This column is perhaps one of the least convincing I’ve ever read. Some guy died in the 19th century in circumstances just ripe for an urban legend as to what cards he was holding when he died, and Cecil’s answer is “yes this is true” with no references, no explanation as to how it is that he can be so sure?
I’ve seen Cecil provide references for facts twice as plausible.
I’m going to have to say to the Perfect Master, cite please?
Princhester,
Why would anyone make up that particular hand?
There was no reason for anyone to make special significance out of the hand he held, or to report it falsely. Whatever hand Bill held when he went West would have become an urban legend.
Best,
Sky
I copied and pasted the following from rec.gambling.poker. It’s got no other cite, but he sounds like he knows what he talking about.
Other things posted in that thread (go to google, search on “dead mans hand” and then click on “groups”) indicate that people had the foresight to look at his hand when he was shot.
I also agree – it was a pretty lame write up in the dope column, not up to usual standards.
Here’s the copy and paste. . .
On August 2, 1876, Wild Bill Hickok made a big mistake that cost him his life
but guaranteed his place in the pantheon of American western heroes. Although
he made a point of sitting with his back to the wall whenever he played poker,
on that day, he sat facing it.
Jack McCall, a notorious gambler, entered the rear door of a saloon in
Deadwood, South Dakota, where Wild Bill was playing poker. McCall, who had
problems with Hickok in the past strolled to the bar, turned, and casually
walked to a point where he was just about a yard behind Hickok. Engrossed in
the game and having just drawn three cards, Hickok wasn’t aware of McCall’s
presence at all. Before Hickok had a chance to look at his last card, McCall
drew his Colt 45 and fired. The bullet entered Hickok’s head and exited his
cheek before piercing the arm of another player. Hickok died instantly.
Bill’s friends, who picked up the cards he had drawn, found that he a pair of
black aces and two black eights. Ever since then, aces and eights have been
called the “Dead Man’s Hand.”
While everyone is sure of those cards, there is some contention over the fifth
card in Wild Bill’s hand. The queen of hearts, the queen of diamonds, the nine
of diamonds, and the jack of diamonds have all been cited as the fifth and
final card.
The Old Style Bar in Deadwood uses the nine of diamonds in all of its
promotional advertising, while the Deadwood Chamber of Commerce will tell you
it was probably the queen of diamonds.
But the South Dakota State Historical Society claims the fifth card was not
even in Hickok’s hand at all – it was just being slid across the table to him
when the fatal shot was fired.
So you can debate the exact composition of this hand all you’d like. The truth
is, no one knows. But wherever poker players get together, a hand with two
black aces, and a pair of black eights is called the “Dead Man’s Hand,”
regardless of the fifth card.
What happened to McCall?
RR
McCall was tried informally, and seemingly incompetantly, by a miner’s court in Deadwood. He was found not guilty. Some of the jury members may have been glad to see Hickock dead. Hickock’s friends assured that McCall was arrested a short time later and tried officially in a territorial court (not double jeopardy - the miner’s court had no official standing or powers to do anything, actually). McCall was found guilty of premeditated murder and hanged.
This has to be a rare instance of somebody being released by vigilantes and executed by the legal authorities.
I’ve never seen a decent account of McCall’s motive – anybody know? (“Troubles in the past” seems kind of inadequate, although God knows some people don’t require much incentive for violence.)
From what I’ve read, he was hired by some of the professional gamblers then infesting Deadwood. They were afraid he would take the job of Town Marshal and run them out.
Wish I had a cite for that…
Addendum:
But what they didn’t know was that he had no intention of taking another law enforcement post, because he was losing his eyesight (which had led to him accidently killing a deputy in Kansas).
Since that column was from 1978, I suspect that Cecil is not going to revisit it simply to provide sources. Back in those balmy days, he often didn’t bother to provide sources. But for sure, neither he nor Ed keep records on long-ago columns.
Well, OK, it’s rumoured that the papers aren’t thrown away, which means the records would exist somewhere. But the pile of unsorted, spider-ridden, peanut-butter-stained pages has been gathering dust for a lonnnnnnng time, and I ain’t goin’ through it.
As I’m sure I’ve posted in another, earlier reply column to Cecil’s report, the cards are in dispute. All of 'em. Not just the fifth card.
The earliest cite as to what a “dead man’s hand” was/is is from the Century Dictionary Supplement which was published in 1908. They said:
Note that they didn’t even bring up Hickock’s name.
If you have an earlier cite for the phrase, there are a few of us out in the world waiting.
So, NO ONE has come up with a contemporary newpaper account of the cards.
My opinion is that it wasn’t very important at the time Bill was shot. Certainly not to Bill.
An update.
After posting this to the American Dialect Society Mailing list tonight, we have an update.
From 1888, there is a cite in a Kansas newspaper that says:
Getting closer to the source.
From all I’ve heard about this particular item, nobody ever noticed what Hickock was holding. Furthermore, I’ve always seen the dead man’s hand as a full house of aces and eights. I may be wrong, but I have never heard of a red card in the hand or on the table. I’m originally from that general area and know something about the legend. The saloon was the Saloon No. 10. It is still in business but moved from the original location. Other than that, the rest of the question is moot. Nobody cared what he was holding. They were too shocked at the time and everything was cleaned up before anyone thought about it.
Just my opinion.
Twizzydit
Huh? Can’t have both those statements. A full house of aces and eights would have to include either 3 aces or 3 eights, and therefore at least one red card.
I agree that it seems likely that the hand Hickock was holding is mythology constructed after the fact, but I’ve always heard it described as “black aces and black eights”, leaving the fifth card undescribed for us to discuss.
To add a little more to the 1888 cite I posted last night.
Doug Wilson, the member/researcher who found that cite, also contributed a few others:
From the 1895 Atlanta Constitution, a cite saying it was jacks and eights.
A 1905 cite from Nevada saying a pair of jacks and a pair of eights.
So, it may have been originally aces and eights, then, for whatever reason, changed to jacks and eights.
But the more telling thing to me is, that none of these cites mention Hickock. It would almost appear that his death and the cards that he supposedly held are a rather 20th century addition to what was known in the 19th century as “dead man’s hand.”
But we’ll keep on searching.