Charlie Bassett True West
Charlie Bassett

Charlie Bassett has been overshadowed by his friends Bat Masterson and Wyatt Earp.  But he made some pretty big imprints on his own.

Bassett opened Dodge City’s famed Long Branch Saloon in 1872, when he was just 25.  The next year, he was elected the first sheriff of Ford County and was twice reelected.  He became Dodge City marshal when Ed Masterson was killed in 1878.  He later moved away, but came back to be part of the Dodge City Peace Commission in 1883.  Bassett died in Arkansas in early 1896.

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