Lawman Bat Masterson hailed from Quebec, Canada, but lived in Illinois and Kansas before proceeding to work on the Santa Fe Railroad of Dodge City.
He was born Bartholemew Masterson in 1853. He became a buffalo hunter and engaged in the Battle of Adobe Walls in Texas in 1874 and thereafter worked as an Army scout. Masterson moved back to Dodge City, became a saloon owner and served as a city policeman before being elected sheriff of Ford County.
After that, he went to work for Wyatt Earp at Earp’s saloon in Tombstone. In Colorado, he served as a deputy sheriff and was instrumental in preventing the extradition of John “Doc” Holliday from Colorado to Arizona to stand trial for murder. He then returned to Dodge City again where he started a newspaper called “Vox Populi” which only had one issue.
He served as town marshal in Creede, Colorado, got married, went to New York City where he also served as a marshal. He later became a prominent journalist and sports editor for the New York Morning Telegraph where he was an authority on prizefighting.
Earlier in his career, Bat was given one of those Colt 45 Peacemakers with an extra long barrel called the “Buntline Special” by a novelist from the East during a special ceremony. Once all the hubbub was over, it’s said that Bat sawed off the barrel to make it regular size like everyone else’s.