Wild Bill Hickok

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Seemingly uninterested in a grubstake, Wild Bill tried vainly to resume a career as a gambler, but no longer possessed the requisite skills.  In fact, he was just barely able to keep himself properly suited and situated so as to hold on to the reputation and the illusion. He was seldom sober and was repeatedly arrested for vagrancy. 

On the evening of August 1, 1876, Hickok was playing poker in a  Deadwood saloon with several men, including a man by the name of Jack McCall, who lost heavily.  Wild Bill generously gave him back enough money to buy something to eat, but advised him not to play again until he could cover his losses.

The next afternoon when Wild Bill entered Nuttall & Mann's Saloon he found Charlie Rich sitting in his preferred seat. After some hesitation, Wild Bill joined the game, reluctantly seating himself with his back to the door and the bar---a fatal mistake. Jack McCall, drinking heavily at the bar, saw Hickok enter the saloon, taking a seat at his regular table in the corner near the door.

Deadwood, South Dakota in 1876, photo courtesy

Library of Congress.

This image available for photographic prints HERE!

Wild Bill Hickok's grave today in Deadwood,

South Dakota, July, 2006, Kathy Weiser.

The day after Hickok was killed a jury panel was selected to try Jack McCall.  McCall claimed he had shot Wild Bill in revenge for killing his brother back in Abilene, Kansas and maintained that he would do it all over again given the chance.  In less than two hours the jury returned a “not guilty” verdict that evoked this comment in the local newspaper: "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."

McCall hung about Deadwood for several days, until a man called California Joe strongly suggested the air might be bad for McCall's  health.  McCall got the message and believing he’d escaped punishment for his crime, headed to Wyoming bragging to anyone who would listen that he had killed the famous Wild Bill Hickok.

Less than a month later, the trial held in Deadwood was found to have had no legal basis, Deadwood being located in Indian Territory.  McCall was arrested in Laramie, Wyoming  on August 29, 1876, charged with the murder, and  taken to Yankton, South Dakota to stand trial.

Lorenzo Butler Hickok traveled from Illinois to attend the trial of his brother's murderer and was gratified by the guilty verdict. On March 1, 1877, Jack McCall was put to death by hanging.  As to McCall's  earlier claim of having shot Hickok out of revenge for his brother, it was later discovered that Jack McCall never had a brother.

Fourteen years after Hickok’s death, in 1900, an aging Calamity Jane arranged to be photographed next to his overgrown burial site. Elderly, thin and poor, her clothes were ragged and held together with safety pins.  Holding a flower in her hand, she said that when she died she wanted to be buried next to the man she loved. Three years later, she was.

Kathy Weiser/Legends of America, © July, 2006

Calamity Jane at Wild Bill's grave, July 1903, photo courtesy Adams Museum.

Calamity Jane, 1895

This image available for photographic prints HERE!

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From the Rocky Mountain General Store

Saloon Style Tin Signs - Decorate with saloon-like decor with these nostalgic tin signs. Find saloons, restaurants, liquor and beer, including Budweiser, Coors, and more. All signs are made of heavy gauge metal and have rolled edges for safe handling.  Great for hanging or framing!