Wild West Podcast
Welcome to the Wild West podcast, where fact and legend merge. We present the true accounts of individuals who settled in towns built out of hunger for money, regulated by fast guns, who walked on both sides of the law, patrolling, investing in, and regulating the brothels, saloons, and gambling houses. These are stories of the men who made the history of the Old West come alive - bringing with them the birth of legends, brought to order by a six-gun and laid to rest with their boots on. Join us as we take you back in history to the legends of the Wild West. You can support our show by subscribing to Exclusive access to premium content at Wild West Podcast + https://www.buzzsprout.com/64094/subscribe
Wild West Podcast
When Jokes Backfire: The Cautionary Tale of Dodge City's Indian Act
Bat Masterson wasn't just a legendary gunfighter—he may have been the greatest practical joker the American West ever produced. His favorite prank? The notorious "Indian Act," where he and his friends would dress as Native Americans, complete with war paint, to terrorize boastful newcomers in Dodge City. They'd stage mock killings in the streets before charging at their target, revealing the joke at the last moment. Their careful planning included ensuring victims' weapons were unloaded or filled with blanks—but they didn't account for concealed weapons, as they discovered when a man named Harris pulled a hidden pistol from his boot and shot one of the pranksters.
Behind these elaborate pranks was the shadow of Luke McGlue, "the most notorious troublemaker that ever walked the boardwalks of Dodge City." If your horse disappeared or obscenities appeared on the water tower, locals would blame it on Luke. The catch? Luke didn't exist. He was a fictional scapegoat created by Masterson and his friends to take the blame for their countless antics, allowing the real pranksters to walk free while newspapers reported on "the Luke McGlue crowd" with a wink.
These pranks weren't just for laughs—they served as informal initiation rites in a town divided between reformers and the original "Dodge City Gang." If you could survive being the butt of a joke while maintaining your good humor, you were accepted as a true Dodge Citian. Even after dangerous incidents like the Harris shooting, the pranks continued for years, only fading as civilization gradually tamed the frontier. As one old adage went, "if you kill them, they won't learn nothing"—and the Luke McGlue crowd apparently never did learn their lesson. Discover these forgotten stories that reveal how humor, not just violence, shaped the culture of the Wild West. Want more tales of frontier pranks? Check out our book "Antiques of Luke McGlue" for stories you won't find anywhere else outside Dodge City.
