Semi-weekly herald., 1908-03-09
HOW SHORT BECAME
MARSHAL OF DODGE

fNN'@hNif Aht lfAttS newspapers uil
nounced the death, in Dallas, of the
Rev. S. X. Short. an aged peripateti,
minister of the Presbyterian faith
who. the obituaries stated, had ridder
the circuit OF his faith from one end o
Texas to the other almost since the
period when the Lone Star state was
Mexican possession, remarked q
civil engineer OF Washington who as
sisted in the building of many OF the
southwestern railroads.
only a few of the Texas papers
made any mention of the fact. how.
ever, in publishing this obituary
sketch, that the goodly old travelling
preacher of the Presbyterian faith
was the father o. the famous Luke
short. one-time ma. i'al of Dodge City
when Dodge was the Yery worst place
ON the civilized globe. Twenty years
and more ago the country used to
ring periodically with the deeds of
Luke Short. He was often adverted
to as characteristic bad man of the
west. but he was very far from that.
During his life Luke Short. who died
in his bed from very commonplace
malady fifteen years ago, killed exact
ly twenty-three men. but he didn't
murder one of them: he got every
last one of them in the square line of
duty and necessity
"A lot OF knife fighters and gun
tanners who killed for the love OF
killing and the fame of bloody deeds
got after Short when his reputation
as a peace marshal and a defender of
his own sawed-off person became nat
iolal, and the time came when Luke
who was one of the quietest and most
unobtrusive men l ever knew, had
to walk the world looking before him
and behind him, and to keep one eye
open even in his sleep.
"A good many jobs We're cooked up
on him by friends of genuinely bad
men whom he had been compelled to
send over the big divide, and on sew
eral occasions in Texas. his enemies
attempted to railroad him to the gal
lows. and, falling that, to send him
TO states prison for life. But the late
Governor Hogg of Texas, who had met
Luke Short early in his Texas career,
and who had probed the true value of
the man was Shorts firm and sub
stantial friend through all these
troubles. and he was at Shorts bed
side-Hogg then being governor OIL
Texas-holding his hand when the
life nickered out of the dauntless little
ex-marshal of the Dodge peace.
1T was Governor Hogg himself who
told me. many years ago the story
of how Luke Short first arrived inl
Dodge City. of which unspeakabe
camp he soon became the night mar
shal.
Short had been in the freighting
business at Durango. Colo, and one
day he met up with an oldtime
freighter. who had just got in from
the long hauI-away from Dodge City.
Luke got into talk with the old freight
er and asked him about Dodge.
"'They're telling me it's right smart
bad down that way, said Luke. Is
that right? I've been thinking of
dropping over that way
"'Well. you stay out of Dodge. pod
ner. replied the old freighter For
they'll sure git yo' if yo' go thar.
They cit two or three every night in
Dodge. wy, on'y last week they put
IT on a eastern feller fr nothin' else
but proiecltln' into tn camp wearin
plug hat
"Is that rlght?' said Short, calmly.
Well. I'm going over to Dodge to-
morrow. and he added as sort oil
afterthought, I'm going to get in there
wearing plug hat. | never wore
plug hat before. but | might as well
well begin wearing one in Dodge
The old freighter sized up the
small. compact. sandy-haired Luke out
of the corner of his eye, probably try
ing to determine whether Short was
crazy or Just a four-fiush trying to get
by with some high conversation.
"'Well.' said the old freighter fin
ally. 4 got a hundred here that says
yo' amt a-goin' to pull into Dodge
wearin' no plug hat and he pulled
out his roll.
".You're on said Short. and he COW
cred the hundred instantly.
The old freighter was puzzled to
have his bet picked up so quickly but
he let it run as it lay, and both men
nut up their money with the Durango
agent of the Wells-Fargo company.
AS there weren't any plug hats IN Du-
range and one couldn't be got down
from Denver within less than three
DAYS. they arranged to start for Dodge
four days later.
when the shiny top-piece arrived
from Denver the two men took the
train for Dodge. The old freighter
was stil unaware of Shorts Identity
as the quickest man on trigger theh
alive. and. in addition to that, one ol
the most accomplished bowie fighters
Short hadn't been long out of Texas
4ha,, ord HE ranutation as trimmer