One hundred years ago this spring there was war in western Kansas. The first shots were fired April 28, 1883. It was called “The Dodge City War” or, even more frequently, “The Saloon War.”
The central figure, if not the major motivator, was a cocky, bantam-rooster gambler named Luke Short. He stood five feet six inches in his polished boots and weighed a full 140 pounds without his six-guns. In 1883 he bought Chalk Beeson’s half interest in the Long Branch Saloon. His female entertainers, particularly his piano player, and Short’s easy familiarity with the cowboys and cattlemen, made for stiff competition. Furthermore, the shift in ownership came as Dodge City prepared to hold its local elections. The explosive blend of personal, economic, and social animosities were to reach critical mass following the election.
There is the temptation to treat “The Dodge City War” as a comic opera affair of little significance except to the private fortunes of the individuals involved. Certainly as a “Saloon War” sparked by Short hiring an attractive young lady to play the piano and have her melodic notes wafting through the plank walls to entice the thirsty cowboys of Front Street to desert all other establishments, deserves a light touch. And certainly, the flurry of misinterpreted telegrams between the Chief Executive of Kansas and the Dodge City law officers, the posturing of “known gunmen” on the streets (surely at high noon), the declaration of neutrality by the soverign [sic] state of Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe, and the purple passages of newspaper vilification, presents Dodge City as truly the “Beautiful Bibulous Babylon of the Frontier” it was reputed to be.
However, for many of the “solid citizens” of Dodge City who had established permanent homes and businesses there, much more was atake. The
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conflict, as they saw it, had to do with reform. As the bitterness between the two rival saloon and political factions grew, both attempted to convince those not directly involved that they were the champions of law and order. The press, both in Dodge City and throughout the nation was quick to choose sides. A Kansas City paper, first hearing of the conflict from Luke Short, reported that “W. H. Harris, of Harris & Short, proprietors of the Long Branch Saloon…represented the quieter and more reputable element …”while his opponent”…was representative of the tougher element of the sporting fraternity.” The Dodge City Times, on the other hand, found the anti-Short faction to be “good and law abiding citizens” intent on driving “the lawless element” from the city.
In March a mass meeting had selected a slate headed by Luke Short’s partner as candidate for mayor and supported by the remnants of the old Dodge City Gang and the Ford County Globe. Their administration would have been “business as usual,” catering to the cattle trade and the sporting ways of cowboys and gamblers. An opposition slate was put together by another group of citizens with Larry Deger as their candidate for mayor and a number of prominent businessmen running for the council positions (Robert M. Wright, Ham Bell, H. M. Beverly, George S. Emerson, and Henry Sturm). This ticket was vociferously and intemporately [sic] supported by Nick Klaine and the Dodge City Times. It was a reform ticket; so much so that the early contender for mayor’s spot, Alonzo B. “Ab” Webster, withdrew since he was associated with the saloon business and it was felt that this was an inappropriate credential. Deger and crew won the election by a comfortable margin.
Reform ordinances designed to curb vagrancy and prostitution were quickly passed by the council. No one, not even the most vociferous reformer, expected them to immediately purify “the wickedest city in the West.” Nick
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Klaine pointed out in the Times that not even Governor John P. St. Johns, the ardent Prohibitionist governor, had been able to close down the saloons in Dodge City which were still flourishing three years after the state had voted itself dry. “These things would continue in some manner, no matter who were the mayor or councilmen… We are satisfied and contented if these things are conducted properly, orderly and decently.”
It was an attitude supported by the non-saloon and non-cowboy business community. This is not to say that the community was anti-cowboy or anti-cattleman in sentiment. But Klaine, for instance, had written many articles encouraging farmers to settle and praising the great agricultural prospects of the area. There was room, he wrote, for more than stock raising. The future of Dodge City lay in “the settlement of the country.” The business community endorsed this concept. Dodge City needed to look to its image if it was to attract settlers and new business. So the reform measures were easy to push through a council filled with merchants and storekeepers. Enforcement was another matter.
Naturally, and unfortunately, Luke Short felt the reforms’ sting first. It was his “singers” who were arrested as prostitutes. At first, he simply shrugged off the arrests as a petty annoyance; the fines would be only one of those trifling costs of doing business. But when he found out the rival saloon entertainers had not been jailed, he strapped on his six-guns and headed for trouble.
As he stood outside the jail, Special Officer, L. C. Hartman, saw the fired-up Short headed toward him. In his haste to get off the first shot, the officer missed. Luke returned the fire just as Hartman tripped and fell, with the timing only Hollywood’s slap-stick could have duplicated, the bullets harmlessly kicked up dust in the street back of Hartman. Thinking he had killed his man, Short rushed for cover and barricaded
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himself in a near-by saloon ready to defend life and honor with a sawed-off shotgun. Negotiations eventually dislodged Luke, who was immediately arrested, bonded, and ceremoniously ushed [sic] out of town by the officers of the law and a sizable posse of citizens.
Luke’s first appeal for justice was to the governor, suggesting the state militia might be needed to re-establish his rights in his own saloon. He next turned to real fire power, his old friend Bat Masterson. With typical Masterson generosity, Bat rushed to his friend’s defense. A citizen had been deprived of his rights and property, Bat felt, and the Governor of the State of Kansas should do something about it. Governor George Washington Glick seemed to understand and to sympathize. He fired off a number of telegrams to the Dodge City sheriff, George Hinkle, apparently urging him to protect the rights of all the citizens of Dodge City. The Sheriff seemed unable to get the message straight. He thought the Governor was ordering him to arm the town to prevent the likes of Masterson and Short from taking over. Luke and Bat could see that they were getting nowhere through legal channels.
It was next reported that Bat was recruiting his own army including Wyatt Earp, Charley Bassett, and Doc Holliday. Eventually, Dodge City did see a contingent of gunmen drifting into town, including Shotgun Collins, Frank McLane, Texas Jack Vermillion, Don Tipton, Johnny Millsap, Johnny Green, and Wyatt Earp. The Governor, aware of the rumors and some of the facts, dispatched the Adjutant General, Thomas Moonlight, to sort things out and prevent bloody confrontation. Once again the militia was promised, if needed.
Somewhere along the line the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad Central Office, acting like a benign soverign [sic] power in an international dispute, wired its local agent:
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Considering your relation to the Company and our large interest in Dodge City, I think you should hold yourself aloof from both parties to the existing troubles. Do everything you can to allay excitement, and to prevent any hostilities to the company.
Naturally, all this was reported with fine coloring by the state and national press as far away as Chicago and New York. Such was The Dodge City War.
P. G. Reynolds, the operator of stage coaches out of Dodge City, like other businessmen, saw “The War” as a law and order issue and not a matter of saloon preference. It is not known whether he was a member of “the posse” which saw Luke Short on the train out of town and then later meet [sic] the train Sheriff Hinkle thought was carrying Short and Masterson back into town. However, he was vitally concerned in seeing that Governor Glick heard the citizens’ side of the fracas. Furthermore, he had for some time held Masterson in low esteem. Back in 1880 he had signed a petition denouncing Bat for arresting “the Hon. D. M. Frost” — an arrest, the petition claimed, which was “made solely to gratify Masterson’s revengeful feelings.” He had been joined by 23 other businessmen, professional, and city officials at that time. He now signed a telegram to Glick informing the Governor that: “We judge you have been misinformed,” and asking him to authorize an impartial investigation. When tension continued to mount and rumors of corning bloodshed continued to circulate, Reynolds joined eleven other citizens in traveling to Topeka to present their side of’ the story to the Governor face to face. Their mission was primarily one of defusing the explosive situation without totally sacrificing the reforms which had been initiated. The meeting was productive. Glick wrote Sheriff Hinkle congratulating him on his efforts to keep peace and assuring him that he was not required to protect Luke Short at all costs.
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Eventually, a compromise was worked out and Short was allowed to return to manage his property. The reform measures were kept on the book but, not enforced. For the moment Luke Short, Bat Masterson, and the status quo had won. But “The War” forecast the changes which were inevitable. Bat and the gunmen soon left town, and Short, after a brief stay in the hostile climate of Dodge, sold out and left for New Mexico. The reform-minded businessmen remained. In September all businesses were required to close on Sunday. Klaine in the Times boasted that “the last relic of the frontier has given up the ghost.” It took several more years to tame the town, but the bloodless “Dodge City War” was a major step in bringing settled business interest to replace the Luke Shorts and Bat Mastersons of the early, more exciting cowtown. Dodge City dominated by cattle interests was to become a lively memory but, nonetheless, only a memory.
— C. Robert Haywood
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