McLintock used a cane to tap the body, face, and head, finding no soft tissue anywhere. Tutt then took Hickok's watch, which was lying on the table, as collateral for the $35, at which point Hickok warned him not to wear it or he, Hickok, would shoot him. The next child, also named Lorenzo Butler Hickok, was born in November of 1832. Kingsbury. He said, "Her achievements have been greatly magnified by every writer I have ever met, for she was among the commonest of her class". On several later occasions, Hickok was to confront and kill several men while fighting alone. Hickok and Brinks were charged with murder but found not guilty. But Coe "reckoned without his host." The gun did not sell because the highest bid of $220,000 was less than the reserve set by the gun's owners.[76]. 10 in Deadwood, Dakota Territory. Subsequently, McCormick admitted that she had not even been born until 1880, four years after Hickok's death. The cards Hickok had been holding when he was shot and killeda pair of black aces and a pair of black eights plus an unknown fifth cardbecame known as the Dead Mans Hand.. McCall lost heavily. They had seen Hickok calmly shoot Tutt through the heart, at a distance of between 75 to 100 feet, and then turn on them instantly confident of his shot to Tutt. 2, serial number 29963, a .32 rimfire with a six-inch barrel, blued finish, and varnished rosewood grips. He was an assistant station tender for the Pony Express at the Rock Creek, Nebraska station. Hardin alleged that when his cousin, Mannen Clements, was jailed for the killing of two cowhands (Joe and Dolph Shadden) in July 1871, Hickokat Hardin's requestarranged for his escape. There is no doubt that Hickok was a fearless and deadly fighting man, equally at home with a rifle, revolver, or knife. He requested a military escort from Fort Hays and was assigned William F. Cody, a sergeant and five privates, with the group arriving in Topeka on 2 April. In the "dimestore novels', exploits of Hickok were presented in heroic form, making him seem larger than life. Since he was actually shot in the back of the head, that plot element is a complete artifice of the episode writers. 10. It was apparent that his marksmanship and health had been suffering for some time, as he had been arrested several times for vagrancy, despite earning a good income from gambling and displays of showmanship only a few years earlier. [d] The jury voted to clear Hickok, resulting in public backlash and criticism of the verdict. This ended the insulting, but not the incident. Paramount Pictures' Western silent film Wild Bill Hickok (released on November 18, 1923) was directed by Clifford Smith and stars William S. Hart as Hickok. Naturally, all such claims were made long after Hickok was dead. When the Civil War broke out in April 1861, Hickok signed on as a teamster for the Union Army in Sedalia, Missouri, and by the end of the year he was a wagonmaster. Coe had been the business partner of known gunman Ben Thompson, with whom he co-owned the Bulls Head Saloon. It was at this time that Hickok came across a bear blocking a road, an encounter that would become part of the lore surrounding him: Hickok shot the bear, which only angered it, and a struggle ensued, during which Hickok used a knife to slit the bears throat, but not before he was nearly crushed to death. There was also overtones of a "woman" being involved in the problem between McCanles and Hickok. Not a word was uttered.". [2], According to the accepted account, the dispute came to a head when Tutt was coaching an opponent of Hickok's during a card game. Hickok may have been acting sheriff before he was elected; a newspaper reported that he arrested offenders on August 18, and the commander of Fort Hays wrote a letter to the assistant adjutant general on August 21 in which he praised Hickok for his work in apprehending deserters. Shull, at the age of ninety-three,related the following version. [26]:329 Hickok did not enjoy acting, and often hid behind scenery. Long before the Civil War began, talk of the abolition of slavery got William Hickok both interested and involved. "Dead man's hand" was an established poker. "The Custer-Hickok Shootout in Hays City. In another account of the Coe shootout: Theophilus Little, the mayor of Abilene and owner of the town's lumber yard, recorded his time in Abilene by writing in a notebook, which was ultimately given to the Abilene Historical Society. She claimed to be the daughter of Calamity Jane. I recently discovered my Fairchild lineage. They were immediately sobered up and struck dumb with fear. There is a very complimentary description of Hickok, by Mrs. Libby Custer, during this time period that further illustrates the friendship between the Custer family and Hickok. McCall claimed at the resulting two-hour trial (by a motley group of assembled miners and businessmen) that he was avenging Hickok's earlier slaying of his brother. Normally, as a cowherd approached Abilene, riders from town were sent out to warn the local farms. Good bye, Colorado Charlie, C. H. The incident was precipitated by a dispute over a gambling debt incurred at a local saloon. In 1861, because of a "sweeping nose and protruding upper lip" Hickok received the nickname . We drove on to Beatrice and at the trial, his plea was self-defense; no one appeared against him, and he was cleared. Mistakenly thinking he had killed Hudson, Hickok fled and joined General Jim Lane's vigilante "Free State Army" (The Red Legs) where he met 12-year-old William Cody, later to be known as "Buffalo Bill," who at that time was a scout for Johnston's Army. The first was Bill Mulvey, who was rampaging through town, drunk, shooting out mirrors and whisky bottles behind bars. The next day, Tutt appeared in the square wearing the watch prominently, and Hickok tried to negotiate the watch's return. Agnes Lake had, in her possession at the time of Hickok's death, a letter. Hickok met his true and only wife while Marshal of Abilene. At the end of the trial, Judge Sempronius Boyd gave the jury two contradictory instructions. After his execution it was determined that McCall had never had a brother. Wild Bill Hickok next set his sights on Abilene, Kansas, where he served as the town's . 8:45. This was his sixth murder. In the "story" she also claimed to have a "diary" and a "confession",alledgedly written by Calamity Jane, that told of an "affair" Calamity had with a "cousin" of Hickok. At first, I thought that this could be the lineage, but realized that the spelling was incorrect. Hickok and Lanihan, however, remained sheriff and deputy, respectively. [64], Hickok was playing five-card stud or five-card draw when he was shot. It is also interesting to note, that court documents concerning the incident refer to Hickok as "William B. Hickok". He was involved in a deadly shoot-out with the McCanles gang at Rock Creek Station, an event still under much debate. Many people knew that Jane had a crush on Hickok but few, if any, knew that they were married. Richardson wrote of the encounter for the April 1877 issue of Scribner's Monthly, in which he mentions McCall's second trial. The local newspaper wrote, "Hays city is under the guardian care of Wild Bill, is quiet, and doing well". [69] In 1979, Hickok was inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame. When shot, he was holding a pair of aces and a pair of eights, all black. If he noted a lot of noise and disturbance coming from a saloon, he would turn sharply from his path, push the saloon doors open hard enough to cause them to slam back against the walls, and then faced the noisy crowd. WILD BILL HICKOK. "[18] He proved to be a terrible actor and returned to the West, where he ran for sheriff in Ellsworth County, Kansas, on November 5, 1867, but was defeated by former soldier E.W. As a result, calcium carbonate from the surrounding soil had replaced the flesh leading to petrifaction. It is believed that McCanles arrived at the station with his son, Monroe; his cousin, James Woods; and James Gordon, a man in his service. Last night I found the common ancestor William Hickox (1609 - 1645). Writing in 1911, he detailed his admiration of Hickok and included a paragraph on the shooting that differs considerably from the accepted account. As city Marshal Hickok moved in to stop the trouble. When the Civil War began in 1861, Hickok joined the fray as a Union soldier and spy, even fighting in the Battle of Wilson's Creek. Hardin says that he backed Hickok down using a maneuver called the "road agents spin". However, by the early 1860's it was known as Troy Grove. He is perhaps the best known figure from that era. His skills as a gunfighter and scout, along with his reputation as a lawman, provided the basis for his fame, although some of his exploits are fictionalized. At the trial it was proved that the murderer was hired to do his work by gamblers[44] who feared the time when better citizens should appoint Bill the champion of law and order - a post which he formerly sustained in Kansas border life, with credit to his manhood and his courage. They refused, so Hickok altered it himself. Deadwood was then, and is now, a town with basically one main street running through it. In 1861 he was involved in a deadly shoot-out with the McCanles Gang at the Rock Creek Station after 40-year-old David McCanles, his 12-year-old son (William) Monroe McCanles, and two farmhands, James Woods and James Gordon, called at the station's office to demand payment of an overdue second installment on the property, an event that is still the subject of much debate. Calamity Jane is reputed to have led a mob that threatened McCall with lynching, but at the time of Hickok's death, Jane was actually being held by military authorities. Hickok himself told the writers with great seriousness that he had killed over 100 men. He later became a lawman before settling down in Deadwood, South Dakota where he would . Pard, we will meet again in the happy hunting ground to part no more. It meant money for shopkeepers, saloon owners and brothels. Whatever the truth was it died with Jack McCall on the gallows. Hickok left home at age 17 and worked as a canal boat pilot in Utica, Illinois, before heading west in 1856 to Bleeding Kansas, which was embroiled in a violent conflict over whether slavery should be permitted there. You can read his bio at http://www.wikipedia.org. Also in 1995, he's depicted as a character in an episode of Legend (TV series) by William Russ, possibly most famous for his role in Wiseguy (TV series). Was he shooting back? After the fact, there was much speculation as to whether romantic rivalry had had a role in the incident: Hickok was apparently involved with a woman who had also been involved with the married McCanles. Industries Crime and Terrorism U.S. He became a deputy U.S. marshal, and on March 28, 1868, he picked up 11 Union Army deserters who had been charged with stealing government property. He was assigned Buffalo Bill Cody, a sergeant, and five privates. However, the "special election" may not have been legal, as a letter dated 17 September to the Governor of Kansas noted that Hickok had presented a warrant for an arrest which was rejected by the Fort Hays commander because when asked to produce his commission Hickok admitted he never had one. 10 in Deadwood, in the Black Hills, Dakota Territory. The truth is no one knows for sure. [20], On July 12, 1861, David McCanles went to the Rock Creek Station office to demand an overdue property payment from Horace Wellman, the station manager. During the years 1859-60 Hickok drove freight wagons, and coaches along the Santa Fe Trail. Most likely McCall became enraged over what he perceived as a condescending offer from Hickok to let him have enough money for breakfast after he had lost all his money playing poker the previous day. The movie The Plainsman (1936), starring Gary Cooper as Hickok, features the alleged romance between Calamity Jane and him as its main plot line. Charlie Utter, Hickok's friend and companion, claimed Hickok's body and placed a notice in the local newspaper, the Black Hills Pioneer, which read: Present day gravesite"Died in Deadwood, Black Hills, August 2, 1876, from the effects of a pistol shot, J. Friends of the beaten toughs now wanted to even the score, and had attracted a large crowd of sympathizers. After taking a trip to St. Louis, James ended up in Leavenworth Kansas. Unfortunately, for the forger of the diary, the Cunard steamship line has always maintained highly detailed records. It was during this time period, however, that Hickok met his future wife Agnes Lake who had come to town with her traveling circus show, but more of than later. McCall was subsequently rearrested after bragging about his deed, and a new trial was held. The article was controversial wherever Hickok was known, and it led to several frontier newspapers' writing rebuttals. But in the final analysis does their opinion matter? This particular regiment was destined to become immortal. James Butler Hickok, a.k.a. He was now unemployed however, and needed to find a means of supporting himself. She was a world renowned horsewoman, tightrope walker, dancer, sometime actress, lion tamer, and could speak several languages! The authorities did not consider this to be double jeopardy because at the time Deadwood was not recognized by the U.S. as a legitimately incorporated town (due to federal laws that made it illegal to settle on Indian land; many people did anyway). Dziki Bill Hickok, waciwie James Butler Hickok (ur.27 maja 1837 w Homer, obecnie Troy Grove w stanie Illinois; zm. This Smith & Wesson Model No. A vile a character as I ever met for some cause Wild Bill incurred Coes hatred and he vowed to secure the death of the Marshall. Shull said that Hickok killed McCanles in "self-defense". Inevitably nicknamed" Wild Bill" for the folk hero of the American Old West, and also known as "Hickey," he starred at Yale University in track as well as football and was eventually inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame. While working in Abilene, Hickok and Phil Coe, a saloon owner, had an ongoing dispute that later resulted in a shootout. Hickok was working as sheriff and city marshal of Hays, Kansas when, on July 17, 1870, he was involved in a gunfight with disorderly soldiers of the 7th US Cavalry, wounding one and mortally wounding another. B. Hickock [sic] (Wild Bill) formerly of Cheyenne, Wyoming. When patrons became too drunk to gamble he stopped the game, to protect them from losing their money while inebriated. On August 2, 1876, while playing poker at Nuttal & Mann's Saloon No. On the night of the 5th Coe and a large group of friends were in an ugly drunken mood. As the old cemetery was an area that was better suited for the constant influx of new settlers to live on, the remaining bodies there were moved up the hill to the Mount Moriah Cemetery in the 1880s. ", Nichols, George Ward (1867). On October 5, 1871, Hickok was standing off a crowd during a street brawl when Coe fired two shots. In 1941 a woman named Jean Hickok McCormick told a story to the Billings Montana Gazette. In the film version, Howard Keel co-stars as Hickok to Doris Day's Calamity Jane. "Good morning boys and young ladies", he said to the group of young children. [37] Jane herself confirmed this account in an 1896 newspaper interview, although she claimed that she had been hospitalized with illness rather than in the guardhouse. Apparently, a local bartender had bested a group of local toughs in a fight. At the conclusion of the incident a woman's voice was heard to shout, "good for you Wild Bill"! Jane claimed that James Butler Hickok was the father. 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