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The Spark: Today at High Noon: The First Showdown
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"Wild Bill" Hickok (1837-1876) |
James Butler "Wild Bill" Hickok was famous for many things -- his long, curly hair; the buckskin clothing he wore; his career as a lawman, a scout, and a gunfighter; and the "dead man's hand" of cards he held on the day he was murdered. But above all, he was involved in the first of what would become an icon of the Old West and the quintessential event in dozens of Westerns and other films: the quick-draw showdown.
In Springfield, Missouri, on July 20, 1865, Wild Bill won a substantial amount of money in a card game against a man named Davis Tutt. Humiliated at losing so much in one game, Tutt reminded Hickok of a previous debt, and Hickok promptly paid him. Still unsatisfied, however, Tutt hurled out another debt Bill owed him, but this time, Bill disputed it. Davis leaned over and grabbed Wild Bill's pocket watch and said that he would keep the watch as collateral. Wild Bill was furious, but could do nothing at the time, as he was surrounded by a number of Tutt's allies. So Hickok told Tutt he could keep the watch, but threatened that if he ever saw Tutt wear it in public, he would shoot him on sight. Not afraid of Bill and concerned about his own reputation, Tutt accepted the challenge and said he'd wear the watch the very next day.
July 21, 1865, the next day: Word quickly spread to Wild Bill that Davis Tutt was in town and wearing the watch. When the two met in the street, they faced each other from several yards away. Tutt drew first and fired a round, but missed. Wild Bill drew, fired, and hit his opponent straight through the heart -- killing him almost instantly.
This account may sound too Hollywood to be true, but it was indeed documented in Harper's Weekly in 1867, in an article that launched Hickok to stardom as a gunslinger. The event is even engraved on Davis Tutt's tombstone. Poor guy -- even at his final resting place, he's humiliated by Hickok.
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| Directory categories: Wild Bill Hickok, American West, Famous Figures of the American West |
| Archived under: American History, Gunslingers, History, Old West, Westerns, Wild Bill Hickok |
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