Wild Bill Hickok

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Harry Young, bartender at Carl Mann’s Saloon No. 10 in Deadwood, later wrote of Hickok’s arrival: ‘About the middle of July, my old friend Wild Bill arrived in Deadwood. A more picturesque sight than Hickok on horseback could not be imagined. He had never been north of Cheyenne before this, although many in Deadwood knew him, some only by reputation. A good many gunmen of note were in town and his arrival caused quite a commotion. Hickok rode up to the saloon where I was working, as he knew the owner, Carl Mann. Mann greeted him with much enthusiasm and asked him to make the saloon his headquarters. This meant money for Mann, as Hickok was a great drawing card. Hickok agreed.’

Once in Deadwood (see the December 1995 Wild West for more on Deadwood), Hickok set up camp on the outskirts of town with his good friends ‘California Joe’ Anderson, ‘Colorado Charlie’ Utter and Steve Utter. He spent some time with them prospecting, but, as usual, the allure of the gaming tables proved stronger. Hickok’s presence in the various saloons threatened the town’s lawless elements. Deadwood, like Abilene several years earlier, was dominated by gunmen, gamblers and every variety of swindler then known. They were feasting on the gold dust of honest miners, and wanted no cleanup by Hickok or anyone else.

Tim Brady and Johnny Varnes, two leaders of the Deadwood underworld, initiated a plot to kill Hickok so he wouldn’t be appointed marshal. Jim Levy and Charlie Storms, two noted gunmen, were offered the job but turned it down. Had they known about Hickok’s bad eyesight, they might well have accepted.

Just a few months before, Hickok had commented to an acquaintance: ‘My eyes are getting real bad. My shooting days are over.’ Hickok therefore relied on his reputation to see him through the danger he must have sensed was all around him in Deadwood. Hickok’s reputation stymied Levy and Storms, and it worked on the six Montana gunmen who spoke of killing him. Hickok, backed by his twin Colts, spoke to them with his usual directness before disarming them: ‘I understand that you cheap, would-be gunfighters from Montana have been making remarks about me. I want you to understand unless they are stopped there will shortly be a number of cheap funerals in Deadwood. I have come to this town not to court notoriety, but to live in peace and do not propose to stand for insults.’

Hickok wanted neither notoriety nor love, and he had no romantic relationship with Martha Jane Cannary, the famed Calamity Jane (see the August 1994 issue of Wild West for more on her). He just wanted to return to his new wife with some money in his pocket, as evidenced by a portion of his letter from Deadwood on July 17, 1876:

My own darling wife Agnes…I know my Agnes

and only live to love her. Never mind, pet, we will

have a home yet, then we will be happy.

J.B. Hickok

Hickok’s letter of August 1 made clear his concern about ever returning home to his wife:

Agnes Darling

If such should be we never meet again, while

firing my last shot, I will gently breathe the name

of my wife-Agnes-and with wishes even for

my enemies I will make the plunge and try to

swim to the other shore.

J.B. Hickok

Wild Bill

This last letter proved to be prophetic, but perhaps sooner than Hickok expected. The next day, August 2, at about 4 p.m., he joined a poker game in Carl Mann’s Saloon No. 10. The other players were Charles Rich, a gunman in his own right, Con Stapleton, Carl Mann himself, and Captain Willie Massie, a Missouri steamboat pilot.

Hickok had a short conversation at the bar with Harry Young before he sat down. He was the last to be seated, and the only chair left for him put his back to the back door. Hickok, as a precaution, always sat with his back to the wall, and asked Charles Rich to change places with him. Rich just laughed and stayed in his chair. But Hickok’s conspirators had finally found their man-Jack McCall.

Tags: Historical Figures, People, The Wild West, Wild West

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