In 1876 Deadwood earned its reputation as a "wide open" town. Many came who had no intention of toiling in the gold fields. For America's gamblers, gunmen and con artists, the word "Deadwood."

    Ironically history tells us little of the lives of pick and shovel miners, but much of the exploits of Wild Bill Hickoks and the Calamity Janes. We know of visits to the Black Hills by many other Western figures, including Wyatt Earp, Bat Masterson, Buffalo Bill, Sam Bass and the Sundance Kid.

    Our Conception of these notables is a strange mixture of fact and myth. Take the case of Wild Bill Hickok. His fame can be traced to a highly exaggerated Harper's Monthly article printed in the late 1860's. He was know then, less glamorously, as Duck Bill Hickok.

    In the book Gold in the Black Hills, historian Watson Parker writes of Hickok as"...a gambler, part-time gunman, and full-time liar who worked in all three professions."

    Hickok's place in history was guaranteed by the dramatics of his assassination. It's said the "Prince of Pistoleers" never sat with his back to the door, but he was just doing that while playing cards on August 2, 1876. This allowed Jack McCall to approach the 39-year-old Wild Bill unseen and shot him in the head at point-blank range.

    McCall then tried to shoot the other players but his gun misfired. Hickok was killed almost instantly, but tradition tell us he had both guns out and cocked before slumping over the table. Before him lay the cards which are to this day famous as the "dead man's hand"...black aces and eights, and the Jack of Diamonds.

    McCall was tried and acquitted in Deadwood by a people's court. He would later hang from the gallows in Yankton for the same offense.

10/01/03