Hickok’s Mistake

James Butler “Wild Bill” Hickok arrived in Deadwood, Dakota Territory, in 1876. He hadn’t been a peace officer in over four years. In fact, he had just married and, along with some friends, headed to the gold fields to try to fatten his bank account. Of course, with Wild Bill that had to do with playing cards and poker chips. He was good at it. 

The facts as we know them are really pretty slim. On August 1st, he was in a poker game at the #10 Saloon, and one of the players was a fellow named Jack McCall. McCall lost heavily and Hickok, as was the custom, staked McCall to a little cash for his breakfast. There is no report of any argument or hard feelings between the two men.

The next day, Hickok went back to the #10 Saloon for another game. He asked the man who was sitting with his back to the wall to let Hickok have that seat. The man refused and Hickok took a seat with his back to the room. At some point, McCall walked into the saloon and, without speaking or contacting Hickok in any way, shot the former lawman in the back of the head, killing him instantly.

McCall was tried by a miner’s jury and discharged when he claimed that Hickok had killed McCall’s brother, down in Kansas. When it was later learned that McCall didn’t have a brother, he was tried again in a legitimate court, convicted, and subsequently hanged.

To this day, no one really knows what McCall’s true motive was. Some think he was mad about the poker game with Hickok on the previous day. Others think that the local criminal element was afraid that Hickok was going to put a badge on to clean up Deadwood, and they hired McCall to make sure that didn’t happen. Quien sabe, we just don’t know for sure.

Sitting with your back to the wall is not a bad idea, but it may be a simplistic approach. What we want to do is just be where we can see what is going on. We might choose a seat because we can see all of the entrances to a building. Or we might choose a seat to be close to the nearest and most convenient exit. When you have your awareness in high gear, you can better evaluate the particular location and select the best spot.

But, probably Hickok’s biggest mistake was just lack of awareness. He may well have thought that since he was no longer in law enforcement, he was no longer a target. A lot of us old lawmen know that criminals have long memories and Wild Bill should have known that, too. There was certainly a time when, if Hickok couldn’t have his preferred seat, he just wouldn’t have sat down in the game.

Just like McCall, we don’t know what was going through Hickok’s mind. But, it was pretty clear that he wasn’t paying attention to his surroundings. And, therein lies the lesson that we all can benefit from.