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. [34]:34 The show featured six buffalo, a bear, and a monkey, and one show ended in disaster when a buffalo refused to act, prompting Hickok to fire a bullet into the sky. Hickok remained in Hays through August 1868, when he brought 200 Cheyenne Indians to Hays to be viewed by "excursionists". [31], Several weeks later, an interview Hickok gave to Colonel George Ward Nichols, a journalist who subsequently became known as the creator of the Hickok legend,[32] was published in Harper's New Monthly Magazine. That derisive nickname may have been given to him by David McCanles, who had sold the buildings that became the Pony Expresss Rock Creek station, on credit, to Russell, Majors and Waddell. Even in death Hickok's legend grew. 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. He told Mrs. McCanles he was sorry he had to kill her man then took out $35 [$1,056 in 2021 dollars] and gave it to her saying: "This is all I have, sorry I do not have more to give you." Both parents were reputed to be unsavory, involved in petty crimes and often financially destitute. ", Rosa, Joseph G. (1979). "[46] Hoping to intimidate Hickok, Coe allegedly stated that he could "kill a crow on the wing". He told Clemmons (Hardin) to stay out of trouble in Abilene and asked him to hand over his guns, and Hardin complied. It is a loose adaptation of Hickok's life, ending with his famous aces-and-eights card hand. The bear attacked, crushing Hickok with its body. A monument has been built there. Tutt called out, "Boys, I'm killed", before he collapsed and died. [43], On April 15, 1871, Hickok became marshal of Abilene, Kansas. 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.. Bath All About History is part of Future plc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. McCall tried to . 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. The new trial was held in Yankton, the capital of the Dakota Territory. [12] The article was controversial wherever Hickok was known, and several frontier newspapers wrote rebuttals. A second son, named Lorenzo Butler Hickok, was born in October of 1831 but died soon thereafter. "[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), better known as "Wild Bill" Hickok, was a folk hero of the American Old West known for his life on the frontier as a soldier, scout, lawman, cattle rustler, gunslinger, gambler, showman, and actor, and for his involvement in many famous gunfights. Neither claim was true. He was very famous as a lawman as he established law and order in some of the most notorious towns on the frontier. Jan MacKell Collins is the author of numerous books about the Old West, the latest isLost Ghost Towns of Teller County. James Butler Hickok was born in Troy Grove, Illinois, on May 27, 1837, to William Alonzo Hickok and Polly Butler Hickok. When a seat opened up at the table, a drunk man named Jack McCall sat down to play. ", Nichols, George Ward (1867). by Marshall Trimble | Nov 1, 2007 | Inside History. Was he shooting back? He was released on $2,000 bail and stood trial on August 3, 1865. [40]:192, On July 17, 1870, Hickok was attacked by two troopers from the 7th U.S. Cavalry, Jeremiah Lonergan and John Kyle (sometimes spelled Kile),[42] in a saloon. [citation needed], Buffalo Bill claimed that he encountered Hickok disguised as a Confederate officer in Missouri in 1864. Michelle Renes novel, Hour Glass, is a moving, revealing picture of the legendary Calamity Jane., A bar in Hays City, Kansas, on July 17, 1870. Though no solid record exists, he is believed to have served as a Union spy in the Confederate Army before his discharge in 1865. Notorious Old West gunmen John Wesley Hardin and James Butler Hickok, also known as "Wild Bill," began as friends. [28] Tutt's shot missed, but Hickok's struck Tutt through the heart from about 75 yards (69m) away. Horace Hickok was born in October of 1834. Omissions? Wild Bill's brother, Oliver Cromwell Hickok married and fathered five children per: Search Results from User Submitted Genealogies (only as accurate as submitter). He was involved in several notable shootouts during the course of his life. To be entitled to acquittal on the ground of self-defense, he must have been anxious to avoid a conflict, and must have used all reasonable means to avoid it. . Hickok and Brinks were charged with murder but found not guilty. [52], In 1876, Hickok was diagnosed by a doctor in Kansas City, Missouri, with glaucoma and ophthalmia. The couple had a daughter, who also became an accomplished performer and horseback rider. 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. When Jane arrived in Deadwood, South Dakota in 1895, she told others that she needed money to enrol Jessie in a convent school at Sturgis. They performed together until Bill was tragically murdered in 1869. authorities, and after trial has been sentenced to death for willful murder. 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. Martha (her name wasnt even Jane) had several husbands and a daughter, Jessie, who died in Los Angeles in 1960. [73], Hickok's favorite guns were a pair of Colt 1851 Navy Model (.36 caliber) cap-and-ball revolvers. She appears to have finally learned the truth by the time she died in 1980, for her death certificate correctly lists her mothers maiden name as Canary. On September 4, Hickok was wounded in the foot while rescuing several cattlemen in the Bijou Creek basin who had been surrounded by Indians. To date, four children have been credited to the lady, although some of the claims have come from the children themselves. [9], At the time of his death, Hickok was wearing a Smith & Wesson Model No. August marks of the deaths of two of the Wild West's most famous figures: Wild Bill Hickok and Calamity Jane. Hickok ordered him to be arrested for firing a pistol within the city limits. Hickok then tried acting in Wild West shows, which were growing in popularity. ", Rosa, Joseph G. (1984). Nick McGlashan loved his family, friends and fans. Hickok never fought in another gun battle. 22nd August 2017 Wild Bill Hickok's iconic status is rooted in a shootout in July 1861 in what came to be known as the McCanles Massacre in Rock Creek, Nebraska. He was bedridden for four months before being sent to Rock Creek Station in the Nebraska Territory to work as a stable hand while he recovered. Fox met Jessie when she interviewed Jane for an article in Illustrated American magazine. I suggest you read Calamity Jane: The Woman and the Legend by James D. McLaird. They initially agreed not to fight over the watch, but when Hickok saw Tutt wearing it, he warned him to stay away. In 1859, he joined the Russell, Majors and Waddell freight company, the parent company of the Pony Express. [citation needed], On August 1, 1876, Hickok was playing poker at Nuttal & Mann's Saloon No. The cemetery was moved in 1881, and when McCall's body was exhumed, the noose was found still around his neck.[69]. Wild Bill Hickok was an American frontiersman, army scout and lawman who helped bring order to the frontier West. Wild Bill Hickok was an American folk hero. He is chiefly portrayed as a protagonist, although historical accounts of his actions are often controversial, and much of his career is known to have been exaggerated both by himself and by contemporary mythmakers. Updates? There, again, he killed several men, including his deputy marshal, whose deaththe result of an accidental shootingled to Hickoks dismissal. Lorenzo Butler Hickok spoke with McCall after the trial, and said McCall showed no remorse. [25][26]:136 Hickok had not been paid for some time, and was hired as a scout by General John B. Sanborn by early 1865. Calamity Jane never married Wild Bill . He twice asked another man at the table, Charles Rich, to change seats with him, but Rich refused. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions. One account of him, written in the late 1860s, described Hickok as six feet tall, lithe, active, sinewy, [a] daring rider, [a] dead shot with pistol and rifle, [with] long locks, fine features and mustache, buckskin leggings, red shirt, broad-brim hat, twin pistols in belt, rifle in hand. Despite his rough-and-ready ways, Hickok was also said to have been genteel and courteous and to have enjoyed dressing with panache in the latest styles of the day. The way Wild Bill conducted himself in his later years was a direct correlation for what he did when he was a young boy. He traveled west to Deadwood, South Dakota, in a wagon train that included Martha Jane Cannary (Calamity Jane), who later claimed she had secretly married him. Only station employees were allowed to testify at the trial (testimony by McCanless son was barred), and the verdict was that the men had acted in self-defense. Red objects generally appear black in early photographs, as the photographic processes were insensitive to red light. McLintock used a cane to tap the body, face, and head, finding no soft tissue anywhere. A semifictionalized version of Hickok's time as marshal of Abilene Kansas, titled Hickok (2017), stars Luke Hemsworth as Hickok, Trace Adkins as the Bull's Head Saloon keeper Phil Coe, Kris Kristofferson as Abilene mayor George Knox, and Kaiwi Lyman-Mersereau as John Wesley Hardin. [38], On September 1, 1868, Hickok was in Lincoln County, Kansas, where he was hired as a scout by the 10th Cavalry Regiment, a segregated African-American unit. The cards he was holding at the time a pair of black aces and a pair of black eights became known as "the dead man's hand.". [21] Hickok subsequently visited McCanles' widow, apologized for the killing, and offered her $35 in restitution, all the money he had with him at the time. A month or so later, he left their honeymoon in Cincinnati for the goldfields of the Black Hills in the Dakota Territory, where he hoped to make enough money to send for her. After the war Hickok continued his adventurous ways, at times just skirting the right side of the law. [citation needed], From 1871 until his death in 1876, Hickok had vision problems. [6] Since the event was outdoors, he could not compel people to pay, and the venture was a financial failure. [58] Jane confirmed this account in an 1896 newspaper interview, although she claimed she had been hospitalized with illness rather than in the guardhouse. Wild Bill Hickok begins to establish his reputation as a gunfighter after he shoots three men during a shootout in Nebraska. His own show, The Daring Buffalo Chase of the Plains, did not fare well, but in 1873 he joined Buffalo Bill Codys The Scouts of the Prairie, which was based in Rochester, New York. While in Deadwood, South Dakota, Wild Bill Hickok became a regular poker player at Nuttal & Mann's Saloon. ", This page was last edited on 27 February 2023, at 18:12. Upon being sprung, Jane whisked into Castle City, picked up the girl, and went on her way. Hardin was in town under his assumed name Wesley Clemmons, but was better known to the townspeople by the alias "Little Arkansas". They arrived in Topeka on April 2. ", DeMattos, Jack (1980). He was known as a gunfighter and gambler who fought in the Civil War and was a scout for Custer's Cavalry. He drove freight wagons and coaches. There, the freight company had built a stagecoach stop along the Oregon Trail near Fairbury, Nebraska, on land purchased from David McCanles. Entdecke Bill O'Reilly's Legends and Lies: The Real West - Hardcover - GOOD in groer Auswahl Vergleichen Angebote und Preise Online kaufen bei eBay Kostenlose Lieferung fr viele Artikel! Like his friend Buffalo Bill Cody, Hickok was the son of an abolitionist. In real life, Calamity Jane (Martha Jane Canary) never met 'Doc' Holliday: she actually was in love and pursued 'Wild Bill' Hickock. Calamity Jane. In 1876 in Cheyenne, Wyoming Territory, Hickok married Agnes Lake Thatcher, a former circus performer. On the afternoon of August 2, 1876, he was playing cards with his back to the door, something he seldom did. In the Clint Eastwood movie Hang em High, a tumbleweed wagon picks up prisoners to haul them off to jail. This was claimed after he was killed during a poker game on Aug. 2, 1876. Wikimedia Commons Advertisement 11. [28] Strawhun "made remarks against Hickok", and Hickok killed him with a shot through the head. Jessie later said that the Deadwood Chief of Police wrote her about Janes death in 1903. They even did a stint abroad, performing for one season in Germany in 1862. Nicholss version of the shootout in Harpers grabbed the publics attention, making Hickok an instant legend whose gunfighting prowess became fodder for dime novels. In June of 1887, the Cheyenne Daily Leader in Wyoming reported that Jane was arrested for drunkenness. In addition to many exploits she was known for being an acquaintance of Wild Bill Hickok.Late in her life, she appeared in Buffalo Bill's Wild West show and at the 1901 Pan-American Exposition.She is said to have exhibited compassion to others . Visit our corporate site. 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. [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. After his release, McCall had lingered in Deadwood for a short while before heading to Wyoming. She said she was the daughter of Jane and Wild Bill Hickok, and was born in a cabin near Livingston, Montana in 1873. 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. "Wild Bill and the Timber Thieves. Several sources, including Jessie, verify the child was born on October 28. [d] The jury voted to clear Hickok, resulting in public backlash and criticism of the verdict. All Rights Reserved. That winter, writer M.L. He fought against slavery with General James Lane in Kansas, and operated as a constable in Johnson County. In reality, Janes first verified child was born in November 1882 when she was living with rancher Frank King near Miles City, Montana. William Austin, the cemetery caretaker, estimated 500lb (230kg). This was the last time Hickok was ever involved in a gunfight; the accidental death of Deputy Williams was an event that haunted Hickok for the remainder of his life. The movie The Plainsman (1936), starring Gary Cooper as Hickok, features the alleged romance between Calamity Jane and him as its main plot line. Burke she had enrolled Jessie in the school. Hickok lost a gold watch to Tutt in a poker game. [54], Charles Snyder, the Lucien Howe Librarian of Ophthalmology at Harvard Medical School, said "Granular conjunctivitis, ophtalmia, trachomacall it what you willwas common on the Western Frontier. It ends with Hickok surviving the murder attempt due to wearing body armor and being shot in the back, then secretly leaving for a ranch in California. The episode correctly relates Hickok's vision problems late in his life, and also includes his murderer, Jack McCall, in a highly fictionalized role. Not wasting a second, he quietly drew his revolver and shot Hickok in the back of the head, instantly killing him. Tutt reached for his pistol but Hickok was the first to draw his weapon, and shot Tutt instantly, from approximately 75 yards. Writing in 1911, he detailed his admiration for Hickok and included a paragraph on the shooting that differs considerably from the reported account: "Phil" Coe was from Texas, ran the "Bull's Head" a saloon and gambling den, sold whiskey and men's souls. Against the bloody backdrop of the uniquely volatile point in history, both killers earned a reputation for viciousness. They traveled to Deadwood, South Dakota, together and were acquaintances, but there is no evidence of a romance (especially on his part). At the [second] trial it was suggested that [McCall] was hired to do his work by gamblers 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. One of the workers, Joseph McLintock, wrote a detailed description of the reinterment. He was found not guilty by a miners court after telling judges that Hickok killed his brother, though later accounts showed McCall had no brothers. The incident began when David McCanles, his brother William and several farmhands came to the station demanding payment for a property that had been bought from him. Hickok lost his re-election bid to his deputy. During this period Hickok prevented a man from beating an 11-year-old boy, who grew up to become Buffalo Bill Cody, Hickoks longtime friend. 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