with Short's health. Doctors determined that he was suffering from one of the kidney diseases that then went under the now-obsolete classification of Bright's disease. These diseases are described in modern medicine as acute or chronic nephritis. Edema, then called "dropsy", would have contributed to a slight puffiness in his face, as well as the accumulation of fluids in his lower legs that would have made standing difficult for prolonged periods of time for Short. Short was in Fort Worth when a Kansas newspaper reported that he was "lying at death's door." Short and a number of friends, and with Hattie beside him, took the north-bound Santa Fe train for Geuda Springs, Kansas. The place offered a change of climate and the medicinal qualities of the famous waters, which, hopefully, would "prolong his life." The move did not have the desired effect. Death Short died at the Gilbert House in Geuda Springs on September8, 1893. The local paper reported: "Luke Short died at the Gilbert this morning of dropsy." Just two days before Short's death, while Hattie sat at his bedside in Kansas, word arrived that her mother had died in Fort Worth. A Dodge City newspaper belatedly printed a dispatch from Fort Worth that stated, "two days ago, his mother-in-law died and the two funerals will take place here at the same time." Hattie found herself a widow at29 years old. Short was39 at the time of his death. Short's funeral took place in Fort Worth on September10, 1893. Carriages in a line more than a mile long followed Short's body to Oakwood Cemetery in Fort Worth. Short had purchased a gravestone shortly before his death. It is a plain, upright marker simply inscribed: L. L. SHORT 1854– 1893. In popular culture On February22, 1955, Short was played by actor Wally Cassell in an episode of the syndicated Western TV series Stories of the Century. The part of Jim Courtright was portrayed by actor Robert Knapp (1924–2001). On January5, 1960, Bob Steele played Short in the episode "The Terrified Town" on the CBS Western television series The Texan, starring Rory Calhoun. Notes References Further reading Cox, William R. Luke Short and His Era: A Biography of One of the Old West's Most Famous Gamblers, Garden City, NY: Doubleday & Co., 1961. DeMattos, Jack. "Gunfighters of the Real West: Luke Short," Real West, December 1982. DeMattos, Jack. "The Dodge City