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Badges That Won The West – Dodge City Marshal’S Badge

Dodge City Badges were worn by Bat Masterson (county sheriff), his brother, Ed Masterson, (a City Marshall killed in the line of duty) and Wyatt Earp (also a City Marshal), among others.  It was their job  to impose order on this wild, western Kansas cowtown where railroad workers, buffalo hunters, soldiers from Fort Dodge and cattle drovers came to drink, carouse and fight.Matt Dillon-TV’s fictional U.S. Marshall headquartered in Dodge City-was probably a composite of several lawmen who actually wore a badge and enforced the law in the Kansas cowtown.

Bat Masterson and Wyatt Earp were two of the more famous lawmen who patrolled the mean streets of Dodge City, breaking up fights and curtailing further violence by disarming and arresting the drunk, rowdy and contentious revelers that flocked to the saloons, brothels and gambling tables.  Armed with Navy Colt revolvers and steely nerves, both had a reputation for being quick on the draw and deadly with a gun that usually made it unnecessary for them to engage in actual gunplay.  A rowdy or belligerent drunk could usually be subdued by a rap on the head with the long barrel or heavy butt of a Navy Colt, and few sober men were willing to risk their lives by drawing down on either of them.

Dodge City, Kansas was born June 17, 1872 on the windswept prairie five miles west of the Fort Dodge military reservation. The new settlement included a barroom in a tent, and a three-room sod house that had been built in 1871 by pioneer rancher, Henry Sitler.

The location was significant: Liquor was prohibited in Fort Dodge, so the fledgling town was located close enough to attract business from the soldiers in the fort, but still remain legally outside its bounds. Other businesses soon followed the barroom, and on August 15, the town was organized as Buffalo City. In October the name was changed to Dodge City. There was already a Buffalo, Kansas, and the U.S. Post Office had a policy of avoiding duplicate names within the same state to avoid confusion in delivering the mail.

But Ford County, Kansas, where the town sprang up, was still a wilderness with no government, much less organized law enforcement. The county didn’t even have a sheriff until 1873. Dodge City, itself, was not formally incorporated until 1875-and it was during this two years of anarchy that the town acquired its reputation as a dangerous and violent haven for the lawless.

The military-the only vestige of government in the vicinity-had no jurisdiction outside the fort. The newly completed Atchison, Santa Fe and Topeka railroad track had turned Dodge City into a boomtown with many businesses, including multiple saloons and brothels. Buffalo hunters, railroad workers, cattle drovers and soldiers from the nearby fort fought in the streets, which inevitably led to shootings.Men died with their boots on in quick, violent bursts of gunfire ignited by free-flowing liquor, which led to the creation of a “Boot Hill” cemetery, further fueling the town’s reputation for violence.

The first recorded killing in Dodge City was in September, 1872. During the year that followed, fifteen men would die in the lawless streets and be planted on Boot Hill, giving rise to the city’s reputation as a haven for lawless hooligans and gunslingers. Law enforcement, when it came, was a combination of rough vigilante justice and deputies whose methods were as violent as the lawbreakers.

Two political factions existed in 1873-those who wanted the town to remain wide-open to liquor, gambling and prostitution, and those who felt the town’s growing reputation as a violent and dangerous place was bad for business. The law and order crowd won out, and a sheriff was appointed. The appointee, Charlie Bassett, was re-elected in 1875.

 By 1875, the great buffalo slaughter had ended, and the huge revenues flowing into Dodge City from processing and shipping buffalo hides had ended. Longhorn cattle from Texas became the town’s main source of revenue, arriving via the Chisolm and Western Trails to be shipped on to final destinations by rail.  Of course each herd arrived with its coterie of trail-weary cowboys ready to bust out, party and shoot up the town, so law and order was needed more than ever.

When Charlie Bassett-who began the trend toward more civilized law enforcement in Dodge-could not be elected to a third term according to the state constitution, William B. “Bat” Masterson was elected Ford County sheriff in 1877. Aside from his reputation as a deadly gunman, the dapper Masterson was famous for his derby hat and the gold-tipped cane he adopted after being wounded in a gunfight in 1876-the one and only time he ever killed a man in a gunfight.

Order was imposed-as it often was in the Old West-via a city ordinance prohibiting firearms within the city limits, though the ordinance in Dodge City wasn’t all-inclusive. To pacify the “wide-open” advocates, the railroad tracks became the demarcation line. North of the tracks, no guns could be carried. South of the tracks was still wide-open to booze, madams and mayhem.

Lawrence Deger, the first city marshal of Dodge was appointed by the mayor in 1875. After Deger, the Dodge City marshal’s office was occupied by a number of men with familiar names in western history, including Wyatt Earp * (1876-1879) and Bill Tilghman (1884-1886).

 * NOTE:  Though Wyatt Earp was sometimes said to have served as City Marshal during this time period, there is little evidence he ever actually held that post.  The term “marshal’ was often loosely applied to any peace officer in those days.  However, he did serve as a deputy marshal in Dodge City, and after that as a deputy sheriff along with Bat Masterson, before Masterson was elected sheriff of the county.  Bat Masterson and Wyatt Earp remained lifetime friends following their time in law enforcement in Dodge City.

About the Author

JoAnn Graham is an internet marketer and author with 28 years experience in writing/editing, advertising and marketing, and a special interest in vintage firearms and their history.

Collectors, gun fanciers, reenactors, living history and theatrical performers — find quality non-firing replicas of historic guns with the mechanical action, weight and handling characteristics of the originals at http://www.gunsofold.com. You’ll also find replicas of western badges and Civil War reenactor accessories (bugles, officer’s swords, kepi caps, etc.)