— : 8 By ELMO SCOTT WATSON CES and eights! Or, to be more spe- cific, the aces and eights of spades and clubs, the black aces and elghts— “how many a later player holding that sinister combination, in some lighted, cheerful room, must have felt a prickling of his scalp as If an icy breeze fanned his hands, or some dark, cold presence, suddenly in the room, stood mocking at his shoulder.” For more than half a century that sinister combination has been known as the “Dead Man's Hand." It was the hand of cards which the famous Wild Bill Hickok was holding when he was assassinated in Deadwood, 8. D., on August 2, 1876, and that event is a landmark in the history of the. American frontier, “His death marked not only the loss of a brave and gentle man, but also the passing of a great epic,” writes a recent blographer of this celebrated frontiersman. “Wild Bill, the greatest scout of the Plains, the cool and fear- less marshal of border ‘bad towns,’ the marvel. ous marksman, the terror of ‘bad men’ was gone. And the most vital need days of wild, free Already courts and factories were so more eager forward move d put them and the rich life they brought Into the place of saloon Wild Bl, and the period In which he lived, both had played their part.” The man who wrote those words was the late and gambling-hall and dance-resort. William Elsey Connelley, secretary of the Kan- sas State Historical society, When he died in 1930 he left behind him the manuscript of an unpublished biography of Hickok, based upon 42 years of research. During that time he had an unusual opportunity to obtain, evaluate and interpret authentic material relating to the life and character of Hickok. Associated with him in his work was his daughter, Mrs. Edith Con- nelley Clift, and upon his death it fell to her lot to edit her father's manuscript and round out the story which he was writing. The result was the book “Wild Bill and His Era—The Life and Adventures of James Butler Hickok," (is- sued last year by the Press of the Ploneers, a New York publishing firm, directed by Rufus lockwell Wilson, which Is doing an invaluable work In preserving a variety of ploneer histo- rical records) and in the opinion of those best able to judge the result, this latest biography ls “a sane, convincing portraiture of Wild Bill as he was” Like many another Wild West hero, Wild Bill Hickok has been the central figure In many a tall tale which was either entirely fictitious In the first place or had only a slight basis of fact but which, by constant repetition, has come to be regarded as fact, Therefore, one of the values of Connelley's book is that it dispels many of these legends and myths which have clustered around the name of Wild Bill and substitutes for them statements which can be accepted wit? the confidence that they represent the truth about him as nearly as it is possible to learn the truth about a man who had such a colorful and varied career as Hickok had, Among these legends is the story of how James Butler Hickok came to be known as “Wild Bill” and there have been as many variations on this theme as there have been on most of the other events in his life. According to Connelley, the true story is this: In 1861 Hickok, already wide ly noted as a skillful government scout and guide, ~as placed In charge of a wagon train which, escorted by 12 guards, was transporting army supplies from Fort Leavenworth to Seda- lia, Mo. En route a party of 50 guerrillas at- tacked the train not far from Independence, Mo, and the guards, outnumbered four to one, made no attempt to defend the train, but re treated at once, Hickok, as master of the train, was riding on horseback ahead of f(t. When the guerrillas called upon him to surrender, he replied: “Come and take me!” and spurred his horse toward Independence, In the running fight which fol lowed he killed several of his pursuers but escaped without a scratch. Reporting the loss of the train to the Union troops there, he was told that they could not help him, but that he would have to go on to Kansas City and report the loss to the commander at that place, While in Independence he went Into a saloon owned by a friend of his and learned that the bartender was besieged in a near-by house by a mob of teamsters and other rowdies because he had wounded one of their number during a fight. Hickok immediately drew two pistols and offered to fight the entire party but his challenge was not taken up. Then he ordered the crowd to disperse, saying: “If you do not, there will be more dead men around here than the town ean bury,” whereupon the ruffians departed hastily, The citizens of the town gathered in the town square after they had left to express their appre. clation to the man who had delivered them from their brief reign of terror and during the meet- ing a woman cried out: “Good for you, Wild Bill!” Who she was and why she called him “Wild Bill” instead of “Wild Jim,” Hickok never knew. He went on to Kansas City, secured the ald of a detachment of soldiers and, returning to the scene of the attack on the wagon train, recaptured the uninjured wagons and some of the mules. When he arrived at Sedalia he found that the story of his encounter in Independence had preceded him and everywhere he was halled as “Wild Bill,” a name which stuck to him to the day of his death, A great many of the legends that have grown up around the name of Wild Bill have had to do with his almost uncanny skill with the six- shooter, but Connelley’s patient resrarch has re. sulted In the confirmation of most of these sto- ries, even those which seem nearly unbelievable, rather than In dispelling the legend, . Like so many other stories about Wild Bil, the “Dead He Out owt Slant Kl eile [J 4, ma A Ply lant. Ae A oa s RESP ES po mnt d LFA < Ay Ldley Collar ts oN esersn Ark Hy Aoell He a 4 Ate oA Sh Srp sll, or AAs rs pm nt? pel” ‘— Srl Sores (ly ALP Se oe Hope, Lom V ght cabin Bult nls Fn KC Phtrrng Foil pool oesrite Poko HF Tall Hats Cnneels stn CV Lathe A A AL ™ oY lon anflaet™ -d 3 Cris Lp Hts ll SE the nro Apt asd Pe Ae. oe ak. A SEGA, messi] C Agr Ale Lee I dina por Me Mot Endy 2, re p A Ae “ An Pr ry Trend’ % Fike Ange ole Lr fin. \ a Hickok’s Las ” AT ont Letter toHis Wife the story of his death has been told with a wide variety of conflicting cause of its historical importance, of the otation from Connelley's beginning of this article, it seems worth while as the anniversary of that event approaches, to give the version of it which has resulted from the Kansas historian’s research, There was a curious Irony of fate In the man ner of Wild | 8 dying which makes it more than another illustration of the age-old saying that those who live by the sword shall die by the sword, with the substitution of the word * Woven into the red fabric of the narrative of Wild Bill's last days is a white thread which seems strange ly out of place in the chronicle of the violent end of a life of violence. It Introduces into the story of this cold-eyed killer of the plains the unusual and unexpected role of a tender and de voted husband, even though the element of ro- mantic love may be lacking, “six-shooter” for the word “sword. In 1876 Hickok was living In Cheyenne, Wyo. listening to the siren call of gold in the Black Hills of South Dakota. But before he could answer that call he learned that Mrs. Agnes Thatcher Lake, the widow of a famous circus per. former and herself one of a long line of show people, was visiting a relative in Cheyenne. He had first met her while he was marshal of Abi lene, Kan, In 1871, and, in 1874, during his brief career as an actor with “Buffalo Bill" Cody in The Murder of “wild Bil)” (from an Olid Wood Cut) Ned Buntline’s “Scouts of the Plains” he had met her again in Rochester, N, Y. The result of their meeting in Cheyenne was their marriage on March 5. Says Connelley: “There is no doubt that the two, venturesome and full of courage and life, appealed to each other. But the question of love is a very dublous one, The marriage was the practical. sensible combining of forces of two people who knew that they could be of mutual help” After the marriage they went first to St. Louis, then to Clincinnatl, Two weeks there found Hickok rest- less and eager to get back to the West and go to the Black Hills, Accordingly he returned to St. Louls and set about organizing a company of adventurers whom he was to lead into the gold country. This he did, going by way of Cheyenne where his old friend, “Colorado Charley” Utter, joined him. They arrived in Deadwood early in May. Con- nected with that arrival is one of the elements of the Irony-of-fate motif In the story of Wid Bill's death—his premonition that he was going to his death In Deadwood Gulch, ’ According to a well-authenticated story, as he and Utter came to the top of Break Neck Hill and looked down Into the gulch, Wild Bill said to his companions: “Boys, 1 have a hunch that I am in my last camp and will never leave this gulch alive.” Some time later, In fact the very evening before his death, he was leaning against the side of the open door of the “66” saloon when a friend noticed his downeast appearance and asked him why he was “looking so dumpy.” Hickok replied: “Tom, I have a presentiment that my time is up and that I am going to be killed.” After arriving in the Hills, Hickok took up several claims and began developing them, How successful he was Is unknown, There is extant (in the museum of the United States Playing Card company at Cincinnati) his last letter to his wife, written on July 17, which does not Indicate any considerable success as a gold hunter, His letter read: “Dead Wood black hills, Dacota July 17th. 1876. “My own darling wife Agnes 1 have but a few moments left before this letter starts I never was as well in my life but you would laughf to see me now Just got in from Pros pecting will go away again to morow but god nowse when It will start my friend will take this to Cheyenne If he lives 1 don't expect to hear from you but it is all the same I no my Agnes and only live to love hur never mind Pet we will have a home yet then we will be so happy 1 am almost shure I will do well the man is huring me Good by Dear wife Love to Emma “J. B. Hickok “Wilda pm” When Hickok arrived In Deadwood, that camp was In the grip of the most lawless element. Although he was there only as a peaceful pros pector, his reputation as a marshal in Kansas, at Hays and Abilene, was well known, Soon the lnw-abiding element in Deadwood began talking of making him marshal of that town and having him “clean up the camp.” Hickok neither en- couraged nor discouraged such talk but went quietly about his work. But such talk was disconcerting to the ecard. sharps, the thieves and the killers who had flocked to Deadwood, They knew that thelr activ. ities were doomed If he became marshal. Not brave enough to forestall that possibility by “shooting it out” with him themselves, two of the leaders of the lawless element, Tim Brady and Johnny Varnes, resorted to assassination iroken Nose Jack™ MceCall, a former buffalo hunter in Kansas who had degenerated into a drunken hanger-on around the saloons and dance. halls of Deadwood, was hired to do the job. They gave him $25 in gold dust and promised him $175 more, led him up with the brand of “chain lightning” whiskey which flowed freely In the camp and set him to his task, Fd saloon with Charley Rich, Carl Mann {one of the owners of the place) and Captain Massey, a easy and worried. He was sitting with hie back to the door, “a position so absolutely contrary ful habit that all his time-trained Instincts were change places with the others, but they refused and teased him about his nervousness, came Jounging through the door and moved noiselessly up behind Hickok, Suddenly jerking the other men in the room covered with It threw himself into the saddle. was loose and the saddle turned, throwing him to the ground. Then he picked himself up and ran into a butcher shop nearby to hide. There he was found by the famous “Culamity Jane” Burke, whose quick temper flamed Into a furious rage when she heard the news of the murder of her friend, Wild Bill. Unmindful of the fact that MeCall was still armed, she entered the butcher shop, seized a cleaver from a rack and, threaten. ing him with it, forced him to surrender. Baek in the “66” saloon, Hickok's friends has. tily summoned Ellis A. (“Doc”) Pierce. But Metall's one shot had been instantaneously fatal, Beside Wild Bill on the floor lay the four cards which he had drawn--the two black aces and the two black eights, Who first called that combination the “Dead Man's Hand” is unknown, But it fs certain that that characterization of it throughout the West dates from that day. One other item In the irony-of-fate motif de serves mention. After McCall's capture they examined his revolver and discovered that every chamber In It was loaded. But none of the other five cartridges in it could be exploded! As “Doc” Plerce once sald: “What would have been Me Call's chances If he had snapped one of the other cartridges when he sneaked up and held his gun to Bill's head? He would now be known as No, 37 on the file list of Mr. Hickok" © by Western Newspaper Union, } WHH the Summer t you have on zin to take on that sort of a * been” look which happens in even the tun 1 il Every woman who aspires to an up-t Lion comes up. But why worry, for here's encourag- lem. Briefly told, it's the good look- print which are now showing in lead- ever one may turn. sured that an ensemble such as any tured, will pilot you victoriously which spans from the burning. scorch- ing days of summer to weather bear The beauty of these triple sheer is that they are being given a styl hen, too, these sheers are cool related jacket? Everything with a the idea is so thoroughly I " il the vogue is moving on of its own momentu illustration we know that you will agree that the jacket i Lagurl The crisp or- colors of the print. The slim little Jacket with Its voluminous and grace ful cape sleeves conveys a message of ¥ 4 Cool and comfortable for the young left. The bright monotone print in triple sheer of bemberg employed for this winsome outfit carries an ani- mated patterning of wee gay mono- modern he The insistent call of the mode for white accents on dark prints is an- swered in the swagger jacketed dress This model I3 a bit more grown-up than the one just described As a matter of teens on. This distin models in the picture is also made of bemberg triple sheer. It again reminds that the polka dot vogue Is still going © by Western Newspaper Uslon. And now they're wearing sailor col lars on shoes. Already they've put So now you may literally be nautical from head Your gob hat and your middy shirt. Shoes must match your costume nowadays not only In fabric and color, with pearl buttons has its matching pump, with a button instead of a buckle. New Fabrics and Colors Shown in Summer Gloves Chanut has used both new fabrics and colors to make some of the smart. est of summer gloves. Most of them are designed to match a jabot or crav- ut such as the old-time dandies used to wear, Intended to be worn with the same frock. Necktie silk—navy dotted with white and brown splashed with green—fashions jaunty gauntlet gloves worn with ascot eravats, Black and white and red and white checked taf. feta gloves have matching scarfs fin. ished with a great bow worn on one side of the throat. Cellophane Embroidery Black cellophane embroidery is a favorite trim for white organdie dresses of romantic design, IT'S ORGANDIE By CHERIE NICHOLAS According to the latest dictates of fashion sheer prints are smartest when they have dark backgrounds. Here Is one of the preitiest organdie frocks brought out this season. It is black and white, which gives It a Paris look, for smart-dressed French women cone tinue steadfast In “their favor for black-and-white, red sho flowers supply the dash of color which »
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers