He may be little known today, but Ben Daniels was a feared gunman who typified the journeyman gunfighter every bit as much as those whose names have become legend. Yet his story has eluded researchers and yarn-spinners alike—until now.
Two prominent western historians have teamed up to tell the story of Ben Daniels’s rise from outlaw and convict to presidential protégé and high-ranking officer of the law. Tracing his life from jailhouse to White House, from Dodge City to San Juan Hill, Robert DeArment and Jack DeMattos present a full-length biography of Daniels, the most controversial of Teddy Roosevelt’s “White House Gunfighters.”
The book faithfully traces Daniels’s early years, the time he spent in the Wyoming Territorial Penitentiary, his rebirth as a Dodge City lawman—including the controversy over his shooting a man in the back—and his part in the Battle of Cimarron. Following military service with the Rough Riders in the Spanish-American War, Daniels was appointed by President Roosevelt as U.S. marshal for turbulent Arizona Territory. Daniels was as quick with his mind as with a gun, but he had a rough ride to redemption.
This original biography belongs on the shelf of every gunfighter buff and anyone interested in the broader story of the Old West. It rescues Daniels from the footnotes of history and shows us the amazing life of one of the West’s most intriguing gunmen.

A Rough Ride to Redemption: The Ben Daniels Story

Biographies & Memoirs

DeArment, Robert K.

DeMattos, Jack

Historical

University of Oklahoma Press

Index, 60 b/w illustrations and photos. Masterson was a buffalo hunter, Indian fighter, lawman, gunfighter, gambler and adventurer. Sheriff in Dodge City in 1877 at the boyish age of 24, he was prominent throughout the West. Teddy Roosevelt had great admiration for Bat's career as a lawman and appointed him Deputy U. S. Marshal in 1905. Correspondence between Bat and Teddy during Bat's term is included. Bat died with his boots on, albeit at his typewriter as a New York columnist in 1921.

Masterson and Roosevelt (The Early West)

Creative Pub. Co

The Earp Decision (The Early West)

Sports & Outdoors

Individual Sports

Early West

Limited Edition; First Printing; 8vo. Limited to 1,500 copies. Index, biblio, genealogy, 65 b/w photos, maps and illustrations. Dave Mather was with Dave Rudabaugh in Arkansas, Bat Masterson and Doc Holliday as part of the Dodge City Gang, and in Mobeetie when Wyatt Earp was goldbricking. DeMattos has gathered new information about this mysterious man by using court documents, contemporary newspaper material and interviews with Mather descendants.; Hardcover; Outlaws

Mysterious Gunfighter: The Story of Dave Mather (The Early West)

Winner of the Co-Founders Best Book Award from Westerners International, Sept. 2016 Often times the smaller the man, the harder the punch—this adage was true in the case of diminutive Luke Short, whose brief span of years played out in the Wild West. His adventures began as a teenage cowboy who followed the trail from Texas to the Kansas railheads. He then served as a scout for the U.S. Army during the Indian wars and, finally, he perfected his skills as a gambler in locations that included Leadville, Tombstone, Dodge City, and Fort Worth. In 1883, in what became known as the "Dodge City War," he banded together with Wyatt Earp, Bat Masterson, and others to protect his ownership interests in the Long Branch Saloon—an event commemorated by the famous "Dodge City Peace Commission" photograph. The irony is that Luke Short is best remembered for being the winning gunfighter in two of the most celebrated showdowns in Old West history: the shootout with Charlie Storms in Tombstone, Arizona, and the showdown against Jim Courtright in Fort Worth, Texas. He would have hated that. During his lifetime, Luke Short became one of the best known sporting men in the United States, and one of the wealthiest. He had been a partner in the Long Branch Saloon in Dodge City, as well as the White Elephant in Fort Worth. He became friends with other wealthy sporting men, such as William H. Harris, Jake Johnson, and Bat Masterson, who helped broaden his gaming interests to include thoroughbred horse racing and boxing. Before he died he would become a familiar figure in Chicago, Memphis, New Orleans, and Saratoga Springs, where he raced his string of horses. He traveled with other wealthy sporting men in private railroad cars to attend heavyweight championship fights. Luke Short was always a little man dealing in big games. He married the beautiful Hattie Buck, who could turns heads at all the top resorts they visited as man and wife. Jack DeMattos and Chuck Parsons have researched deeply into all records to produce the first serious biography of Luke Short, revealing in full the epitome of a sporting man of the Wild West.

The Notorious Luke Short: Sporting Man of the Wild West (Volume 16) (A.C. Greene Series)

Parsons, Chuck

University of North Texas Press

Nashville Franklyn “Buckskin Frank” Leslie was a man of mystery during his lifetime. His reputation has rested on two gunfights—both in storied Tombstone, Arizona—but he was much more than a deadly gunfighter. Jack DeMattos and Chuck Parsons have combined their research efforts to help solve the questions of where Leslie came from and how he died. Leslie developed a reputation as a man to be left alone. Such notables as the Earps, Doc Holliday, and John Ringo wisely avoided confrontations with him. Leslie was a “lady killer” both figuratively and—in one celebrated incident—literally. Beyond his gunfighting legacy, DeMattos and Parsons also explore Leslie’s scouting with General Crook on the Great Plains and his alleged service as a deputy for Wild Bill Hickok in Abilene, Kansas.

They Called Him Buckskin Frank: The Life and Adventures of Nashville Franklyn Leslie (Volume 19) (A.C. Greene Series)

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