Jack McCall
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Jack McCall (also known as "Crooked Nose" Jack) (born in the early 1850s in Jefferson County, Kentucky – died March 1, 1877 in Yankton, South Dakota) is the man who shot James "Wild Bill" Hickok in the back, an act that among admirers of Hickok and students of Hickok's history has given rise to the phrase "the coward Jack McCall", often uttered as one word.
Life and murder of Hickok
The details of McCall's life are lost; he was raised in Kentucky with three sisters, but drifted westwards and became a buffalo hunter. By 1876 he was living in a gold mining camp called Deadwood, South Dakota, under the alias of Bill Sutherland.
On August 2, 1876, in the Nuttal & Mann's #10 Saloon in Deadwood, McCall shot Hickok in the back of the head with a double-action .45-caliber revolver, shouting "Take that!" Hickok, in contrast to his normal habit of sitting in a corner to protect his back, on that day had sat with his back to the door while engaged in a game of poker. Ironically, the killing was apparently over McCall's drunken resentment of an act of generosity by Hickok, Hickok having offered McCall money to buy breakfast after McCall had lost it all playing poker the previous day. McCall claimed, however, that the killing was retribution for Hickok having previously killed McCall's brother in Abilene, Kansas. McCall was found innocent after two hours deliberation by an impromptu court in McDaniel's Theater, made up of local miners and businessmen, causing the Black Hills Pioneer to editorialize:
"Should it ever be our misfortune to kill a man ... we would simply ask that our trial may take place in some of the mining camps of these hills."
Proper trial and execution
McCall then fled town to Wyoming, where he would habitually brag, at length, about the details of how he had killed Hickok in a fair gunfight. Unfortunately for McCall, however, the Wyoming authorities refused to recognize the result of McCall's first trial on the grounds of Deadwood having been in Indian Territory at the time and contended that McCall was liable to be tried again.
On August 29, 1876 in Laramie, Wyoming, McCall was once again arrested, brought to Yankton, South Dakota for trial, convicted, and hanged on March 1, 1877, buried with the noose still around his neck. After his death, it was determined that McCall had, in fact, never even had a brother.
Trivia
- McCall was the first person executed in South Dakota.
- McCall's killing of Hickok plays a part in the HBO television series Deadwood. McCall was portrayed by Garret Dillahunt.
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