[28] Tutt's shot missed, but Hickok's struck Tutt through the heart from about 75 yards (69m) away. He drove freight wagons and coaches. August marks of the deaths of two of the Wild West's most famous figures: Wild Bill Hickok and Calamity Jane. Trachoma is often associated with poverty and poor hygiene that allows the bacteria to infect and re-infect eyes; if left untreated, it can cause blindness. In 1876, Wild Bill Hickok was suffering from glaucoma. The son of William Alonzo and Polly Butler Hickok, he was by all accounts a master marksman from an early age. On August 2, 1876, Wild Bill Hickok died a sudden, violent death while gambling in a saloon in Deadwood, South Dakota. 22nd August 2017 [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. 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." Duck Bill and Shanghai Bill Hickok remains a popular figure of frontier history. This, in turn, was destroyed by souvenir hunters and replaced in 1902 by a life-sized sandstone sculpture of Hickok. [d] The jury voted to clear Hickok, resulting in public backlash and criticism of the verdict. The original wooden grave marker was moved to the new site, but by 1891, it had been destroyed by souvenir hunters whittling pieces from it, and it was replaced with a statue. ", Rosa, Joseph G. (1982). A former cavalryman, J.W. Biography and associated logos are trademarks of A+E Networksprotected in the US and other countries around the globe. [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. [59], The next day, Hickok was playing poker again. William Austin, the cemetery caretaker, estimated 500lb (230kg). There, the freight company had built a stagecoach stop along the Oregon Trail near Fairbury, Nebraska, on land purchased from David McCanles. and that Deft. In court she presented the judge with a doctors certificate indicating she was in a rather delicate condition, an early euphemism for pregnant. ", This page was last edited on 27 February 2023, at 18:12. According to Joseph G. Rosa, Hickok's biographer and the foremost authority on Wild Bill, Hickok killed only six or seven men in gunfights. At the time of the so-called McCanles Massacre, Hickok was known as Duck Bill because of his sweeping nose and protruding upper lip (covered with a mustache later in life). Hickok was assigned to bring the men to Topeka for trial, and he requested a military escort from Fort Hays. They traveled to Deadwood, South Dakota, together and were acquaintances, but there is no evidence of a romance (especially on his part). Wild Bill Hickok was an American frontiersman, army scout and lawman who helped bring order to the frontier West. 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. Fox met Jessie when she interviewed Jane for an article in Illustrated American magazine. In the melee, Hickok caught a glimpse of someone moving towards him and responded with two shots killing his deputy Mike Williams. Wild Bill Hickok was one of the early "Heroes of the West." He had built a reputation as an extraordinary gunfighter with a sense of fairness and justice. Calamity Jane never married Wild Bill . B. Hickock [sic] (Wild Bill) formerly of Cheyenne, Wyoming. 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. [29][30], Two days later, Hickok was arrested for murder. His work included identifying and counting the number of troops in uniform who were drinking while on duty, verifying hotel liquor licenses, and tracking down individuals who owed money to the cash-strapped Union Army. A young drifter named Jack McCall walked in and approached Hickok from behind. Hickok has remained one of the most popular and iconic figures of the American Old West, and is still frequently depicted in popular culture, including literature, film, and television. She was the eldest of as many as six children born to Robert and Charlotte (Burch) Cannary. In the Frederic Remington illustration of The Sentinel, is the mission San Xavier del Bac? McCanles may have been the first man Hickok killed. Calamity Jane was reported to have been buried next to Hickok according to her dying wish. At the coroner's inquest into Strawhun's death, despite "very contradictory" evidence from witnesses, the jury found the shooting justifiable. Di Certo is the author of ten books and composer of three albums of children's songs. It is a loose adaptation of Hickok's life, ending with his famous aces-and-eights card hand. Quay House, The Ambury, Hickok is known to have fatally shot six men and is suspected of having killed a seventh (McCanles). Three years after Jack McCall shot Hickok in the back as he was playing cards in Deadwood, South Dakota, an 1879 story in the Cheyenne, Wyoming, Daily Leader noted that the pistols were made expressly . [6] Since the event was outdoors, he could not compel people to pay, and the venture was a financial failure. McCall shot Hickok from behind as he played poker at Nuttal & Mann's Saloon in Deadwood, Dakota Territory on August 2, 1876. It was written by Michael Lanahan and directed by Timothy Woodward Jr. "Wild Bill's Sweetheart: The Life of Mary Jane Owens. We drove on to Beatrice and at the trial, his plea was self-defense; no one appeared against him, and he was cleared. Bath The bullet emerged through his right cheek and struck another player, riverboat Captain William Massie, in the left wrist. In 1876 in Cheyenne, Wyoming Territory, Hickok married Agnes Lake Thatcher, a former circus performer. She was Maude Weir, born in 1881. His exploits as a gunfighter, scout, and lawman were legendary and he became the topic of many fictionalized accounts. England and Wales company registration number 2008885. subscribe to All About History for as little as 26. In another account of the Coe shootout: Theophilus Little, the mayor of Abilene and owner of the town's lumber yard, recorded his time in Abilene by writing in a notebook, which was ultimately given to the Abilene Historical Society. Nicholss version of the shootout in Harpers grabbed the publics attention, making Hickok an instant legend whose gunfighting prowess became fodder for dime novels. Wikimedia Commons Advertisement 11. A legend during his life and considered one of the American west's premier gunfighters, James Butler ("Wild Bill") Hickok was born May 27, 1837, in Troy Grove, Illinois. He became a deputy U.S. marshal, and on March 28, 1868, he picked up 11 Union Army deserters who had been charged with stealing government property. Hickok ran as an Independent; but lost to his deputy, Peter Lanihan, who ran as a Democrat. Hickok lost a gold watch to Tutt in a poker game. Doc Holliday did have a bad cough, as suggested in this episode, from his tuberculosis. 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. Did Wild Bill Hickok have a child? ", Rosa, Joseph G. (1984). 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. While a Jayhawker, he met 12-year-old William Cody (later known as "Buffalo Bill"), who, despite his youth, served as a scout just two years later for the U.S. Army during the Utah War. [39] Three sheriffs had quit during the previous 18 months. McCall was brought to trial the next day. [9], Hickok used his late father's name, William Hickok, from 1858, and the name William Haycock during the American Civil War. "The Girl and the Gunfighter: A Newly Discovered Photograph of Wild Bill Hickok. "[citation needed]. I would have rather been somewhere else, but Bill stopped. 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.". He earned a great deal of notoriety in his own time, much of it bolstered by the many outlandish and often fabricated tales he told about himself. She has been labeled a scout, freighter, and gambler, a drunken dance hall queen and prostitute. A classmate later remembered the children teasing Jessie about her mother, throwing stones at her while shouting, Calamity Jane! [44] In his 1895 autobiography, published after his death, Hardin claimed to have been befriended by Hickok, the newly elected town marshal, after he had disarmed the marshal using the road agent's spin, but Hardin was known to exaggerate. Later historians, however, have presented a radically different portrayal of the events at Rock Creek. Pard, we will meet again in the happy hunting ground to part no more. He reported returning with five prisoners after killing 10. 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. Circa 1890. While in Deadwood, South Dakota, Wild Bill Hickok became a regular poker player at Nuttal & Mann's Saloon. The son of William Alonzo and Polly Butler Hickok, he was by all accounts a master marksman from an early age. He was later elected constable of Monticello Township in Johnson County, Kansas. The trial began on December 4 and it only took two days for the jury to find McCall guilty. But although there was an uncanny resemblance between the two, plus stories of Jane visiting the child, Shadley lacked any documentation to back up her claim. The movie The Plainsman (1936), starring Gary Cooper as Hickok, features the alleged romance between Calamity Jane and him as its main plot line. Hickok left home at age 17 and worked as a canal boat pilot in Utica, Illinois, before heading west in 1856 to Bleeding Kansas, which was embroiled in a violent conflict over whether slavery should be permitted there. McCall was executed for the murder . McCormick claimed that ONeil offered to adopt her, taking she and her mother to meet his wife in Omaha. McCall lost heavily. awaiting execution. [h], McCall's motive for killing Hickok is the subject of speculation, largely concerning McCall's anger at Hickok's having given him money for breakfast the day before, after McCall had lost heavily. The event haunted Hickok for the rest of his life. He was the son of William Alonzo and Polly Butler Hickok (Fishwick). The bear attacked, crushing Hickok with its body. [1][2], James Butler Hickok was born May 27, 1837, in Homer, Illinois, (present-day Troy Grove, Illinois) to William Alonzo Hickok, a farmer and abolitionist, and his wife, Polly Butler. Although McCall accepted the money, he was apparently insulted. At 4:15 in the afternoon, a young gunslinger named Jack McCall walked into the saloon, approached Hickok from behind, and shot him in the back of the head. 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. Personal account of the foreman of the Overland Stage Company stations, as given to, Judge Boyd told the jury, "The defendant cannot set up justification that he acted in self-defense if he was willing to engage in a fight with the deceased. In the early 1990s ABC television series Young Riders, a fictional account of Pony Express riders, Hickok is portrayed by Josh Brolin.[80]. [52], In 1876, Hickok was diagnosed by a doctor in Kansas City, Missouri, with glaucoma and ophthalmia. 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. Not a word was uttered. In an 1871 account that changed his life, Hickok was reportedly involved in a shootout with saloon owner Phil Coe. [12], While in Nebraska, Hickok was derisively referred to by one man as "Duck Bill" for his long nose and protruding lips. 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