Wild Bill Hickok is, along with Buffalo Bill, one of the great American icons of the conquest of the West.
James Butler Hickok, known as Wild Bill, was born on May 27, 1837, in Troy Grove, Illinois, and died on August 2, 1876, in Deadwood, South Dakota. He was the son of William Alonzo and Polly Butler Hickok. He was an explorer, adventurer, gambler, gunfighter, and U.S. marshal. James Hickok was born into a Baptist family that frowned upon the young man's fondness for weapons and fighting.
James Butler Hickok was born on a small farm in Illinois, which was part of the Underground Railroad network. This activity, which lasted for many years, allowed thousands of Black slaves to escape, freeing them from plantations in the southern United States and transporting them to the northern states or Canada. Many anti-slavery activists breached the defenses of the vast plantations, freed slaves, and gave them refuge on farms like Homer's before attempting to escape north. In their messages, they used railroad language to maintain secrecy and prevent discovery. Slaves were referred to as passengers; liberators as engineers; escape routes as rails; farms where they hid as railroad stations and their owners; stationmasters as those ultimately responsible for the network; Central Station; and Canada as the destination. In this way, they managed to hide from the pursuing armies that would undoubtedly have murdered or horribly tortured them for what they were doing. The railroad also served to publicize the plight of slaves and rally public opinion to their side, until the Civil War led to the abolition of this practice.
Hickok grew up in that environment, with a father who constantly had to take up arms against slaveholders seeking to reclaim their possessions. Thus, he quickly learned to shoot and displayed prodigious skill, which would mark his entire life.
He soon left home and went to work as a scout with various army patrols. There he bonded with another illustrious figure of the Wild West: William Cody, better known as Buffalo Bill. They quickly became friends, a relationship that would last for decades. Hickok also earned his own nickname: Wild Bill. He served as a policeman, stagecoach driver, and professional card player, all of which forced him to duel with many people, from which he emerged with few injuries or too many legal problems. He enlisted in the Union Army and later in the United States Army, where he again served as a scout and marshal. He became so famous during this time that in 1867 he merited an interview with Henry Morton Stanley, who had been in the years before Stanley began his explorations in Africa and located Dr. Livingstone.
He moved with the Army to the frontier regions, where he fought Indians and acted as an explorer in previously unknown regions. He was part of Buffalo Bill's traveling show, where he tested his marksmanship with weapons. He was appointed sheriff in various towns, where he tried to maintain order in a terribly harsh time, when outlaws roamed freely from town to town and on both sides of the border. His favorite weapons were two ivory-handled Colt revolvers given to him by Senator Henry Wilson, although he did not hesitate to use larger caliber revolvers if the fight seemed dangerous.
Meanwhile, his eyesight began to deteriorate, suffering from glaucoma, and this impaired his shooting and card-playing abilities. In 1876, he married Agnes Thatcher Lake, a circus owner, and soon set off again, this time for South Dakota in search of gold. There he would meet Calamity Jane, the famous gunslinger, and would also meet his end, just five months after their marriage.
It was on August 2, 1876, during a poker game in a saloon in the frontier town of Deadwood, South Dakota. Unlike his usual habit, Wild Bill had sat with his back to the door and therefore didn't see Jack McCall, another professional gambler who had an old score to settle with him, approaching. Without saying a word, McCall drew his gun and shot him in the head. Death was instantaneous. The crowd descended on McCall and handed him over to the authorities, but at his trial, he claimed it was revenge for his brother's death at the hands of Hickok, and was therefore exonerated. At that time, Deadwood was not considered part of the United States, but was basically a mining camp built on Indian territory, in the so-called Black Hills, so the laws that applied there were not the same.
A year later, McCall was arrested again for boasting about the murder of Wild Bill. This time, the trial took place in Yankton, which legally belonged to the nation, and he was convicted. He was hanged one year after Hickok and Agnes Thatcher Lake married, and was buried with the rope around his neck. During the trial, it was discovered that McCall had been hired by other professional gamblers to get rid of Wild Bill, who, it was said, could have been appointed sheriff of Deadwood for his tremendous honesty and courage. This, of course, didn't interest many people.
He was buried in the Deadwood cemetery, but it quickly became too small as the town grew due to the gold rush, so all the bodies were exhumed and moved to a new site on the side of Mount Moria. He has rested there ever since, with Calamity Jane at his side, who died on August 1, 1903, and who requested that her grave be placed next to Hickok's.
The last of the legends surrounding Wild Bill concerns the cards he was holding while playing that final game. It is said that, when Jack McCall shot him from behind, the gunman had been dealt a two pair of aces and eights, and it is unknown what his fifth card was. The bullet killed him instantly, and his body fell stiff to the ground, never letting go of his cards.
Since then, the two pair of aces and eights has been called "the dead man's hand" and all gamblers abhor it, as it is associated with bad luck.