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HISTORICAL
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Plunkett dissented. He was emphatic about it.
"I tell you what," he said, "that fellow, Bat Master–
son, has killed more innocent men in his day than anybody
else in the United States! "
Whether the statement was immediately challenged or
not, is not recorded. Masterson had good friends in that
group. A little later, one of them made an excuse and left
the room. He knew where Bat was, and he got into a han–
som and ordered the driver to go there, lickety-split. And
he gave a news-hot version
o~
what Plunkett had said.
Hardly half an hour after the statement had been made,
Masterson in person d(amatically appeared at the main
door of the Barroom. Ohe of the men at the table caught
sight of him and jumped up. The others, following his
gaze, turned. Two or three right hands went to hips.
Bat, after halting long enough to achieve sensational
effect, strode straight across to the group. He stopped at
the side of his detractor's chair.
"Plunkett," he said, "I hear you have been talking bad
about me." With the words, he suddenly dug his hand
between Colonel Dick's neck and collar, shut his fist, and
made as
if
to pull the other out of his chair.
Plunkett was conciliatory.· "Sit down, Hat," he said; "sit
down and have a quiet drink, and talk things over."
Then a man on his other side jumped ·Up. "Take your
hands off my friend, Dick Plunkett!" he shouted at Mas–
terson, at the same time trying to jerk something from his
hip pocket.
Meantime, the effect upon the crowd had been panicky.
Immediately the identity of Masterson had begun to be
whispered about. "That's Bat Masterson," men told one
another. "He'll shoot on sight," some added. So before