Wild Bill

11 Pages 2748 Words

up about what happened that day which was the beginning of the exaggerated tales of his life. Some say that the two argued over a card game and shot at the same time but only Hickok hit his target. Another story was that Hickok drew first and waited for Tutt (or whatever his name was) to draw. And when he did, Tutt missed and Hickok rested his gun on his arm and shot Tutt. On July 12, 1861, Hickok and his company employees gunned down Dave McCanles and two of McCanles cousins. Dave McCanles was one of the names of the man Hickok gunned down at Rock Creek. Historians don’t know if McCanles was involved in this feud of the feud at Rock Creek. James Butler’s entire life was a legend and very little about his life is accurate, even during the time when he served as a scout in the Civil War.
A strange tale how he got his name. One story was that James Butler Hickok supposedly received the nickname “Wild” during the Civil War period for his carefree and daring ways of living and fighting and it was said that he picked up the name “Bill” as early as the mid 1850’s. Another story was that he and his brother Lorenzo stopped a lynch mob, and a woman called one or both of them “Wild,” and the name Bill was just attached on to it. Or it may have been that James Butler Hickok stopped an angry mob outside an Independence Saloon and a woman said, “Good for you, Wild Bill.” From this you may surmise the ideas that civilians and press made up tales about Wild Bills life, but it was actually Hickok that helped spread the tales of his life because he found telling tales of his life to be amusing. But another main reason that stories about Wild Bill existed was due to a newspaper writer named Nichols. He spread stories about Wild Bill in his newspaper and people would spread these stories, and over time the stories would change. Other reporters also were obsessed with the life of Wild Bill, which forced the same story t...