William Barclay (a.k.a. Bat) Masterson gave up the life of a western gunfighter to become a New York sportswriter. He who wrote primarily about boxing in New York. people still visit his grave at Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx. As pictured here, some people leave mementoes, small whiskey bottles they drank from to toast him (see bottom of tombstone) and bullets (see top of tombstone).
Some people are lucky enough to spend their entire working life as a writer. Others transition into writing from other worlds. The Writing Loft decided to explore the one person who came to writing from another unusual career path. William Barclay “Bat” Masterson was originally a western gunfighter and lawman who ended up as a New York newspaper sports writer! It seemed appropriate to look at Bat Masterson in the aftermath of the World Series and the start of the football season.
Bat Masterson’s place of birth (about 1854) is a matter of debate. Some sources list Illinois while others list Canada. He had several law enforcement jobs out west that involved gunfighting, including a stint as a deputy to Wyatt Earp in Dodge City, Kansas. He drifted up to Trinidad, Colorado, where he was Marshall.
Ultimately, he made his way to Denver where he began promoting prize fights. He soon started writing a weekly sports column for a Denver newspaper. Taking to the road he ended up in New York City where he again joined a newspaper staff, The New York Morning Telegraph, as a sportswriter, then columnist and finally sports editor.
He was a friend of writer Damon Runyon and President Theodore Roosevelt, who appointed him Deputy U.S. Marshall for the Southern District of New York.
Masterson lived in New York at a time when the city was full of scalawags of all stripes. And rumor has it, Masterson fit right in. When he was broke, he allegedly went to pawn shops and bought old pistols which he sold to rubes in the city. He claimed the old guns were the weapons he used during his time in the west.
Masterson died at the age of 67 in 1921 sitting at his typewriter composing a newspaper column. His age alone distinguished him from other gunfighters from the wild west. Upon his death, his body was taken to Campbell’s, the famous New York funeral parlor, where a simple service was held in its chapel. He is buried in Woodlawn Cemetery in Bronx, New York. Several bullets were found atop his tombstone on the day The Writing Loft visited his grave, a unique tribute to a different kind of man and writer who lived in New York.
His large upright marker is emblazoned with the simple epitaph: “Loved by Everyone.”
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Nice article and pretty accurate from what i gathered thru the years
Are you a relative?
I knew he was a real Western figure, but had no idea he ended up as a sport’s writer in NYC. Nice article and interesting, John. (I, too, was an avid fan of the TV series.)
Very interesting, John. I remember watching the TV show as a kid. I think I even had a Bat Masterson cane. Now I find out he was a real person and a writer to boot.