On October 5, 1871, Hickok was standing off a crowd during a street brawl when Coe fired two shots. His own show, The Daring Buffalo Chase of the Plains, did not fare well, but in 1873 he joined Buffalo Bill Codys The Scouts of the Prairie, which was based in Rochester, New York. Wild Bill Hickok's proficiency with a pistol is well known, but there remains some confusion concerning how he used his weapons and which ones he actually used. Hickok remains a popular figure of frontier history. James Butler Hickok was born in Troy Grove, Illinois, on May 27, 1837, to William Alonzo Hickok and Polly Butler Hickok. Her friends held a fundraiser for her and the benefit proved a howling successuntil Jane began treating her generous friends to drinks. [72] As of 2020, the flag is no longer flown. In July, Hickok told a newspaper reporter that he had led several soldiers in pursuit of Indians who had killed four men near the fort on July 2. One of the workers, Joseph McLintock, wrote a detailed description of the reinterment. At the time, shooting stray dogs within city limits was legal, and a 50-cent bounty was paid by the city for each one shot. He was sentenced to death on January 3, 1877 and on March 1, 1877 he was executed by hanging. [9], Hickok used his late father's name, William Hickok, from 1858, and the name William Haycock during the American Civil War. 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. In the episode Dillon and Hickok are old friends. Only station employees were allowed to testify at the trial (testimony by McCanless son was barred), and the verdict was that the men had acted in self-defense. Deadwood was overrun with miners, gunmen, and gamblers when Hickok became a peace officer there in July 1876, relying as much on his reputation as on his diminishing gun skills, which were compromised by failing eyesight. 3. Hardin alleged that when his cousin, Mannen Clements, was jailed for the killing of two cowhands (Joe and Dolph Shadden) in July 1871, Hickokat Hardin's requestarranged for his escape. The story continued that McCanles invaded the Wellmans cabin and prepared to shoot Hickok, who acted faster and shot McCanles in the chest. Jane was well-known for her abilities as a sharpshooter . 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. They traveled to Deadwood, South Dakota, together and were acquaintances, but there is no evidence of a romance (especially on his part). It was at this time that Hickok came across a bear blocking a road, an encounter that would become part of the lore surrounding him: Hickok shot the bear, which only angered it, and a struggle ensued, during which Hickok used a knife to slit the bears throat, but not before he was nearly crushed to death. Hickok moved west in 1855 to farm and joined General James Lane's Free State. Within a month of the birth, newspapers tracked her to a hurdy-gurdy house in Livingston. The 10th Regiment arrived at Fort Lyon in Colorado in October and remained there for the rest of 1868. Macintosh of irregularities and misconduct during the election. August 18, 1876, image 3", "Jack McCall Cowardly Killer of Wild Bill Hickok", "American Wonder Wild Bill Hickok Shot and Killed from Behind on This Day in History", Bozeman Avant Courier, December 22, 1876, image 1, testimony of George M. Shingle, "Riverboat captain 'carried' bullet that killed Hickok", "Jack McCall and the Murder of Wild Bill Hickok", "Wild Bill Hickok: Pistoleer, Peace Officer and Folk Hero", Photograph of Wild Bill Hickok's Colt Model 1851 Navys, "Wild Bill Hickok's Smith & Wesson No. (Not Really) Roughing It on the Mark Twain Trail, A Song of Praise for a Forgotten Folklore Collector, John Waynes Silver Screen Shootin Irons. "The Custer-Hickok Shootout in Hays City. James Butler Hickok arrived in Springfield, Missouri . And though it is difficult to picture her in the domestic arena, Jane was also a mother. The next child, also named Lorenzo Butler Hickok, was born in November of 1832. McCall shot Hickok from behind as he played poker at Nuttal & Mann's Saloon in Deadwood, Dakota Territory on August 2, 1876. McCormick claimed that ONeil offered to adopt her, taking she and her mother to meet his wife in Omaha. Under the name "Wild Bill Hitchcock" [sic], the article recounted the "hundreds" of men whom Hickok had personally killed and other exaggerated exploits. His parents were William Alonzo Hickok and Polly Butler. Lancaster, California. By the end of the night most of the money had been spent, and Jane was roaring drunk. Bonhams auction company offered this pistol at auction on November 18, 2013, in San Francisco, California,[75] described as Hickok's Smith & Wesson No. Hickok died immediately. ", Rosa, Joseph G. (1977). [51], Hickok was relieved of his duties as marshal less than two months after the accidental shooting, this incident being only one of a series of questionable shootings and claims of misconduct during his career. awaiting execution. [82], At the time of this affair I was at a station farther west and reached this station just as Wild Bill was getting ready to go to Beatrice for his trial. When a seat opened up at the table, a drunk man named Jack McCall sat down to play. In June, Hickok mustered out and went to Springfield, where he gambled. He fought against slavery with General James Lane in Kansas, and operated as a constable in Johnson County. Not a word was uttered. Hickok's brother, Lorenzo Butler, traveled from Illinois to attend the retrial. More concrete evidence of Jessie came from Charles Zimmerman, who remembered Jane and her daughters frequent visits to his familys ranch near Billings, Montana in 1893. Though no solid record exists, he is believed to have served as a Union spy in the Confederate Army before his discharge in 1865. Jessie later said that the Deadwood Chief of Police wrote her about Janes death in 1903. He noted that the sound was similar to tapping a brick wall and believed the remains weighed more than 400lb (180kg). By the end of 1861, he was a wagon master, but in September 1862, he was discharged for unknown reasons. [58] Jane confirmed this account in an 1896 newspaper interview, although she claimed she had been hospitalized with illness rather than in the guardhouse. Wikimedia Commons Calamity Jane poses in front of Wild Bill Hickok's grave. McCall was found guilty and sentenced to death. James Butler Hickok (May 27, 1837 - August 2, 1876), also known as "Wild Bill" Hickok was a legendary figure in the old west. A monument has been built there. 2, serial number 29963, a .32 rimfire with a six-inch barrel, blued finish, and varnished rosewood grips. On September 4, Hickok was wounded in the foot while rescuing several cattlemen in the Bijou Creek basin who had been surrounded by Indians. American folk hero and lawman (18371876), For the American football player and industrialist, see, Arapaho Joe and Colorado Charlie Utter at Hickok's grave, photograph date unknown, Pistols known to have been carried by Hickok. . For the next several years, Hickok worked as a stagecoach driver. [36][37], In December 1867, newspapers reported that Hickok had come to stay in Hays City, Kansas. The cemetery was moved in 1881, and when McCall's body was exhumed, the noose was found still around his neck.[69]. Hickok was born and raised on a farm in northern Illinois at a time when lawlessness and vigilante activity were rampant because of the influence of the "Banditti of the Prairie". The event haunted Hickok for the rest of his life. Did Nick McGlashan have a family? ", DeMattos, Jack (1980). In any case, Hardin appeared to have thought highly of Hickok. He was famous on the Deadliest Catch for his hard work, knowledge of fishing, and quick-witted humor. By 1942 Jessie had changed her story, perhaps at McCormicks urging. [44] In his 1895 autobiography, published after his death, Hardin claimed to have been befriended by Hickok, the newly elected town marshal, after he had disarmed the marshal using the road agent's spin, but Hardin was known to exaggerate. Wild Bill Hickok was an American frontiersman, army scout and lawman who helped bring order to the frontier West. Hickok and Brinks were charged with murder but found not guilty. Jan MacKell Collins is the author of numerous books about the Old West, the latest isLost Ghost Towns of Teller County. [24], In late 1863, Hickok worked for the provost marshal of southwest Missouri as a member of the Springfield detective police. In addition to many exploits she was known for being an acquaintance of Wild Bill Hickok.Late in her life, she appeared in Buffalo Bill's Wild West show and at the 1901 Pan-American Exposition.She is said to have exhibited compassion to others . Wild Bill's brother, Oliver Cromwell Hickok married and fathered five children per: Search Results from User Submitted Genealogies (only as accurate as submitter). From William Alonzo and Polly Butler's marriage, they welcomed six children in total, and HIckon is the fourth among them all. [77][78] A print of the film is maintained in the Museum of Modern Art film archive.[79]. Hearst Magazine Media, Inc. Site contains certain content that is owned A&E Television Networks, LLC. In the melee that followed, Hickok shot Woods, who, most historians agree, was then attacked and ultimately killed with a hoe by Mrs. Wellman. Wild Bill Hickok, byname of James Butler Hickok, (born May 27, 1837, Homer [now Troy Grove], Illinois, U.S.died August 2, 1876, Deadwood, Dakota Territory [now in South Dakota, U.S.]), American frontiersman, army scout, and lawman who helped bring order to the frontier West. Hickok left home at age 17 and worked as a canal boat pilot in Utica, Illinois, before heading west in 1856 to Bleeding Kansas, which was embroiled in a violent conflict over whether slavery should be permitted there. That derisive nickname may have been given to him by David McCanles, who had sold the buildings that became the Pony Expresss Rock Creek station, on credit, to Russell, Majors and Waddell. He afterward resumed using his given name, James Hickok. Still, feeling he had escaped punishment, McCall began to brag to anyone that would listen that he had killed Wild Bill Hickok. Just as he pulled the trigger, one of the policemen rushed around the corner between Coe and the pistols and both balls entered his body, killing him instantly. Wild Bill Hickok was an American folk hero. "Wild Bill's Sweetheart: The Life of Mary Jane Owens. He then joined General James Henry Lane's Kansas Brigade, and while serving with the brigade, saw his friend Buffalo Bill Cody, who was serving as a scout. In the Frederic Remington illustration of The Sentinel, is the mission San Xavier del Bac? Both towns had become outposts for lawless men before Hickok arrived and turned things around. She was born in Missouri and spent most of her life on the country's western border. In court she presented the judge with a doctors certificate indicating she was in a rather delicate condition, an early euphemism for pregnant. What happened to Wild Bill Hickok's pistols? ), 18721886. He is said to have wrestled a bear From there the ONeils took the pair to the family home in Richmond, Virginia, and ultimately raised the Jean in Liverpool, England. Unsurprisingly, the two gunslingers found much to relate to in . He left his wife a few months later to seek his fortune in the goldfields of South Dakota. Visit our corporate site. We drove on to Beatrice and at the trial, his plea was self-defense; no one appeared against him, and he was cleared. It is believed that McCanles arrived at the station with his son, Monroe; his cousin, James Woods; and James Gordon, a man in his service. No other woman in the American west possesses a more enigmatic legacy than Martha Calamity Jane Canary. If the deceased and defendant engaged in a fight or conflict willingly on the part of each, and the defendant killed the deceased, he is guilty of the offense charged, although the deceased may have fired the first shot. [12], While in Nebraska, Hickok was derisively referred to by one man as "Duck Bill" for his long nose and protruding lips. 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. [39] Three sheriffs had quit during the previous 18 months. This was his sixth murder. At Bridger, Montana, Jane moved in with a cowboy named Robert Dorsett. [citation needed], From 1871 until his death in 1876, Hickok had vision problems. Circa 1890. Sentinel, is the mission San Xavier del Bac tapping a brick wall and believed the remains weighed more 400lb! To drinks was a wagon master, but in September 1862, he was famous on the Deadliest for! 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