An interesting story from the life of a difficult boy James Butler Hickok.
Here you can read past stories:
Fifth Story (Dead Man's Hand)
James was born in 1837 in a family of farmers from Illinois. It so happened the stars that his father’s farm was one of the staging points on the secret route for transporting slaves to the North, as a result of which they were often attacked by southerners.
The Hiccock family had to defend themselves, so from an early age James was introduced to the weapon. The daily practice of shooting a revolver made him a first-class shooter.
Over time, James realized that the gun gives rise to power. And oh, how he liked the power When he was a boy, Hickok, Jr., and then pounded the neighbors' boys, often simply crippling them, for which he received the nickname “Furious”, and a little later - “Wild Bill”. Even to kill a man for him was a playful thing.
Now you understand what a cool temper James had. Needless to say, he was passionately attracted to women, booze and card games. Therefore, no wonder that he got hooked on poker - no.
James had a lot in his life. He served in the army, was elected a sheriff and even a marshal. He managed to patch up the children of several women, win a fortune, marry a widow and leave his beloved. In general, he was naughty as he could!
But the most interesting in his biography was the interesting fact of his demise.
On August 2, 1876, Wild Bill sat at a table in one of the salvages of Deadwood and, out of habit, played poker. But this time he broke his own rules and made one single unforgivable mistake. He sat back to the door.
Drunken Jack McCall suddenly got up from behind the bar, walked over to Hikoku and shot him in the back of the head. Death came instantly.
At this time, in his hands, Bill had two eights and two aces - a combination of cards, which has since been called "Dead Man's Hand" in poker.
At trial, McCall claimed that Hicock allegedly killed his brother many years ago. Therefore, he did the same to him. An eye for an eye! They say that Hamurapi always did that.
What is surprising, the court believed him. Although in reality, the local rumor had it that McCall lost to Hikoku big. But the latter took pity on the loser and gave some money so that he could buy his own food. Such an act brought Jack into a frenzy. This was, in his opinion, insulting and humiliating. That's why he shot James.
In general, the moral of this story is: "Even the nobility displayed in poker is sometimes deadly."
However, a second trial, taking place in another territory, found McCall guilty and sentenced him to death.
The hand of the dead, nevertheless, overtook the villain.
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