Famous Gamblers - Wild Bill Hickok
Imagine Wild Bill (James Butler) Hickok in his prime - a commanding figure with a stern expressive face, brown hair hanging down well below his shoulders, a droopy mustache almost covering his mouth, and his reputation as a sure-shot marksman and superstar poker player following him everywhere. His career took some strange twists and turns from frontier scout to peace officer to professional gambler.
Hickok was born in Illinois to a family of farmers in 1837. At an early age he got his first taste of gunfire when lawmen fired at his father whom they suspected of hiding fugitive slaves from the South under the hay in his wagon. Hickok became fascinated with guns and practiced relentlessly until he became an outstanding sharpshooter. After his father's death he worked his way to Kansas where he drove stagecoaches on the Santa Fe and Oregon Trails. Hickok's skill with firearms came in handy since bandits frequently attacked the stagecoaches, and he could chase them away with his accurate gunfire. He demonstrated great courage when a huge bear attacked him one night as he slept near his stagecoach. The bear nearly clawed him to death, but Hickok won the battle by fatally stabbing the bear with his knife.
While recuperating in Nebraska from the bear attack, he quarreled with some settlers, tempers flared, gunfire erupted, and when the smoke cleared, Hickok had killed three men. He claimed self-defense and nobody brought any charges against him. As writers fictionalized and embellished the violence in the West for a news-hungry public, they glamorized this as a massacre and reported that Hickok had killed dozens of dangerous desperados.
In 1861 with the Civil War raging Hickok joined the Union Army as a scout and somehow got the nickname "Wild Bill." One legend has it that after he scattered an unruly, drunken crowd by firing shots over their heads, someone shouted, "Good for you, Wild Bill," and the name stuck. Later Hickok served as a scout with General George Custer and they became gambling buddies. Fortunately for Hickok the two went their separate ways long before Custer made his last stand and died in 1876 at the battle of the Little Big Horn.
After the Civil War was over, Hickok exaggerated his life story by telling gullible reporters that he had killed over 100 men. His reputation as a killer expanded nationwide. He became a peace officer in various cities in Kansas killing outlaws and crooked gamblers, but he ran into serious trouble in Abilene in 1871 when he accidentally shot and killed a Special Deputy Marshal. The locals saw this as the last straw - they were fed up with the violence and killings, and the mayor kicked Wild Bill out of town.
Hickok wandered around the country playing a lot of poker and eventually settled down in Deadwood (now South Dakota, then the Dakota Territory). There Hickok played his last hand in 1876 at Nuttal & Mann's Saloon. He always looked for an empty seat in the corner of the room so he could protect himself from an attack from behind; but this night he took the only seat available - his back was to the door. Jack McCall, who believed that Wild Bill killed his brother back in Kansas, entered the saloon and seeing an easy target shot Hickok in the back of his head killing him instantly. Hickok was holding two pair - aces and eights. And now you know why this hand is called the "dead man's hand."
Hickok was born in Illinois to a family of farmers in 1837. At an early age he got his first taste of gunfire when lawmen fired at his father whom they suspected of hiding fugitive slaves from the South under the hay in his wagon. Hickok became fascinated with guns and practiced relentlessly until he became an outstanding sharpshooter. After his father's death he worked his way to Kansas where he drove stagecoaches on the Santa Fe and Oregon Trails. Hickok's skill with firearms came in handy since bandits frequently attacked the stagecoaches, and he could chase them away with his accurate gunfire. He demonstrated great courage when a huge bear attacked him one night as he slept near his stagecoach. The bear nearly clawed him to death, but Hickok won the battle by fatally stabbing the bear with his knife.
While recuperating in Nebraska from the bear attack, he quarreled with some settlers, tempers flared, gunfire erupted, and when the smoke cleared, Hickok had killed three men. He claimed self-defense and nobody brought any charges against him. As writers fictionalized and embellished the violence in the West for a news-hungry public, they glamorized this as a massacre and reported that Hickok had killed dozens of dangerous desperados.
In 1861 with the Civil War raging Hickok joined the Union Army as a scout and somehow got the nickname "Wild Bill." One legend has it that after he scattered an unruly, drunken crowd by firing shots over their heads, someone shouted, "Good for you, Wild Bill," and the name stuck. Later Hickok served as a scout with General George Custer and they became gambling buddies. Fortunately for Hickok the two went their separate ways long before Custer made his last stand and died in 1876 at the battle of the Little Big Horn.
After the Civil War was over, Hickok exaggerated his life story by telling gullible reporters that he had killed over 100 men. His reputation as a killer expanded nationwide. He became a peace officer in various cities in Kansas killing outlaws and crooked gamblers, but he ran into serious trouble in Abilene in 1871 when he accidentally shot and killed a Special Deputy Marshal. The locals saw this as the last straw - they were fed up with the violence and killings, and the mayor kicked Wild Bill out of town.
Hickok wandered around the country playing a lot of poker and eventually settled down in Deadwood (now South Dakota, then the Dakota Territory). There Hickok played his last hand in 1876 at Nuttal & Mann's Saloon. He always looked for an empty seat in the corner of the room so he could protect himself from an attack from behind; but this night he took the only seat available - his back was to the door. Jack McCall, who believed that Wild Bill killed his brother back in Kansas, entered the saloon and seeing an easy target shot Hickok in the back of his head killing him instantly. Hickok was holding two pair - aces and eights. And now you know why this hand is called the "dead man's hand."
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