WWild ild BBill ill HHickokickok

Deadwood City ~

End of Trail

Thadd TurnerThadd Turner

Wild Bill Hickok: Deadwood City - End of Trail

Copyright © 2001 Thadd M. Turner All rights reserved.

Universal Publishers/uPUBLISH.com USA • 2001

ISBN: 1-58112-689-1

www.upublish.com/books/turner.htm

3

To Tanya Cheyenne and Wyatt Matthew Paul;and my beautiful wife Cindy....

In memory of Les Turnerand Howard Allen....now ridin' the range with the big ponies.

4

Table of Contents

Forward _________________________________________ 6

Introduction ______________________________________ 9

Acknowledgements ________________________________ 13

An Epitaph on Wild Bill ____________________________ 17

Preface _________________________________________ 19

Black Hills Gold__________________________________ 21

Wild Bill Arrives__________________________________ 40

Charlie Utter's Camp ______________________________ 57

The First That Died _______________________________ 85

Main Street 1876 _________________________________ 88

Wild Bill is Shot _________________________________ 118

Deadwood City Trial _____________________________ 146

Location of the Trial of Jack McCall_________________ 163

Federal Trial and Execution _______________________ 187

The Pistol Question ______________________________ 200

Deadwood Days _________________________________ 205

Epilogue _______________________________________ 228

A Chronology of Wild Bill's Life ____________________ 234

Bibliography____________________________________ 238

Index__________________________________________ 244

Chapter Notes___________________________________ 251

6

Forward

At about 12 noon, August 2, 1876, James Butler'Wild Bill' Hickok, possibly dressed in his favorite frockcoat, best linen shirt, and fine dress pants, entered Nuttall,Lewis, and Mann's No. 10 Saloon in Deadwood Cityseeking entertainment and drinks...... among the halfdozen people in the gaming hall & saloon were includedCarl Mann, the co-owner of the establishment, CaptainWilliam Massie, a former Missouri River boat pilot turnedlocal real estate speculator, and Charlie Rich, a young parttime gambler and card dealer whom Bill had previouslymet earlier in the year in Cheyenne, Wyoming. The threemen were engaged in a game of draw poker cards andquickly invited Wild Bill to join them at the table........When Hickok sat down at the card game, he had a clearand unobstructed view of the front door. He couldcomfortably turn his head to see the rear door, but his backwas partially exposed to the open area in front of the pineslab bar........ Jack McCall entered the No. 10 Saloon andwalked over to the upper end of the bar, then moved downit's entire length toward the back of the building, as ifeither to access the gold dust scales sitting at the end of thebar, or leave the building through the rear door....... Whenless than half a dozen feet from the door, McCall suddenlyturned and stepped forward to a position within 2 to 3 feetbehind Wild Bill. Removing a single action pistol fromunder his loose fitting clothing, McCall lifted the gun to apoint directly behind Wild Bill's head and pulled thetrigger. He fired one round, shouting, "Damn you, takethat!" Death was instantaneous.

7

Many authors and historians in recent years have donean excellent job detailing Wild Bill's most fascinating, butoften turbulent and adventurous life. Unfortunately, with theexception of only one previously detailed account, thereading enthusiast of this old west event is usually given onlythe most basic statistics of the time, place, and location of theshooting of this frontier legend. We know that Hickok cameto Deadwood in 1876- and was then shot and killed in theNo. 10 Saloon while playing a game of draw poker cards.Most readers are generally left with a limited account aboutthe actual shooting and related events that took place inAugust of 1876. This historic moment, along with thesubsequent flight, capture, and trial of Jack McCall, aretimeless events to preserve for the generations to come.

This book is an attempt to present a clearer and moreconcise picture of a fascinating set of events that occurred ina wild and prosperous boomtown mining camp known asDeadwood City during our nations Centennial year of 1876.The same year that we lost some of our most famous frontierheroes, including George Armstrong Custer, James Butler"Wild Bill" Hickok, and Moses E. "California Joe" Milner.

This historic year was also the turning point for someof the toughest frontier pioneers in our western history tohelp lead us into the new era of the settled and tamed west.Men like William F. Cody, Charlie Utter, Seth Bullock, andthe two Jack's- John "Captain Jack" Crawford, and John"Texas Jack" Omohundro- whom all became prominent,popular, and well known (even after their own deaths). Theywould provide us new heroes into the turn of the nextcentury. Deadwood City grew rapidly and prospered. Unlikemost mining camp booms of the late 1800's that grew fast,peaked, and then busted within a couple of short years,Deadwood's growth was phenomenally fast paced fromground zero up through the turn of the new 20th century.

8

The narrow Black Hills gulches yielded more precious goldmaterial consistently than any other region in the UnitedStates, and for the longest period of time.

Author, Thadd Turner, spent two years in Deadwood,South Dakota, researching the actual site locations wherethese historic events took place. He has reviewed dozens oforiginal newspaper accounts and advertisements of earlyDeadwood City, and carefully analyzed most of the historicphotographs, survey maps, and eyewitness written accountsavailable from that time period.

The written narration presented herein of the actualshooting of Wild Bill Hickok, and the subsequent movements,flight, and trial of Jack McCall, are the most accurate anddetailed accounts provided to date. The extensivelyresearched information provided includes the best availabledescription of the No. 10 Saloon interior floor layout, and theplacement of all the primary participants that were involvedwith the shooting. A new map of the precise location of themany Main Street merchants in Deadwood City at the timethese events occurred in August of 1876 is provided.

9

Introduction

In the early summer of 1999, at the transitional age of39, (Wild Bill Hickok's very same age that summer he cameto Deadwood in 1876), this author determined to relocate tothe historic town of Deadwood, South Dakota. I wanted toexperience the modern day gambling houses and saloons, thehustle and bustle of the new tourist boom, and the magicallure of the Black Hills. Of course, the irreplaceable originalhistory of this gulch community was the primary drawingcard for my move. Deadwood has a true western history thatconstantly gives the visitor real butterflies in their stomachand huge goose bumps across the entire body. OnlyTombstone, Arizona can match the incredible pure historicfeeling of actually being in the same place where our heroesof the old west once lived, breathed.... and died.

The old west occupied such a brief period of time inour country's frontier history, and yet it is the most belovedpart of our true western heritage. I wanted to experience the

10

real Deadwood, and started looking for some authentic andoriginal material facts for future writing references,specifically in hopes of gaining a little additional first handinformation on the events and activities prevalent inDeadwood City's early days. I located the original survey andtopographical maps recorded in the late 1870's, and began aphysical comparison of the original street and lot placementspossibly now altered by the elements of time. I reviewedearly photographs of the first Main Street merchants,carefully studied the physical construction of their buildings,and noted the commercial signage they placed in front of theirbusiness locations. I explored the historic newspaperarchives in the Deadwood Public Library, and began to readthe actual newspaper accounts and advertisements providedby these first business operations. I determined to record myfindings, and in the early winter of the new millennium Icommenced work on drafting a map of these original sitelocations. Thus, began the initial accumulation of sourcematerial for this book. In the summer of 1876, the No. 10 Saloon, BellaUnion Variety Theatre, and the IXL Hotel & Restaurantwhere all constructed on the lower end of Deadwood City'sMain Street. The General Custer House Hotel, DeadwoodTheatre, Senate Saloon, and City Meat Market were alllocated on the upper end of Main Street near the popular LeeStreet intersection. I spent many hours visiting these historicsite locations, and specifically focused my attention on theNo. 10 Saloon site, where it was well known that Wild BillHickok had been shot and killed on August 2, 1876. Iwanted to know more specifics about this event. What didthe saloon look like? Where was Wild Bill actually sitting?How many people were in the place when Hickok was killed?Why did Jack McCall shoot Wild Bill? Where was the trial ofJack McCall? Many questions, and few explanations. I knewthere were answers- somewhere.

11

While a portion of the material presented herein hasbeen well documented by reputable authors, there is aconsiderable amount of new source material presented for thefirst time, including some startling findings never beforepublished. To keep a consistency and continuity in the story,many important and previously published well-known factsare provided here for the convenience and clarity of thereader.

Available personal documents and written accounts ofthese events as they transpired in 1876, and the activitiessurrounding them, were diligently reviewed and analyzed foraccuracy and material content where possible against thehistoric newspaper accounts made available from theDeadwood Library archives. A new and comprehensiveDeadwood City Main Street map illustration is presented herefor the first time showing the physical location of many of theoriginal business operations as they were in place when WildBill was shot in 1876.

One of the greatest discoveries, and definitely one ofthe most ironic coincidences of fact, was the finding of theoriginal Deadwood Theatre site location where the trial ofJack McCall was held on August 3, 1876. This site locationwas obtained through a careful and meticulous overlapping oforiginal photos and early Main Street survey maps, andpublished first person accounts of the physical description ofthe premises. The review of dozens of historic newspaperarticles and merchant advertisements from the Black HillsPioneer- the first and only newspaper publication inDeadwood City in 1876, were also carefully analyzed.

It is this writer's intention that, "Wild Bill Hickok,Deadwood City~ End of Trail", will provide the old westauthor, historian, and educator with valuable informationgained from the new original material presented herewith forthe first time. It is also hoped, that the active cowboy actionshooter and living history re-enactor will pick up some useful

12

historical points to apply to their own western character'smannerism and style. And finally, and most importantly, it isexpected that the old west reading enthusiast will have abetter understanding of one of the most important events inAmerican western history.

Thadd TurnerDeadwood City, Dakota TerritoryDecember 2000

Acknowledgements

This book could not be successful without theassistance of a number of special individuals andorganizations. The diligence required to find and locatehistorically accurate and factual information is the keycomponent to providing the reader with a true narration ofevents that occurred one hundred twenty-five years ago inDeadwood City, Dakota Territory.

Fortunately, I did not have to reinvestigate Wild BillHickok. His life story has been provided in a series ofexcellent publications written by the world's foremost Hickokhistorian and authority, Mr. Joseph G. Rosa of Ruislip,England. With the guidance of Mr. Rosa's outstandingresearched documentation, I had the factual basis to pursuemy own book publication. In the course of researchingmaterial for information on early Deadwood City, I had theunique opportunity to form a quality relationship with theman who introduced me to the real world of James ButlerHickok. Joe Rosa's guidance, criticism, and influence topresent only the true facts are greatly appreciated.

The Deadwood Public Library is the cornerstone formuch of the Main Street material located and providedherewith. The library's historical newspaper archives areirreplaceable. The extensive collection of Deadwood Cityand Wild Bill Hickok source material is probably one of themost complete of any public entity available for open review.Special thanks to former head librarian, Terri Davis, and hermost able assistants, Carol Hauck-Reif, and Nancy Berke-Hutchison. Thanks gals for sending me home on those long

14

cold winter nights when I became a fixture on the microfichemachine. Good luck toTerri on her new move to Rapid City.

Of course, any non-fiction book publication is notcomplete with out quality historical photos or illustrations ofthe people and places that helped bring the events writtenabout to life. A sincere thank you to those individuals andhistorical organizations that provided the very importantimages used in this book. Your dedication to preserving ourcountry's heritage on film or in art is most appreciated. Thisimportant list includes the following: Adams MemorialMuseum, Deadwood, SD; Deadwood Public Library,Deadwood, SD; University of South Dakota, W. H. OverMuseum, Vermillion, SD; South Dakota Historical Society,Pierre, SD; Montana Historical Society, Haynes FoundationCollection, Helena, MT; Denver Public Library, Denver, CO;Buffalo Bill Historical Center, Cody, WY; Library ofCongress, Washington, DC; and the National Archives &Records Administration, Kansas City, Missouri, for providingcopies of the original trial documents for the Yankton Federaltrial of Jack McCall.

Individuals providing photographs or art work fromtheir private collections include: William B. Secrest, authorand historian; James Earle, publisher and historian, CreativePublishing Company; Bob Boze Bell, author, artist, andhistorian, True West Magazine; Dennis and Julie Greene,Texas Jack Association; Don C. Clowser, author andhistorian; and Jeannine Guern, Ray Phipps, and AnneShedlock. The excellent cover print of Wild Bill Hickok isfrom an original painting by artist Joe Netherwood,Scottsdale, Arizona. The rear cover photograph of authorThadd Turner is provided by artist and sculptor BarryEisenach, Arvada, Colorado. The outstanding Main Streetand Deadwood Gulch Maps were adapted from the author'soriginal sketches and drafted by Tonya Vig, Arleth &Associates Land Surveying & Engineering, Deadwood, South

15

Dakota. The format and design layout for this publicationwas only possible through the talents of the author's beautifulwife and long time companion, Cindy Turner.

Others requiring credit for their assistance inproviding material, documentation, and support for this bookinclude: Edna Nees, author and historian, Texas JackAssociation; City of Deadwood Historic Preservation,Deadwood, South Dakota; Days of 76 Museum, Deadwood,South Dakota; Ken Keller and the Heart of DeadwoodCorporation, Deadwood, South Dakota; Colleen Kirby andBarbara Chrisman, Black Hills State University, Spearfish,South Dakota; Mark Wolfe, author and former historicpreservation officer for the City of Deadwood; DorothyNewhaus, University of South Dakota, W. H. Over Museum,Vermillion, South Dakota; John and Robert Wondercheck,Black Hills Stagecoach, Moorecroft, Wyoming; and MarthaSullivan, Gordon and Patricia Burgeois, Randy Meeks, JohnHenris, Nicola Mohr, Troy Love, Tanya Turner, and WyattTurner.

And finally, special attention must be provided to thecitizens of the City of Deadwood, South Dakota, for theirgenuine efforts to keep their historic community alive throughon-going historic preservation and living history activities.

"Wild Bill Hickok" by Lois Marak. Courtesy of the AdamsMemorial Museum, Deadwood, SD.

An Epitaph on Wild BillAn Epitaph on Wild Bill

Sleep on, brave heart, inpeaceful slumber,Bravest scout in all the west;Lightning eyes and voiceof thunder,Closed and hushed in quiet rest.Peace and rest at last is given;May we meet again in heaven,Rest in peace.

Captain Jack Crawford"poet scout of the BlackHills"

Written at Wild Bill's grave siteSeptember 10, 1876Deadwood City, Dakota Territory.

James Butler "Wild Bill" Hickok, ca. 1874.Courtesy Denver Public Library.

Preface

On the day that Wild Bill Hickok was shotand killed, Ulysess S. Grant was at the end of hissecond term as President of the United States.America had just celebrated it's 100th year ofindependence less than thirty days earlier, and theU. S. Military was at war with the Sioux Indiansand other Northern Plains tribes. LieutenantColonel George Armstrong Custer and hisimmediate command had been annihilated just sixshort weeks earlier at Montana's Little Big HornRiver. America's centennial year was destined tochange the face of the wild frontier forever.....

1

Black Hills Gold

Dakota Territory was formed on March 1, 1861, andoriginally included the area encompassing the future states ofSouth Dakota, North Dakota, Wyoming, and Montana. Priorto the Civil War these areas were part of the larger NebraskaTerritory.1 By 1876, Montana and Wyoming were well-established independent territories looking for statehood.John L. Pennington was the appointed Governor of DakotaTerritory, which now encompassed only the two Dakota's.Yankton, the Territorial Capitol was located on the MissouriRiver at the extreme southern end of this large territory.

The Black Hills of Dakota Territory were a part of thegreat Sioux Indian Reservation, which had been designatedfor the Sioux people in the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868. Thetreaty specifically recognized that members of the UnitedStates government and military would be the only non-Indianpresence allowed in the Black Hills. No other persons wouldbe granted access into the region, in any capacity, forwhatever purpose. Everyone else entering the Black Hillswould be considered illegally trespassing on United StatesFederal lands.

The 1868 Fort Laramie Treaty read in part:

ARTICLE 2: "And the United States nowsolemnly agrees that no persons except those here-in designated and authorized to do so, and exceptsuch officers, agents and employees of thegovernment as may be authorized to do so, andexcept such officers, agents and employees of the

22

government as may be authorized to enter uponIndian reservations in discharge of duties enjoinedby law, shall ever be permitted to pass over, settleupon, or reside in the territory described in thisarticle or in such territory as may be added to thisreservation for the use of said Indians."2

The document was signed by the well known andpopular Oglala Sioux chief, Red Cloud, along with most ofthe other Lower Brule reservation chiefs. United StatesArmy Generals William T. Sherman and William S. Harneyalso signed the treaty, which was ratified by the U. S. Senateand subsequently signed into law by President AndrewJohnson in February of 1869. It took the United Statesgovernment less than seven years to break the treaty promise.

Lt. Colonel George Armstrong Custer had led amilitary expedition into the Black Hills region in 1874, forwhich purpose among other things was to explore and mapthe geography of this area for a military post site. That sitewould become Fort Meade, and would eventually be the newheadquarters of the mighty Seventh Cavalry just a few yearsafter Custer's death at the Little Big Horn River in Montanaon June 25, 1876. Fort Meade would be located near thepresent town of Sturgis.

Traces of valuable mineral deposits, including theprecious metal gold, were soon discovered on French Creeklocated in the southern part of the Black Hills. In late 1874,as word began to leak out of Custer's gold discovery, civilianmining parties began to illegally filter into those parts of theBlack Hills. The U.S. Military initially removed these earlyparties from the region, as they were in direct violation of the1868 Fort Laramie Treaty.3

One of these very first mining parties did howevermanage to avoid the military, and gained access into theBlack Hills in the last days of 1874. Arriving just two days

23

before Christmas on December 23, 1874, this party found thesame area where Custer and his troops had located their golddeposits earlier that summer. This group was organized bytwo individuals named T. H. Russell and Charles Collins, andwere led into the Black Hills by John Gordon, who had beennamed Captain and chief scout of the expedition.4 Gordonhad come into the hills earlier in the year, and was the onlyparty member familiar with the terrain and trail routes thegroup would need to travel on.

The Russell-Collins party quickly built a defensivestockade of thick pine logs, which were stood on end andlashed together in a four-walled rectangular pattern. Thelength of the log walls was almost as tall as a two-storyhome. This became known as the Gordon Stockade, which isstill visible today, and is recognized as the first permanentstructure built in the Black Hills prior to the 1876 gold rush.5

Individual, single room log cabins were built throughout theinterior of the little fortification to serve as living quarters forprotection from the anticipated harsh winter elements.

The small party of twenty-eight gold seekers, whichincluded the first recorded white woman to come into theBlack Hills, Annie D.Tallent, spent a difficult and toughwinter along what is now the western boundary of SouthDakota's spectacular Custer Sate Park. Custer City would befounded the following year just two and a half miles west ofthis first settlement.

The valiant, but uninvited and unwelcome little groupfound a small amount of gold deposits along French Creek,but before they could fully develop their claims, these firstadventurers were discovered by the Military in the earlyspring of 1875. The entire outfit was immediately put underfederal arrest for illegally trespassing on a designated Indian

24

25

Reservation, and forcibly removed from the Black Hills toFort Laramie, Wyoming Territory. Annie Tallent would inlater years write an account of her experiences in her historicbook "The Black Hills- or The Last Hunting Grounds of TheDakotahs".

Charles Collins, the principle organizer of this firstmining party, would eventually find his way to DeadwoodCity. By 1877 he would start the city's third dailynewspaper, the Black Hills Champion.6 In 1878 Collinswould also publish an excellent, and most valuable, businessand residential information directory about the Black Hillsregion and it's mining and ranching communities: "Collins'History and Directory of the Black Hills".

Word of the Russell-Collins-Gordon parties smallgold finds on French Creek would spread like wild firethroughout the nation, and only provide additional credibilityto the excitement already prevalent from Custer's own golddiscovery of the previous year. There definitely was gold inthe Black Hills.

In May of 1875, the U.S. government launched theJenny Geological and Topographical Survey Expedition fromFort Laramie. This scientific survey group would attempt tofurther explore the Black Hills region and evaluate Custer'sfinds of the previous year. By the following year, the UnitedStates would be actively pushing the Sioux Indian tribes intorenegotiating the Fort Laramie Treaty in an attempt toacquire the Black Hills region from them.

(opposite) Gordon Stockade, ca. 1876. The first permanentstructure built in the Black Hills after the Russell-Collins partyarrival on December 23, 1874. Stanley Morrow photo,University of South Dakota, W. H. Over Museum