b'became fast friends. This friendship would soon prove evenand Dodge City, Bat Masterson style (Clavin, Dodge City, more fortuitous for Tilghman when it was Masterson, nowpp. 184-186).sporting the moniker Bat, who was elected sheriff of Ford County, Kansas. Remembering his young buffalo huntingWhile the patrols would continue, the grins would soon friend, Masterson called upon Tilghman, who had starteddisappear as the Dodge City of 1878 would be convulsed in a 160-acre ranch outside of Dodge. Ranching was rough,an Indian uprising and the murder of a beloved actress at and his marriage was not a happy one so when Mastersonthe hands of a spoiled rich kid.offered up the job as one of his deputies Tilghman eagerly jumped at the chance. It was both a fulfillment of his dreamReeling emotionally by the murder of his brother Ed, and the perfect opportunity to get away from his wife sincethe Dodge City Town Marshal, Sheriff Masterson would the marriage he quickly realized was a bad mistake (Clavin,soon have to deal with an external threat, the uprising of Dodge City, pp. 183-184). Cheyenne Chief Dull Knife and some 300 of his followers who had fled the destitute conditions of Fort Robinson. It must be added here that Tilghman was no angel. Heck,They were marching north, killing anyone who got in their almost all of the famed Old West lawmen had a scrapeway and making a direct beeline for Dodge City.Part of or two - or more with the law. He had been arrested onthe tribe actually got to within four miles of the Dodge City a charge of train robbery (actually instigated by a futurelimits, burning a nearby ranch. Tilghman, who had not seen associate of Billy the Kid\'s, "Dirty Dave" Rudabaugh) priorIndian fighting up close as Masterson briefly had at Adobe to being deputized, but had been bailed out by Masterson,Walls in the recent Red River War, did some scouting and who knew the charges to be ridiculous. However, he wouldthen helped supervise defenses within Dodge City itself subsequently be brought up on a charge of horse stealing,(Clavin, Dodge City, P.240). Dull Knife, however, skirted and while once more Masterson came to the rescue, he alsoDodge, was confronted by the Army and after sufferingDora Hand, also known as Fanny Keenan, was tragically allegedly gave Tilghman a stiff reprimand (Clavin, Dodgemassive casualties would be forced to surrender with thein the wrong place at the wrong time.City, p. 178). remnants of his tribe. man. Be that as it may, the relationship between Dora Hand Tilghman probably had no illusions about how toughBut even as the Indian threat subsided, a greater personaland Dog Kelley was close enough to upset another suitor, life as a lawman would be, how things could go sour fasttragedy would befall the Dodge City community as a wholethe spoiled rich kid of a prosperous Texas rancher. James , but he probably didn\'t know how quickly things wouldwithin weeks of the uprising\'s collapse, and Bill Tilghman"Spike" Kenedy, who, as spoiled and rich as he was, was go "south" when on his first day on the job patrolling thewould find himself directly in the middle of it. used to getting things his way and was constantly in trouble streets of Dodge he walked straight into a gunfight andwith the law. He too tried to win Dora Hand\'s heart but she witnessedLuke Short, one of Dodge City\'s sometimesFanny Keenan was a beautiful actress and a popularrejected his advances.fine, sometimes quite unsavory characters get shot in thesongstress in her early thirties who came out west to Dodge head. Tilghman rushed out, gun drawn, after the attackers,earlier that year. She quickly won the hearts of the musicalSpurned by Dora Hand, he constantly brooded and but mesmerized by Short\'s survival, did not pursue them.theater community of Dodge City. She had also won theplanned revenge - not on Miss Hand but on the ebullient When asked by Masterson if there had been any trouble,heart of the current mayor of Dodge, James "Dog" Kelley. mayor whose jovial nature and popularity seemed to dig Tilghman responded, "not worth mentioning." Masterson,The married Mayor Kelley fell in love with the actress,at Kenedy\'s psyche. When Kelley in a fatherly way tried who by this time was aware of the shooting, then asked,though it is uncertain how devoted Miss Keenan, alsoto dissuade Kenedy from causing trouble with either the "No arrests for Luke\'s hat being shot full of holes?" Asknown as Dora Hand, was towards the Mayor. She wasnew marshal, Charlie Bassett or with Masterson, Kenedy Tilghman began to reply, he noticed the big grin on thesaid to be fleeing an ex-husband and may or may not havephysically assaulted the mayor, only to be given a goodsheriff\'s face. It was, "welcome to lawing in Ford Countybeen willing to start up another relationship with a marriedcontinued on page 32ArizonaRealCountry.com August 2019 31'