143 years ago today, Bat Masterson fought his last gunfight. So said Wikipedia this morning, and upon looking into the matter more, I was surprised to learn Masterson lived 40 years after this final fight. When you say someone fought their last gunfight, I assume you mean they died in the skirmish. My mistake. Sometimes, gunfighters just hang up their pistols.
Interesting life for ol’ Masterson. Born in Quebec, county sheriff in Dodge City, ended up being a New York guy who was friends with Theodore Roosevelt. Sportswriter. Boxing fan. Real swashbuckling type. But what we’re interested in today is that Bat Masterson was not born as Bat. He was born Bartholomew William Barclay Masterson, which—combined with him being born in Quebec—feels kind of royal. Again, we’ve been deceived. “Working-class Irish,” the free encyclopedia tells us of his origins.
Is Bat always short for Bartholomew? It’s hard to know. I was guessing there’d be more people named Bat. Nope. Just Masterson. If you google “famous people named Bat,” he’s the only one on the first page. Try looking into famous Bartholomews, and almost all of them just went by Bartholomew, with a few—like the Simpson child—going by Bart.
Until we meet more Bats…
Bartholomews don’t always go by Bat.
Every Bat we know of is named Bartholomew.
This also goes for the winged rodents.
