Wild Bill by Tom Clavin

Author:Tom Clavin
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: St. Martin's Press

Chapter Thirteen

THE STREETS OF ABILENE

As the few existing photographs attest, Wild Bill Hickok’s appearance had changed little from the first descriptions of him. Henry Jameson, using J. B. Edwards’s diaries as a source, reported that Hickok’s appearance in Abilene was “striking and impressive. He stood six feet, one inch, weighed 175 pounds and his graceful, straight figure, brown, wavy hair down to his shoulders, piercing gray blue eyes, fair complexion, aquiline nose, flowing mustache and always expensive dress, made him a figure to attract attention.” His in-town attire of a Prince Albert coat, checked trousers, an embroidered waistcoat, and sometimes a cape lined with scarlet silk was topped off by a low-crowned, wide black hat.

Citizens of Abilene immediately noticed that not only did Hickok openly wear guns, but did so in a peculiar way. The Colts were fitted in smooth open holsters that were not worn low or tied down on the thigh but were positioned around the waist with the butts leaning forward. This allowed Hickok to cross draw or use a reverse draw with either hand. This worked well when the gunfighter wore a coat, which Hickok routinely did. In a cross draw, the hand brushes the coat away during the movement of jerking the pistol out of the holster. Also causing comment was that from time to time when the marshal put on exhibitions, onlookers marveled at his accuracy with both hands.

As marshal, Hickok returned to familiar habits. In a saloon or restaurant, his back was to the wall, and he sat or stood facing the door. When he slept, a pistol was within easy reach. Whenever he entered a building, one hand was on a gun. On the street, he used the same caution he had in Hays City. And he often had a shotgun to complement his Colt six-shooters, derringer, and bowie knife.

A man named John Conkie was employed as the city jailer. Though this was certainly not a full-time occupation given the size of the calaboose in Abilene—it had been built a third time during Tom Smith’s tenure—Conkie did get to know the marshal. One of his recollections was spotting Hickok “sitting in a barber’s chair getting shaved, with his shotgun in hand and his eyes open.”

Hickok found in Abilene a small but vibrant city surrounded by vast swaths of brown cattle. Stewart Verckler writes, “Wherever anyone looked, tremendous herds of longhorn dotted the spacious plains. Cattle covered every available acre of grazing land.” In what would turn out to be Abilene’s last year as a booming cow town before it gave way to Dodge City to the west and south, close to 121,000 head would be shipped out. One result: “The cowboys were wilder this year than they had ever been in the short history of Abilene.”

The Texas Street area saloons stayed open all day and night and never lacked for business. They offered a steady diet of whiskey and beer and gambling and women, and a few saloons provided musical entertainment. Wisely, Hickok continued to enforce Smith’s ban on weapons within the city limits, so gunplay was rare.

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