Page 17 - 2008 DT 12 issues

I n T h i s I s s u e

Featured Article
Wild Bill Hickok...............................1
Special
Spider Myths....................................2
Grand Circle Award........................3
Departments
News & Notes..................................2
March 2008 Programs & Hikes...........................4
Desk Schedule................................6
Bulletin Board................................8

flamboyant side and wore two ivory-
handled Colt revolvers, butt forward
in open-top holsters. This was not a
WILD BILL HICKOK — charismatic Westerner, man to toy with.
forever associated with poker’s “Dead Man’s Hand.” Being a stage driver was no long-

War, but it may have been at this time term career for Hickok; he longed for
by Chuck Kleber a new and different brand of excite-
as Hickok’s deadly marksmanship,
ces and eights,” what poker coupled with an impetuous nature, was ment. He got a law enforcement job
player has never heard of the the undoing of stagecoach robbers and in a small Nebraska town. Nothing big
Alast hand held by James Butler other outlaws. Wild Bill’s appearance happened until Wild Bill heard that the
“Wild Bill” Hickok, just before he was was also imposing. He was over 6 feet notorious McCanles outlaw gang was
shot from behind by a coward who tall, well-built and with prominent camped in nearby Jefferson County,
did not have the nerve to face him. facial features. He wore his hair long, but it was outside his jurisdiction.
This legendary lawman, scout, Indian Through a ruse of sheer temptation, he
fighter, Civil War hero for the Union, got them to come to the old Daisy Pearl
and gambler occupies a special place Inn in the expectation of wild women
in the lore of the West. There was no from the best parlor in town and good
one else like him, and perhaps that is whiskey. When they arrived at the sa-
reflected in the numerous movies made loon, neither were there, but Wild Bill
around Wild Bill. He was played by was, guns in hand. When the smoke
Gary Cooper, Jeff Bridges, Keith Car- cleared, Jeb McCanles and two of his
radine in the TV series, “Deadwood,” men lay dead. The others put their
and even in a musical with Howard hands up. The reputation of Wild Bill
Keel, and Doris Day as his girlfriend, Hickok began to spread. Some aspects
Calamity Jane. of his exploits are open to speculation;
Hickok was born to rural Illinois tall tales and exaggeration were part of
parents on May 27, 1837. They were the scene in the West. The basic facts,
normal, church-going people and however, are without dispute, and they
James did his share of the work to keep are impressive. Though the number
the farm going. He also began to devel- is unlikely, it was said he killed over
op great skill with firearms, especially 100 men. Wild Bill claimed that while
with a pistol. But his was a restless James Butler Hickok he only shot in self defense or in the
nature, and even then the “West” had as was common in the West, together line of duty, “I never let a man get the
developed that peculiar lure that still with a moustache. However, it was drop on me.”
holds. At 18, he left home and got a his blue-grey eyes that most people
job as a stagecoach driver. It’s not clear noticed—they lost their normally
where the name “Wild Bill” came to be friendly look and became steely cold
used. Some say it was during the Civil when he was angry. He dressed on the Hickok, continued on p. 6