Early Life
Short was born in Mississippi; his family moving to Texas when he was two years of age. As a teenager he left home after it was rumored that he had killed another youth with a pair of scissors. He became a cowboy, working herds north to the Kansas railheads. He traveled to Abilene, Kansas, in 1870, and attempted to make a living as a professional gambler.
In 1876, he arrived in Sidney, Nebraska, where he obtained employment as a whiskey peddler. During this time he sold whiskey illegally to Sioux Indians from a trading post far north of Sidney. This was a federal offense. Short later admitted to killing a half dozen inebriated Sioux natives on various occasions during this venture. Despite this, Short was hired as a scout for the United States Army cavalry and worked in that capacity from 1878 to 1879.
According to Ed Lemmon in "Boss Cowman," he was in Ogallala, Nebraska, the northern point of the Texas Trail, from 1877 to 1878. During this time, he gambled at Cowboy's Rest Saloon, sometimes in the company of Bat Masterson. James Cook, in "40 Years..." said that he had watched Short practicing drawing his gun on the banks of South Platte River. Cooked claimed that he had never seen anyone faster than Short.
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