Wild Bill Hickok

The never before told story of one of the West's most colorful gunfighting legends—not until the author uncovered the whereabouts of this historical journal, has the true story behind the mystery of Wild Bill Hickok's final days ever been told. Based on the actual journal written in 1876 by Nathan Bernard, is a work of love and respect depicting the man as only one very close to him could. Unknown to many, a diary of the days leading up to Mr. Hickok's death was kept by Bernard, a young Jewish boy from Boston, Massachusetts, who in a few short weeks came to know the legend as well as anyone in the world. Nathan's diary and the memories told to his son, James, and grandson, Butler, are the basis of this book.


Wednesday, September 1, 2010

Wild Bill Hickok's Dead Man's Hand

A well known poker hand, "dead man's hand" gets its name from the final hand held by legendary gunslinger and poker player, Wild Bill Hickok. There are many variations of the story and the actual hand held by Hickok that fateful day, August 2, 1876, when he was gunned down, shot in the back of the head by Jack McCall in Saloon No. 10 at Deadwood, South Dakota. It is commonly believed that Hickok's last poker hand included two aces and two eights of both black suits.

So, a dead mans hand is two pair, aces and eights. But what was the fifth card. No one agrees. Many say it was the queen of clubs, others say it was nine of diamonds, still others the jack of diamonds. One reason for the difference in stories is that Hickok may have been discarding his card at the time of the shooting and never had time to pick up his fifth card. 

Dan Goldstein has just published a new book about Wild Bill Hickok taken from a journal written during Hickok's final days, titled "Wild Bill Hickok, The True Story About His Last Six Weeks." The book is available at www.BarringerPublishing.com
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1 comment:

  1. Rule them AllMay 24, 2013 at 7:53 AM

    Dear Mr. Goldstein,

    I'm working on a new documentary about Wild Bill Hickok and I was wondering if you'd be interested in speaking further about interviewing. Please email me at ginny@castlepix.com for more information.

    Thank you!

    Ginny

    ReplyDelete

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