Writing Corner - Wild Bill Hickok Last Letter to his Wife

Wild Bill Hickok

Last Letter to his Wife

One of the beauties of a hand written letter is that they can live on long after the writer is gone. Be the reason sentimental or historical, reading a hand written letter from long ago packs an emotional response like nothing else.

James Butler Hickok, also known as Wild Bill Hickok, was a skilled gunfighter and lawman from the American old west. He was also a professional gambler between his law-enforcement duties. On August 2, 1876, Hickok was playing poker at Deadwood, in the Black Hills of Dakota Territory. He had a premonition Deadwood would be his last camp, and expressed this belief to his friends who were traveling with him at the time. Shortly before his death, he wrote a letter to his new wife, which read: “Agnes Darling, if such should be we never meet again, while firing my last shot, I will gently breathe the name of my wife — Agnes — and with wishes even for my enemies I will make the plunge and try to swim to the other shore.” J.B. Hickok Wild Bill

Interesting Fact: Legend has it that before Hickok was shot he had lost all his money and had to borrow $50 from the house to continue playing. When shot, he was holding a pair of aces and a pair of eights, all black. The fifth card had been discarded and its replacement had not yet been dealt. In poker, a two-pair of aces and eights is known as the dead man’s hand.