The Long Branch Saloon
Tensions built between the Mastersons and Webster and his allies over the next several months. What triggered the war was the purchase of a half interest in the Long Branch Saloon by a gambler and gunfighter named Luke Short in 1883. Short was a friend of the Mastersons and other gang members.
Webster hoped to drive Short out of the business and had several of the prostitutes who worked for the Long Branch arrested. Luke went to the jail to protest the matter but was confronted by city policeman, Louis C. Hartman, and there was an exchange of gunplay. Neither man was hurt but Short mistakenly believed he had killed the officer and barricaded himself in the Long Branch. When he learned that Hartman was unharmed Short submitted to arrest. He was sent out of town as an 'undesirable' several days later.
Read more about this topic: Dodge City War
Famous quotes containing the words long and/or branch:
“But such is life, the silliest proverbs prove to be true, and when a man thinks, now it’s all right, it’s not all right by a long shot. Man proposes, God disposes, and there’s always that last straw to break the camel’s back.”
—Alfred Döblin (1878–1957)
“In communist society, where nobody has one exclusive sphere of activity but each can become accomplished in any branch he wishes, society regulates the general production and thus makes it possible for me to do one thing today and another tomorrow, to hunt in the morning, fish in the afternoon, rear cattle in the evening, criticize after dinner, just as I have a mind, without ever becoming hunter, fisherman, shepherd or critic.”
—Karl Marx (1818–1883)