1935 Old Waldorf-Astoria Bar Book

161

HISTORICAL

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