ranch." Robbed The Shorts were on the move during most of what remained of 1890. Short, Johnson, and a gambler named Charles M. Wright, along with other sporting men, were partners in some Memphis faro games. The partners won significant amounts of cash, reported as "thousands of dollars", which were entrusted to Wright. He was designated as the banker for the group and was supposed to place the winnings in a hotel safe where the group stayed. For some reason, Wright decided to keep the cash in his hotel room, and was robbed of the entire amount. Wright wanted Short and his other partners to bear an equal share of the loss, but they refused and turned the matter over to the authorities, who decided against Wright. According to a later report, Wright was never satisfied with that decision, and had "hard words with several of his ex-partners on the subject since that time, particularly with Short." The racing circuit Following the racing circuit occupied much of Short's time during the late spring and early summer of 1890. The presence of the Shorts at Saratoga Springs, New York, was reported in the local press. While he had enormous success at racetracks across the country, boxing promotion remained an unattainable goal for Short. He was destined to be remembered for gunfights rather than prize fights. The last gunfight The long-simmering feud between Short and Wright finally reached the boiling point in Fort Worth on December23, 1890. The gunfight took place at the Bank Saloon on Main Street that was owned by Wright. In testimonies presented by eyewitnesses, Wright was conducting gambling in his house and Short went there to close it down. After Short got all the patrons evicted at gunpoint, Wright suddenly ambushed him with a shotgun, wounding Short in the left hip and leg, as well as injuring his left hand. Short retaliated by drawing his pistol and shooting Wright in the right wrist, disarming him. Both men then sluggishly separated ways, with Short going out to meet his friends, while Wright stayed in the building clutching his wound. In describing Short's leg wound, the local paper said, "the full charge of buckshot passed through the flesh, making a tunnel, the muscles on the outside were torn out." The wound on his left hand resulted in his thumb being "taken off at the joint." Reports of the shooting, along