This Lawman Had Two Careers
2004 Boaz Rauchwerger
I'd like to introduce William. In 1907, at the age of 52, he decided to change careers and do something totally different. How many of us have had that urge but didn't act on it? No one says we can't have more than one career in life.
Born in 1855 in Illinois, William had three brothers and two sisters. The family eventually moved to Kansas to build a farm. It was there that William found hunting and fishing to be much more interesting than schoolwork. I guess you could say that excitement and adventure were in his blood.
For his first job, at the age of seventeen, William graded railroad bed for the railroad. Then he became a buffalo hunter and supplied meat to the railroad crews.
Following a stint as an army scout, William killed his first man in Sweetwater, Texas. It was a matter of self-defense. William and a lady friend were both wounded in an incident with her jealous ex-lover.
At the same time, his big brother Ed had become Marshal of Dodge City, Kansas. William and his brother Jim became Deputy Marshals. This was the time when Wyatt Earp was also a lawman in the area.
William, in November of 1877, was elected county Sheriff. By enforcing no gunplay laws and a curfew, he showed quite an ability as a lawman. He also developed a reputation as a gunfighter. William and his brothers managed to tame one of the wildest cattle towns in the West, Dodge City.
In an interesting contrast to his reputation as a dangerous gunman, William was a flamboyant dresser. When he arrived in Dodge City, the city paper stated that he had "cut a fine figure among the common folk."
In subsequent years, William traveled throughout the West, owned and operated gambling houses, served as a no-nonsense sheriff in a Colorado town, and continued to strike fear in the hearts and minds of tough guys and thugs.
Of the men who died in gunfights with William, he stated, "I've had to kill, yes, but only in the execution of my duties as a lawman or in self-defense." He was said to have killed twenty-six men before he turned thirty.
It was in 1905 that President Teddy Roosevelt, who was to become a good friend, appointed William as U.S. Marshal for the southern district of New York State.
After being offered the appointment of Marshal to the Oklahoma Territory, William resigned in 1907 to change careers. He no longer wanted to kill or take the chance of being killed.
Somewhere along the line, while wondering throughout the West, William had learned about the sport of boxing. He didn't fight. However, because of his interest in the sport, he was a timekeeper, a promoter, an assistant and a referee.
Boxing, during the 1880s, was controlled and promoted by professional gamblers. William, in addition to being a lawman and a fearless gunfighter, was himself a professional gambler. In time he became quite good at picking winners of boxing matches.
William attended all important boxing events in the country and started writing a weekly sports column for a Denver newspaper. That led to the final step in his change of careers. In 1907 he took a job with the Morning Telegraph in New York City to become that newspaper's sports editor. This was something he had never done before. His column, which appeared in that paper three times a week, was quite popular.
Until his death in 1921, as a result of a heart attack while typing his sports column, William was always very active in the fighting business.
Many people, when considering a change of careers, fall back on excuses. "I can't do that. I don't know how to do that." The correct and empowering statement should be "How can I do that?"
For things to change, we must change. For the future to be better, we have to make it better. Counsel with people who believe in you. Get advice from successful people. Take small steps and see the power of action in the right direction. A body in motion tends to stay in motion.
Oh, yes, what about William? Who was he? William's full name was William Barclay Masterson, "Bat" Masterson. Gene Barry portrayed the debonair gunfighter-lawman on television between 1958 and 1961.
The nickname "Bat" didn't come from the cane he occasionally carried. It was short for his given name of Bartholemew.
If you're figuratively on main street, facing a shootout with the negative side of your personality that's holding you back, I suggest you draw fast before your ideas for the future get shot down.
An Affirmation of Change
I'm identifying the positive changes I want to make in my life and taking action to make those changes.
Article reproduced with permission from Boaz Rauchwerger. You may reprint any of these articles in any publication or Web site so long as you credit Boaz Rauchwerger as the author and include this Web site address, www.Boazpower.com.