CLASSIC GUNFIGHTS

BATTLE OF PLAZE: BAT MASTERSON VS PEACOCK & UPDEGRAFF

- BOB BOZE BELL

APRIL 16, 1881

Traveling mostly by rail, Bat Masterson has just covered 1,100 miles to come to the aid of his estranged brother Jim. Bat was just in Tombstone, Arizona Territory, with Wyatt Earp when he received word of threats against his brother's life.

As the Dodge City-bound train pulls into the Kansas depot from the west, Bat swings down off the train on the north side of the tracks. It is about noon. His intuition tells him his brother's enemies may attempt to round him up at the depot.

He scans the train platform and the busy streets looking for trouble. As the caboose passes, he notices two men on the opposite side of the tracks, walking toward the depot.

Bat immediately recognizes both men and shouts, "Hold up there a minute, you two. I want to talk to you."

Lady Gay Saloon owner A.J. Peacock and his brother-in-law, bartender Al Updegraff, take one look at the familiar stocky figure striding toward them and turn on their heels, ducking behind the corner of the jail. Jim is partners with Peacock at the saloon, and the two had disagreed over firing Updegraff, a dishonest drunk in Jim's eyes.

All parties pull weapons and begin to bang away at each other. (It's unclear which side fires first.) Bat retreats to the railroad track's three-foot berm and hides behind it.

Bullets snap over Bat's head and thud into Dr. McCarty's drugstore on the north side of Front Street. Bat returns fire, knocking huge splinters of wood from the corner of the hoosegow.

Soon, Bat is fired upon from several south-side saloons as "deadline partisans" join the fray. The compliment is returned from the north side of the tracks as friendly fire (probably from Jim and his friends) rips into the south-side buildings.