Luke L. Short


	Luke L. Short
	Professional Gambler

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Luke L. Short was born 1854 in Polk Co. Arkansas to Josiah Short and Hettie Brumley. He was the 5th of 10 children. Luke stood somewhere between 5'4" and 5' 7" and weighed between 125lbs and 145lbs. His eyes were described as pale gray and blue. His hair was brown and he wore a droopy mustache. His face was smooth with a short straight nose.

Luke's occupations were: family farmhand, wrangler, army scout, trader, card dealer, buffalo hunter, Professional Gambler and business owner.

If the technology would have existed back in the day Luke would have no doubt lead the way with Online Blackjack or other games of chance. I can just imagine The White Elephant Saloon & Casino, Genting Casino, or Palais Royal Casino.

Based on all that has been written Luke Short killed a total of 14 men. The first was a Kiowai Indian when Luke was just eight years old. He also wounded a second Indian at that time. In the summer of 1877 while scouting for the army Luke was attacked by five Sioux warriors. He killed all five in a running gun battle. Late that same year while selling whiskey to the Indians he killed 4 Indians that tried to raid his camp. About a year later 2 white men walked into Luke's camp. Shots were exchanged and Luke was wounded, the two whites were dead. That makes a total of 12 kills while outnumbered: war party to 1, 5 to 1, 4 to 1 and 2 to 1. Then to add to this he went mono y mono with Charlie Storms and Tim Courtright. 14 total kills and Luke himself only wounded once.

New Information:

3/20/2007 - In the book Wild and Woolly: An Encyclopedia of The Old West by Denis McLoughlin the local bully named Brown that Luke shot in Leadville is identified as Isaac Brown.

3/22/2007 - More new information has turned up. Luke's wife's full name was Hettie Beatrice Short, per her signature on a court document dated Nov. 22,1889 signed H. Beatrice Short.

Is this Luke's saddle ? Michael McNall, the proud owner, believes it is and with just cause. I am so envious!

Could this be how Luke's gun looked?

Attention Short Family Relatives:

I have spent the last five years searching for information regarding the gun(s) Luke used during his time as a gambler. If anyone can provide information about Luke's gun please contact me.

07/08/2009 - Hello. I found your web site quite interesting. Especially the photo of Hettie J. Buck (photo pg 2 of your website), the daughter of D.H. and Henrietta (Miller) Buck, b. 1864, from Boonville, NY. I have been researching the Buck family for a number of years now as they are in my ancestry line. DH and Henrietta Buck are buried in Boonville Cemetery, NY and while I never was able to find Hettie's gravesite, I now believe that she too is buried in Boonville Cemetery. My research has shown that she was married to a James Furman in 1884, thus your statement that it wasn't Nettie Buck married to Luke Short would be correct. Nettie does appear in the 1910 census for Boonville NY under the name Furman and again as a widow in the 1930 census (age 66) living next door to James' brother Walter. It would also be very interesting to learn where the authors of the book 'Legends of the Wild West' got the picture of Nettie Buck.

If any other info should come up about Nettie, I would appreciate hearing about it. thank you very much. Karl E. Gansberg, Bristow, VA

9/30/2009 - A few weeks back I received an email from Kenny Vail, fellow Old West Researcher and he provided the following:

There is a Luke Short obituary which recalls that he was "freighting" at Deadwood in 1876.

I found his exact arrival at Tombstone as December 7, 1880. Luke was traveling from Leadville with Jack Salmon, another Earp confederate in Tombstone.

Also there is an lengthy interview with Luke (June 24, 1893) not long before he died in which he claims to have "taken eleven human lives."

Kenny

I emailed Kenny back requesting copies but have not heard back from him. Sure would be nice to have copies of those documents.