Bat Masterson, once both feared and admired on the violent frontier as a lawman and gunfighter, spent his final years not with a six-shooter on his hip but with a pen in his hand. After years of chasing outlaws, dealing cards, and upholding justice in places like Dodge City and Tombstone, Masterson left behind the dust and danger of the West for the electric energy of New York City. By the early 20th century, he had reinvented himself as a sportswriter, embracing the fast-paced world of journalism.
Working for the New York Morning Telegraph, Masterson became a well-known columnist celebrated for his wit, sharp opinions, and deep knowledge of boxing—a sport he followed with passion. He mingled with champions and promoters, wrote about prizefights with the same flair he once brought to gunfights, and carried the aura of an Old West legend into the modern age. Amid cigar smoke and the clatter of typewriters, Bat found a new kind of fame—one written in newsprint instead of drawn from the barrel of a gun.
A photograph taken by Bain News Service captures him in this surprising chapter, a man far from the dusty trails of Kansas but still unmistakably Bat Masterson. There’s a quiet confidence in his eyes, a hint of the man who once faced down outlaws—and now stared down deadlines. He died at his desk in 1921, writing until his last breath—a fitting end for someone who lived many lives and left behind more than one legend.