the murderer’s pay the penalty.” As well as making several corrections to the biography in his hand, including crossing out the name of Kinch Riley on page two, adding his name “Bat” into a text of conversation, and writing “Charlie Bassett,” and adding “(Buffalo Bill)” next to William Cody’s name. In the blank area of the third page, Masterson writes, in full: “My Dear Bob, You have certainly paid a fine tribute to me and my brother Ed for which I thank you ever so much. Ed and I arrived at Tom Nixon’s ranch just west of where Dodge City now stands in the fall of 1871 and worked for Nixon as buffalo skinners until the following spring. It was during July and August of 1872 that I filled the R. R. contract for which I drew a blank & Ed and I again skinned buffalo for Nixon during the fall and winter of 1872–3. After that I hunted for myself. (Bat).” Uniform toning to all three pages, scattered creases, wrinkles, and edge wear, staple holes to top edge, a few other notations, horizontal folds, and a bit of light staining around Masterson’s text, otherwise very good.

Presented here is a draft account chronicling Bat Masterson's exploits as a lawgiver in the iconic frontier town of Dodge City written by one of the legendary sheriff's longtime associates, Robert M. Wright. Before Dodge City, the Cowboy Capital went to press, Wright forwarded to his old friend a rough typescript of the biography he intended to publish in the seminal frontier history of the Queen of the Cowtowns. Masterson's review resulted in his making several significant handwritten corrections. In the passage describing how he organized a posse to hunt down the train robber Dave Rudebaugh, for example, Masterson crossed out the name Kinch Riley and substituted Charlie Bassett's in Wright’s draft. Perhaps more notably, he also changed the date of his initial run for Ford County Sheriff.

Interestingly, Ramon F. Adams, in Six Guns and Saddle Leather: a Bibliography of Books and Pamphlets on Western Outlaws and Gunmen, draws attention to factual errors in Wright’s book; among the specific examples he cited were the inclusion of Charlie Bassett in the Rudebaugh posse and the date of Masterson’s run for sheriff. Assuming Adams' allegations are correct, it therefore seems that Wright’s source for these specific errors was Masterson himself. In addition to Masterson's edits, the two-pistoled sheriff added a lengthy handwritten personal recollection detailing how he and his brother came to Dodge City, skinned and hunted bison, and worked for the railroad.

This typescript is ultimately about two key elements: the friend of a Western legend paying tribute to his formative role in defining the Old West; and the subject of the author's adulation expressing gratitude and taking the opportunity to make some critical edits to ensure the accuracy of how history would remember him.
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