At about 4:00 PM on August 2, 1876, John “Jack” McCall walked into Nuttal & Mann’s No. 10 saloon in Deadwood, South Dakota, and shot James Butler “Wild Bill” Hickok in the back of the head.

Jack McCall was born in 1852 or 1853 (or was it 1850?).  He was raised, along with three sisters, in Jefferson County, Kentucky.  He drifted west and was working as a buffalo hunter on the Kansas-Nebraska border by about 1869.

By 1876 he was living in Deadwood, using the name Bill Sutherland.

He was described as having thick chestnut hair, a small sandy mustache and goatee, a double chin, a snub-nose, and crossed-eyes.  (The drawing at the right is based upon that description.  There is (or was) a picture that hangs in a Deadwood saloon that is supposedly McCall.  But the photo has no provenance and does not match the description.)

On August 1, 1876, McCall was in the No. 10.  When a seat in a poker game became available, Jack sat in.  McCall was drunk and lost all of his money.  He couldn’t cover his losses – he was, according to one of the men there, $16.50 short.  Hickok, who was in the game, advised him to not gamble if he couldn’t cover his losses and offered him some money for breakfast.  McCall refused.

On August 2, Hickock entered the No. 10, and sat in on a poker game that was already in progress.  Supposedly, Hickok liked to sit with his back to the wall, so that no one could get behind him – Hickok was a man with enemies.  But the seat that Hickok wanted was occupied by Charlie Rich, and Rich refused to give it up.

McCall walked into the saloon and went to the bar, standing behind Hickok.  He pulled out, according to some that were there, a Navy revolver.  He shouted, “Damn you!  Take that!”, and shot Hickok.  The ball went through Hickok’s head and entered the wrist of Capt. William Massie, a former Missouri River pilot.  (Some say that he refused to have the ball removed, and carried it in his wrist for the rest of his life.)  McCall ran out of the saloon but was found hiding in a butcher shop and was taken prisoner.

At the ensuing trial, McCall claimed that Hickok had killed his brother in Abilene, Kansas.  (After the second trial – keep reading! – it was discovered that McCall didn’t have a brother.)  Despite the testimony of those present at the killing, the jury, after a two hour deliberation, found McCall innocent.

After the trial McCall went to work on a placer claim in Whitewood gulch.

When one of Hickok’s friends, Moses “California Joe” Milner, heard about the murder, he went to see McCall.  California Joe told McCall that he had twenty-four hours to leave Deadwood, or else.

McCall took the hint and went to Wyoming.

Col. George May, who had prosecuted McCall in Deadwood, was furious with the verdict.  He followed McCall to Laramie and heard him boast about getting away with Hickok’s murder.  A bench warrant was obtained and McCall was arrested by Deputy U.S. Marshal Balcombe on August 29 and taken to Yankton.

The federal authorities in Yankton refused to recognize the legality of the trial in Deadwood.  And since Deadwood was an illegal settlement in Indian territory, with no legally constituted law enforcement or court system, double jeopardy did not apply.

McCall decided to turn state’s evidence.  He said that a gambler named Varnes had hired him to kill Hickok.  According to McCall, Varnes and Hickok had had a row in Denver and it had continued in Deadwood.  The claim was investigated, but nothing came of it.

McCall was retried, found guilty on December 6, and hanged on March 1, 1877.  When the noose was placed around his neck, he said. “Draw it tighter, Marshal.”  And as the trap was sprung, he was heard to say, “Oh, God!”

Jack McCall was the first person to be executed by federal authorities in Dakota Territory.

He was buried in a Catholic cemetery. When his body was moved at a later date, it was found that he was buried with the noose still around his neck.

One last point:  aces and eights – the “dead man’s hand.”  Was that the hand that Hickok held went he was killed?  Likely not.  There are no contemporary reports to support the claim.  No one who was present when Hickok was killed mentioned “aces and eights.”

In the 1920′s Ellis T. Peirce, a barber in Deadwood who served as coroner and arranged for a coffin for Hickok, told Frank Wilstach, the author of a book on Hickok, that “Wild Bill” was holding “aces and eights” and referred to that as the “dead man’s hand.”  But Peirce wasn’t in the saloon when Hickok was killed.

Harry Young, the bartender at No. 10, who was there when Hickok was murdered, said that he had just given Hickok $15 worth of chips and had turned back to the bar, when he heard a shot.  He turned to see McCall standing behind Hickok holding a gun.  He stated, in a book that he wrote in 1915, that Hickok held four sevens.

Whatever Hickok held, it wasn’t lucky!