James Butler "Wild Bill" Hickok was murdered in Deadwood by Jack McCall in Saloon No. 10.
Hickock normally sat with his back to the wall so that he could observe the room, but had been unable to. He twice asked a person he was playing cards with to switch seats, but his fellow would not exchange.
McCall had been leant money by Hickock the day prior.
McCall would be tried twice for the murder and was executed by hanging in March, 1877.
I realized in posting this that my view of this matter has been heavily colored by the movie Little Big Man, which is an excellent movie, and an outstanding book, but it's very inaccurate as to this event, which features in it. For one thing, I had no idea that the murder was after the Battle of Little Bighorn, and indeed was close in time to it, which shows how rapidly Deadwood was growing as a town and have quickly white settlement was encroaching on the Black Hills. In the film, the murder occurs before Little Bighorn, which I had not previously given much thought to.
Additionally, the killing was somewhat random. McCall had only met Hickock the day prior.
Last edition:
No comments:
Post a Comment