Wild Bill Hickok - A Man On The Edge

[Jay Edward (deceased)]

Here is a short biography that you can add to or object to...I imagine some of you know quite a bit about this feller. My main interest is in his hardware and the fact that he appeared to prefer the Colt Navy...as did many others, I believe.
 

 
The legend and fact of James (Wild Bill) Hickok are so widespread that it is sometimes difficult to tell apart. This biography will try and straighten out some of the stories.
 

 
His birthplace is said to be Troy Grove, LaSalle County, Illinois. Although that is true it is not generally known that at the time of his birth Troy Grove was called Homer. It was only after it became known there was already a larger town in Illinois also called Homer, that the name was changed to Troy Grove.
 

 
His parents were William Alonzo Hickok and Polly Butler. George Bush, the 41st President of the United States is a descendent of Hickok's mother.
 

 
Hickok left home around 1856 with his brother Lorenzo and except for a two month period never went back. In 1858 he drove a stagecoach on the Santa Fe Trail. He was also a Civil War scout and spy for Captain Richard Bentley Owen, Quartermaster.
 

 
He also worked for General Custer during the Indian Wars. On one occasion they were mistaken for each other. It happened when a stagecoach got stuck in a snowdrift. One of the riders rode off to the next station for help while the others found a cave to keep warm in and pass the time. The others were playing cards when Custer himself entered the cave and asked them if they had seen any Indians about. Since they hadn't, the General then left. One of the men playing cards said to the others. "Have you ever seen Wild Bill? Well, that was him. Purty boy, wasn't he?"
 

 
There is a tale about his meeting up with a grizzly bear on one of his expeditions. This is probably not true but has added to the legend of Wild Bill Hickok.
 

 
As to how he got the name Wild Bill, it has generally been attributed to a lady watching him stop a lynching and saying "My God, ain't he wild." There are many stories to how he actually got his name but the first published story referring to him as Wild Bill was in the Springfield, Missouri paper, Weekly Patriot in 1865.
 

 
In 1871 he took over as marshal of Abilene after Marshal Tom (I carry no guns) Smith was gunned down. It ended when he was forced into a shoot-out with Phil Coe over a sign Hickok thought improper. After shooting Coe, Hickok turned toward a sound and killed his deputy Mike Williams by mistake. Wild Bill was going blind from glaucoma.
 

 
Another story now widely debunked is the romance he had with Martha Jane Cannary (Calamity Jane). The truth is that they hardly knew each other, only meeting shortly before Hickok was killed. When she died on August 1st, 1903 she asked to be buried next to Wild Bill on Mt. Moriah in Deadwood. This is where the two are buried today.
 

 
August 2, 1876, Wild Bill sat down to a poker game and took a seat with his back to the saloon. Jack McCall shot him in the back of the neck, killing him instantly. Wild Bill was holding 2 black aces, 2 black eights, now known as the Dead Man's Hand. The fifth card has been held up for speculation but was probably the queen of diamonds.
 
1877, Jack McCall was hanged in Custer City for the death of James Butler (Wild Bill) Hickok.

[rockinbbar]

Thanks Jay,

As with most gunmen in the West, James Butler Hickok met his end at the hands of his own lethal specialty....

Live by the sword, die by the sword.

What history doesn't note too often is the fact that most of the gunmen went through life scared that they would become the next notch on someone else's pistol....Frequently, when word got out that another famous gunman was in town, Hickok would "hole-up" in his hotel room....until the guy that was threatening him would lose interest & leave town. He would have his meals brought up to his room, & not venture out to be taken by surprise, or off gaurd.
I'd imagine after awhile, this sort of lifestyle would begin to "wear" on one....

It is no wonder he shot his own deputy....

Rockinbbar