The White Elephant Saloon in Fort Worth looks and smells pretty much like an ordinary honky-tonk. The beauty of this old watering hole is more than skin deep. It has a history that goes back to when being called a “cow town” meant something.
Fort Worth sprouted on the banks of the Trinity River in 1848, soon after the Mexican War. The settlement didn’t really begin to gather any steam until after the Civil War when it became the county seat.
The southern branch of the Chisholm Trail went right up what is now North Main Street. When the railroad arrived in 1878, the town already had the stockyards ready. More than 2,200 cattle cars pulled out for the eastern slaughterhouses that first year.
The banks and mercantile businesses set up shop on the southern bank of the river, but the action was five miles north at Main Street and Exchange Avenue. Flush with cash from selling their herds at the stockyards, the cowboys didn’t have to go far to have their money belts lightened.
According to Richard F. Selcer in Wild West magazine, there were four kinds of entertainment establishments in cattle towns: The dance halls provided whiskey, music, and women to the cowpunchers; the parlor house was another name for a bordello; the variety theatre was the precursor to the vaudeville theatres and strip bars; and the saloons offered gambling in a male-only atmosphere.
The name “White Elephant Saloon” informed potential patrons of the type of establishment, rather than identifying a franchise. There were White Elephant Saloons in San Antonio, El Paso, Denison, and Wichita Falls. Fort Worth also had a Black Elephant Saloon for African-Americans. In Fredericksburg, you can still see the elephant in the masonry above the front door at 242 E. Main St.
Generally, the White Elephants were the nicer gambling houses; because the Fort Worth saloon catered to a moneyed crowd, it was among the most elegant. It offered the best gambling, booze, and food available and attracted a colorful crowd including Doc Holliday, Ben Thompson, Bat Masterson, and the Earp brothers.
Whiskey, women, and cards were the easiest ways to take a frontiersman’s money. Professional gambling was a semirespectable occupation, and few were better at shuffling the cards than Luke Short.
Born in Texas, Short plied his trade in the cow towns of Colorado and Kansas. After he became a New York City newspaperman, Masterson described Short as “a little fellow. He was about 5 feet, 6 inches tall and weighed less than 140 pounds. It was a small package but one great dynamic force.” Some people found the diminutive gambler not easily pushed around.
Outside the Long Branch Saloon in Dodge City, Kan., a drunken Charlie Storms confronted Short about a card game. “Storms pulled Short off the sidewalk, at the same time pulling his pistol. Luke pulled his own pistol and shot Storms in the heart before he could react,” Masterson wrote, according to his biographer, Robert K. DeArment.
After a turbulent career in Dodge City, Short bought the White Elephant Saloon in Fort Worth. In 1887, Masterson was visiting when Short told him about a protection racket that “Longhair Jim” Courtright was running on the gambling houses. Short refused to pay to “preserve the peace.” Supposedly, Masterson and Short were talking when Longhair Jim called Short outside. “No time was wasted in the exchange of words,” Masterson wrote later. “Both drew pistols at the same time, but, as usual, Short spoke first with a bullet.” Courtright took five bullets before he hit the sidewalk.
Short died six years later in Kansas of natural causes – a rarity for men in his profession. He was returned to Fort Worth for burial.
Today, the White Elephant Saloon maintains a genuine Texas honky-tonk atmosphere, despite being in the heart of the Stockyards National Historic District. There is live music seven nights a week and in the afternoons on weekends. The pool tables are inexpensive, and the drinks are cold. Seeing the hats nailed to the ceiling and the collection of porcelain white elephants is worth the visit.
The White Elephant Saloon is at 106 E. Exchange Ave. Call 817/624-8273 or visit www.whiteelephantsaloon.com for more.
844th in a series. Day Trips, Vol. 2, a book of “Day Trips” 101-200, is available for $8.95, plus $3.05 for shipping, handling, and tax. Mail to: Day Trips, PO Box 33284, South Austin, TX 78704.
This article appears in August 31 • 2007.
