Poor old Wild Bill Hickok. This man is a well-known figure in Wild West folk legends and he lived an extremely colourful life. However, that life was cut short at the age of 39. And as he took his last breath, he made a lasting mark on the poker world. That’s because his death was the start of the Dead Man’s Hand as we know it today.
The early life of Wild Bill Hickok
Now that’s a question and a half. Wild Bill was born as James Butler Hickok on 27 May, 1837 in northern Illinois. His father was a farmer and endevoured to end slavery. Apparently, the family house was even a station on the Underground Railway. Noth much is known about his mother, except that her name was Polly Butler. A woman erased from history? We’ve heard that one before.
Anyway, Wild Bill’s dad passed away when he was just 15. And perhaps that was the reason Hickok got involved with unsavoury elements in the local community. This was most dramatically realised when he got into a fight with Charles Hudson when he was 18. The brawl ended when the pair of fighters fell into a canal. Both parties thought that they killed the other. To escape what he thought was murder charges, Wild Bill went on the run.
Colourful and dangerous adventures
A couple years later, unbelievably, he was actually elected as a constable in Kansas. After a bear attack he was bedridden for four months. However, it wasn’t long until, he was involved in another shooting. He was acquitted of murder on the grounds of self defence. As well as that, he served on the Union Army during the Civil War, but double jobbed as a scout during this time.
He was known as a gambler by this stage, favouring poker. But trouble followed him onto the poker tables. Disagreements over gambling debts led to Wild Bill taking part in the first ever recorded quick draw duel. Hickok killed his opponent stone dead.
He also tried to strike up some business by putting on a public exhibition involving Native Americans, cowboys, buffalo, a bear and a monkey. But very few people wanted to actually pay to see it because it was outside so even if they didn’t buy a ticket, they could see it anyway. Those that were watching were occasionally terrorised by rogue animals chasing them.
Wild Bill became sheriff of a town in Kansas, where he ended up shooting dead several people. After his time as sheriff, he was recruited by Buffalo Bill Cody to be an actor in their troop briefly, but he hated it. He often hid behind the scenery to avoid being seen on stage.
When he was 39, he was in poor health and ended up marrying a circus owner in Wyoming. He reportedly earlier had married Calamity Jane but left her for his new wife, the 50-year-old Agnes Thatcher Lake.
The death of Wild Bill Hickok
Less than six months after his marriage to Thatcher Lake, Wild Bill Hickok was in Dakota. He was playing poker at a saloon there with several men, when Jack McCall took a seat. McCall was drunk off his head and not having a good day. He lost hand after hand, incurring big debts. Hickok told McCall he should quit. He even gave him some money for breakfast. McCall took the money and left, but he was angry.
The next day, he found Wild Bill playing another game of poker in the same saloon. McCall yelled “Damn you! Take that!” and shot Hickok in the back of the head, instantly killing a legend of the Wild West.
What does this story have to do with the Dead Man’s Hand?
Hickok was holding two pairs when he was killed. Black aces, black eights and an unknown fifth card. Since the day Wild Bill Hickok died in 1876 until now, that hand has been known as the Dead Man’s Hand.
This notorious hand crops up in surprising places. For example, two police squads in the United States use it in their insignia. It’s appeared in comic books, songs, novels and way more places since. And it all goes back to Wild Bill Hickok.
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