Great Falls tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1921-current, 1922-10-01
wild Bill" Hckok, Greatest Gumnan West Eer KneW Helped Bring Law
and Order to Border Touns of West Where Bad Men of Seventies Held Sway
THE fact that the great

q little to do with the long peri
cd of border lawlessness that
forms one of the picturesque
chapters of the western from
tiers. Men who had fought in
the Union and Confederate
armies and who had developed
q lust for killing naturally
turned westward to the new
camps where law and order had
not penetrated. For a time, in
each new community, there
were "bad men" who robbed
and killed almost at will until
the better class of frontiers
men, wearying of the reign of
terror, tardily took steps to
make the district a safe one in
which to live and travel. In
some of the bigger mining
camps the task of Furnishing
criminals was undertaken by
Vigilence Committees, consist
ing, in some instances of sew
eral hundred men. But for
some reason the dangerous
work of putting down lawless-
ness in the "cow towns" on the
northern end of the Texas trail
and at the various temporary
termini Of the railroads push
ing westward was more often
done by a border town marshal
with a reputation for being fast
on the draw. Wichita, Fort
Dodge, Ellsworth, Hays City
and similar towns in Kansas
and other western states had
peace officers who were noted
for their fearlessness and for
the notches on their guns. By
far the most notable of these
YVES James Butler Hickok, bet
ter known as wild Bill"
Hickok, and still more familiar
ly in the west as wild Bill
Wild Bill was killed at Dead
wood, S. D., August 2, 1876, at
the age of SO years. He was
credited with having killed IS
men in fair and open combat,
according to the f~rontiersman's |.
lights, most of his victims hav-
ing been shot down in the line
Of his duty as marshal of one
or other of the border towns.
Besides these he had killed :
countless others while serving !
as a sharpshooter in the Union
army and scores of Indians in :
fights with hostile tribesmen. ,
Never was he accused of killing :
4 man excepting while perform I
ing his duty as a peace officer {
or in self-defense. No charge {
Of murder or manslaguther 6
ever was brought against him :
in court. Chivalric, daring and r
generous, he was the beau ideal
of the western 'bad man." but :,
his badness" was directed only \
against the evil doors, and with
him the term is a misnomer. :
General Clusters Tribute
Hickok has been accorded an
honorable place among the men
of the frontier and in western
American history. He was held
in high esteem among army Of
ficers of the west who knew
him, being a noted scout and
never regarded in any sense as
a tough. General Custer, short
ly before his death in battle,
said Of Wild Bill:
"He was a plainsman in every
sense Of the word, yet unlike
any other of his class. Whether
on foot or on horseback he was
one of the most perfect types of
physical manhood | ever saw.
His manner was entirely free
from buster or bravado. He
never spoke Of himself unless
requested to do so. His influ-
ence among frontiersmen was
~unbounded; his word was law.
Wild Bill was anything but al
quarrelsome man, yet none but
himself could enumerate the
many conflicts in which he had
been engaged"
This tribute from one fighter
70 another was sincerely given
out of respect born of long per-
sonal acquaintance, and it sums
up the opinion generally held
concerning Wild Bill by those
who knew him'best.
Hickok was born in La Sale
county, Illinois, in May, 1897,
and from his earliest years he
heard Of the exploits of Kit
Carson, Fremont, Bridger and
other famous frontiersmen.
These tales turned his thoughts