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Army scout, lawman, professional gambler, gunfighter, and journalist (1853–1921) known for his exploits in the 19th and early 20th-century Old West; a good friend and associate of the legendary lawman Wyatt Earp in both Dodge City and Tombstone, Arizona. Partly-printed DS, signed “W. B. Masterson, Sheriff,” one page, 8 x 10.5, June 26, 1879. Subpoena issued in Ford County, Kansas, commanding H. P. Niese "to be and appear in your own proper person, before the Judge of the District Court of the State of Kansas, sitting in and for the County of Ford at the Court House in Dodge City, County of Ford on the 26th day of June…then and there to testify on behalf of the Dft. in a certain matter of controversy now pending and undetermined in said Court." Signed at the conclusion in ink by a court clerk, and endorsed on the reverse by Masterson: "Recd. this writ June 26th, 1879, June 26, 1879, Executed the same by reading to the within named witness. W. B. Masterson, Sheriff. Fees, S&R—50 ,1st person 25—75." In fine condition, with a small chip to one edge.
Issued at the height of Dodge City’s turbulent cattle-town era, this document places Bat Masterson squarely in his official capacity as sheriff during one of the most storied periods of frontier law enforcement. By 1879, Dodge City stood as a crossroads of commerce, vice, and violence, where figures like Masterson and his close associate Wyatt Earp struggled to impose order on a transient population of cowboys, gamblers, and opportunists. While Masterson’s legend is often tied to gunfights and gambling halls, this subpoena underscores the routine but essential duties that defined his office—serving writs, compelling testimony, and upholding the rule of law. The endorsement in Masterson’s own hand illustrates the administrative realities behind the mythology of the Old West—justice was carried out not only at the barrel of a gun, but through the formal processes of the court.
The Western Americana auction of Jochen Zeitz.
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