“Wild Bill” Hickok Biography

James Butler “Wild Bill” Hickok was a frontiersman and law officer of America’s Old West whose exploits — and murder — became part of that era’s lore. Originally from Illinois, Hickok became a stagecoach driver and travelled both the Santa Fe and Oregon Trails. When the Civil War broke out, Hickok joined the Union Army in Kansas as a wagon master and scout (and, some say, a spy). After the war ended in 1865, “Wild Bill” Hickok served as a marshal in the Kansas towns of Hays City and Abilene (1869-71), then toured briefly with Buffalo Bill Cody’s Wild West Show (1872-73). He was known to be an expert marksman, with a reputation for having only killed in self-defense. Hickok ended up in Deadwood, South Dakota during a gold rush, and on 2 August 1876, he was playing poker in the No. 10 saloon when a local miscreant named Jack McCall shot him in the back of the head and killed him. The legend of “Wild Bill” Hickok says he was holding a pair of aces and a pair of eights (and some unknown fifth card), and in poker such a hand is known as the “Dead Man’s Hand.”