Peace was maintained. On November 19, 1883, Harris and Short sold the Long Branch Saloon. Short went to Fort Worth, Texas, where he bought into another saloon. In 1884, Short reached an out-of-court settlement after threatening to sue the city of Dodge for forcing him to leave town the previous year. Short reportedly became wealthy at the gambling tables and moved into Fort Worth society. A gambling dispute led to a shootout on February 8, 1887, in which Short killed the dangerous gunfighter Jim Courtright. When Short’s health began to fail, he returned to Kansas and sought relief at the mineral spa at Geuda Springs. Luke Short died there of what was described as ‘dropsy’ on September 8, 1893. His wife took his body back to Fort Worth to be buried. He was 39 years old.

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This article was written by P.A. Mallory and originally published in the June 1997 of Wild West.

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