July 24th 2003 14:05 CDT

On Wild Bill

A little history for you...

James/William Butler Hickok was reknowned for his legendary gunmanship. Wyatt Earp is on the record as stating that Wild Bill Hickok was the second fastest man in the West (I wonder who he thought was better? sic). He spent the early part of his life in the Union army, spying on the Confederates with numerous trips into Texas. After the civil war, he became a marshal in Kansas. While there, he met his wife, the widow, Agnus Lake, who was the founder of the first traveling circus. In 1872, he took $1600 from his wife and headed with many others to the Blackhills to spend six months prospecting. By all accounts, he did very little prospecting, instead prefering to play poker with his friends.

Although he bragged about the number of outlaws he had gunned down, history records that number at only 12. On one occasion, he had gunned down an outlaw and could hear someone approaching him from the rear. He turned and shot, killing his friend and partner. Legend has it that he never shot anyone again after that incident.

Wild Bill was well known for his eccentricity. He would always walk down the middle of a street rather than the side so assailants could not take him by surprise by appearing from a doorway. He would walk into a room and immediately check behind the curtains. His paranoia was justified; when he first arrived in Deadwood, the local outlaws assumed that his presence meant that he was to be marshal of the town and a plan was hatched to kill him. The plan never came to fruition as no-one considered themselves a good enough shot to get the better of him. A further symptom of his paranoia was that he would never sit with his back to a door which is chillingly justified by the tale of his death.

On August 2nd, 1876, Wild Bill joined three friends playing cards in Saloon No 10 in Deadwood City. The only available seat at the table meant that his back was towards the door. After some jocularity about his paranoia, Wild Bill finally sat in the seat with his back to the door. A few moments later, in walked an apparently very drunk worker named Jack Mccall. Wild Bill spun around and covered him as he approached the table. Having established that he posed no threat, the foursome continued to play cards. Mccall bothered the card-players for a few moments circling around the table before arriving behind Bill, pulling a gun and shooting him through the back of the head.

Mccall was caught a hundred yards up the road and tried for murder. The first trial saw him acquitted after he alleged that the killing was a retalliation for Wild Bill's killing of his brother. After it became apparent that he had never had a brother, he was re-tried and hung.

Interestingly, Wild Bill and Calamity Jane had few encounters and Bill had no time for her. The relationship was a very one-way thing. However, on her death-bed (at a time where she was drinking a quart of whisky a day), she requested that she be buried next to Bill and so she was. His wife died in Kansas some years after and was buried next to her first husband.