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. He reported returning with five prisoners after killing 10. Wikimedia Commons Advertisement 11. The movie The Plainsman (1936), starring Gary Cooper as Hickok, features the alleged romance between Calamity Jane and him as its main plot line. James Butler Hickok, better known as " Wild Bill ," was a wagon master, soldier, scout, lawman, gunfighter, gambler, showman, and actor well-known in the American West. In the Clint Eastwood movie Hang em High, a tumbleweed wagon picks up prisoners to haul them off to jail. Hickok and Brinks were charged with murder but found not guilty. That belief came from the fertile imaginations of othersespecially Jean McCormick, who claimed to be the daughter of the legendary pair. "[56], Martha Jane Cannary, known popularly as Calamity Jane, claimed in her autobiography that she was married to Hickok and had divorced him so he could be free to marry Agnes Lake, but no records that support her account have been found. Hickok ran as an Independent; but lost to his deputy, Peter Lanihan, who ran as a Democrat. 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. [9], In 1865, Hickok recruited six Native Americans and three cowboys to accompany him to Niagara Falls, where he put on an outdoor demonstration called The Daring Buffalo Chasers of the Plains. Hickok was arrested for murder, tried, and acquitted. During the next several years he appeared in Buffalo Bill Codys Wild West Show, living off his fame as the consummate gunfighter. 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). They even did a stint abroad, performing for one season in Germany in 1862. While at Castle City Jane went to Gilt Edge, some two hundred miles away, where she was jailed for being drunk. A young drifter named Jack McCall walked in and approached Hickok from behind. Relegated to making a living through other means than law enforcement, he traveled from one town to another as a gambler. McCall shot Hickok from behind as he played poker at Nuttal & Mann's Saloon in Deadwood, Dakota Territory on August 2, 1876. All rights reserved. In reality, Janes first verified child was born in November 1882 when she was living with rancher Frank King near Miles City, Montana. His parents were William Alonzo Hickok and Polly Butler. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. Some said the two men fought over a card game, while others attributed the duel to competition for the attention of a woman named Susannah Moore. Hickok moved to Leavenworth in the Kansas Territory, where he joined Jim Lane's Free State Army (also known as the Jayhawkers), an antislavery vigilante group active in the new territory during the Bleeding Kansas era. He was arrested while using the name Haycock in 1865. [citation needed], From 1871 until his death in 1876, Hickok had vision problems. Hickok joined the antislavery Free State Army of Jayhawkers and, having already become skilled with a gun as a youth, served as a bodyguard for Gen. James H. Lanes. [5] William Hickok died in 1852, when James was 15. [57] The two possibly met for the first time after Jane was released from the guardhouse in Fort Laramie and joined the wagon train in which Hickok was traveling. 2, serial number 29963, a .32 rimfire with a six-inch barrel, blued finish, and varnished rosewood grips. There, the freight company had built a stagecoach stop along the Oregon Trail near Fairbury, Nebraska, on land purchased from David McCanles. Hickok accused a J.V. In court she presented the judge with a doctors certificate indicating she was in a rather delicate condition, an early euphemism for pregnant. Corrections? [18] On March 22, 1858, he was elected one of the first four constables of Monticello Township. Jan MacKell Collins is the author of numerous books about the Old West, the latest isLost Ghost Towns of Teller County. 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 . "Wild Bill. In 1866 Hickok helped guide Gen. William T. Shermans tour of the West, and in 186768 he scouted for Gen. Winfield Scott Hancock and Lieut. 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. Picks on rebels, especially Texans, to kill." [citation needed], Leander Richardson, a reporter, interviewed McCall shortly before his execution, and wrote an article about him for the April 1877 issue of Scribner's Monthly. Around this time, young James Hickok began using his father's name of William - the 'Wild' part came later - and he also met Buffalo Bill Cody, then just a messenger boy on a wagon train. During the Civil War he found employment as a teamster and spy for the Union Army. Before and during Hickok's lifetime (1837-1876), the most readily available firearms were cap-and-ball, or percussion. James Butler Hickok was born May 27, 1837, in Homer, Illinois, (present-day Troy Grove, Illinois) to William Alonzo Hickok, a farmer and abolitionist, and his wife, Polly Butler. Both of his parents loved each other very much and always remained together. Hickok was of English ancestry. Almost the entire town attended the funeral, and Utter had Hickok buried with a wooden grave marker reading: Wild Bill, J. 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. Her friends held a fundraiser for her and the benefit proved a howling successuntil Jane began treating her generous friends to drinks. Upon being sprung, Jane whisked into Castle City, picked up the girl, and went on her way. The trial did not last more than fifteen minutes.[23]. He was one of the early heroes of the West popularized in the dime novels of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Hickok's brother, Lorenzo Butler, traveled from Illinois to attend the retrial. On September 4, Hickok was wounded in the foot while rescuing several cattlemen in the Bijou Creek basin who had been surrounded by Indians. [citation needed], On August 1, 1876, Hickok was playing poker at Nuttal & Mann's Saloon No. For the next several years, various witnesses saw Jane, who towed Jessie around with her as she drank her way across the west. 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. ", Judge Boyd said, "That when danger is threatened and impending a man is not compelled to stand with his arms folded until it is too late to offer successful resistance, and if the jury believe from the evidence that Tutt was a fighting character and a dangerous man and that [Defendant] was aware such was his character and that Tutt at the time he was shot by the Deft. The new trial was held in Yankton, the capital of the Dakota Territory. The "special election" may not have been legal, as a letter dated September 17 to the governor of Kansas noted that Hickok had presented a warrant for an arrest which was rejected by the Fort Hays commander, because, when asked to produce his commission, Hickok admitted that he had never received one. The 10th Regiment arrived at Fort Lyon in Colorado in October and remained there for the rest of 1868. [6] Since the event was outdoors, he could not compel people to pay, and the venture was a financial failure. . ", Nichols, George Ward (1867). I would have rather been somewhere else, but Bill stopped. He was involved in several notable shootouts during the course of his life. In 1941, Jean Hickok McCormick appeared in Billings, Montana. Between her birth in the 1850s and her death in 1903, Jane left a dizzying trail as she blazed around the west. He was very famous as a lawman as he established law and order in some of the most notorious towns on the frontier. In the melee, Hickok caught a glimpse of someone moving towards him and responded with two shots killing his deputy Mike Williams. In quick succession, Hickok was said to have then killed five members of McCanless gang and knocked out another before three more gang members threw him down on a bed, only to be bested in hand-to-hand combat by the knife-wielding Hickok. The story continued that McCanles invaded the Wellmans cabin and prepared to shoot Hickok, who acted faster and shot McCanles in the chest. The Bull's Head Saloon in Abilene had been established by gambler Ben Thompson and Coe, his partner, businessman, and fellow gambler. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Wild-Bill-Hickok, Spartacus Educational - Biography of Wild Bill Hickok, Wild Bill Hickok - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up). [77][78] A print of the film is maintained in the Museum of Modern Art film archive.[79]. Not wasting a second, he quietly drew his revolver and shot Hickok in the back of the head, instantly killing him. 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. The. [7] Photographs of Hickok appear to depict dark hair, but all contemporaneous descriptions affirm that it was red. Last, there is Jessiethe most credible of Calamity Janes daughters. During the Civil War, he served as a wagon master, scout, detective, courier, and spy. They arrived in Topeka on April 2. Some contemporaneous reports of his exploits are known to be fictitious, but they remain the basis of much of his fame and reputation. While in Deadwood, South Dakota, Wild Bill Hickok became a regular poker player at Nuttal & Mann's Saloon. Nicholss version of the shootout in Harpers grabbed the publics attention, making Hickok an instant legend whose gunfighting prowess became fodder for dime novels. It ends with Hickok surviving the murder attempt due to wearing body armor and being shot in the back, then secretly leaving for a ranch in California. For the next several years, Hickok worked as a stagecoach driver. 10 in Deadwood, Dakota Territory. McCormick claimed that ONeil offered to adopt her, taking she and her mother to meet his wife in Omaha. [58] Jane confirmed this account in an 1896 newspaper interview, although she claimed she had been hospitalized with illness rather than in the guardhouse. Wild Bill Hickok certainly was: The man born in 1837 to William Alonso and Polly Butler Hickok found his superpower, expert marksmanship, at a young age, and went on to have all sorts of adventures. The second trial was not considered double jeopardy because of the irregular jury in the first trial and because Deadwood was at the time in unorganized Indian country. They performed together until Bill was tragically murdered in 1869. 2 Revolver on Offer at Bonhams This Fall", "Wild Bill Hickok's Death-Day Revolver Fails to Sell at California Auction", "Wild-Bill-Hickok - Trailer - Cast - Showtimes", "Josh Brolin as James Butler Hickok (aka Wild Bill)", https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0028/2964/7961/files/Deadwood_1876_Rules_English.pdf?4346553514003986582, Black Hills War, or Great Sioux War (1876), Cheyenne-Black Hills Stage Route (18761887), Sidney-Black Hills Stage Road (18761887), Rapid City, Black Hills and Western Railroad (18931947), Fossil Cycad National Monument (19221957), https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wild_Bill_Hickok&oldid=1141945329, All articles with bare URLs for citations, Articles with bare URLs for citations from March 2022, Articles with PDF format bare URLs for citations, Short description is different from Wikidata, Pages using infobox person with multiple parents, Wikipedia articles needing page number citations from July 2020, Articles with unsourced statements from July 2019, Articles with unsourced statements from July 2015, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, James B. Hickok, J.B. Hickok, Shanghai Bill, William Hickok, William Haycock, Bird, Roy (1979). Keith Bell Manchester, United Kingdom Calamity Jane never married Wild Bill Hickok. Wild Bill Hickok was born on May 27, 1837 in Troy Grove, Illinois. Zimmerman said that despite their closeness in age, he and Jessie didnt say much to each other. In December, the Rawlins Republican reported that Jane visited town with a little girl she had stolen. The child was no doubt Jessie, who was next seen with her mother in Ekalaka, Montana in 1894 by at least two people. [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?] On July 21, 1865, the two men faced off in Springfield's town square, standing sideways before drawing and firing their weapons. What do you know about Pete Spence, a member of the Cowboys of Tombstone? Hickok may have been acting sheriff before he was elected; a newspaper reported that he arrested offenders on August 18, and the commander of Fort Hays wrote a letter to the assistant adjutant general on August 21 in which he praised Hickok for his work in apprehending deserters. [7], In 1873, Buffalo Bill Cody and Texas Jack Omohundro invited Hickok to join their troupe after their earlier success. Calamity Jane is reputed to have led a mob that threatened McCall with lynching, but at the time of Hickok's death, Jane was actually being held by military authorities. A former cavalryman, J.W. [73], Hickok's favorite guns were a pair of Colt 1851 Navy Model (.36 caliber) cap-and-ball revolvers. In another account of the Coe shootout: Theophilus Little, the mayor of Abilene and owner of the town's lumber yard, recorded his time in Abilene by writing in a notebook, which was ultimately given to the Abilene Historical Society. By the end of 1861, he was a wagon master, but in September 1862, he was discharged for unknown reasons. Though no solid record exists, he is believed to have served as a Union spy in the Confederate Army before his discharge in 1865. Entdecke Bill O'Reilly's Legends and Lies: The Real West - Hardcover - GOOD in groer Auswahl Vergleichen Angebote und Preise Online kaufen bei eBay Kostenlose Lieferung fr viele Artikel! In more recent times, however, Calamity Jane biographer James McLaird disproved McCormicks claim by researching when and how her fantastic autobiography unfolded. Behind the mission, arent those the Santa Catalina Mountains? In real life, Calamity Jane (Martha Jane Canary) never met 'Doc' Holliday: she actually was in love and pursued 'Wild Bill' Hickock. "Gunfighters of the Real West: Wild Bill Hickok. Born in Homer (later called Troy Grove), Illinois, James Butler Hickok . On August 2, 1876, Wild Bill Hickok died a sudden, violent death while gambling in a saloon in Deadwood, South Dakota. In 1954 an episode of Gunsmoke on CBS radio featured John Dehner as Hickok. 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. Despite his reputation,[70] Hickok was buried in the Ingelside Cemetery, Deadwood's original graveyard. She was Maude Weir, born in 1881. Hickok saved Cody from getting beaten by another man and the two became longtime pals. [a][8], In 1855, at age 18, James Hickok fled Illinois following a fight with Charles Hudson, during which both fell into a canal; each thought, mistakenly, that he had killed the other. "The Girl and the Gunfighter: A Newly Discovered Photograph of Wild Bill Hickok. . In 1941, Jean Hickok McCormick appeared in Billings, Montana. 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