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WILD BILL HICKOK, THE PRINCE OF PISTOLEERS, Frank J. Wilstach, hardcover, illustrated with eight photos, 1926. BOOK CONDITION: good. The text block is in good condition, with no tears, dogears, or marks. A visible crack in the binding at the title page. No bookplate or signature of prior owner. Not a library book or remainder. The green cloth boards are in good condition (bumped spine and corners, fades spine). 8 ¼ x 5 3/4, 304 pages, 18 ounces XX [[From True West magazine] Hickok was the kind of man who inspired adulation in some and aroused bitterness and resentment in others. Wild Bill deserved his reputation, but not the media-inspired man-killer role for which most people remember him?his killings were in single figures, and at times, he showed a compassion that was rare among gunfighters. James Butler Hickok fought diligently for the Union Army, scouted the open plains for Custer, and provided necessary law enforcement to Hays City and Abilene. Hickok was an actor, media personality, and had killed men. He never slept with Calamity Jane, and was a happily married man on the day he was assassinated. And where most of his contemporaries were dressed in keeping with the terrain over which they operated, Wild Bill blended the immaculate neatness of the dandy with the extravagant taste and style of the frontiersman, which befitted the man Custer regarded as the most famous scout of the Plains. When employed in peace-keeping duties in such places as Hays City or Abilene, his dandified image gave way to more practical dress and, during the summer months, he was often seen wandering around in shirt sleeves with his two holstered Colt Navy pistols, butts forward, prominently displayed. James Butler Hickok?s physical appearance and bearing was eagerly seized upon in an article published in the February 1867 Harper?s New Monthly Magazine by Colonel George Ward Nichols and the Welsh-born Henry M. Stanley. Photographic and written descriptions of Wild Bill indicate that he stood over six feet tall, was broad shouldered, narrow waisted and wore his auburn hair shoulder length in the manner of the plainsmen. Wild Bill?s reputation as a gunfighter naturally included his ability to get a pistol into action as quick as thought, but in reality, speed was probably the last thing on his mind. Hickok told Colonel Nichols that one should take time and not be hurried, which meant that reaction to a situation counted far more than speed?when Hickok went for his pistols he had already anticipated the outcome. If we ignore Hickok?s leg-pulling, his elevation from noted scout and plainsman to the most notorious man-killer on the border remains a mystery. A cursory examination discloses that he did not deserve such a reputation. Between 1861 and 1871, the period which covers his pistol-wielding ventures, there are only seven authenticated killings involving Hickok. In hindsight, however, it is understandable why such outrageous stories were not denied, especially when Hickok himself rarely gave interviews. Wild Bill met his untimely death at the hands of back-shooting Jack McCall on the afternoon of Wednesday August 2, 1876. Seller Inventory # 002882
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