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Wild Bill Hickok’s First Job as Sheriff

How did Wild Bill Hickok’s first job as sheriff go for him? Well, on September 27 back in 1869, Ellis County Sheriff Wild Bill Hickok and his deputy responded to a disturbance by a local ruffian named Samuel Strawhun and several of his drunken buddies at John Bitter’s Beer Saloon in Hays City, Kansas. Hickok ordered the men to stop, Strawhun turned to attack him, and Hickok shot and killed him.

This was typical of Wild Bill’s approach to a confrontation. As one cowboy said, Hickok would stand “with his back to the wall, looking at everything and everybody under his eyebrows–just like a mad old bull.”

But some Hays City citizens wondered if their new cure wasn’t worse than the disease.

In September 1869, his first month as sheriff, Hickok killed two men. The first was Bill Mulvey, who was galloping through town on a rampage, drunk, shooting out mirrors and whisky bottles behind bars. Citizens warned Mulvey to behave, because Hickok was sheriff. Mulvey angrily declared that he had come to town to kill Hickok. When he saw Hickok, he leveled his cocked rifle at him. Hickok waved his hand past Mulvey at some supposed onlookers and yelled, “Don’t shoot him in the back; he is drunk.” Mulvey wheeled his horse around to face those who might shoot him from behind, and before he realized he had been fooled, Hickok shot him through the temple.

The second man killed by Hickok was the aforementioned Samuel Strawhun, a cowboy, who was causing a disturbance in a saloon at 1:00 am on September 27, when Hickok and Lanihan went to the scene. Strawhun “made remarks against Hickok”, and Hickok killed him with a shot through the head. Hickok said he had “tried to restore order”. At the coroner’s inquest into Strawhun’s death, despite “very contradictory” evidence from witnesses, the jury found the shooting justifiable.

On July 17, 1870, Hickok was attacked by two troopers from the 7th U.S. Cavalry, Jeremiah Lonergan and John Kyle (sometimes spelled Kile), in a saloon. Lonergan pinned Hickok to the ground, and Kyle put his gun to Hickok’s ear. When Kyle’s weapon misfired, Hickok shot Lonergan, wounding him in the knee, and shot Kyle twice, killing him. Hickok again lost his re-election bid to his deputy.

During the regular November election later that year, the people expressed their displeasure, and Hickok lost to his deputy, 144-89. Though Wild Bill Hickok would later go on to hold other law enforcement positions in the West, his first attempt at being a sheriff had lasted only three months.

February 14, 2025 | Categories: Old West Myth & Fact | Tags: Wild Bill Hickok's First Job as Sheriff | Comments Off on Wild Bill Hickok’s First Job as Sheriff

Hopalong Cassidy Films Live on Forever

California Carlson and Hopalong Cassidy

After almost 40 years of riding across American TV and movie screens, the cowboy actor William Boyd, best known for his role in Hopalong Cassidy films as Hopalong Cassidy, died on September 12, 1972 at the age of 77.

His greatest achievement was to be the first cowboy actor to make the transition from movies to television. After World War II Americans began buying television sets in large numbers for the first time, and soon I Love Lucy and The Honeymooners were standard evening fare for millions of families. But despite their proven popularity in movie theaters, westerns were slow to come to TV. Many network TV producers scorned westerns as lowbrow “horse operas” unfit for their middle- and upper-class audiences…As if I Love Lucy and The Honeymooners was highbrow.

Hopalong Cassidy and Robert Mitchum

During the 1930’s, William Boyd made more than 50 successful “B-Westerns” starring as Hopalong Cassidy. After the war, Boyd recognized an opportunity to take Hopalong into the new world of television, and he began to market his old “B” westerns to TV broadcasters in Los Angeles and New York City. A whole new generation of children thrilled to “Hoppy’s” daring adventures, and they soon began to ask for more.

Rethinking their initial disdain for the genre, producers at NBC contracted with Boyd in 1948 to produce a new series of half-hour westerns for television. Soon other TV westerns followed. In 1959, seven of the top-10 shows on national television were westerns. The golden era of the TV western would finally come to an end in 1975 when the long-running Gunsmoke left the air, three years after Boyd died.

February 4, 2025 | Categories: Film & TV | Comments Off on Hopalong Cassidy Films Live on Forever

John Wesley Hardin Kills Sheriff

August 23, 1877 climaxed probably the most dramatic manhunt in the Old West. Although John Wesley Hardin had killed a number of men, on May 26, 1874 Hardin kills Sheriff Charles Webb in Texas and killing a lawman couldn’t be overlooked. Hardin was told that Webb wanted to kill him and capture his friend Jim Taylor. The encounter between Hardin and Webb was brief – a few words between the two men, an exchange of bullets, then Webb fell dead near the door of the Jack Wright Saloon. Hardin was wounded but escaped. For three years Hardin was able to elude the Texas Rangers by using an alias and keeping a low profile. He also moved to Florida.

But, the Rangers discovered where he was, and even though they had no authority in Florida, sent John Armstrong after him. Acting on a tip, Armstrong spotted Hardin in the smoking car of a train stopped at the Pensacola station. Local deputies were stationed at both ends of the car, and the men burst in with guns drawn. Hardin reached for the gun holstered under his jacket. The pistol caught in Hardin’s fancy suspenders, this allowed Armstrong time to club Hardin with his long-barreled .45 pistol instead of having to shoot him.

They spirited Hardin back to Texas on the next train. Hardin was tried and found guilty of killing Sheriff Webb and sentenced him to life in the Texas state prison at Huntsville. He served 15 years before the governor pardoned him.

January 4, 2025 | Categories: Old West History | Tags: John Wesley Hardin Kills Sheriff | Comments Off on John Wesley Hardin Kills Sheriff

Phoebe Ann Moses, aka Annie Oakley

This month we’ll be celebrating the birthday of Phoebe Ann Moses … If you don’t know who she is by the picture, it’s “Little Sure Shot,” Annie Oakley. Annie began trapping before age 7, and shooting and hunting by age 8, to support her siblings and her widowed mother. She sold hunted game to locals in Greenville, such as shopkeepers Charles and G. Anthony Katzenberger, who shipped it to hotels in Cincinnati and other cities. From the time she shot a squirrel for the family’s stew pot at the age of eight, she knew she had a special talent.

We all know about her talent, but what most people don’t know about is the love she and her husband had for each other, Frank Butler. Frank Butler was also a sharpshooter with his own traveling show. On Thanksgiving in 1876 they had a match, and Phoebe Ann Moses beat Frank. By June of the next year they were married in Oakley, Ohio. Phoebe Ann changed her name to “Annie Oakley”, and, as they say, the rest is history.

Even though over the years, Annie Oakley’s popularity far outdistanced her husband’s, Frank’s love for Annie grew even more. And they were always together. After injuries from a train accident and later an auto accident she retired, and Annie and Frank moved to Greenville, Ohio. Annie Oakley died in 1926 at the age of 66. Frank Butler was so devastated that he stopped eating and died 18 days later.

August 30, 2024 | Categories: Old West History | Tags: aka Annie Oakley, Phoebe Ann Moses | Comments Off on Phoebe Ann Moses, aka Annie Oakley

Kevin Costner Epic “Horizon: An American Saga”

The Western film genre has been eulogized since at least the early 1950s, but while it may occasionally falter in popularity, it’s never truly gone away. And this summer, Kevin Costner returns it to its proper place in the American cinematic firmament with his four-part Kevin Costner epic “Horizon: An American Saga”. Costner not only stars in the film, but he also returns to the director’s chair for the first time since 2003’s “Open Range” and co-wrote the script with Jon Baird.

The film co-stars an ensemble cast consisting of Sienna Miller, Sam Worthington, Giovanni Ribisi, Jena Malone, Abbey Lee, Michael Rooker, Danny Huston, Luke Wilson, Isabelle Fuhrman, Jeff Fahey, Will Patton, Tatanka Means, Owen Crow Shoe, Ella Hunt, Jamie Campbell Bower and Thomas Haden Church.

Described as a two-part event, the film is scheduled to premiere at the 77th Cannes Film Festival on May 19, 2024, with Chapters 1 and 2 scheduled to be theatrically released in the United States on June 28, 2024 and August 16, 2024, respectively, by Warner Bros. Pictures.

Kevin Costner first commissioned Horizon as a single film in 1988, and later approached Walt Disney Pictures with the project after the release of his 2003 film Open Range. It was announced in January 2022 that Costner was set to direct and produce the film, a passion project for him, in addition to starring. It began casting in February. In April, Warner Bros. Pictures and New Line Cinema joined the production to distribute. In a June interview, Costner stated he plans to make four movies out of the premise, and was looking to cast over 170 speaking roles.

In August, Sienna Miller, Sam Worthington, Jamie Campbell Bower, Luke Wilson, Thomas Haden Church, Jena Malone, Alejandro Edda, Tatanka Means and Michael Rooker were cast in the film. Isabelle Fuhrman, Ella Hunt, Jeff Fahey and Tom Payne would be amongst numerous casting announcements made throughout September. In October, Will Patton, Owen Crow Shoe and Danny Huston were added to the cast.

Filming of at least the first installment began on August 29, 2022 in southern Utah, concluding in November. Filming of the second installment began by May 2023, before concluding in the summer of that year.

May 15, 2024 | Categories: Film & TV | Tags: Kevin Costner Epic | Comments Off on Kevin Costner Epic “Horizon: An American Saga”