In Topeka, Short filed the appropriate petition to the governor stating that a ‘band of armed men’ had forced him out of Dodge City because of ‘political differences and business rivalry.’ He added that if he had remained he would have been murdered. W.F. Petillon, county clerk of Ford County, was summoned by the governor. He backed up Short’s story.

Subscribe Today

• Did you enjoy our article?
• Read more in Wild West magazine
• Subscribe online and save nearly 40%!!!
 

Governor Glick wired Sheriff Hinkle about conditions in Dodge City. Hinkle answered on May 11 that the men were expelled to avoid trouble and that he could keep the peace in Dodge. Glick apparently didn’t like Hinkle’s answer because he wired back: ‘The accounts of the way things have been going on there are simply monstrous, and it requires that the disgrace that is being brought upon Dodge City, and the State of Kansas, by the conduct that is represented to have occurred there, should be wiped out. Your dispatch to me presents an extraordinary state of affairs, one that is outrageous on its face. You tell me that the mayor has compelled several parties to leave the town for refusing to comply with the ordinances. Such a statement as that if true, simply shows that the mayor is unfit for his place, that he does not do his duty, and instead of occupying the position of peace maker, the man whose duty it is to see that the ordinances are enforced by legal processes in the courts, starts out to head a mob to drive people away from their homes and their business.’

Short and friends, including Wyatt Earp, Doc Holliday, Shotgun Collins and Rowdy Joe Lowe, were assembling in Kansas City. Bat Masterson and Charlie Bassett were already there. Newspapers across the country were now carrying the story of what they called the ‘Dodge City War.’ On May 15, the Kansas City Evening Star, obviously in sympathy with Luke Short, published a list of the men (along with their reputations) who were preparing to descend on Dodge City. The paper concluded: ‘Such is the party who are going to Dodge City to see to it that Short is permitted to reenter his place of business and protect him from molestation. It is probable that they will be joined by others before they arrive at Dodge City, and those who are acquainted with the party and their disposition are at no hesitancy in predicting that there is going to be trouble of a bloody nature if resistance is offered to Short’s return.’ When Sheriff Hinkle learned of this threat from Kansas City, he gathered a posse to meet all incoming trains.

Short and friends went to Caldwell, Kan. Some of them, including Earp and Holliday, apparently moved on to Colorado to round up more troops. ‘Masterson, Wyatt Earp, and all the sports in the country, held a meeting at Silverton and decided to take Dodge City by storm,’ according to a letter dated June 2, 1883, and published anonymously in the Topeka Daily Commonwealth three days later. ‘Short is at Caldwell but will meet the party at Cimarron, 18 miles west of Dodge, perhaps Sunday night [June 3] or soon after. Horses will be taken at Cimarron and the whole party will rendezvous at Mr. Oliver’s, two miles west of Dodge. Doc Holliday and Wyatt Earp [who had taken care of business with the Clantons and other 'cowboys' in Tombstone two years earlier] are now secretly in Dodge City, watching matters. When the time for action comes a telegram will reach them worded as follows: ‘Your tools will be there at _____,’ giving the time agreed upon. The plan is to drive all of Short’s enemies out of Dodge at the mouth of the revolvers.’

Wyatt Earp later told his biographer, Stuart Lake, his version of what happened when he arrived in Dodge City on May 31. There was nothing secret about Earp’s arrival, and Holliday was not with him at that time. The four men with Earp were Dan Tipton, Johnny Green, Texas Jack Vermillion and Johnny Millsap. As he stepped off the train, Earp was met by ‘Prairie Dog’ Dave Morrow, an ex-buffalo hunter, part-time lawman and friend of Bat Masterson. Morrow was wearing a special policeman’s badge. After Earp explained his presence, Morrow agreed that Luke Short got ‘a dirty deal.’ Earp stated that if he and his four companions were deputized, they could legally wear their guns in town. Morrow looked into the eyes of the gunmen and appointed all five of them city policemen. Earp sent his men to lookout points, while additional support arrived–Charlie Bassett, Frank McLain, Shotgun Collins and others.

Help HistoryNet by bookmarking to