# Dead Man's Hand

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-mans-hand/34010>\
**Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\
**Created:** [September 21, 2000, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-mans-hand/34010 "2000-09-21T16:30:45Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![sbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d26b3c/32.png) [@sbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sbh)\
**Post date:** [September 21, 2000, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-mans-hand/34010/1 "2000-09-21T16:30:45Z")

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(I could not find this as a thread, so am submiiting as new)

See \< [http://www.homepoker.com/0812.html](http://www.homepoker.com/0812.html) \> for a discussion which seems to cast doubt that there is an answer to “what was the fifth card?”.

Regards  
(edited to fix link)

[Edited by Arnold Winkelried on 09-21-2000 at 11:53 AM]

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**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\
**Post date:** [September 21, 2000, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-mans-hand/34010/2 "2000-09-21T16:51:52Z")

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Welcome to the SDMB, and thank you for posting your comment.  
Please include a link to Cecil’s column if it’s on the straight dope web site.  
To include a link, it can be as simple as including the web page location in your post (make sure there is a space **before** and **after** the text of the URL).

Cecil’s column can be found on-line at this link:  
[Was Wild Bill Hickok holding the “dead man’s hand” when he was slain?](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a1_307.html)

The column can also be found on pages 307-308 of Cecil Adams’ book “[_The Straight Dope_](http://www.straightdope.com/otheroutlets/books.html)”.

* * *

moderator, [« **Comments on Cecil’s Columns** »](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/forumdisplay.php?forumid=1)

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**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\
**Post date:** [September 21, 2000, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-mans-hand/34010/3 "2000-09-21T16:59:11Z")

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Here’s the deal (haha):

In his column, Cecil Adams says that the fifth card in Wild Bill Hickok’s original «dead man’s hand» is the two of spades. The link kindly provided by sbh says the following:

> [@](#):
>
> [ul]  
> [li]The transcript of McCall’s trial, for having shot Hickok, has a witness claiming that the fifth card was the jack of diamonds.[/li][li]The card used in the re-creation of the shooting in Deadwood, as well as the card supposedly suggested by other eyewitnesses is the nine of diamonds.[/li][li]The card that Tbill, going by memory, claims to be on display in the Deadwood museum is a red queen, but it was later confirmed that it is the five of diamonds that is on display in Deadwood.[/li][/ul]

The author of the page had suggested the two of spades, but says «my initial claim of the deuce of spades is the most laughable, embarrassing suggestion to date. I’m not even sure what I was thinking. All indications seem to point to the fact that the fifth card in a Dead Man’s Hand is a diamond, but everybody can’t agree on which one it was.» The author mentions that «I can’t remember where I read it (that the fifth card was the deuce of spades).» Maybe he read it in the Straight Dope column? I will e-mail him.