Wild West Chronicles

Bat Masterson to the Rescue

In 1880, Bat Masterson's old friend, Ben Thompson, asks him to help save his brother from the gallows. Ben's brother, Billy, has evidently shot off a man's thumb in a gunfight and is wounded himself. While Billy claims self-defense, an overzealous sheriff is eager to see him hang. Though he is no longer a lawman, and he lacks any kind of legal authority, Bat agrees to travel to Nebraska to talk to the sheriff. When his common-sense appeal fails to impress the sheriff, Bat hatches an elaborate plan to help Billy escape, which only succeeds when Buffalo Bill shows up to lend a hand. Years later, when Bat's editor balks at printing the tale, Bat tries to explain the difficulties of dispensing justice in the Old West.