When Kyle's weapon misfired, Hickok shot Lonergan, wounding him in the knee, and shot Kyle twice, killing him. Although the show brought Hickok some much-needed income, he was unhappy, began drinking heavily, and returned to the West in March 1874. [68], As I write the closing lines of this brief sketch, word reaches me that the slayer of Wild Bill has been rearrested by the United State [sic?] McLintock used a cane to tap the body, face, and head, finding no soft tissue anywhere. She was Maude Weir, born in 1881. For the next several years, various witnesses saw Jane, who towed Jessie around with her as she drank her way across the west. In an instant, he pulled the triggers again sending two bullets into Coe's abdomen (Coe lived a day or two) and whirling with his two guns drawn on the drunken crowd of cowboys, "and now do any of you fellows want the rest of these bullets?" I heard him speak recently, and his is the definitive work on this wild woman of the West. Hickok was severely injured, with a crushed chest, shoulder, and arm. [19] According to Hickok's account, he found the road blocked by a cinnamon bear and its two cubs. Hickok has remained one of the most popular and iconic figures of the American Old West, and is still frequently depicted in popular culture, including literature, film, and television. ", "James Butler Hickok May 27 1837 - August 2 1876 Better known as "Wild Bill" Hickok", "James Butler 'Wild Bill' Hickok, Early Deadwood", "Nebraska Legends: Rock Creek Station and the McCanles Massacre", "Chronology on Life of James Butler HICKOK, Wild Bill Hickok, Old West Kansas", "Rock Creek Station State Historical Park", "Legal Culture, Wild Bill Hickok and the Gunslinger Myth", "Myths and Realities of Frontier Violence: A Look at the Gunfighter Saga", "Frontier Hero - Reminiscences of Wild Bill Hickok by his old Friend Buffalo Bill", "The State Journal (Jefferson City, Mo. Wild Bill Hickoks legend only grew further when other stories about his fighting prowess surfaced. According to the Harpers account, Hickok, while guiding a detachment of Union cavalry through southern Nebraska, decided to stop and visit an old friend, Wellmans wife, at Rock Creek Station. Foxs visit coincided with the few weeks Jessie actually attended St. Edwards Academy in Deadwood. Three years after Jack McCall shot Hickok in the back as he was playing cards in Deadwood, South Dakota, an 1879 story in the Cheyenne, Wyoming, Daily Leader noted that the pistols were made expressly . "Doc" Howard, who had known Hickok, stated that Hickok had left Buffalo Bill's Wild West Exhibition "because the lights affected his eyes, so he had to give it up". To date, four children have been credited to the lady, although some of the claims have come from the children themselves. Military records after 1865 list him as Hickok, but note that he was also known as Haycock. [38], On September 1, 1868, Hickok was in Lincoln County, Kansas, where he was hired as a scout by the 10th Cavalry Regiment, a segregated African-American unit. The two men faced each other sideways for a duel. [36][37], In December 1867, newspapers reported that Hickok had come to stay in Hays City, Kansas. "Wild Bill. Horace Hickok was born in October of 1834. By the end of 1861, he was a wagon master, but in September 1862, he was discharged for unknown reasons. Neither claim was true. The Adventures of Wild Bill Hickok was a 1950s TV series starring Guy Madison and Andy Devine. Astrological Sign: Gemini, Death Year: 1876, Death date: August 2, 1876, Death State: South Dakota, Death City: Deadwood, Death Country: United States, Article Title: Wild Bill Hickok Biography, Author: Biography.com Editors, Website Name: The Biography.com website, Url: https://www.biography.com/personality/wild-bill-hickok, Publisher: A&E Television Networks, Last Updated: July 28, 2020, Original Published Date: April 2, 2014. Hickok was assigned to bring the men to Topeka for trial, and he requested a military escort from Fort Hays. [40]:192, On July 17, 1870, Hickok was attacked by two troopers from the 7th U.S. Cavalry, Jeremiah Lonergan and John Kyle (sometimes spelled Kile),[42] in a saloon. We may earn commission from links on this page, but we only recommend products we back. [f], The regular county election was held on November 2, 1869. [65][66], McCall was summoned before an informal "miners' jury" (an ad hoc local group of miners and businessmen). This angered the buffalo and panicked audience members, causing the animals to break free of their wire fencing and chase audience members, some of whom were trampled. Charlie Utter, Hickok's friend and companion, claimed Hickok's body and placed a notice in the local newspaper, the Black Hills Pioneer, which read: Died in Deadwood, Black Hills, August 2, 1876, from the effects of a pistol shot, J. In 1954 an episode of Gunsmoke on CBS radio featured John Dehner as Hickok. From William Alonzo and Polly Butler's marriage, they welcomed six children in total, and HIckon is the fourth among them all. On July 21, 1865, in a shootout in Springfield, Missouri, he killed David Tutt, a skillful gunfighter who had been flaunting the watch he won from Hickok in a poker game. He was very famous as a lawman as he established law and order in some of the most notorious towns on the frontier. James Butler Hickok was born in Troy Grove, Illinois, on May 27, 1837, to William Alonzo Hickok and Polly Butler Hickok. Several times he was arrested for vagrancy. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. He was released from the group after a few months. Drawn to this ruffian lifestyle, he headed west at age 18 as a fugitive from justice, working as a stagecoach driver and later as a lawman in the frontier territories of Kansas and Nebraska. His reputation as a gunfighter gave rise to legends and tales about his life. Upon Hickoks arrival, she told him that a Confederate gang led by McCanles was pursuing him, and almost immediately they were set upon by the Confederates. The White Buffalo (1977), starring Charles Bronson as Hickok, tells a tale of Hickok's hunt for a murderous white buffalo that follows him in his nightmares. Before and during Hickok's lifetime (1837-1876), the most readily available firearms were cap-and-ball, or percussion. For more on American historysubscribe to All About History for as little as 26. Fox met Jessie when she interviewed Jane for an article in Illustrated American magazine. Did Wild Bill Hickok have children? Citizens of the town complained to Hickok, who requested that Thompson and Coe remove the image. She said she was the daughter of Jane and Wild Bill Hickok, and was born in a cabin near Livingston, Montana in 1873. Hickoks father moved his family from Vermont to Maine to Homer (now Troy Grove), Illinois. Wikimedia Commons Advertisement 11. In 1941, Jean Hickok McCormick appeared in Billings, Montana. Upon being sprung, Jane whisked into Castle City, picked up the girl, and went on her way. Hickok and Lanihan, however, remained sheriff and deputy, respectively. [7] Photographs of Hickok appear to depict dark hair, but all contemporaneous descriptions affirm that it was red. On August 2, 1876, during a poker game in a saloon that found him with his back uncharacteristically to the door, Hickok was shot in the back of his head by Jack McCall, who may have been hired to kill him. He became a deputy U.S. marshal, and on March 28, 1868, he picked up 11 Union Army deserters who had been charged with stealing government property. In 1876, Wild Bill Hickok was suffering from glaucoma. He earned a great deal of notoriety in his own time, much of it bolstered by the many outlandish and often fabricated tales he told about himself. [d] The jury voted to clear Hickok, resulting in public backlash and criticism of the verdict. The old cemetery was in an area that was better suited for the constant influx of new settlers to live on, so the remaining bodies there were eventually also moved up the hill to the Mount Moriah Cemetery (in the 1880s). Four of the men on the self-appointed committee who planned Calamity's funeral (Albert Malter, Frank Ankeney, Jim Carson, and Anson Higby) later stated that, since Hickok had "absolutely no use" for Jane in this life, they decided to play a posthumous joke on him by laying her to rest by his side. McCanles reportedly threatened Wellman, and either Wellman or Hickok, who was hiding behind a curtain, killed McCanles. "[citation needed]. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Wild-Bill-Hickok, Spartacus Educational - Biography of Wild Bill Hickok, Wild Bill Hickok - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up). [citation needed], Henry M. Stanley, of the Weekly Missouri Democrat, reported Hickok to be "an inveterate hater of Indian People", perhaps to enhance his reputation as a scout and American fighter, but separating fact from fiction is difficult considering his recruitment of Indians to cross the nation to appear in his own Wild West show. [26]:329 Hickok did not enjoy acting, and often hid behind scenery. For the next several years, Hickok worked as a stagecoach driver. To be entitled to acquittal on the ground of self-defense, he must have been anxious to avoid a conflict, and must have used all reasonable means to avoid it. [52], In 1876, Hickok was diagnosed by a doctor in Kansas City, Missouri, with glaucoma and ophthalmia. He later became a lawman before settling down in Deadwood, South Dakota where he would soon meet his death. While a Jayhawker, he met 12-year-old William Cody (later known as "Buffalo Bill"), who, despite his youth, served as a scout just two years later for the U.S. Army during the Utah War. McCanles may have been the first man Hickok killed. Good bye, Colorado Charlie, C. H. Utter. Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). Shes all Ive got to live fer; shes my only comfort [sic]. Fox described Jessie as neatly dressed but shy and embarrassed. Yet she had a bright face, and her manners were very good for one whose opportunities had been so few.. He told Mrs. McCanles he was sorry he had to kill her man then took out $35 [$1,056 in 2021 dollars] and gave it to her saying: "This is all I have, sorry I do not have more to give you." He twice asked another man at the table, Charles Rich, to change seats with him, but Rich refused. The next child, also named Lorenzo Butler Hickok, was born in November of 1832. Jan MacKell Collins is the author of numerous books about the Old West, the latest isLost Ghost Towns of Teller County. Hickok and Brinks were charged with murder but found not guilty. Picks on rebels, especially Texans, to kill." All Rights Reserved. His work included identifying and counting the number of troops in uniform who were drinking while on duty, verifying hotel liquor licenses, and tracking down individuals who owed money to the cash-strapped Union Army. When Varnes could not be found, McCall then implicated Tim Brady in the plot. Michelle Renes novel, Hour Glass, is a moving, revealing picture of the legendary Calamity Jane., A bar in Hays City, Kansas, on July 17, 1870. McCall shot Hickok from behind as he played poker at Nuttal & Mann's Saloon in Deadwood, Dakota Territory on August 2, 1876. (If said child had actually existed, he or she was said to . In 1871 he took over as the marshal of the tough cow town of Abilene, Kansas. Not wasting a second, he quietly drew his revolver and shot Hickok in the back of the head, instantly killing him. by Marshall Trimble | Nov 1, 2007 | Inside History. Calamity Jane. A classmate later remembered the children teasing Jessie about her mother, throwing stones at her while shouting, Calamity Jane! Hickok encouraged McCall to quit the game until he could cover his losses and offered to give him money for breakfast. Jesse James suffered from it. 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