Was Wild Bill Hickok holding the "dead man's hand" when he was slain?
Dear Cecil:
On a recent pilgrimage to Troy Grove, Illinois to visit the home of Wild Bill Hickok, one of our company happened to mention that according to legend Wild Bill was shot while holding "black aces and eights." This hand has come to be known as the "dead man's hand." Is the story apocryphal, and if it is true, what was the fifth card in Wild Bill's hand?
Dear Larry:
You've settled on one of the few bits of Western lore that has some basis in fact. Wild Bill was indeed holding black aces and eights when he was plugged by Jack McCall on the fateful day of August 2, 1876, in the charming suburb of Deadwood, deep in the Dakota Territory. Bill's fifth card was the deuce of spades, which must have made for a pretty grim-looking hand. I'm surprised he didn't commit suicide.
John Ford got things a little confused when he tried to lay the curse of the Dead Man's Hand on one of the heavies in the movie Stagecoach. Poor Luke Plummer found himself holding the appropriate black eights, but one of his aces was red--diamonds, to be specific. Luke's fifth card was the queen of hearts, all of which made for a much nicer composition than the real thing. John Wayne offed him anyway.
