[THE WILD WEST]
A tintype of William "Wild Bill" Hickok. Tintype, circa 1870s. 3 3/4 x 2 1/2 inches (10 x 6 cm). Clipped corners, minor surface defects, a crisp image.
A colorful and mythic character of the American Wild West, William "Wild Bill" Hickok was a Union Army spy, frontier soldier, gunslinger, cattle rustler, actor, and gambler. Born in Illinois in 1837, "Wild Bill" left home at age 18 and headed West. He was drawn to the exploits of vigilantes and outlaws. In 1861, he gained notoriety as a gunslinger by shooting three men who attempted to kill him. An exaggerated account of this gunfight would appear in an issue of Harper's New Monthly Magazine years later and garner Hickok national fame. After years of gunslinging, Hickok's rough and rowdy ways changed in 1871 after he accidentally shot and killed his deputy in a shootout in Abilene, Kansas. He did not engage in gunfights after this. For the remainder of his life, he wandered the West, gambling and occasionally getting arrested. In 1876, Hickok arrived in the mining town Deadwood, South Dakota. At the poker table one afternoon in the famous No. 10 Saloon, a young gunslinger named Jack McCall walked in and shot and killed Hickok.
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