Pages

Tuesday, April 15, 2014

M is for Masterson, Bat

My theme for A- Z is the year my book takes place: 1881. I"ll be posting about people, places, and random facts about the year as it relates - however distantly - to my book, West of Paradise.

Today we have M for Bat Masterson, who worked as a buffalo hunter, Indian scout, sheriff (Ford County 1877-1879) and deputy US marshal (1879), but mostly made his living as a saloon keeper and gambler.



In West of Paradise, I placed Bat Masterson in Tombstone as a Faro* dealer (or banker) at the Oriental Saloon where Alanna takes a fancy to him. However, while it's true he was a Faro dealer at the Oriental, he left Tombstone in April and so was not present in the town for the actual gunfight which took place in October. 


* Faro was a 17th century French card game played between a banker and any number of players. It was banned in France but continued to be played in England and was eventually exported to the United States where it became wildly popular "due to its fast action, easy-to-learn rules, and better odds than most games of chance."

Posted by at
Labels: , ,

12 comments:

  1. Alex J. Cavanaugh15/4/14 6:49 AM

    I wonder if people still play Faro today?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Liza15/4/14 6:53 AM

    Minus the gunfight, I would like to have been sitting at one of those tables, just to see what it was like.

    ReplyDelete
  3. The Happy Whisk15/4/14 9:42 AM

    I could never play because the idea of losing money in a card game or any gambling, gives me a big rash.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Julie Flanders15/4/14 9:54 AM

    I never heard of Faro before. Honestly could there be a better name for a saloon keeper and gambler than Bat Masterson? I've always thought this guy was awesome simply because of his name. :)

    ReplyDelete
  5. Huntress15/4/14 10:16 AM

    In the time after the Civil War, the West had such a conglomerate of unusual characters. Or did we romanticize them due to the 50s and 60s westerns on Tv and the theaters? LOL

    ReplyDelete
  6. Robin15/4/14 10:52 AM

    Never heard of Faro before (how is this possible????) but it sounds fascinating. So glad you included this bit of history in your novel.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Steven15/4/14 12:17 PM

    Faro - that's my new factoid for today. Interesting...

    ReplyDelete
  8. Susan Gourley/Kelley15/4/14 12:55 PM

    I didn't know faro was such an old game. cool facts.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Liz A.15/4/14 4:46 PM

    Faro. Must learn the rules. Although, I probably should learn to play poker first...

    ReplyDelete
  10. Mina Burrows15/4/14 10:17 PM

    Love the name Bat Masterson.
    Faro sounds like a game I would play.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Mark Means15/4/14 10:50 PM

    Everyone just seemed more interesting in the old West. Bat Masterson is no exception.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Unknown16/4/14 4:23 AM

    A really interesting post. Thank you so much, nice to follow and connect through atozchallenge.
    http://aimingforapublishingdeal.blogspot.co.uk

    ReplyDelete

If you're interested in my blog I'm interested in your comments.

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)