The Violent Life and Enigmatic Disappearance of Wild West Outlaw "Mysterious Dave" Mather
A fascinating character who played both sides of the law, "Mysterious Dave" Mather was a contemporary of many of the West's notorious lawmen and gunfighters
Background
Though he is not as well known as some of the Wild West’s more notorious outlaws such as Billy the Kid, David “Mysterious Dave” Mather is nonetheless a colorful and fascinating character in his own right.
Originally hailing from New England, Mather originally set out to make his living on the seas. However, he soon realized that life on a ship was not for him, and he and his brother set out for the open spaces of America’s West.
Early Years
David Allen Mather was born on August 10, 1851, in Saybrook, Connecticut, now known as Deep River. Mather was the firstborn son of Captain Ulysses W. Mather and Lydia Mather.
He had two younger brothers, Josiah Wright Mather, and George Conway Mather. Although he claimed throughout his life to be related to the famous British minister Cotton Mather, later research has proven this false. Still, Mather took pride in his English heritage and often wore red and blue as a sign of respect.
Described as a small man with square but frail shoulders, dark eyes, and a mustache, Mather was a man of few words. This taciturn trait might have earned him his nickname “Mysterious” Dave, in addition to the scant facts about his life.
The Mather family had relatives in Massachusetts who worked as lawmen, but that was not Mather’s first choice of occupation. Lured by the sea in 1856, Mather’s father, Ulysses, abandoned his family.
They would hear nothing more from him for the next eight years until word reached them two months after his death. Captain Ulysses Mather had been murdered aboard his ship, the Ellen, in Shanghai on September 14, 1864.
“Mysterious Dave” Heads West
Now fatherless, two of the young Mather boys, Dave, aged nineteen, and his brother, Josiah, aged fifteen, decided to follow the sea too. They went to nearby Clinton and signed on with the crew of a cargo ship.
However, when the ship eventually docked in New Orleans, Louisiana, the boys left for dry land. They’d had enough of life as seamen.
Instead, the brothers headed for the wide-open spaces of the West. The first few years Dave Mather spent in the West are filled with vague “facts.” There are random sightings in 1872 near Dodge City, Kansas, where reports say Dave and Josiah worked as buffalo hunters.
However, this is difficult to substantiate. Men like Mysterious Dave often worked at buffalo hunting, gambling, or as extra “guns,” along with other occupations on both sides of the law. Mather would later count as friends many well-known names from the Old West – Wyatt Earp, Bat Masterson, Doc Holliday, Ben Thompson, and Dave Rudabaugh.
In 1878, Mather showed up in Mobeetie, Texas, where he met Wyatt Earp. The two are reported to have run a very successful con game of selling “gold” bricks to the citizens of Mobeetie—until the citizens found out the truth! Let’s just say Mysterious Dave and Wyatt Earp soon found themselves leaving town in a hurry.
The following year, in 1879, Mysterious Dave hooked up with an outlaw named Dutch Henry Born. Born operated a successful horse theft ring stretching from Kansas to Colorado, New Mexico, and the Texas Panhandle.
Mather and Born were both eventually arrested but later released on a technicality. They then tried their luck at train robbing near Las Vegas, New Mexico. Both men were arrested. Mather was charged with complicity but later acquitted. He was either born under a lucky star, or the courts were as much outlaws as the criminals!
Becoming a “Lawman”
A couple of years later, Mather appears to have turned over his life of crime for a life of law and order. Or did he? He was appointed Deputy Las Vegas Marshal, becoming one of the notorious Dodge City Gang who terrorized the town.
The Dodge City Gang consisted of a judge, peace officers – including Mysterious Dave Mather – and several known outlaws. They committed train and stagecoach robberies, tormented the citizens by rustling cattle, and participated in murders and lynching. They were like the “mob” with an Old West flair.
On January 22, 1880, a group of men came to town and refused to check their guns. They entered the Close and Patterson Variety Hall, ready to raise hell. Marshal Joe Carson asked them to turn over their guns. They refused, and a fight broke out. Carson shot one of the men, who later killed him. Deputy Dave Mather managed to kill one and wound another. The remainder of the rabble-rousers were taken to jail to await justice.
Justice in Dodge City meant a swift lynching on the tall windmill in town. However, to the frustration of the lynch mob, Sheriff Carson’s widow opened fire with a rifle and shot the murderers down—no need for a lynching.
With Sheriff Carson dead, Las Vegas needed a new Marshal. So it was no surprise when Mysterious Dave was appointed the job. A short time later, he was fired for “promiscuous shooting” of his weapon.
He moved on to El Paso, Texas, to serve as Assistant Marshal. That job didn’t last long either. An altercation in a brothel sent Mysterious Dave back to Dodge City, Kansas.
Dodge City Wars
In 1883, Dodge City was booming. There were cattlemen, settlers, various shopkeepers, and a fringe element of outlaws. The Santa Fe Railroad, hoping to lure new settlers to the area, wanted to clean up the towns along the tracks.
Most of the towns that sprang up following the railroad were filled with saloons, brothels, and gambling halls. The railroad wanted to end that and attract a better class of citizens.
Mather accepted the job as Assistant Town Marshal of Dodge City. Before long, Mather owned his own saloon along Front Street, the Opera House Saloon. For a while, the citizens and railroad did not object. After all, men had to quench their thirst.
The objections came when Mather decided to turn his saloon into a dance hall. The town council objected to this business plan and threatened to shut the Opera House Saloon down.
It might have all blown over. Mather might have complied, except for one thing. A few miles out of town, a man named Tom Nixon also operated a dance hall. The city council saw no reason to shut him down, a fact that put Mather in a murderous rage. When the election of July 1884 replaced Dave Mather with his nemesis, Tom Nixon, the die was cast.
One day, after an argument, Nixon tried to shoot Mather but missed. Several days later, Mather shot Nixon in the back, deliberately killing him. People heard him state, “I should have killed him six months ago.” Not surprisingly, considering Mather’s past encounters with judges and trials, he was acquitted. The judge allowed him to plead self-defense because Nixon did try to kill him first.
No sooner had Mather been acquitted than his “promiscuous shooting” got him in trouble once again. He shot and killed another man. Marshall Bill Tilghman then ran Mather out of Dodge City for good.
A story is often told about Mysterious Dave and his drinking at the Dodge City Saloon. If he felt he’d drunk too much, Mather would ask the bartender to hand him a pistol. He would then take the pistol outside and aim at a bell. If he missed the bell, Mather figured he’d had too much to drink and went home.
One night, the bartender had enough of Mather’s antics. When Dave made his usual request, the bartender loaded the gun with blanks. Mather shot, missed the bell, and headed home with the gun in hand.
Along the road, he spied a coyote. Mather fired, hit the coyote, and wondered why he hadn’t killed the creature. His only explanation later was that it was a supernatural being because bullets couldn’t kill it.
Mysterious Disappearance
Mysterious Dave Mather disappeared from historical records soon after leaving Dodge City. Some accounts show Mather in Kansas and Nebraska around 1887. The last verified sighting was in Lone Pine, Nebraska, that year. Even his brother, Josiah, lost track of Mysterious Dave after he left Dodge City.
Almost as soon as Mysterious Dave vanished, the legends began. Some reported sightings had Mather traveling first to San Francisco, California, and later to Vancouver, Canada.
Many legends report that Mather became a Royal Canadian Mounted Police, a “Mountie,” and served proudly in his red and blue. One old-timer declared adamantly that he’d seen Mather as late as 1922 in Canada.
However, the Mounties stated emphatically they had never employed Mysterious Dave. He seems to have vanished, his fate as mysterious as his life.
Sources:
Cowboy To Cowboy. “The Disappearance of “Mysterious” Dave Mather - Cowboy to Cowboy.” Cowboy to Cowboy, 25 June 2018, cowboytocowboy.com/disappearance-mysterious-dave-mather/. Accessed 23 Sept. 2024.
Dan_nehs. “Connecticut’s Mysterious Dave Mather: The Law of the Old West.” New England Historical Society, New England Historical Society, 29 June 2016, newenglandhistoricalsociety.com/connecticuts-mysterious-dave-mather-law-old-west/.
Hays, Chad. “Mysterious Dave.” True West Magazine, 2022, truewestmagazine.com/article/mysterious-dave/.
“Mysterious Dave Mather – Lawman or Outlaw? – Legends of America.” Legendsofamerica.com, 2024, www.legendsofamerica.com/we-davemather/.
Trimble, Marshall. “What Happened to Old West Gunman “Mysterious” Dave Mather?” True West Magazine, 2015, truewestmagazine.com/article/what-happened-to-old-west-gunman-mysterious-dave-mather/.
He was a man who truly lived up to his nickname- all most people knew about him was that he could use a gun...