What Happened To The Man Who Killed Wild Bill Hickok?

McCall lost heavily entirely and at the close of the hand, Hickok, "Feeling bad for McCall, who seemed stupid but harmless," gave the loser enough money for breakfast and some advice: Don't gamble unless you can cover your losses. Did McCall take offense?

McCall lost heavily — entirely — and at the close of the hand, Hickok, "Feeling bad for McCall, who seemed stupid but harmless," gave the loser enough money for breakfast and some advice: Don't gamble unless you can cover your losses. Did McCall take offense?

Hickok returned to the same venue the next afternoon. His usual seat against the wall was taken, and in a choice that has reverberated through history, Hickok sat with his back to the room. Jack McCall, a nondescript man with a double chin and crossed eyes, entered quietly, slipped up behind Hickok and put the muzzle of a .45 revolver against the back of the retired lawman's head. "Damn you, take that!" he is said to have shouted as he pulled the trigger. After a moment, Hickok fell sideways out of his chair, dead before he hit the floor. It turned out that the only good bullet in the gun was the one that killed Hickok.

McCall made a run for it. He jumped on a horse tied outside — it wasn't his — but the saddle had been loosened and he fell off. He took off on foot, and hid in a butcher shop, where he was discovered and jailed. (Calamity Jane would later claim she was the one who found him, but — no. Not even a little.)

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