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I grew up in these Black Hills — and the history of the Old West hell raising mining camp of Deadwood is embedded into these hills as deep as the ore in the 8,500 foot Homestake Mine up in Lead, now closed full of water, and soon to be a scientific underground laboratory.
You have probably seen the Hollywood version of Deadwood on HBO. As a series, how close does it come to the true life characters that put the rawboned territorial town on the map?
LEGENDS OF DEADWOOD
Wild Bill Hickok, born James Butler Hickok in Tiny Grove, Illinois on May 27, 1837. He married Mrs. Ames Thatcher on March 5, 1876 in Cheyenne, Wyoming. Wild Bill was murdered in the original Saloon No. 10 on August 2, 1876 by Jack McCall.
Quite aside from images of the Black Hills gold rush and the Sioux Indian wars, Deadwood is famed in the publics mind as the place where "Wild Bill" Hickok was murdered while playing poker in Saloon No.10, holding the "Deadmans Hand" of aces, eights, and the nine of diamonds.
Civil War spy, scout and sharpshooter, Indian fighter, frontier lawman and showman with Buffalo Bill Codys Wild West Show, Hickok was part of the Wests romantic image — aided no doubt by a Harpers New Monthly Magazine article about him in those terms in 1867
The reality was more complicated as a variety of books and Internet resources note.
Hickok joined a flood of miners, shopkeepers, prostitutes, card players, bunco artists and outlaws, invading the raw and just-formed town of Deadwood in June of 1876.
By all accounts, his intent in coming to Deadwood was to separate prospectors and minters from their gold — not at the point of a gun, but at the poker tables with a winning hand and two pistols at hand for any sore losers in the bunch.
Hickok was highly motivated — he was a newlywed with a wife to support. His bride, the former Mrs. Agnes Thatcher, was waiting for Hickok back in Cheyenne.
One of the first guns of the West, Hickok could shoot with a pistol in both hands. He carried his guns butt forward in his belt — an awkward position for others, but it worked well for him. Historians debate how good he really was as a marksman, but few cared to get shot at by Hickok — calm, deliberate and unflustered when taking aim.
Hickok had a couple of habits that served him well in the rowdy bars of the West. Hed pour his drinks with his left hand, letting his best gun hand at the ready. When gambling, Hickok wanted to sit with his back to a wall, eliminating the possibility that an enemy could simply walk up to his back and blow his head off.
Ironically, thats exactly what happened on August 2, 1876, during a card game in the No. 10 Saloon. Hickok walked in and noticed a poker game was in progress, but the only empty seat at the table faced away from the saloons doorway. Hickok failed to persuade others at the table to trade seats with him, and then decided to take the open seat.
It proved to be a fatal mistake.
Focused on a game in which hed already lost several hands, Hickok never saw a loafer named Jack McCall walk up within three feet, pull a .45 out of his coat and pull the trigger. The bullet blew through Hickoks head and out his cheek, lodging in the wrist of a gambler on the other side of the table.
Hickok spilled his hand — pairs of black aces and eights — known forevermore as "Deadmans Hand."
Quickly apprehended, McCall said hed killed Hickok because "Wild Bill" had killed his brother. A miners court figured that was an acceptable defense and let him go. The drunken McCall just couldnt keep his mouth shut about the killing. He bragged one too many times that hed killed Hickok and was arrested, tried in Yankton, South Dakota and hung on March 1, 1877.
Calamity Jane was born
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Kriss Hammond, Jetsetters Magazine Correspondent – Read Jetsetters Magazine at www.jetsettersmagazine.com To book travel visit Jetstreams.com at www.jetstreams.com and for Beach Resorts visit Beach Booker at www.beachbooker.com
About the Author
Kriss Hammond, Jetsetters Magazine Correspondent. Join the Travel Writers Network in the logo at www.jetsettersmagazine.com Leave your email next to the logo for FREE e travel newsletter.