Mysterious Dave Mather
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David Allen Mather better known as Mysterious Dave, or sometimes as New York Dave, was an American lawman and gunfighter on the American frontier. Dave was born August 10, 1851 in Connecticut. The date and circumstances of his death are not known.
Not a great deal is known of Mather's life. The gaps in his life and his taciturn manner may have been what earned him the sobriquet "Mysterious Dave." It is known that he was a lawman in Dodge City Kansas and Las Vegas, New Mexico and was a frequent associate of Bat Masterson and Wyatt Earp.
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[edit] Early life
Dave was the son of Ulysses and Lydia Mather (nee Wright) of Connecticut. His father was a sea captain who was descended from the famous Mathers of New England who had included Richard Mather, Increase Mather, and Cotton Mather. Dave seems to have fancied himself a direct descendant of Cotton Mather, but this was in error. All of the 19th century Mathers were descended from Cotton’s uncle, Timothy “Farmer” Mather.
Dave was the first of three sons born to the Mathers. His brother, Josiah “Sy” Mather was born October 11, 1854. Another brother, George Conway Mather, was born in 1855 and died in 1856.
Ulysseus Mather abandoned his family following the death of his son and the loss of his ship. He died in 1864 at port in Shanghai, after being stabbed by the ship’s Chinese cook. Lydia Mather remarried to a man named George H. Randle sonetime in the late 1850’s. When she died in 1868 Dave and Sy ran away to sea. This lasted less than a year before the boys opted for a life on dry land and jumped ship in New Orleans.
[edit] Life on the Prairie
Dave’s life through most of the 1870’s is poorly documented. He seems to have operated as a cattle rustler and outlaw in Arkansas along with Dave Rudabaugh and Milton J. Yarberry. A warrant was issued for the three after a prominent rancher was murdered and his home robbed. They fled to Decatur, Texas in 1873.
Sy reported that he and Dave tried to work as buffalo hunters on the Llano Estacado around 1874. The venture did not last long but it is possible that Dave may have met future associates such as Wyatt Earp, Bat Masterson, and Bill Tilghman, who also tried their hand at hunting.
Dave was a resident of Dodge City, Kansas in the early 1870’s, where he befriended Dr. Thomas L. McCarty. When Dave was badly wounded in a knife fight, McCarty was able to save his life. Mather became his friend after that and often ‘encouraged’ fellow gamblers to patronize the physician.
In 1878 Mather and Wyatt Earp are said to have come into Mobeetie, Texas with a scheme to sell phony gold bricks. The two claimed that the bricks were from a lost mine dating back to the days of the conquistadores. Before they could get far with their scam they were run out of town by a lawman named Jim McIntire. Like so many of the stories about Dave, the authenticity of this one is dubious.
What is more historically certain is that Mysterious Dave was one of the Kansas gunslingers put assembled by Bat Masterson for the famous Railroad Wars of 1879-1880. The Atcheson, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railroad was competing with the Denver and Rio Grande for the rights to build a track through two disputed areas. Other gunfighters working with Mather for the Santa Fe line included Dave Rudabaugh, John Joshua Webb, Doc Holliday, and Ben Thompson.
[edit] Las Vegas
The "war" ended with the Santa Fe established in Raton Pass and the Denver and Rio Grande gaining control of the Royal Gorge. In 1879 Dave joined John Joshua Webb, outlaw and gunman Dave Rudabaugh, and several others in the nearby city of Las Vegas, New Mexico. The group were collectively known as the "Dodge City Gang" and were led by Hyman G. Neill, aka “Hoodoo Brown”.
The gang monopolized the gambling and prostitution in Las Vegas while they acquired political power as well. Hoodoo Brown became justice of the peace and Dave Mather was named deputy US Marshal for the area by Gov. Lew Wallace. Members of the gang, including Mather, were also alleged to have been responsible for several stagecoach robberies. Dave’s career during this time seems to have been a mix of law-enforcement and alleged law-breaking, a pattern common to the famous lawmen of the old west.
[edit] Variety Hall Shootout
On January 22, 1880 Mysterious Dave was involved in the most famous gunfight of his career, during which Town Marshal Joe Carson was shot and killed by four cowboys in the Close and Patterson's Variety Hall during a shootout. Mather's involvement in the gunfight is questionable, but the account told most often has him going in with Carson. A shootout between Carson and the cowboys started, with the marshall falling dead. Dave Mather drew his gun and returned fire. When the gunfire died down Mather was still standing. William “Big” Randall was mortally wounded, and James West was too badly injured to escape. The other two men, John Dorsey and a wounded Tom Henry managed to make their way to the stable and escape.
[edit] Dodge City Gang ends
By March of the year the public sentiment had turned against the Dodge City Gang, they broke up to head their separate ways. He seems to have spent time in various places in New Mexico and Texas before settling in Dallas, Texas in December. During this period he often used the alias Dave Matthews.
It was in Dallas that Dave has his only recorded romance of any length. He was involved with an African American woman named Georgia Morgan who worked as the madame of a brothel called the "Long Branch". The romance lasted until January of the following year when Dave abandoned his lover, taking some items of property belonging to her. She pursued him with a butcher knife but was arrested before she could do anything.
[edit] Dodge City
In May of 1883, Mysterious Dave returned to Kansas and became assistant town marshal during the so-called Dodge City War, a dispute between saloon owners who were friends of the mayor of Dodge and Luke Short, owner of the famous Long Branch Saloon. A number of gunfighters including Bat Masterson and Wyatt Earp gathered to support their friend Short. The show of force was enough to cause Short’s enemies to back down and violence was avoided.
Mysterious Dave tried hard to improve his lot in life while he lived in Dodge. He became owner of the Opera House Saloon, became active in politics as a Democrat and may even have gotten married. Though the evidence is marginal he may have been married to a woman named Josephine.
Unfortunately, Mather became involved in a feud with a rival saloon owner named Tom Nixon. Tom was the owner of the Lady Gay Saloon and was a friend of the mayor. An ordinance had been passed that restricted all saloons in town, except the Lady Gay. Dave’s resentment grew when he was replaced as deputy by Tom Nixon.
On July 18, 1884 Mysterious Dave and Tom Nixon had an altercation in front of the Opera House Saloon. Nixon drew a pistol and fired once, missing Mather. Three days later, Mysterious Dave walked up to Nixon and shot him dead. He then surrendered himself to authorities and was exonerated of murder. The common consensus at the time was that due to Nixon's previous attempt on Mather's life, Mather was acting in self-defence.
On May 10, 1885 Mather was arrested again. This time he and his brother Cy were accused of killing a gambler named Dave Jones over a game of cards. The brothers made bail and left town, though the details of how are unclear. One account says that marshal Bill Tilghman ran Dave out of town after an armed stand off, another says he slipped away disguised as a woman. Neither are believed to be true, and it is most likely he simply left town.
[edit] The Mystery of Mysterious Dave
There are no reliable reports of Dave’s life following his departure from Dodge. Dave’s friends said that he had to stay away from town because of a vengeful mob that wanted to kill him, but they did not disclose his whereabouts.
Different stories have wildly different accounts of Mysterious Dave’s final fate;
- One account had him living in New Mexico as a bank-robber named Mysterious Dave Taylor.
- Another account by one William Waters, claims that Dave travelled to Vancouver where he joined the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and was still serving with them as of 1922.
- Yet another account has Dave spending his last years as a US Customs officer in Blaine, Washington.
- Still another has him living out his final days in Lone Pine, Nebraska.
- Certainly the most outrageous claim about Mysterious Dave’s end came in the February 9, 1988 issue of the Weekly World News. The tabloid claims that Dave was a part of a posse on the Arizona-Mexico border when he was abducted by an unidentified flying object.
None of these accounts has been supported by any public records. Neither the RCMP nor the US Customs service, nor the vital records of any of the communities he supposedly lived in can furnish any evidence of Dave Mather’s presence, although he certainly would have changed his name. It seems most likely that his violent life caught up with him sometime in the 1880’s. But it is also possible that he did change his name and assume a new life somewhere. Without factual evidence for any of these scenario's, there are many options as to what happened to him. In any case, his death was as mysterious as so much of his life, and the truth will likely never be known.
[edit] Legends
There are several that are told about Mysterious Dave which cannot be firmly placed at any specific point in his career. Whether they are accurate stories, distortions of actual events, or outright fabrications is hard to determine.
- Drinking In Dodge - There is a story that Dave Mather would periodically retrieve his pistol from the bartender and fire at a bell on the street outside. If he missed the bell he would conclude that he was getting drunk and go home. One night, the bartender replaced the bullets in Dave's gun with blanks. When his shot 'missed' Dave headed home. On the way he saw a coyote crossing the street and fired several shots at it. Dave was terrified when the animal seemed impervious to bullets and the incident left him feeling nervous for days.
- The Henry Bunch - The story is told that Dodge City Marshal Tom Carson was gunned down in the Long Branch Saloon by seven outlaws from the "Henry Gang." The marshal staggered outside and collapsed on the street. As he lay dying, his deputy, Dave Mather mysteriously appeared from nowhere. Dave swore to the dying lawman that he would avenge him, then entered the saloon and gunned down all seven of the outlaws. (This story is a distorted account of a real gunfight in Las Vagas, New Mexico on January 22, 1880.)
- Mysterious Dave and the Sky Pilot - Once in Dodge City a travelling preacher (the slang term "sky-pilot" is often used) came into town and was holding a Revival meeting. One evening Mather walked into the revival, a few sheets to the wind. The pastor recognized Dave and began to harrangue him to repent of his sinful ways. Finally Dave stood up and announced that he had seen the light. Drawing his pistols he announced that, being assured of Heaven, he was ready to die. He invited anyone who was certain of their salvation to die with him and began to shoot out the lights. When the preacher and the crowd fled, Dave pronounced them all hypocrites and went home.
[edit] Mysterious Dave's Legacy
Louis L'Amour once said there were three types of lawmen in the Old West: the Bat Mastersons, who were concerned with your rights, and would give you a chance to surrender; the Wild Bills, who would literally "post you" out of town, putting your name on a list on a tree in public warning you to be out of town by sundown, and after that, would shoot on sight. Then, there was the last type of lawman, the "Mysterious Dave" type. He simply killed his enemies on sight. No warnings, no postings, no talk, just shooting. While he did not garner the publicity of other famous gunmen/lawmen of the day, he was certainly one of the most dangerous.
[edit] Sources
- Colin Rickards, Mysterious Dave Mather
- Jack DeMattos, Mysterious Gunfighter: the Story of Dave Mather
[edit] Mysterious Dave in Fiction
- Bosh and Moonshine a musical play by Mike Craver performed by the Boot Hill Repertory Company features Mysterious Dave as a character.
- Fools Gold by Matthew Baugh is a short story featuring Dave Mather and Wyatt Earp. It appears in Hell's Hangmen a collection of horror-western stories complied by Ron Shiflet and available through Lulu.com.
- The main character of Mysterious Dan's Legacy by Matthew Baugh is also patterned on Dave Mather. The story appears in the Arkham Tales horror anthology published by Chaosium.
