Hickok's first gunfight
In 1861, 24-year-old Hickok was a man making his way in the Wild West. When the American Civil War broke out, he joined the Union Army. But it was at The Rock Creek Station, which paved the way for him as the hero in countless dime novels.
The Rock Creek Station was a stopover for wagons and a change of horses for the Pony Express, and passengers of the Overland Stage along the Oregon Trail. At the time, Hickok was employed as a driver for Russell, Majors, & Waddell, who operated freighting and stagecoach lines. While recovering from a bear accident, Hickok helped operate The Rock Creek Station, which was being purchased from David McCanles, an enterprising farmer and one of the Territory's leading citizens. He was also the local bully. McCanles did not like Hickok and referred to him as "Duck Bill" because of a protruding lip, later covered by Hickok's famous moustache. Obviously, Hickok did not care much for McCanles either. The new line owners were having trouble making payment to McCanles, and, on July 12, 1861, McCanles, along with his 12-year old son Monroe McCanles and two other men showed up demanding funds from station manager Horace Wellman. (Different accounts vary as to who the other two men were -- cousin, farmhands, another employee...) Wellman replied he did not have authority to pay him. Also at the station was J.W. "Dock" Brink, a stable hand. An argument issued and McCanles was shot and killed by Hickok. The two other men who had rode up with McCanles were also killed; one by shotgun blast, the other hacked to death by a hoe.Young Monroe McCanles escaped injury.
Hickok was arrested and charged with murder. He was later released on the plea of self-defense.
Court documents from the Nebraska State Historical Society dated July 13, 1861 state the following murder complaint: [1]
Territory of Nebraska
County of Gage
The Complainant and informant, Leroy McCanles of the County of Johnson, Territory afforesaid Made 
before T. M. Coulter Esquire one of the Justices of the Peace in and for Gage County, on the 13th day of July 1861, who being duly sworn on his own oath says that the crime of Murder has been Committed in the County of Jones and that Dutch Bill, Dock and Wellman (thier [sic] other names not known) committed the same
Subscribed and
Sworn to before me (signature of) _ L. McCanles
This 13th day of July 1861
T. M. Coulter
Justice of the Peace
List of trail expenses:
This is the Bill of Costs in the Case of Territory of Nebraska against Wm. B. Hickok, J. W. Brink & Horace G. Wellman, on a Charge of Murder which was not Sustained and the Costs have to Come off of the County.
Records also confirm that the court issued a subpoena to Monroe McCanles. The court later refused Monroe McCanles to testify.
It is interesting to note that in the court document Hickok is referred to as "Wm. B. Hickok" or "Dutch Bill."
During the course of the following years, Monroe McCandle swore Hickok killed his father.
Many dime novels would be written about Hickok and his involvement with The Rock Creek Station killings, Including Colonel Prentiss Ingraham's Wild Bill the Pistol Deadshot. In each novel, written by many authors, new "facts" were offered about the famous Hickok. Many were overblown myths or admirations for Wild Bill.
Becoming known as Wild Bill
While working as a peace officer in Monticello, Kansas, in agreement with many biographers "...Hickok invented the practice of 'posting' men out of town. He would put a list on what was called the "dead man's tree" (so called because men had been lynched on it.) Hickok proclaimed he would shoot them on sight the following day. Few stayed around to find out if he was serious."
Several claims are made as to how Hickok won his nickname of "Wild Bill." Depending on which version you listen to, one way could be his brother was "Tame Bill" and he was "Wild Bill." Or, this way: During his stay in Independence a bartender friend, who had killed a drunken teamster, asked Hickok for protection. When several of the dead man's friends entered the saloon, Hickok drew his revolver and pointed it at the crowd:
"Leave or there will be more dead men around here than the town can bury," Hickok warned them.
The teamsters hesitated. They could have rushed him but the cold eyes of the man behind the gun never wavered. And, of course, they had heard the story of Rock Creek. After a few jeers and curses they turned away. A large crowd had gathered to silently watch the outcome of what had looked to be a lynching party. When Hickok holstered his gun a woman called out:
"Good for you, Wild Bill."
Gunfighter to lawman
On July 21, 1865, in Springfield, Missouri, Hickok fought another gun battle, this time with a gambler named Dave Tutt. The duel was over a poker game. At one o'clock in the afternoon, as many town citizens watched, Hickok and Tutt had a shootout in the town square. As Tutt reached for his gun, Hickok's drew his quick as lightning and fired a fatal bullet. He was soon arrested on a charge of murder. He was later acquitted on the grounds of self-defense and the fight was fair.
In 1867-1869, Hickok served both as deputy United States Marshal with Fort Riley as his headquarters and an Army Scout in the Indian Wars. He was assisted by William "Buffalo Bill" Cody. (They had first met over a decade before when William Cody was 12-years old.)
In mid August, 1869, Hickok was offered the job of town marshal at Hays City. And in April 1871, he was appointed marshal of Abilene, Kansas after former marshal Thomas J. Smith had been killed. Rowdy cowboys filled the town, and right from the beginning Hickok let it be known he intended to keep peace in the town.
On October 5, 1871, while still marshal in Abilene and earning $150.00 a month, saloon owner Phil Coe was looking for trouble by shooting up the town. Hickok summoned his friend Mike Williams. During the confrontation (which some historians put the location at the Bull's Head Saloon, whom Coe co-owned with Ben Thompson) Hickok fired his gun. As Williams came to assist, Hickok whirled around and fired, accidentally killing his own deputy. This event haunted Hickok for the rest of his life. Shortly afterward, the town council posted a warning that abilene would no accept "the evils of the cow business" and suggested that drovers seek another business point. The drovers moved on. In December, Hickok was dismissed from his service.
In 1873, Hickok was the master of ceremonies in Sidney Barnett’s Grand Buffalo Hunt. Later that year, Hickok joined Buffalo Bill's play, Scouts of the Plains, which also starred Buffalo Bill and "Texas Jack" Omohundro. Hickok liked to changed the lines in the plays, much to the delight of the audiences. Though Hickok drew in a huge crowd, performing wasn't much to his liking. By 1875 he quit and headed to Wyoming. By that time, Hickok's eyesight and health had begun to suffer.
(l to r) Wild Bill Hickok "Texas Jack" Omohundro Wild Bill, circa late 1860's
"Buffalo Bill" Cody
Wild Bill's final months
While in Cheyenne, Wyoming, Hickok met again the widow Agnes Lake Thatcher, who he'd previously met in Abilene in 1871, when she had come there with her traveling circus show. Agnes was a famous horsewoman, high-wire artist and dancer and is credited with inventing the two-ring circus. Her first husband, William Lake Thatcher, had been a circus clown. During the Civil War he was killed by Jake Killeen (spelling varies) after being ejected from a show in Granby, Missouri. On March 5, 1876, Hickok and Agnes married in Cheyenne. At the time of the marriage, Hickok was 38 and Agnes was 50-years old. After a brief honeymoon in St. Louis, Missouri and Cincinnati, Ohio, Hickok left his bride to go to Deadwood Gulch, Dakota Territory. He arrived mid July 1876 when the camp was at its peak and spent much of his time gambling at Nuttall & Mann's No. 10 Saloon on Main Street. Also in town was a twenty-something Martha Jane Canary, better known as Calamity Jane -- a hard-drinking, tobacco chewing, cussing woman in men's clothes. Despite those ill behaviors, she also has been noted as being kind-hearted. According to Deadwood documents she helped nurse the ill during the 1878 smallpox epidemic in Deadwood. Dr. Babcock referred to her as "brave" and an "angel." She also reportedly donated food to the needy.
Though much has been glamorized by Hollywood romanticizing Wild Bill
and Calamity Jane, in actual truth, they only knew one another a total of six
weeks. They were never married, nor had any children together. Years later,
Calamity Jane claimed in her autobiography that she was married to Hickok
and had divorced him so he could be free to marry Agnes Lake Thatcher.
No documents have ever surfaced supporting this. She later stayed in the
Deadwood area, then moved away and married Clinton Burke. She returned
to the area, living in Terry, where she eventually died due to alcohol poisoning.
Speculations of her having a daughter and giving up to a foster family have
been made. During the 20th century, a woman claimed to be her and Wild
Bill's daughter. However, it was discovered that this 'daughter' was actually
born four years after Wild Bill died.
Calamity Jane with her rile
On August 1, 1876, Wild Bill sat down and wrote this letter to his wife Agnes:
"Agnes darling, if such should be we never meet again, while firing my last shot, I will gently breathe the name of my wife--Agnes--and with wishes even for my enemies I will make the plunge and try to swim to the other shore."
The Dead Man's Hand
Shortly after noon on August 2, 1876, Hickok entered the No. 10 Saloon where Carl Mann, part owner of the saloon, Captain Massie, a retired steamboat captain, and Charles Rich were playing poker. Mann invited Hickok to sit down. The wall seat occupied, for the first time Hickok sat with his back to the door. From where he sat, Hickok had a clear view of the front entrance, but the small rear door was behind him. Sometime around three o'clock in the afternoon, Wild Bill had just picked up his next hand when a drifter named "Crooked Nose" John (Jack) McCall walked into the saloon. No one paid any attention to him.
After going to the bar, Jack McCall retraced his steps, drew his gun (accounts vary on the type of weapon used -- possibly either a .22 caliber pistol, or Colt .45) from under his coat and fired at Wild Bill, shouting, "Take that!" The bullet entered the back of Hickok's head, killing him instantly. As Wild Bill's body fell back, his cards fell to the floor - the ace of spades, ace of clubs, two black eights and the nine of diamonds, now known as "Deadman's Hand." (note: the fifth card varies by witnesses. Some accounts state it was the jack of diamonds. While others say it was the queen of diamonds.)
McCall fled, but was soon apprehended. Several stories evolve as to who actually found McCall. Some accounts have Calamity Jane cornering the assassin in a butchershop with a meat cleaver. That is a fable. But the most plausible factor appears to be Deadwood citizens going after McCall. To date, the weapon Jack McCall used has never been recovered and it is believed either McCall disposed of it, or possibly the man who detained him seized the gun.
McCall was tried the next day in Deadwood by a miner's court. When asked his legal name, he stated it was John McCall. When asked why he killed Hickok, he replied that Hickok had murdered his brother. Prior to murdering Wild Bill, they had been seen together only twice in the No. 10 Saloon while playing poker. The jury found McCall innocent and he soon left Deadwood.
Since the first trial had taken place on Indian land the government did not recognize it. October 1876, in Yankton, Dakota Territory, McCall was charged for Wild Bill's murder. It was discovered McCall had only sisters and no brothers. The reason he'd murdered Wild Bill was because his ambition was to be "a famous gunfighter." In December of that same year Jack McCall was found guilty and sentenced to hang on March 1, 1877. When the trap door swung open, "Oh God" was these last words uttered by him.
Wild Bill, aged 39 years, was buried with his rifles on August 3, 1876 in the Ingleside Cemetery. Two years later he was reburied at the present site of Deadwood's Boot Hill Mount Moriah. Though many relic seekers picked away a statue sculpted by R.H. Riordan, which was erected in 1891, presently, a new identical bronze statue marks his grave. Buried near Wild Bill is "Potato Creek Johnny." To the right is Calamity Jane, who died August 1, 1903, in Terry, a small mining town near Deadwood, and said, "Bury me next to Bill -- the only man I ever loved." Or so the story goes...
And what ever became of Agnes? The following November
after her beloved husband died, James Bulter Hickok
biographer Joseph Rosa, in his book They Called Him Wild Bill
writes that Agnes sent a letter to the Hickok family expressing
her love of him and grief. She mourned him to her death.
Some biographers contend that Agnes arrived in Deadwood
thirteen months after her husband was killed and set arrangements
for a fence to be put around his grave. Agnes died on August 21,
1907, in New Jersey, and is buried next to her first husband,
William Lake Thatcher.
Wild Bill; August 2
Calamity Jane; August 1
Agnes: August 21
The numbers go in order
Calamity Jane, standing by Wild Bill's marker
July 1901, age 51
_______________________________________________________________________________________
My photographs from Deadwood, SD
I took this photograph of Wild Bill's new statue shortly after it was erected in 2003. It is the 3rd statue.
Shortly after Wild Bill Hickok was murdered, Colorado Charley Utter carved a wooden headboard, which was placed near the grave. It soon disappeared. In 1970 a facsimile was added where the headboard presently rests near the front gate of Mount Moriah. (I took this photograph just as you enter Mount Moriah )
Calamity Jane's marker, next to Wild Bill
The original No.10 Saloon burned to the ground in 1894 and was later relocated on Main Street. Presently, the original No.10 Saloon has been restored in Historic Deadwood.
The photograph on the right is downstairs at the original location of Saloon No. 10. Maniquins of Wild Bill (facing)
Colorado Charlie, Jack McCall (In back, reaching for pistol). In the background is the bar, where bartender, Harry S. Young, stood. To the left is original bricks from 1876. When I touched the brick, it was apparent it could crumble.
( L )This is actually a 'picture of a picture' I took downstairs at the original location of Saloon No. 10. Notice
the old playing cards. Picture of Wild Bill circa 1876. (Original collage property of Saloon No. 10)
( R ) Bullock Hotel, circa 1870's, now a gaming room. Notice the background with the rock wall. During
the Deadwood goldrush, the town was built within the gulch -- Deadwood Gulch.
__________________________
"As to killing, I never think much about it. I don't believe in ghosts,
and I don't keep the lights burning all night to keep them away.
That's because I'm not a murderer. It is the other man or me in a
fight, and I don't stop to think--is it a sin to do this thing? And
after it is over, what's the use of disturbing the mind."
-- Wild Bill Hickok
__________________
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