WILD BILL HICKOK

WILD BILL HICKOK

James Butler Hickok was born on 27 May 1837 of English Parents on a farm in rural Illinois. By the age of 12 he had already a reputation of a gifted marksman. When he was 18 he went west running from the Law.  He became a stagecoach driver, scout and lawman. He also joined and lived through the American Civil War. Today he is a hero of the Wild West

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Eventually he moved to Deadwood to find fame and fortune in the goldrush in South Dakota.  He became a Lawman and gambler and both activities were easily crossed

BILL HICKOK,  TEXAS JACK OMOHUNDRO,  BUFFALO BILL CODY  1873

His friends Buffalo Bill and Calamity Jane the three were known as the best quick-draw shooter of their times.

CALAMITY JANE

Bill Hickok was known to have sat always with his back to the wall. On one game there was only one chair left empty.  He sat with the back to the door.  He begged other gamblers to change chairs with him but they wouldn’t. Was it a set-up?  Buffalo hunter “Crooked Nose” Jack McCall crept in through the door and stood behind Hickok. He shot him in the back of his head with one single shot. McCall revenged the killing of his brother. He was later hanged for it.

Hickok was holding two black aces, two black eights and another card which is not known. This hand is known till today as dead man’s hand in poker.

His gun, a legendary Smith & Wesson no 2 revolver was later sold to pay for his debts. It is a .32 gun with a 6in barrel, blue finish and varnished rosewood grips and with a document proving it’s Wild Bill Hickok’s gun. It was kept and passed on in the same family in Deadwood for 140 years.

It has now been put up for sale at Bonhams in San Francisco in November and has a price tag of £320,000 and most probably rising. Normally a gun of that quality would fetch £1,300 and was bought when new for £10.

A very detailed account of Bill Hickok’s life is to be found on Wikipedia.