Hickok's retort is one of the West's most famous sayings (though possibly apocryphal): "Did the crow have a pistol? After the war Hickok continued his adventurous ways, at times just skirting the right side of the law. What do you know about Pete Spence, a member of the Cowboys of Tombstone? Not having the courage to do it himself, he one day filled about 200 cowboys with whiskey intending to get them into trouble with Wild Bill, hoping that they would get to shooting and in the melee shoot the marshal. Two 7th Cavalry troopers jump, Most people have heard of Calamity Jane, once promoted as The Famous Woman Scout of. Was he shooting back? They had ivory grips and nickel plating, and were ornately engraved with "J.B. Hickok1869" on the backstrap. He later became a lawman before settling down in Deadwood, South Dakota where he would soon meet his death. ), 18721886. They traveled to Deadwood, South Dakota, together and were acquaintances, but there is no evidence of a romance (especially on his part). [19] According to Hickok's account, he found the road blocked by a cinnamon bear and its two cubs. He afterward resumed using his given name, James Hickok. Brink, were tried for killing McCanles, but were found to have acted in self-defense. The story quickly became newspaper and magazine fodder. Deadwood was overrun with miners, gunmen, and gamblers when Hickok became a peace officer there in July 1876, relying as much on his reputation as on his diminishing gun skills, which were compromised by failing eyesight. Best Known For: Wild Bill Hickok was an American frontiersman, army scout and lawman who helped bring order to the frontier West. Thus began the reputation that ", Rosa, Joseph G. (1979). ", Rosa, Joseph G. (1977). When a seat opened up at the table, a drunk man named Jack McCall sat down to play. Foxs visit coincided with the few weeks Jessie actually attended St. Edwards Academy in Deadwood. At Castle City, Montana in 1893, when Jane was running a restaurant, she had with her the daughter of one of her soldier friends in Texas who probably was Jessie. Most newspapers referred to him as William Haycock until 1869. In June, Hickok mustered out and went to Springfield, where he gambled. . Now, she said, both Calamity Jane and another famed woman of the west, Belle Starr, were her aunts. Hickok accused a J.V. Just weeks later, on her deathbed in Terry, South Dakota, Jane confessed that she and Jessie were now estranged and declined to say where her daughter was living. He is now at Yankton, D.T. From there the ONeils took the pair to the family home in Richmond, Virginia, and ultimately raised the Jean in Liverpool, England. Several sources, including Jessie, verify the child was born on October 28. When did cowboys begin wearing these shirts? Bill and Jane are buried next to each other in Deadwoods Mount Moriah Cemetery. On September 4, Hickok was wounded in the foot while rescuing several cattlemen in the Bijou Creek basin who had been surrounded by Indians. If the deceased and defendant engaged in a fight or conflict willingly on the part of each, and the defendant killed the deceased, he is guilty of the offense charged, although the deceased may have fired the first shot. James Butler Hickok, better known as " Wild Bill ," was a wagon master, soldier, scout, lawman, gunfighter, gambler, showman, and actor well-known in the American West. August 18, 1876, image 3", "Jack McCall Cowardly Killer of Wild Bill Hickok", "American Wonder Wild Bill Hickok Shot and Killed from Behind on This Day in History", Bozeman Avant Courier, December 22, 1876, image 1, testimony of George M. Shingle, "Riverboat captain 'carried' bullet that killed Hickok", "Jack McCall and the Murder of Wild Bill Hickok", "Wild Bill Hickok: Pistoleer, Peace Officer and Folk Hero", Photograph of Wild Bill Hickok's Colt Model 1851 Navys, "Wild Bill Hickok's Smith & Wesson No. His parents were William Alonzo Hickok and Polly Butler. The town of Deadwood, South Dakota, re-enacts Hickok's murder and McCall's capture every summer evening. In 1876, Hickok was shot and killed while playing poker in a saloon in Deadwood, Dakota Territory (present-day South Dakota) by Jack McCall, an unsuccessful gambler. He was the fourth son of William Alonzo and Polly Butler Hickok. As vile a character as I ever met for some cause Wild Bill incurred Coe's hatred and he vowed to secure the death of the marshal. Nick McGlashan loved his family, friends and fans. [citation needed], From 1871 until his death in 1876, Hickok had vision problems. Russell, Majors and Waddell had not kept up with their payments for the station, and the gun-brandishing McCanles had come to demand his money from Wellman, who insisted that he did not have it and refused to relinquish the property to McCanles, as did his wife. "[27], While in Springfield, Hickok and a local gambler named Davis Tutt had several disagreements over unpaid gambling debts and their common affection for the same women. James Butler Hickok (May 27, 1837 - August 2, 1876), also known as "Wild Bill" Hickok was a legendary figure in the old west. A highly fictional film account of Hickok's later years and death, titled Wild Bill (1995), stars Jeff Bridges as Hickok and David Arquette as Jack McCall, and was written and directed by Walter Hill. The first major description of the incident appeared in Harpers New Monthly Magazine in February 1867, six years after the fact, written by Col. George Ward Nichols, who claimed to have been told the story by Hickok in 1865. They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors. In 1869 Hickok became sheriff of Hays City, Kansas, where he killed several men in shootouts. On October 5, 1871, Hickok was standing off a crowd during a street brawl when Coe fired two shots. McCall was found guilty and sentenced to death. This was his sixth murder. Wild Bill Hickok's Revolver James Butler "Wild Bill" Hickok's (1837-1874) pair of ivory-handled revolvers were as legendary as he was. "[49], Hickok and Phil Coe, a saloon owner and acquaintance of Hardin's, had a dispute that resulted in a shootout. Later that year he became a teamster with the great freighting enterprise Russell, Majors and Waddell, creators of the Pony Express, for which he was too tall and heavy to be a rider. The movie The Plainsman (1936), starring Gary Cooper as Hickok, features the alleged romance between Calamity Jane and him as its main plot line. Before being called Wild Bill Hickok, his original name was James Butler Hickok. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Wild-Bill-Hickok, Spartacus Educational - Biography of Wild Bill Hickok, Wild Bill Hickok - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up). Famous Cowgirls. [6][35] Witnesses confirm that while working as a scout at Fort Harker, Kansas, on May 11, 1867, Hickok was attacked by a large group of Indians, who fled after he shot and killed two. The charge was later reduced to manslaughter. Calamity Jane never married Wild Bill . Alonzo and Polly Hickok moved to Illinois in 1833, finally settling in Troy Grove (known as Homer at the time), LaSalle County, along the banks of the Little Vermillion Creek. On July 21, 1865, frontier legend Wild Bill Hickok gunned down gambler Davis Tutt in what is often called the first "Wild West" showdown. Visit our corporate site. He worked as a technical writer on the Atlas, Minuteman, and Titan missile-launching systems, as well as Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree. The hand of cards which he supposedly held at the time of his death has become known as the dead man's hand: two pairs; black aces and eights. McCall was tried and acquitted of murder as a result of his dubious claim that the killing was in revenge for Hickoks murder of his brother in Abilene. He was released from the group after a few months. "Wild Bill. This incident added to his fame as a gunslinger, which skyrocketed when journalist and later explorer Sir Henry Morton Stanley reported as fact in the New York Herald in 1867 Hickoks exaggerated claim that he had killed 100 men. Tutt called out, "Boys, I'm killed", before he collapsed and died. Hickok is known to have fatally shot six men and is suspected of having killed a seventh (McCanles). Wild Bill Hickok, byname of James Butler Hickok, (born May 27, 1837, Homer [now Troy Grove], Illinois, U.S.died August 2, 1876, Deadwood, Dakota Territory [now in South Dakota, U.S.]), American frontiersman, army scout, and lawman who helped bring order to the frontier West. After his release, McCall had lingered in Deadwood for a short while before heading to Wyoming. Calamity Jane was reported to have been buried next to Hickok according to her dying wish. Biography and associated logos are trademarks of A+E Networksprotected in the US and other countries around the globe. Hickok, just a stable-hand at the time, killed the three men, despite being severely injured. Corrections? After a brief visit from Hickok, who then rode off into the sunset, a sea captain named James ONeil happened to find her. Did Old West houses have outhouses, and were public facilities available? [39] Three sheriffs had quit during the previous 18 months. One story claimed he killed a bear with his bare hands and a bowie knife. [59], The next day, Hickok was playing poker again. He was very famous as a lawman as he established law and order in some of the most notorious towns on the frontier. Bonhams auction company offered this pistol at auction on November 18, 2013, in San Francisco, California,[75] described as Hickok's Smith & Wesson No. In the Clint Eastwood movie Hang em High, a tumbleweed wagon picks up prisoners to haul them off to jail. Classmate Mary Connolly remembered Jessie, saying, we all played hopscotch and jumped rope on the playground. But mother and daughter eventually left town again. [66] McCall was acquitted of the murder, which prompted editorializing in the Black Hills Pioneer: "Should it ever be our misfortune to kill a man we would simply ask that our trial may take place in some of the mining camps of these hills." We drove on to Beatrice and at the trial, his plea was self-defense; no one appeared against him, and he was cleared. "Wild Bill's Sweetheart: The Life of Mary Jane Owens. Wild Bill Hickok was an American folk hero. In 1857, Hickok claimed a 160-acre (65ha) tract in Johnson County, Kansas, near present-day Lenexa. After shooting Coe, Hickok caught a glimpse of someone running toward him and quickly fired two more shots in reaction, accidentally shooting and killing Abilene Special Deputy Marshal Mike Williams, who was coming to his aid. [82], At the time of this affair I was at a station farther west and reached this station just as Wild Bill was getting ready to go to Beatrice for his trial. [24], In late 1863, Hickok worked for the provost marshal of southwest Missouri as a member of the Springfield detective police. ", DeMattos, Jack (1980). Hickok's brother, Lorenzo Butler, traveled from Illinois to attend the retrial. [57] The two possibly met for the first time after Jane was released from the guardhouse in Fort Laramie and joined the wagon train in which Hickok was traveling. The enclosure was cut open by souvenir hunters in the 1950s, and the statue was removed.[71]. Almost the entire town attended the funeral, and Utter had Hickok buried with a wooden grave marker reading: Wild Bill, J. [citation needed], Henry M. Stanley, of the Weekly Missouri Democrat, reported Hickok to be "an inveterate hater of Indian People", perhaps to enhance his reputation as a scout and American fighter, but separating fact from fiction is difficult considering his recruitment of Indians to cross the nation to appear in his own Wild West show. Funeral services will be held at Charlie Utter's Camp, on Thursday afternoon, August 3, 1876, at 3 o'clock P. M. All are respectfully invited to attend. Doc Holliday did have a bad cough, as suggested in this episode, from his tuberculosis. Hickok remained in Hays through August 1868, when he brought 200 Cheyenne Indians to Hays to be viewed by "excursionists". The first was Bill Mulvey, who was rampaging through town, drunk, shooting out mirrors and whisky bottles behind bars. He was famous on the Deadliest Catch for his hard work, knowledge of fishing, and quick-witted humor. Hickok left his new bride a few months later, joining Charlie Utter's wagon train to seek his fortune in the gold fields of South Dakota. This was during the Indian Wars, in which Hickok sometimes served as a scout for General George A. Custer's 7th Cavalry. In 1954 an episode of Gunsmoke on CBS radio featured John Dehner as Hickok. Six months later Jane visited friends in Deadwood, stating Jessie had married and was living in North Dakota with two children. Good bye, Colorado Charlie, C. H. Utter. The second trial was not considered double jeopardy because of the irregular jury in the first trial and because Deadwood was at the time in unorganized Indian country. Hickok ran as an Independent; but lost to his deputy, Peter Lanihan, who ran as a Democrat. This cemetery filled quickly, and in 1879, on the third anniversary of Hickok's original burial, Utter paid to move Hickok's remains to the new Mount Moriah Cemetery. Hickoks father moved his family from Vermont to Maine to Homer (now Troy Grove), Illinois. It was written by Michael Lanahan and directed by Timothy Woodward Jr. Still, feeling he had escaped punishment, McCall began to brag to anyone that would listen that he had killed Wild Bill Hickok. 22nd August 2017 The "special election" may not have been legal, as a letter dated September 17 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 that he had never received one. Wild Bill Hickok, byname of James Butler Hickok, (born May 27, 1837, Homer [now Troy Grove], Illinois, U.S.died August 2, 1876, Deadwood, Dakota Territory [now in South Dakota, U.S.]), American frontiersman, army scout, and lawman who helped bring order to the frontier West. August marks of the deaths of two of the Wild West's most famous figures: Wild Bill Hickok and Calamity Jane. Omissions? 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