Qualla: Deadwood: Where Wild Bill Hickok Drew the Dead Man's Hand https://qualla.com/deadwood-wild-bill en-us © 2026 Bendyline Mon, 20 Jul 2026 10:21:06 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/9/x/y/h/deadwood-wk/tomahawk-lake-country.jpg Qualla: Deadwood: Where Wild Bill Hickok Drew the Dead Man's Hand https://qualla.com/deadwood-wild-bill Deadwood: Where Wild Bill Hickok Drew the Dead Man's Hand: Introduction https://qualla.com/deadwood-wild-bill/ Photo credit Magicpiano, CC BY-SA 4.0. Wild Bill Hickok sat with his back to the door for the first time in his life. It was August 2, 1876, in Nuttal & Mann's Saloon No. 10 in Deadwood, Dakota Territory. His usual seat was taken. Jack McCall walked in, drew a pistol, and shot Hickok in the back of the head. The cards Hickok held - two pair, aces and eights, became known as the 'dead man's hand.' The killing was one of thousands during Deadwood's gold rush years, a period of violence and vice that lasted until statehood and civilization arrived. Today Deadwood is a gambling town again, legal this time, its Victorian architecture preserved and its legends monetized. Wild Bill lies in Mount Moriah Cemetery beside Calamity Jane, who claimed they were lovers. The graves are the town's most visited attraction.

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Image: Magicpiano | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Mon, 12 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/9/x/y/h/deadwood-wild-bill-wk/9xyh-deadwood-where-wild-bill-hickok-drew-the-dead-mans-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Deadwood: Where Wild Bill Hickok Drew the Dead Man's Hand: The Rush https://qualla.com/deadwood-wild-bill/ Photo credit Magicpiano, CC BY-SA 4.0. Gold was discovered in Deadwood Gulch in 1875, triggering a rush that brought 5,000 people within a year. The problem: the Black Hills belonged to the Sioux by treaty. The government couldn't stop the prospectors and wouldn't protect the Sioux; the result was war, culminating in ...

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Image: Magicpiano | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Mon, 12 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/9/x/y/h/deadwood-wild-bill-wk/9xyh-deadwood-where-wild-bill-hickok-drew-the-dead-mans-the-rush.mp3 0:06 2 full Deadwood: Where Wild Bill Hickok Drew the Dead Man's Hand: The Legends https://qualla.com/deadwood-wild-bill/ Photo credit Magicpiano, CC BY-SA 4.0. Wild Bill Hickok arrived in Deadwood in July 1876, already famous as lawman, gunfighter, and showman. He was 39, his eyesight failing, his reflexes slowing. He gambled and drank; thirty-nine days later he was dead. Calamity Jane, whose tales of frontier adventure made her famous,...

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]]> Mon, 12 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/9/x/y/h/deadwood-wild-bill-wk/9xyh-deadwood-where-wild-bill-hickok-drew-the-dead-mans-the-legends.mp3 0:06 3 full Deadwood: Where Wild Bill Hickok Drew the Dead Man's Hand: The Vice https://qualla.com/deadwood-wild-bill/ Photo credit Unknown author, Public domain. Deadwood in its first decade offered every vice: gambling, prostitution, opium dens, and enough saloons to serve a population ten times its size. The Gem Theater, run by Al Swearengen, was notorious - a brothel disguised as a theater, staffed by women lured or coerced into prosti...

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]]> Mon, 12 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/9/x/y/h/deadwood-wild-bill-wk/9xyh-deadwood-where-wild-bill-hickok-drew-the-dead-mans-the-vice.mp3 0:06 4 full Deadwood: Where Wild Bill Hickok Drew the Dead Man's Hand: The Revival https://qualla.com/deadwood-wild-bill/ Photo credit Magicpiano, CC BY-SA 4.0. Deadwood nearly died when the gold played out. The population crashed; the town deteriorated. In 1989, South Dakota legalized limited-stakes gambling in Deadwood, funding historic preservation through gaming revenue. The gamble worked. Casinos opened in restored Victorian buildin...

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]]> Mon, 12 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/9/x/y/h/deadwood-wild-bill-wk/9xyh-deadwood-where-wild-bill-hickok-drew-the-dead-mans-the-revival.mp3 0:06 5 full Deadwood: Where Wild Bill Hickok Drew the Dead Man's Hand: Visiting Deadwood https://qualla.com/deadwood-wild-bill/ Photo credit Magicpiano, CC BY-SA 4.0. Deadwood is located in the Black Hills of western South Dakota, approximately 40 miles northwest of Rapid City via Interstate 90 and US-85. The historic Main Street contains dozens of casinos, restaurants, and shops in Victorian buildings. Mount Moriah Cemetery holds the graves o...

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]]> Mon, 12 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/9/x/y/h/deadwood-wild-bill-wk/9xyh-deadwood-where-wild-bill-hickok-drew-the-dead-mans-visiting-deadwood.mp3 0:06 6 full