Seth Bullock
Seth Bullock
Seth’s relationship with his father was complicated. At the age of 16, he had run away to Montana to live with his older sister before she told him to return home; however, about two years later once he reached the age of 18, Seth once again ran away from home, never to return again.
He once again ended up in Montana, but this time in Helena. There are reports from the census in 1870 that had Seth working as an auctioneer, and also having served on the Territorial Senate for about two years after that. It was during this time of his life that Seth was also accredited to have helped with the resolution that helped set up Yellowstone to become the first National Park in the United States.
After his stint as a senator, Seth was then appointed as the Sheriff of Lewis and Clark County. Here he was also a business man, opening up a hardwear store with Solomon “Sol” Star. Whilst Seth was chasing down Clell Watson he ended up wounding his shoulder. Watson would be the first man that would die at the hands of Bullock after the executioner had been chased off when the Sheriff had to pull the rope himself.
Seth ended up marrying his childhood sweetheart, Martha Eccles. It was shortly after that he and Sol set off for Deadwood, South Dokota. He sent Martha and their newborn daughter to live with her family in Michigan because he deemed the company in Deadwood too unsavory for them to come with. The town was filled with all sorts of people. Miners, gamblers, gunfighters, and prostitutes.
The day after Sol and Seth arrived in Deadwood tragedy struck. Will Bill Hickok had been shot in the head and killed by Jack McCall. McCall fled after he had been deemed not guilty by a group of miners that had conducted a makeshift trial. It was just a few weeks after this incident that Seth was made the Sheriff, though it honly officially happened after the appointed Sheriff Issac Brown was ambushed and killed a few weeks after.
Seth appointed multiple deputies after he had been appointed as Sheriff in order to help him “clean up” the town. Still, even after all of this, it was reported, even by his family members, that he never killed a man whilst he was severving as the Lawrence County Sheriff. It was after he had cleaned up the town enough that he finally sent for his family to join him.
Eventually, Seth was made a United States Deputy Marshal, where, when he was transporting Crazy Steve, he ran into Theodore Roosevelt. Roosevelt was still a Deputy Marshal at the time, and the two of them became fast friends.
In 1894, Sol and Seth’s hardwear store would sadly burn to the ground, though theman decided to build Deadwood’s first hotel in its place. The 64 room hotel had heating and bathrooms on every single floor, costing somewhere around $40,000. This hotel still stands today.
When Theodore Roosevelt was elected as the next Prsident of the United States of America, Seth organized a group of around 50 cowboys to ride in the inegreal parade. It was when he was appointed that Roosevelt elected Bullock as the United States Marshal for South Dokota. When Roosevelt died, it was Seth that erected the first monument for his fallen friend. Only months after the president’s passing, Seth died of cancer.
He was buried in Mount Moriah Cemetery where other known figures such as Wild Bill Hickok and Calamity Jane were laid to rest.