Liberia Pioneers of the West Wild Bill Hickok 1996 One Dollar Crown BU

James Butler Hickock (May 27, 1837 – August 2, 1876), better known as Wild Bill Hickock, was a legendary figure in the American Wild West. Hickok was born in Troy Grove, Illinois on May 27, 1837. He left his father’s farm in 1855 to be a stage coach driver on the Santa Fe and Oregon Trails. His gunfighting skills led to his nickname. In 1857, he claimed a 160 tract of land in Johnson County, Kansas where he became the first constable of Monticello Township, Kansas. In 1861, he became a town constable in Nebraska. He became well-known for single-handedly capturing the McCanles gang at Rock Creek Station. On several other occasions, Hickok confronted and killed several men while fighting alone. On July 21, 1865, in the town square of Springfield, Missouri, Hickok killed Davis K. Tutt, Jr. during an incident which is considered by some historians to have been the first “Wild West” gunfight. After the American Civil War, Hickok became an Army scout and a professional gambler, and served as a United States Marshal. Hickok’s killing of Whistler the Peacemaker with a long-range rifle shot had influence in preventing the Sioux from uniting to resist the settler incursions into the Black Hills. While Sheriff/City Marshal of Hays, Kansas on July 17, 1870, he was involved in a gunfight with soldiers of the 7th US Cavalry wounding one and mortally wounding another. In 1871, Hickok became marshal of Abilene, Kansas. His encounter there with John Wesley Hardin resulted in the latter fleeing the town after Wild Bill managed to disarm him. On Oct 5, 1871 he accidentally shot and killed Abilene Special Deputy Marshall Mike Williams. In 1873–1874, Hickok joined Buffalo Bill Cody and Texas Jack Omohundro in a touring stage play titled Scouts of the Plains, the forerunner to Cody’s Wild West shows. There, he befriended “Calamity” Jane Canary-Burke, who was later to claim a romantic relationship which appears dubious as Hickok was newly married and greatly enamored of his wife. He was fired from the show due to drunkenness. The two were to meet again in Charlie Utter’s 1876 wagon train from Colorado to Deadwood, South Dakota, where the three of them remained close friends. Hickok invented the concept of “posting” men out of town. He would put a list on what was called the “dead man’s tree” (men had been lynched on it) while constable of Monticello Township. If they were not gone by sundown of that day, Hickok proclaimed he would shoot them on sight the following day. Few stayed around to find out if he was serious. On August 2, 1876, while playing poker at Nuttal and Mann’s “Saloon No. 10” in Deadwood (then part of the Dakota Territory but on Indian land), Hickok could not find an empty seat in the corner, where he always sat in order to protect himself against sneak attacks from behind, and instead sat with his back to the door; unfortunately, his previous caution proved wise, as he was shot in the back of the head with a double-action .45 caliber revolver by Jack McCall. The motive for the killing is still debated. (McCall may have been paid for the deed, it may have just been the result of a recent dispute, or McCall may, in a drunken rage, have become enraged over what he perceived as a condescending offer from Hickok to let him have enough money for breakfast after he had lost all his money playing poker the previous day.) McCall claimed at the resulting two-hour trial by a motley group of assembled miners and businessmen that he was avenging Hickok’s earlier slaying of his brother and was acquitted. McCall was subsequently rearrested after bragging about his deed, and a new trial was held. The authorities did not consider this to be double jeopardy because Deadwood at the time was an illegal city due to several laws that made it illegal to settle on Indian land, although many people did anyway. The new trial was held in American territory, in Yankton, South Dakota. Hickok’s brother, Lorenzo Butler Hickok, traveled from Illinois to attend the retrial. This time McCall was found guilty and hanged. After his execution it was determined that McCall had never even had a brother. The saloon proprietor claimed that, at the time of his death, Hickok held a pair of aces and a pair of eights, with all cards black, and this has since been called a “dead man’s hand.” Utter claimed the body, and placed a notice in the local newspaper, the Black Hills Pioneer, which read: “Died in Deadwood, Black Hills, August 2, 1876, from the effects of a pistol shot, J. B. Hickok (Wild Bill) formerly of Cheyenne, Wyoming. Funeral services will be held at Charlie Utter’s Camp, on Thursday afternoon, August 3, 1876, at 3 o’clock, P. M. All are respectfully invited to attend.”