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KF5JRV > TODAY 12.07.20 13:32l 56 Lines 2584 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
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Sent: 200712/1226Z 53739@KF5JRV.#NWAR.AR.USA.NA BPQ6.0.20
Wild Bill Hickok begins to establish his reputation
as a gunfighter after he shoots three men during a
shootout in Nebraska.
Born in Homer (later called Troy Grove), Illinois,
James Butler Hickok moved to Kansas in 1855 at the
age of 18. There he filed a homestead claim, took
odd jobs, and began calling himself by his fatherâ€Ös
name, Bill. A skilled marksman, Hickok honed his
abilities as a gunslinger. Though Hickok was not
looking for trouble, he liked to be ready to defend
himself, and his ability with a pistol soon proved
useful.
By the summer of 1861, Hickok was working as a stock
tender at a stage depot in Nebraska called Rock Creek
Station. Across the creek lived David McCanles, a
mean-spirited man who disliked Hickok for some reason.
McCanles enjoyed insulting the young stockman, calling
him Duck Bill and claiming he was a hermaphrodite.
Hickok took his revenge by secretly romancing McCanlesâ€Ö
mistress, Sarah Shull.
On this day in 1861, the tension between Hickok and McCanles
came to a head. McCanles may have learned about the
affair between Shull and Hickok, though his motivations
are not clear. He arrived at the station with two other
men and his 12-year-old-son and exchanged angry words
with the station manager. Then McCanles spotted Hickok
standing behind a curtain partition. He threatened to
drag “Duck Bill” outside and give him a thrashing.
Demonstrating remarkable coolness for a 24-year-old who
had never been involved in a gunfight, Hickok replied,
“There will be one less son-of-a-bitch when you try that.”
McCanles ignored the warning. When he approached the curtain,
Hickok shot him in the chest. McCanles staggered out of the
building and died in the arms of his son. Hearing the shots,
the two other gunmen ran in. Hickok shot one of them twice
and winged the other. The other workers at the station
finished them off.
The story of Hickokâ€Ös first gunfight spread quickly,
establishing his reputation as a skilled gunman. In 1867,
Harperâ€Ös New Monthly Magazine published a highly exaggerated
account of the shoot-out which claimed Hickok had
single-handedly killed nine men. The article quoted Hickok
as saying, “I was wild and I struck savage blows.” Thus began
the legendary career of “Wild Bill.”
For the next 15 years, Hickok would further embellish his
reputation with genuine acts of daring, though the popular
accounts continued to exceed the reality. He died in 1876
at the age of 39, shot in the back of the head by a young
would-be gunfighter looking for fame.
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