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 or just buy us a cup of coffee at https://buymeacoffee.com/wildwestpodcast
Wild West Podcast
Bullets for Whiskey: The Truth Behind Old West Drinking
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Pour yourself a shot and settle in for an entertaining journey through Dodge City lore and fine spirits! Our debut episode of "Whiskey and Westerns on Wednesday" brings together host Mike King and Dodge City historian Brad Smalley to explore frontier legends while sampling Ardbeg 10, a smoky Islay scotch.
We kick things off by shattering a persistent Wild West myth about the origin of "shot" glasses. Despite romantic notions of cowboys trading bullets for whiskey, historical records reveal that in 1870s Dodge City, a shot cost about 25 cents—enough to buy nearly ten bullets. When George Hoover established the first saloon in what would become Dodge, he dispensed whiskey by the ladle for two bits, likely delivering a more generous pour than today's standard shot.
The heart of our episode revolves around Luke McGlue, Dodge City's most infamous resident who never actually existed. This entirely fictional character served as the perfect scapegoat for the town's practical jokers, including legendary figures like Bat Masterson and Wyatt Earp. When pranks were pulled and someone needed to take the blame, Luke McGlue became the untraceable culprit, preventing potential violence in a town where everyone carried guns.
We share the hilarious tale of Dr. Meredith, a traveling "medical man" who came to deliver a lecture on "private diseases" after corresponding with the nonexistent Luke. What followed was an elaborately orchestrated practical joke featuring staged disruptions, gunfire that extinguished the saloon's lamps, and ultimately a terrified doctor fleeing town on the first train out.
Throughout our storytelling, we appreciate the complex flavors of Ardbeg 10, discussing how peat imparts its distinctive smoky character during the whiskey-making process and identifying flavor notes from beeswax to black pepper.
Subscribe to our podcast for weekly episodes where we'll continue exploring legendary characters, historical tales, and fine spirits from the American frontier. Search "Wild West podcast" to find us and join our Wednesday tradition of whiskey and wonderful stories!
Introduction to Whiskey Westerns
Speaker 1Here we go again. I demand more.
Speaker 2I want it, I need it and I'm gonna have it. This pod show is pleased to bring you Whiskey Westerns on Wednesday, direct from Dodge City, kansas, featuring rich topics on the legends of the Old West. Whiskey to motivate Westerns, to inspire Get it, play it, drink it.
Speaker 3Welcome everybody to our very first Whiskey and Westerns on Wednesday pod show. My name is Mike King. I'm the producer and writer of Wild West Podcast. Today we have with us Brad Smalley, a noted passionate Dodge City historian and the narrator of our show. During each pod show we will be talking about one or more of the legends of Dodge City. We will also take a few shots from one of our selected bottles of whiskey. Brad, welcome to today's show. What do you have in store for us this evening?
Speaker 1Well, for lack of anything better and trust me, there's not much better out there we're going to start with a bottle of scotch, believe it or not, the Artbag 10. We're going to start with a bottle of scotch, believe it or not, the Ardbeg 10, each 10 years. It's one of the Isla Scotches, one of five distilleries on the island of Isla in Scotland. It is a single malt and, mike, I'm ready to pour whenever you are.
Speaker 3Oh, I'm ready for it myself. Why don't you get me a little shot there and we'll see what this Arbic 10 tastes like?
Speaker 1Well now, as of course you know, we not the first time today we have sampled this.
Speaker 3No, we had a little bit prior to our show just to make sure that we didn't cough when we drank it.
Speaker 1It's just a little bit of tasting notes. It's fairly clear for a single malt scotch it's very light, almost like a white wine. It is not subtle for all of you scotch drinkers out there, if there are any. It is not subtle for all of you scotch drinkers out there, if there are any. Now I should add, of course, since we are of course, a Western American, western podcast scotch, not the most American of alcohols. However, like many scotches, isla is aged in American bourbon casks. So there you have it. There's the American tie.
The Truth About Shot Glasses
Speaker 3That's very good to know, brad, and you know one of the things that has always been a mystery to me. You know we're drinking out of a glass here and you poured me a little bit more than a shot, but anyway, I was thinking about the shot glass. Can you tell me a little bit about the history of the shot and the shot glass? Because what I understand is that the Cowboys used to trade a bullet for a shot of whiskey and that's why it was called a shot of whiskey. Is there any truth to that or is that myth?
Speaker 1That's one of those great American Western myths. Really, the story is great. I've used it myself, in fact. However, really nothing could be further from the truth. We've done some research in several different sources. Generally speaking, a shot of whiskey would run you about two bits 25 cents. A specific Dodge City example when George Hoover opened up the first bar that became Dodge City, he was selling a ladle whiskey by the ladle for 25 cents. Now, of course, we have no way of knowing how big his ladle was.
Speaker 3No we don't, but you can imagine a ladle back in those days, probably more than our standard shot in 2018.
Speaker 2I would say at least a cup of coffee out of that one.
Speaker 1Now, the price that we have figured is in the 1870s. 25 cents would have bought you not one bullet closer to 10.
Speaker 3Yeah, yeah, okay, so bullets are cheaper then than 25 cents.
Speaker 1Well, life is a little bit cheaper than a shot of whiskey. I guess, I guess, so I guess so All right.
Speaker 3Well, I can tell you that your fact and legend story really does not come close to the sweetness of my first shot of Arbeg, so I'll beg you for another one. How about that? We've, we've got a whole bottle to go, okay, well, I want to take another shot of this and we'll keep on moving here. Um, okay, one more question before we get started on the legendary character of the Old West why is peat needed for whiskey production and how does the smoke flavor come into the whiskey?
Peat and Whiskey Production
Speaker 1Well, in that part of Scotland, actually in much of Scotland, one of their biggest natural resources is peat. Okay, now, peat is almost now peat is it's almost sludge really. It is decayed. Uh, vegetable matter that uh over the course, in the whiskey or what.
Speaker 1What they use to dry it out, uh, it is. Whereas in many parts of the frontier they would use, uh say, buffalo chips to start a fire very good, any sort of natural resource, something that could dry things out, because this doesn't taste grassy at all. Not in the slightest, not in the slightest. What you're getting is the smoke that dried out the barley that they used to make then the whiskey, much as they would just any campfire, and there are several scotches out there that you can really tell that campfire odor. You can really get that smoke. This is more of, almost more of, an oily, an oily smoke, but that is that's really. All it was used for is just to dry out the grain.
Speaker 3Well, you know, just kind of taking a sniff of this, you were talking earlier that it smelled a little like black pepper uh, there are lots of different tasting notes we could do.
Speaker 1we could go probably another 30 minutes just talking about all the flavors that we can get out of here and uh, well, we did that a little bit Before we even got started on the show Before we came on the air.
Speaker 3Folks, yeah, you know we had a nurse with us too and she was talking about. It smelled a little like a.
Speaker 1Band-Aid that is not uncommon in a single malt scotch, especially not from the Isla Scotches. The isla scotches, uh, I truly I don't know how else to describe that, other than when you first open up a box of brand new band-aids, you get that. Uh, we were talking also. Uh, she was getting some of that. Uh, ether, ether, uh, was that, was that in the nose or the theI get that what you're talking about. I almost got a little more menthol in there and the more I'm thinking about that kind of Band-Aid, it's almost turning into beeswax for me. It's getting that—you mentioned the sweetness and it is very sweet. It's really turning into beeswax. Along with that fruit. I'm getting pear. Yeah, some little pear in here. Get it out of here.
Speaker 3A little black pepper. Black pepper lime. I'm just wondering if we're going to need a Band-Aid after we get through with this.
Speaker 2But anyway, let's get started with.
The Legend of Luke McGlue
Speaker 3You know, I just had my second shot of Arbic 10. You know, I just had my second shot of Arbic 10. So let's talk a little bit about Legends of Dodge City, because, after all, this is Whiskey and Westerns on Wednesday. Right, it is a city founded by whiskey. We run as well, absolutely. So we need to maybe bring in some famous character that we know about in Dodge City. Do you have a special character in mind for tonight's show?
Speaker 1In fact I do, Given the nature of what a nice glass of whiskey you'll do with a group of friends, sort of brings out the good humor in us all, don't you?
Speaker 3think, oh, I think so, and if I take one more of these, which I probably will there in a minute, but go right ahead, tell us about.
Speaker 1I'll tell you, nobody in Dodge City and I do mean nobody had a better sense of humor than a fellow by the name of Luke McGlue Luke McGlue, now that sounds kind of like an Irishman. It might have been, except for the fact that he never did exist.
Speaker 3Well, I can tell you this Ar, our big Tim exists, and that's Irish. Well, it's Scottish, but close enough. Oh well, it's a different country then, right, so maybe he was Scottish Instead of Irish. It could have been.
Speaker 1But the fact remains, he was a completely fictional character. Oh so okay, so See now he was a completely fictional character. Oh so okay, so See now Luke was. To put the easiest spin on it, luke was the scapegoat for all of the practical jokes that happened in and around Dodge City during that time.
Speaker 3Would that be because of the whiskey?
Speaker 1Well, now see as violent a town as Dodge City was in those early days, the boys in town needed a way to let off a little steam. Now, practical jokes good-natured as they might have been sometimes things got a little rough. Now, when things start getting rough, you need somebody to blame. Okay, now, if you need somebody to blame, okay, now, if you need somebody to blame that, you can find that's a bit of a problem, because then you've got potential for violence. So what they did Was they created A fella by the name of Luke McGlue. Now say dirty words Are painted on the water tower. Or say your mule gets stolen In the middle of the night. Or say a traveling salesman shows up and loses all of his cigars during a showroom. Well, if that happens, you need to find a scapegoat. Well, go find Luke McGlue. Luke's probably got your mule. So what you're saying— Luke was real hard to find.
Speaker 3What you're saying is this guy was all made up, purely made up, completely fictional. When they pulled a practical joke on a citizen in Dodge City, they just said who did it and they named Luke McGlue. Luke McGlue, oh, we are, yes. So can you tell us one of the stories about Luke McGlue and some of the practical jokes, and what year are we talking about? Are we talking about 1872, 1877?
Speaker 3Oh, by the late 1870ss he's becoming more popular is he becoming popular among a certain group of people, the practical jokers, or who's he becoming?
Speaker 1popular with most of the folks that you've heard of from Dodge City, folks like the name of Bat Masterson, to a lesser extent even Wyatt Earp Chalkley Beeson, owner of the Long Branch Saloon. These were big players in the Luke Maglue crowd.
Speaker 3So they were the practical jokers. The leaders of the town were actually making practical jokes on the citizens, exactly, and then blaming it on Luke Maglue.
Speaker 1The West never had a greater practical joker than Bat Masterson.
Speaker 3So he was Bat Masterson. So he was back Bat Masterson, wasn't he like a law leader?
Speaker 1Oh, for a time in Dodge he was county sheriff. He was deputy sheriff. In the early days, from 1876 on, County sheriff was about the peak of his law enforcement career. But he was out there playing jokes on. You Bat had a sense of humor like no other.
Speaker 3Oh, we are. So you have a particular story you want to share with us about Luke McGlue, maybe Bat Masterson and a practical joke that he pulled that he blamed on McGlue. Well, there's a few.
Speaker 1There's a good many of them that probably we might not want to tell in mixed company, but one of my favorites.
Speaker 3Well, hold on just a second. This is my favorite here. I'm taking another shot, absolutely.
Speaker 1We've got a long bottle of kill. Another bottle of kill. Mike, didn't you tell me a minute ago that I'd already poured you more than you wanted?
Speaker 3Well see, that's what happened when you poured me more than I wanted. Now I want more.
Speaker 1Whiskey and friends. Practical jokes. There we go. All right, yeah, can I help you with any? You might as well.
Speaker 3Top it off. Okay, here we go. This is going to be a good story, so Well, I hope you don't fall out of your chair there, my friend. Okay, here we go.
Speaker 1So Luke McGlue, batmaster Sin and the Practical Jokes of Dodge City, one of the greatest involves a traveling salesman with the unfortunate name of Dr Meredith.
Speaker 3Was he a traveling salesman or was he a doctor?
Speaker 1At that time you're splitting hairs on the difference between the two.
Speaker 3So he was a traveling salesman of a doctor.
Speaker 1He was claiming to be a medical man. What he was doing was selling information. Okay, he wrote ahead to Dodge City and in his letter he asked if there was anyone in town who might be interested in hearing a lecture on, shall we say, private diseases.
Speaker 3Would that be something you would be embarrassed about back in those days?
Speaker 1Most generally even then, yes, okay, okay, given the leading occupation in many of the saloons and dance halls at that time, private diseases were a bit of an issue.
Speaker 3So that would be something that the men of Dodge City would be interested in hearing.
Speaker 1Potentially, yes, okay, and see, even at that time Dodge City was in the news papers nationwide. People knew Dodge City, know Dodge City, they knew its reputation. And this Dr Meredith thought he was going to solve some of those problems. If nothing else, he could make some money off of these western Kansas sad sets, Gotcha. Well, Luke McGlue wrote him back a letter and said Dr Meredith, I would be very interested in hearing what you have to say.
Speaker 3So Luke wrote this letter. Luke wrote this letter. Did he sign it with his name?
Speaker 1He must have, he must have.
Dr. Meredith's Disastrous Lecture
Speaker 3The good doctor believed it right.
Speaker 1The good doctor believed that at least one man was interested and of course he assumed that once he got there a crowd would gather, as things are known to happen. So Dr Meredith got himself on the train and came out to Dodge City and Bat Mr Masterson, some of the other leading citizens of the town. They got together and they set him up a little lecture hall in one of the other Leading citizens Of the town. They got together and they set him up A little lecture hall In one of the saloons. Was that the Lady Gay Saloon? It was the Lady Gay, in fact, one of the One of the more notorious. We've got a lot of Stories about the Lady Gay. We may Want to buy ourselves A few more bottles of whiskey If we really want to come.
Speaker 3That's for episodes to come. Absolutely Stay tuned. Right now we're talking about the Lady Gay Saloon, dr Meredith and Luke McGlue and Bat Masterson all being involved in these diseases.
Speaker 1Now Luke McGlue had been able to gather up quite a crowd to come and come and hear Dr Meredith, they set him up a podium back there on the performance stage for the Lady Gate and, of course, Mr Masterson and Wyatt Earp happened to be the I don't want to use the term referees. They were the well, they were there Wearing their badges, Just to make sure that there were no disturbances, Just to keep order, just in case somebody was insulted by a disease that they may have not known about Everyone understood Dodge's reputation.
Speaker 1You needed some enforcement. Just in case. They were the just in case squad.
Speaker 3Everybody carried a gun too, right or did?
Speaker 1they. Well, they weren't supposed to, but laws were a little bit lax on the south side of the railroad tracks, which happens to be where the Lady Gay was situated. See, okay, luke was pretty active on the south side of the railroad tracks, I'll say it that way. Was pretty active on the south side of the railroad tracks, I'll say it that way. Well, now, once his crowd had gathered, mr Bat Masterson stood up. He addressed the crowd, he introduced Dr Meredith and he warned all the boys sitting out there in the makeshift lecture hall says pay due respect to Dr Meredith.
Speaker 3So he kind of said hey, hey, I'm the authority, I am the authority, you respect, you don't believe me.
Speaker 1Look at the badge, you folks know me all right, you know what I want to do. You know I won't tolerate any troublemaking, so don't make no trouble. Sit, mind your manners, listen to what dr meredith has to say, it'll do you some good.
Speaker 3So they just sat out there like good old cowboys.
Speaker 1They sat out there, ears open, ready to be entertained, if nothing else. Well the good Dr Meredith got up to his podium and, none the wiser, he started delivering his lecture on Private diseases, their causes, their treatment, that sort of thing, how to avoid them. Perhaps that might have been a good topic.
Speaker 3Was there a lot of cowboys crossing their legs at that time there?
Speaker 1may have been, you might think. You might think, if nothing else, there might have been some well.
Speaker 3I won't go into there.
Speaker 1Uncomfortable feelings out there, yeah one of those itches you just can't scratch, sort of thing. Yeah, one of those itches you just can't scratch sort of thing. Well, as they're listening to Dr Meredith, of course everybody knew that somewhere in the crowd Luke McGlue was biding his time, Until all of a sudden somebody in the back row stood up and told Dr Meredith he was full of crap. Oh boy, Boy, Somebody smarter than the doctor.
Speaker 3Crap, oh, boy boy, Somebody smarter than the doctor, huh Well, naturally.
Speaker 1Yeah, who isn't? And of course then the ruckus started. People started arguing with each other on one side, started arguing against the other side. Dr Meredith started turning beet red from the neck up and things started getting out of hand. And Bat Masterson of course calm, cool and collected man that he was stepped down into the crowd addressed the situation. He said boys, sit down and shut up.
Speaker 3Well, that would be the law of talking to the cowboys who were rowdy right. Well, Luke McGlue's still in the audience somewhere. Luke's out there, yeah.
Speaker 1Luke's out there. He tells them. He says again sit down, shut up, mind your manners, I'm not going to tell you again. He returns the podium to Dr Meredith Said Dr Meredith, please continue. And Dr Meredith at the invitation, he continued his discussion and it wasn't more than a few minutes before an outbreak starts again.
Speaker 3Oh boy.
Speaker 1Dr Meredith apparently said something that infuriated one of the cowboys. It may have been Luke himself. We don't know. History doesn't record exactly who it was that stood up and started shooting his mouth off.
Speaker 1But the cowboys got mad and got upset. They started going off on each other and on Dr Meredith and calling him just every name in the book and each other. It was just short of guns being drawn. Mr Masterson, of course, seeing the situation starting to escalate, once again, gets down, goes out to the crowd and says boys, this is your last opportunity.
Speaker 3He must have said that in a very firm way oh absolutely.
Speaker 1And when Batmasters had spoken and Bat had a reputation going all the way back to Adobe Walls, they knew he wasn't a man to trifle with. And of course, meanwhile Mr Wyatt Earp is sitting back there knowing full well what was going on. See, Wyatt knew. Wyatt had hung around with Luke a time or two as well. He knew the situation. Wyatt's trying not to smile, and of course so is Mr Masterson. He's being as hard as he can while trying to hide the smirk, At least from Dr Meredith. See, he's got his back to Meredith this whole time. Last time he says Boys, I'm not going to tell you again, Sit down, keep your mouth shut, mind your manners and pay attention. Returns the podium to Dr Meredith. Third and final time Dr Meredith continues his lecture. By this time he's getting a mite nervous. Meredith.
Speaker 1Third and final time Dr Meredith continues his lecture. By this time he's getting a mite nervous. Words are starting to break. He's looking around the room just wondering which one of these fellers might be Luke, which one is going to start to ruckus the next time. And the second that Dr Meredith stops paying attention, up jumps. Somebody starts yelling back at Dr Meredith, pulls his gun out, shoots the light out, guns start blazing. The room goes pitch black, the lamps are gone, Gunfire it's pandemonium.
Speaker 3So we got sparks in the air, lights out, totally Pitch black In the saloon. Gunfire, gun smoke, absolutely, it's just like pandemonium, absolute pandemonium, pure chaos.
Speaker 1Finally, bat Masterson. Once again, erp has to join in. This time. They corral the crowd, they subdue them, find a light, turn a lamp back on, they look around and Dr Meredith is nowhere to be found.
Speaker 3The guy just disappeared they start hunting around the room.
Speaker 1Finally, they see his tail end sticking out from behind the podium. That must have been had a shot through his hat.
Speaker 3Uh-oh, uh-oh, that got pretty close.
Speaker 1Bat gets down on his knees. Uh-oh, uh-oh, that got pretty close. Bat gets down on his knees, oh yeah, well, this is the standard practical joke for Dodge City. It means shot through the hat. I don't want to say this was necessarily tame, but it was probably middle of the ground.
Speaker 3Okay, no one actually got hurt. Okay, so nobody really ever got hurt, but it got close to being hurt.
Speaker 1If it didn't get close. It's not a good practical joke. I got you so it just scared them. It scared the holy hell out of Dr Meredith. Gotcha Bat gets down on his hands and knees. He apologizes profusely to Dr Meredith. He said I'll tell you what we're going to do. He said this is just not working out. I I'll tell you what we're going to do. He said this is just not working out. I apologize, I don't know what's gotten into these boys. We're going to try this again. We're going to put you up in the Dodge house. We're going to get you a nice hotel room and we're going to come back. We're going to give you the Dodge City treatment all day tomorrow and tomorrow night.
Speaker 3We're going to do this all over again and we're going to do this all over again and we're going to do it right, oh, okay. So now, after he's got a whole shot through his head, bat Masterson's actually telling him that we're going to do another night of this.
Speaker 1We're going to give it another shot. We'll see. He doesn't want to seem inhospitable.
Speaker 3Well, of course not. I mean, that's what Dodge is very.
Speaker 1At his best, Dodge was known as very hospitable.
Speaker 3To anybody that came into town. They were good too. Absolutely yeah.
Speaker 1Absolutely. They roll out the red copper. Well, dr Meredith still shaking. Thanks, mr Masterson. He eyeballs the hole in his hat, returns the hat to his head. He eyeballs the hole in his hat, returns the hat to his head. Try to set up an appointment for that evening. And Dr Meredith has already boarded the train and is gone from Dodge City, never to be seen or heard from again.
Speaker 3Yeah, I'm sure glad they well, I hope they didn't sell tickets that morning for that event, because they probably would have been in somewhat of a dilemma on who was going to make the next speech. But anyway, that's a great story. Brad, that's one of my favorites. Enjoy that. So we're going to have to talk a little bit more down the road about more whiskey, of course oh, absolutely. And we're going to have to have more legends, of course.
Speaker 1Well, one thing Dodge is not short on is whiskey and legends.
Speaker 3We got a lot of whiskey to look at, drink at, absolutely, and we have a lot of legends to talk about and we're going to do this every Wednesday. Right, we are Well, that's a good thing Whiskey and Westerns on Wednesday. Going to make this very simple.
Speaker 1We do two things we drink whiskey and talk about the American West.
Show Closing and Invitation
Speaker 3Well, if you want to hear a story about the legends of Dodge City, join us on the Wild West podcast. You can do a Google search Wild West podcast and we will be here every Wednesday for you guys just testing out a new whiskey, and also listen to our show Whiskey and Westerns. And then, of course, join us for the Luke McGlue story at the Wild West podcast this week on Wednesday, whiskey and Westerns. We want to thank you for listening to our pod show. Thank you,
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