This Day…

1876- Deadwood, Dakota Territory- Wild Bill (James Butler) Hickok was killed from behind while playing cards in Saloon # 10 by Jack McCall, a desperado from Texas. Legend has it that the poker hand Hickok was holding when he died consisted of a pair of black aces and a pair of black eights. This combination became known as the dead man’s hand. Hickok was a Union army spy, a scout for General Custer, and a marshal for Abilene, Kansas, as well as a flamboyant gambler.