Most of the "gunfights" were simply murders, more of a bushwhacking than a showdown. Few of the gunfights involved actual face-offs as generations of screenwriters and directors would have us believe. Only a few of the gunfights pitted one notorious gunfighter against another. One gunfight that had both of those elements took place in February of 1887, in Fort Worth, between Luke Short and Longhair Jim Courtright.
The two participants were in many ways a study in contrasts. Courtright was a former Fort Worth city marshal who, for a time, had the unenviable task of keeping the peace in a part of town notorious as Hell's Half Acre.
He was born Tim Isaiah Courtright. People started calling him Jim when he served in the Civil War. "Longhair Jim" came later, when he was an Army scout who wore his hair to his shoulders. He looked like Hollywood gunfighters looked and is reported to have been, along with Clay Allison, the fastest on the draw of all the old gunslingers.
After he was defeated for a fourth term as city marshal, Courtright went to New Mexico just long enough to get himself accused of killing two men in that state. He hightailed it back to Fort Worth and opened a detective agency. A group of Texas Rangers and New Mexico authorities went to Fort Worth to arrest him but had to deal with a large group of armed citizens to do so. It didn't really matter, because his friends helped him escape anyway. He eventually stood trial for the New Mexico killings but was acquitted due to a lack of evidence.
Back in Fort Worth, Courtright crossed paths with Luke Short, a soon to be former friend of his who had a reputation as a gunfighter, every bit the match of Courtright's. The press dubbed him the "Undertaker's Friends" because he "shot them where it doesn't show."
A gambler by trade, Luke Short knew how to handle a gun, but he is believed to have been a more deliberate gunfighter, one who calmly went for accuracy over speed, though he also was said to be very quick to the gun.
Another Old West legend and gambler, Bat Masterson, was a good friend of Short's and described him as a small, quiet, mild-mannered man who much preferred the civility of a good card game or faro over gunplay.
Masterson wrote: "Luke was a little fellow, so to speak, about five feet, six inches in height, and weighing in the neighborhood of 140 pounds. It was a small package, but one of great dynamic force."
Luke Short left a trail of dead or wounded -- mostly dead -- adversaries in his wake as he plied the gambler's trade in towns like Dodge City and Tombstone. Tired of the bloody politics in those towns, he moved to Fort Worth and became proprietor of the swanky and profitable White Elephant Saloon.
Apparently, the trouble between him and Courtright started with Short's refusal to install Longhair Jim as a "special deputy" at the White Elephant, suggesting that Courtright was running some sort of "protection" racket. When Short refused the offer, Courtright reminded Short that proprietors of swanky saloons often got shot. Short said he wasn't too worried about it, but thanks all the same.
Of the actual gunfight itself, there are many versions. Masterson related that he was with Short when a business associate of Short's named Jake Johnson came in to say that Longhair Jim was outside asking to see Luke Short. Short went outside to meet him and at some point both men opened fire. As was usually the case, Short's bullets -- five of them -- found their mark. The undertaker probably wasn't quite so happy with this job, but the press loved it, and it remains one of the best known gunfights from that era, partly because of the reputation of both men.
There was one more bit of gunplay left for Luke Short but other than that he led a relatively tranquil and peaceful life until he died at age 39 from heart failure.
Masterson noted the irony of such a quiet passing for the not-so-old gunfighter: "When the time came for Luke Short to pass out of this life -- render up the ghost as it were -- he was able to lie down in bed in a home that was his own, surrounded by his wife and friends, and peacefully await the coming of the end."
People who had run afoul of Luke Short, including Longhair Jim Courtright, never had that opportunity.
