Bat Masterson's Wyatt Earp
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Left...Bat & Wyatt Earp Right...Bat Masterson...Images courtesy Wikipedia & Google
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Tombstone Prospector Newspaper, August 16, 1910...
Bad Men of the Early Days
"Bat" Masterson Tells of Historic Tombstone Incident and Exciting Shooting Days
FEUD OF THE EARPS AND CLANTONS RECALLED
An article recently published in the New York Herald deals with some Arizona characters are well known to all old timers and is an interview with Bat Masterson on "badmen" that he has known. The part that relates to Wyatt Earp, who now makes Parker his headquarters and owns valuable mining property in the Parker district, is as follows: "I think it was the distinguishing trait of Wyatt Earp, the leader of the Earp brothers, that more than any man I have ever known, he was devoid of physical fear. he feared the opinon of no one but himself and his self respect was his creed. He landed in Wichita, Kansas in 1872, at the age of 26, a very quiet man, but a terror in a fight, either with his fists or a gun.
"He wiped out three gangs of robbers around Tombstone, while there with his brothers Jim, Virgil, Morgan and Warren, who was the kid of the family. The trouble arose from the fact that Morgan who was shot gun messenger for the Wells Fargo people between Tombstone and Benson, refused to quit his job at the request of a band that wanted to hold up the stage and didn't dare try it so long as one of the Earp boys was on the job, as they feared the vengeance of the other brothers.
"The gang, which hung around the San Simon valley was one that terrorized the whole country and defied the troops for years. It was made up of Ike and Billy Clanton and Tom and Frank McLowry and many others. Well in a rash moment those four sent word that they were going to kill the Earp family on a certain date, and sure enough, they rode into Tombstone as they promised.
"The whole town watched the fight from the house tops and it was a good while it lasted.
"The four met Wyatt, Virgil, Morgan and Doc Holliday face to face as they came around the corner at a ten foot range and opened fire from behind their horses. The Earps charged and in a few minutes Billy Clanton and the two McLowrys were dead, each with six bullets in him. Ike threw down his gun and Wyatt let him go.
"In a few days Curley Bill, of the allied gang, potted Virgil Earp at night, nearly shooting off his right arm. later Morgan was shot through a window. It was then clear enough that prompt action was neccessary that the rest of the family were not to go the same road, and Wyatt promptly started out to execute vengence, accompanied by Doc Holliday, Jack Vermillion, Sherman McMasters and Bill Johnson.
"They hunted down a Mexican named Florentine, whom they shot, and then, one by one, they got Frank Stilwell, Curly Bill and others who had had a hand, directly or indirectly in the war. Wyatt Earp is still living."
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Tombstone Prospector Newspaper, October 16, 1911...
MASTERSON SUES FOR $10,000
Famous Western Marshal and Early Day Tombstoner Sues For Damages on Charge of Slander
OFFICER TAKES EXCEPTION TO STATEMENT
"A New York dispatch says: - William Barclay Masterson, better known as Bat Masterson, a famous western marshal, today filed suit in the supreme court in an action to recover $10,000 from Frank D. Ufer for alleged slander. Masterson alleges that Ufer said and caused to be published the following statement:
"Bat is an alleged bad man, a gun fighter who made his reputation shooting drunken Mexicans and Indians."
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O.W.H.N. Note..."No matter who wrote it, don't believe everything you read"......