The Rugged Life and Gory Death of Wild Bill Hickok

Wild Bill Hickok was the original Old Western gunfighter. Like most professional purveyors of violence, he left his mark but died both young and hard.

The fourth of six children, James Butler Hickok was born in 1837 in Homer, Illinois, to parents William and Polly. William was an abolitionist whose home was a station on the Underground Railroad.

James was endowed with an unusually long nose and pouting lips, earning him the derisive moniker “Duck Bill” Hickok from some of the rough men with whom he eventually associated. James grew a bushy mustache to compensate and began calling himself “Wild Bill” instead. When he was 21 years old he adopted his dead brother’s name, William.

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