The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1902-07-26
aTHE FRONTIER LINEp"

Dodge City has no town marshall The
news has been sent out that the city
council stopped the pay of that official
and that, therefore, the Office is vacant
The necessity of such an official passed
with the long horned cattle whose graz
ing grounds have been moved further
and further westward. The quiet, which
will continue without the aid of a town
marshal, has come to Dodge City with
the waving fields of wheat and the nod
ding meadows of alfalfa. There has
been a sky pilot at work in the town.
some sky pilot in one garb or another
whose influences have been as keenly
felt as the hero of Ralph Connor's book
who subdued the mobile Seven" But
that is another story which the. old
timers who loved to exploit the deeds of
daring that once made famous the
frontier town of Dodge City will be in
terested in reading.
Dodge City has churches. It has many
other things. There was a time when
there was a familiar saying that there
are no churches as far west as Dodge
City and no. God west of Garden City"
1t was an irreverent saying, but ex-
pressive. In those days Dodge, for
Dodge it was called by the westerner
whose world was west of 1.-THE river"
as he affectionately termed the big
muddy Missouri was the town that was
builded in the cattle country and was
wild and woolly'' as ever a town could
be in fancied story. And now this has
all changed.
There were days when to be city mar
shall of Dodge meant that the man Sc
lected was the coolest, bravest man to
be had. A dead shot and just a little
quicker with a Colts than anyone else
If he wasn't.-well then he wasn't mar
shall very long. There are men living
today who were chosen marshal of
Dodge because of these requirements.
Wyatt carp, Bat Masterson and Chalk
Beeson. They all served their terms and
are all living to see the once famous
Dodge without a city marshal.
There was a Boot Hill a mile from
Dodge 1t is there yet but its slumber-
ing tenants, who fell with their boots
on because they were notNquick enough
on the draw, sleep on undisturbed by
newcomers. For no one in these days
meets death in Dodge in the manner to
entitle him to a place with these reck-
less fellows of a score of years ago.
Such men as Dave Mather, Tom Nixon,
Clay Allison, Dave Black and scores Of
others OF that ilk are forgotten
The men whose GOODNESS and bravery
made them town marshals of Dodge
years ago are living different lives.
Beeson still lives in Dodge and owns a
farm and ranch. carp has gone fur
Their west as civilization encroached
upon him until he has landed in Alaska.
Masterson. when last heard from was in
New York on his way to Europe. r.
NJ. Wright, Bob Wright as he is ia
miliarly known, is the historian OF
Dodge He lived through all the early
times The halcyon days of Dodge can
be chronicled by him because he lived
through them with all the old time
characters. the heroes and the bad men.
He can tell of the palmy days when
every other building in Dodge was a
dance hall and those in between were
gambling houses. He can explain that
the greasers who tried to take charge
of Dodge and dictate the policy of the
town were the first inha bitants of Boot
HILL He can tell of the strenuous days
during Bat Masterson's regime as mar
shall when these characters met their
match. He can recount of the incidents
of the time that Chalk Beeson took
Duke Alexis and General Sheridan on
q buffalo hunt within sight of Dodge