Post by kidandloufan on Jun 27, 2009 14:31:25 GMT -5
Wild Bill's Last Fight
Wild Bill Hickok vs Phil Coe
A tragic turn, the Prince of the Pistoleers is too good for his own
good.
BY BOB BOZE BELL
October 5, 1871
The summer cattle season is all but over, and Marshal Wild Bill
Hickok has kept the peace in Abilene, Kansas—not an easy job. The
last marshal, legendary Thomas J. Smith, was killed in the line of
duty.
Hickok is not popular with the Texans, having cleaned out the
brothels the month before, on the order of the city council.
About 50 cowboys want to attend the city's Dickinson County Fair.
When heavy rain sullies that venue, the boys wander from saloon to
saloon on the main drag, bullying and intimidating patrons into
buying them drinks. Some accounts suggest the cowboys pull this trick
on Hickok, sweeping him off his feet and carrying him into the
nearest saloon. Hickok humors the boys and buys them a round.
Rumors swirl that Texas gambler Phil Coe has sworn to get
Hickok "before the frost." Many citizens make themselves scarce as
the evening wears on, fearful that things may get out of hand.
At about nine p.m., Hickok hears a shot fired outside the Alamo
Saloon. He earlier warned the cowboys against carrying firearms, so
he confronts the group standing in front of the Alamo and encounters
Phil Coe, with a pistol in his hand. Coe claims he fired at a stray
dog, but as he says this, he pulls another pistol and fires twice,
one ball going through Hickok's coat and the other thudding into the
ground between his legs. Hickok reacts in a flash and "as quick as
thought," according to the Chronicle, pulls his two Colt Navy
revolvers. He fires them, hitting Coe twice in the stomach.
Others in the crowd are hurt. When another man brandishing a pistol
emerges from the shadows, Hickok, not recognizing him in the glare of
the kerosene lamps and his nerves on high alert, instinctively fires.
He kills Michael Williams, a personal friend of his and a one-time
city jailer.
Hickok carries Williams into the Alamo, and lays him down on a
billiard table, then turns and disarms everyone he can find. The
marshal warns them all to clear out of town. Within an hour, the
place is deserted.
Wild Bill returns fire, mortally wounding gambler Phil Coe in front
of the Alamo Saloon. News reports claim at least 50 cowboys were
gathered on the street at the time of the shooting; the reports imply
that several were injured by ricochet bullets.
A street scene in Abilene, circa 1890s, with a medicine show drumming
up business. It's interesting to note that this crowd is similar in
sizeto the one Hickok faced when he confronted Coe.
Abilene: The First Queen of the Cowtowns
Named after the Biblical city of the plains, Abilene is the very
first Kansas cowtown. Before Joseph McCoy set up operations here, it
was just a small stop on the tracks of the Union Pacific Railway
(Eastern Division) and a stagecoach stop prior to that. McCoy was a
cattle buyer from Illinois who was anxious to find a shipping point
clear of the restrictions against longhorn cattle. The Lone Star
bovines carried a tic that transferred splenic fever (known as Texas
fever). McCoy needed a shipping point far enough west so the incoming
herds would not contaminate domestic stock. He found it at Abilene
(of course, as soon as farmers started moving in, the shipping point
had to move). The first cattle season began on September 5, 1867,
when the first train loaded with Texas cattle headed east. The season
traditionally ran from May to October.
For the first three years, Abilene didn't even have a local lawman,
until the appointment of Tom Smith in 1870. But he was murdered in
November 1870. After a few stopgap policemen came and went, Wild Bill
Hickok was appointed on April 15, 1871. He served eight months.
Abilene, as it looked while Hickok resided there. The 1871 cattle
season ended with drovers facing financial losses. Some pushed their
herds on to Waterville, while others held their cattle in Abilene.
They hoped for higher prices, but a shortage of freight cars kept the
prices low, leaving the drovers with little choice but to sell short
or winter them. Either way, many cow men were in a sour mood.
Aftermath: Odds & Ends
Wild Bill Hickok, "fired with marvelous rapidity and characteristic
accuracy," The Junction City Union reported. However accurate he may
have been, Hickok was profoundly affected by the shooting of his
friend. In fact, he never fought with pistols again.
As usual, in the aftermath of a Western gunfight, the participants
are either eulogized or demonized, depending on which side is doing
the telling. In the case of Hickok and Coe, they got the full
spectrum of attributes: Coe was either "a red mouthed, bawling `thug
plug' Ugly ...dangerous beast" or "a kind and generous hearted man
well thought of by all who knew him." Conversely, in Texas papers,
Hickok is referred to as a "blood thirsty wretch."
Recommended: The West of Wild Bill Hickok and They Called Him Wild
Bill by Joseph G. Rosa, published by the University of Oklahoma
Press.
This article appeared in the January/February 2007 issue of True
West Magazine.
Wild Bill Hickok vs Phil Coe
A tragic turn, the Prince of the Pistoleers is too good for his own
good.
BY BOB BOZE BELL
October 5, 1871
The summer cattle season is all but over, and Marshal Wild Bill
Hickok has kept the peace in Abilene, Kansas—not an easy job. The
last marshal, legendary Thomas J. Smith, was killed in the line of
duty.
Hickok is not popular with the Texans, having cleaned out the
brothels the month before, on the order of the city council.
About 50 cowboys want to attend the city's Dickinson County Fair.
When heavy rain sullies that venue, the boys wander from saloon to
saloon on the main drag, bullying and intimidating patrons into
buying them drinks. Some accounts suggest the cowboys pull this trick
on Hickok, sweeping him off his feet and carrying him into the
nearest saloon. Hickok humors the boys and buys them a round.
Rumors swirl that Texas gambler Phil Coe has sworn to get
Hickok "before the frost." Many citizens make themselves scarce as
the evening wears on, fearful that things may get out of hand.
At about nine p.m., Hickok hears a shot fired outside the Alamo
Saloon. He earlier warned the cowboys against carrying firearms, so
he confronts the group standing in front of the Alamo and encounters
Phil Coe, with a pistol in his hand. Coe claims he fired at a stray
dog, but as he says this, he pulls another pistol and fires twice,
one ball going through Hickok's coat and the other thudding into the
ground between his legs. Hickok reacts in a flash and "as quick as
thought," according to the Chronicle, pulls his two Colt Navy
revolvers. He fires them, hitting Coe twice in the stomach.
Others in the crowd are hurt. When another man brandishing a pistol
emerges from the shadows, Hickok, not recognizing him in the glare of
the kerosene lamps and his nerves on high alert, instinctively fires.
He kills Michael Williams, a personal friend of his and a one-time
city jailer.
Hickok carries Williams into the Alamo, and lays him down on a
billiard table, then turns and disarms everyone he can find. The
marshal warns them all to clear out of town. Within an hour, the
place is deserted.
Wild Bill returns fire, mortally wounding gambler Phil Coe in front
of the Alamo Saloon. News reports claim at least 50 cowboys were
gathered on the street at the time of the shooting; the reports imply
that several were injured by ricochet bullets.
A street scene in Abilene, circa 1890s, with a medicine show drumming
up business. It's interesting to note that this crowd is similar in
sizeto the one Hickok faced when he confronted Coe.
Abilene: The First Queen of the Cowtowns
Named after the Biblical city of the plains, Abilene is the very
first Kansas cowtown. Before Joseph McCoy set up operations here, it
was just a small stop on the tracks of the Union Pacific Railway
(Eastern Division) and a stagecoach stop prior to that. McCoy was a
cattle buyer from Illinois who was anxious to find a shipping point
clear of the restrictions against longhorn cattle. The Lone Star
bovines carried a tic that transferred splenic fever (known as Texas
fever). McCoy needed a shipping point far enough west so the incoming
herds would not contaminate domestic stock. He found it at Abilene
(of course, as soon as farmers started moving in, the shipping point
had to move). The first cattle season began on September 5, 1867,
when the first train loaded with Texas cattle headed east. The season
traditionally ran from May to October.
For the first three years, Abilene didn't even have a local lawman,
until the appointment of Tom Smith in 1870. But he was murdered in
November 1870. After a few stopgap policemen came and went, Wild Bill
Hickok was appointed on April 15, 1871. He served eight months.
Abilene, as it looked while Hickok resided there. The 1871 cattle
season ended with drovers facing financial losses. Some pushed their
herds on to Waterville, while others held their cattle in Abilene.
They hoped for higher prices, but a shortage of freight cars kept the
prices low, leaving the drovers with little choice but to sell short
or winter them. Either way, many cow men were in a sour mood.
Aftermath: Odds & Ends
Wild Bill Hickok, "fired with marvelous rapidity and characteristic
accuracy," The Junction City Union reported. However accurate he may
have been, Hickok was profoundly affected by the shooting of his
friend. In fact, he never fought with pistols again.
As usual, in the aftermath of a Western gunfight, the participants
are either eulogized or demonized, depending on which side is doing
the telling. In the case of Hickok and Coe, they got the full
spectrum of attributes: Coe was either "a red mouthed, bawling `thug
plug' Ugly ...dangerous beast" or "a kind and generous hearted man
well thought of by all who knew him." Conversely, in Texas papers,
Hickok is referred to as a "blood thirsty wretch."
Recommended: The West of Wild Bill Hickok and They Called Him Wild
Bill by Joseph G. Rosa, published by the University of Oklahoma
Press.
This article appeared in the January/February 2007 issue of True
West Magazine.