Aces and Eights
As someone who grew up watching Hollywood westerns on TV or the movies, I became enamored with the image of the Sheriff standing tall and enforcing the law, with actors such as John Wayne, Gary Cooper or Clint Eastwood riding Tombstone, Dodge City, El Dorado or some other cow town of its bank robbers, cattle rustlers and assorted other nefarious ne'er-do-wells and scalawags.
Westerns such as High Noon would have our good guy facing down a murderous ruffian in the middle of Main St. But history teaches us that armed altercations between lawman and outlaw or outlaw and law abiding citizen didn't happen this way.
Throughout the taming of the west one lawman stood out among the rest James Butler Hickok, better known as "Wild Bill" Hickok. Former Union wagonmaster, courier, provost marshal's detective, scout and spy during the Civil War, Wild Bill worked as a lawman throughout the west and we can learn much from this "shootist."
Among other things we can learn from Hickok were the following:
- Training Wild Bill understood that his ability to enforce the law in the rough and tumble towns of his time was based on his skill at arms. He learned how to "run the gun" and was able to apply those skills to solve violent encounters.
- Redundancy in Safety Equipment Long before someone coined the saying, "One is none and two is one" in reference to backups in guns and gear, Wild Bill lived the phrase. Hickok carried a brace of Colt Navy .36 caliber six-guns. With the limitation of only six shots (germane if you miss) and the inherent problems with cap and ball revolvers, Hickok always carried at least two revolvers.
- Mindset Hickok, like the Earps and other successful lawman of the period, worked hard to achieve and maintain the mental edge necessary to do the job. They were violent when they had to be.
- Awareness Wild Bill understood that the threat of violence against him was real. He never went anywhere unarmed, positioned himself in the best tactical positions possible and scanned his environment constantly for threats.
- Proper Technique According to the late Rex Applegate, Hickok believed in eye-level shooting. Applegate quoted a letter written by Hickok where he comments that he brought the pistol to eye level and sighted down the barrel "like pointing your finger." No Hollywood-style hip shooting.
- Accurate fire Hickok's shootout with Davis Tutt in 1865 was at a distance of 75 yards. Tutt missed. Wild Bill shot Tutt through the heart with one shot, killing him.
- Decisiveness When it came time to act, Wild Bill took care of business. He didn't overanalyze or dither.
The number of men killed by Hickok in his role as lawman or in defense of his life is, according to biographers, somewhere around ten. We know that his shootings were ultra-violent affairs, not some "shoot-out at high noon" sterilized version. For instance, in one altercation in Hays City during July of 1870, while a U.S. Deputy Marshal, Wild Bill was attacked by two 7th Cavalry soldiers. The two men attacked Hickok, took him to the ground and attempted to shoot him. When the attacker's revolver failed to fire, Wild Bill pulled his own and shot and mortally wounded one, then shot the other through the kneecap.
Possibly explaining Hickok's accuracy in his shootings was this quote he reportedly made to writer George Nichols for a story in Harper's New Monthly Magazine in 1867, "Whenever you get into a row be sure and not shoot too quick. Take time, I've known many a feller to slip up for shootin' in a hurry." This is similar to the quote of Wyatt Earp, "You need to take your time in a hurry," in reference to armed confrontations.
Bill's last shoot-out occurred in 1871. As Marshal of Abilene, Kansas, a booming cow town, Hickok was tasked with controlling the large numbers of drunken cowboys that filled the bars, then the streets of the town. When Phil Coe and about 50 other armed cowhands started raising hell on the streets, Hickok ordered them to disarm. After a shot was fired (Coe said he shot at a stray dog), Wild Bill confronted the men. Coe shot at Hickok twice and missed. Bill drew both his Navy six shooters and fired a shot from both into Coe's stomach at a distance of eight feet. Sadly, fellow lawman Mike Williams ran between Coe and Hickok and was hit by Wild Bill with his second volley of fire. Coe died three days later; Williams died that night.
The life of James Butler (Wild Bill) Hickok would end on August 2, 1876 in Deadwood. After leaving service as a lawman, Hickok, like many people of the time, sought his fortune in the Black Hills of the Dakota Territory, which was not yet a state and not under the control of the U.S. government. Gold had been found in the Black Hills and Deadwood sprang forth from a mining camp in April of '76. When Hickok, now 48 and a professional gambler, arrived at Deadwood, the town was thriving. On the afternoon he was killed he was playing poker with others at the No. 10 Saloon. Unfortunately Hickok did not insist on sitting with his back to the wall his normal position but rather sat with his back to the bar. This fateful decision put him in an easy position to attack from behind when Jack McCall entered the saloon with murder on his mind. McCall walked up behind Hickok, who was reviewing his hand (allegedly aces and eights, which became known as the "dead man's hand"), and killed Wild Bill with one shot to the back of the head fired from a .45 Colt single action Army revolver (McCall would later be tried and hung for his crime).
Thus ended the life of Wild Bill Hickok, never a saint. J. B. Hickok didn't go looking for trouble, but helped make very violent towns safer during his time as a lawman. Violent confrontations between the good guys and the bad guys haven't changed much since the 1800s, and neither has the preparation for them.
Modern lawmen should remember the armed confrontations of cow towns and western lawmen such as Hickok. Shootings didn't happen at extended range for the most part during Wild Bill's days as a lawman, and continue to take place in the "activity zone" inside six feet to this day. With many of our streets today being as dangerous as some of those during the 19th century, we must prepare mentally and physically like Hickok, then stand tall and enforce the law. It is our legacy as today's lawmen to stand up to the worst of society and render peace in our time as our predecessors such as Wild Bill Hickok did in theirs.