Wild Bill Hickok epitomized the courageous but dangerous hero of the untamed American West. In an era that produced such frontier legends as Doc Holliday, Wyatt Earp and Bat Masterson, none more defined the image of "gambler 'n gunslinger" than did James Butler Hickok.
Born in 1837, Bill spent most of his youth in Kansas. His parents were anti-slavery Baptists. Their farm was a stop along the famous "Underground Railroad" that smuggled slaves out of the South before the Civil War. As a boy, who on several occasions had to help fight off bounty hunters chasing runaway slaves, Bill developed an early interest in firearms and soon had a reputation as an exceptional marksman. When he was 14, his father was killed for his abolitionist views.
During the Civil War, Hickok served the Union Army as a sniper. His accuracy was recognized after one battle in Arkansas in which he "snuffed out several Confederates" from a high vantage point.
Young, carefree and fearless, it is likely Hickok picked up his name "Wild Bill" during the War. It was also where he discovered his passion for Poker.
In the years following the Civil War, Hickok bounced around the West sometimes working as a lawman, at other times as a professional gambler. He was a dashing figure. Well over 6ft., with shoulder-length blond hair, he wore buckskins, carried a Bowie knife, and had two pearl handled pistols stuck in a red sash around his midsection. The gunfight that ignited Hickok's reputation and is considered the original frontier showdown that became the standard of Hollywood westerns occurred in 1865 in Springfield, MO. Bill got into an argument with David Tutt over payment of a gambling loss. It was decided to settle it with gunfire.
At 6pm both men appeared in the town square. They faced and walked toward each other. At about 50 yards, both men drew their guns. Tutt fired first but missed. Then Hickok fired putting a hole through Tutt's heart.
Bill Hickok held several lawman jobs when he wasn't drinking and gambling. As marshal of Abilene, KS, he was criticized for spending more time with prostitutes or playing poker than he did on the job. One observer wrote, "When he played cards, which he did most of the time, ...he sat in the corner of the room to prevent an enemy from stealing-up behind him."
Long before his Wild West Show, Buffalo Bill Cody and Wild Bill Hickok became good friends. A story is told of a desperado in a saloon who hated Cody and challenged him to heads-up poker. "I'll play you a game of cards if I can name the stakes", Cody responded.
The challenger agreed and asked what would be the stakes? "Life and death", Buffalo Bill answered, "If you win the game, I'll stand ten paces away and give you a shot at me; if I win, you stand ten paces away and give me a shot at you."
Unable to back down, the two men took their seats at the table and cards were dealt. When Cody, won his opponent grabbed for his pistol. But just as quickly, he felt a cold gun muzzle against the back of his head. "I guess I'll save Buffalo Bill from killing you," Sheriff Hickok told the loser, "by hanging you from the nearest tree" which he proceeded to do much to everyone's delight.
Hickok had a running feud with saloon owner Phil Coe. One night Coe, drunk, fired off several shots in town. Marshal Hickok soon appeared, and the two men exchanged words -- then gun fire. Coe was killed. Hearing footsteps behind him, Hickok turned and fired several more rounds.
Then he realized he'd killed his friend and deputy, Mike Williams, who was coming to his aid. So distraught was Hickok, he swore it was the end of his career as a lawman. The town agreed, and he was fired.
Hickok decided to rely on Poker. Nearly 40, suffering from severe glaucoma and alcoholism, he told a friend "My eyes are getting real bad. My shooting days are over."
Bill arrived in Deadwood in 1876 and took up residence at Saloon #10. Some crooked gamblers, worried Hickok might become sheriff and shut them down, looked for someone to kill him. They found Jack McCall, a drunken, degenerate coward who accepted the $200 they offered.
On an early August evening, Hickok joined a four-handed poker game in Saloon #10. The only seat open faced the wall. Always preferring to sit with his back to the wall, Bill asked another player to change seats, but the player declined.
While Hickok was explaining to one of the players why he objected to his examining the discards, the others were arranging their hands. At that moment McCall slipped up behind Hickok, pulled out a .45, and shot him in the head from a distance of three feet. Hickok sat still for a moment then pitched violently backward and fell to the floor. The bullet had entered the back of his skull and exited through his cheek. His cards, two black Aces and two black eights, were scattered on the table. Thereafter, Aces 'n 8's became a part of Poker lore as the "dead man's hand". Jack McCall was caught, tried, found guilty of murder, and hung a few months later.
