The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-08-11
WILD BILL HICK0X.
HE WAS A BAD MAN WITH SOME
GOOD POINTS ABOUT HIM.
Remarkable PisOI shOt-PuIIed
His Pistols and Cooked Them After
He Was Dead.


Wild Bill Hickok was for long time
chief Of scouts in my command" It was
retired army officer who was talking.
He leaned back In an arm chair at the
Army and Navy Club and became reminis-
cent. "Hickok got his nom de guerre of
Wild Bill at Independence. No. when he
was about 10 years old. This was some
time late in the hfties. when Independence
was the busy end of the Santa Fe trail
Hickok was a mule skinner. freighting
to Santa Fe and back, and in some street
fight which occurred in Independence, in
which Hickok had no original interest. he
conducted himself with such limitless
valor and appeared so utterly reckless of
results that he was ever afterward called
Wild Bill
He was natural born pistol shot and
could shoot in the dark by ear. In fact.
he could hit any object once he had located
it, and he aimed a pistol by fashion of
nervous instinct rather than by sight. He
could hit dime tossed in the air and
shot with his left hand as well as he did
with his right. He stood on Market
square on one occasion in Kansas City,
just after the war and with a pistol in
each hand put twelve bullets in one Of the
O's in an I. o. o. F. sign, which was
tackled TO the third story Of the building
in the center of what was called Battle
Row. He fired both pistols together and
the twelve shots sounded like six.
The most remarkable exploit accred-
tied to Hickox was after he had become
Wild Bill and was keeper of a stage sta
tiOn somewhere out in Kansas on the Santa
Fe trail. He had had trouble with a semi
outlaw by the name of Jake McCandlas.
McCandlas was one of the border fight
ers Of Missouri, and occasionally raided
through Kansas, while the border war
was in progress, just before the sixties.
He had it in for Wild Bill
"One day Wild Bill had gone over to
visit the wife of a friend who had died.
on his way he shot a wild turkey with
his pistol and carried it along. While
sitting talking with the lady, out across
the prairies he saw a band of men COM
ing and knew them for the McCandlas
gang by some of the horses. His own
horse, Black Nell, was standing out in
front of the house. Wild Bill realized that
trouble was at hand. He directed the lady
to go into a storm cellar where she would
be safe from stray bullets. A Hawkins
rifle was hanging on the wall.
rs it loaded?" asked Wild Bill Of the
widow.
she said it was. He took it down and
then proceeded to load the empty cham
Der of his six-shooter using a rough piece
of lead in lieu of bullet. Then he barri-
caded the doors and windows.
f" Wild Bill Hickox is inside, said Nc
Candlas, as he rode up. 1 know 1t by the
cuss' horse, Black Nell
There were eleven men in the McCan-
dlas party. Their leader demanded that
Wild Bill surrender. The latter jauntily
applied some opprobious epithets to Nc
Candlas, and told him to come and get
him. McCandlas, who was dead game,
ran at the window and came crashing in
glass, sash and all. He fired a shot just
as he broke in the window, but missed
Wild Bill. McCandlas fell on the floor and
never got up, for Wild Bill had shot him
through the head with a rifle The other
ten all assailed the house at the same time
with McCandlas They were breaking in
windows on all sides and shooting as they
came.
wild Bill could never tell the details of
the fight. He says he recollects killing
six men with his six shooter, with rap
idty like the ticking of clock. He then
drew a nine-inch bowie knife and succeed
ed in slaughtering the last one of the
eleven When the corpses were collected
one mans arm had been broken in some
fashion, either by a wrench which Wild
Bill gave him-for he was a very powerful
man or from some accidental blow re-
ceived from his own party. Wild Bill was
covered with wounds, both from knife
thrusts and lead. He was all but faint
ing at the wind-up, but managed to get
the door open and staggered to a tub of
rain water at the corner of the house to
get a drink.
HE tainted away and fell with his head
in the tub, and would have undoubtedly
drowned had it not been for the widow,
who came out of the storm cellar and res
cued him. They got Wild Bill over the
several prairie miles to the stage station,
and that afternoon he was started for
Kansas City on the stage. He was sew
eral months recovering, and was attended
by a woman who still lives in Kansas
City
wild Bill was like many of his sort, a
profound remorseless gambler. 1t was
utterly useless to talk of work or reputable
employment to Wild Bill Hickok. Through
the war he was a scout for the union
army. He had few convictions, but being
born and bred in Illinois, one of them was
an intense antipathy to secession. 1t was
thus he became a scout of the union army.
After the war, wherein he achieved con-
siderable fame for daring energy and
nerve as a scout, Wild Bill established
himself at Springfield, Mo. 1t was there
he killed Tut who had been chief of
scouts in Prices army.
Tut, like Wild Bill, was a gambler,
and they often met, and while they were
in no degree in love with each other.
they managed TO get along. Still, there
were more men of TUFTS political con-
victions in Springfield who were on the
shoot than there were of Wild Bill's.
They made up their minds to run him
out or Ahl him. He owed Tut some money
as the result of poker game. One night
Wild Bill was playing poker with some
parties. Tut came up and stood look
ing on. Wild Bills gold watch was lying
on the table near him. Just as Tut came
up Wild Bill won a jack pot with some
thing like a hundred dollars in it.
" You seem to be flush, BILL said Tut,
in half ugly tone. suppose you pay
me that $40 you owe me-.
." L owe you $780, said Wild Bill and
here it is turning over three ten-dollar
bills to Tut, who took it. put it in his
pocket, and then said, Give the other
ten
That's all I owe you said Wild Bill,
and you have got it,
Tut picked up the gold watch that was
lying a [ Wild Bills elbow, with the re-
RI ali