JACK McCALL

On 2 August 1876, James Butler 'Wild Bill' Hickok was playing poker at Nuttal & Mann's Saloon No.10 in Deadwood, Dakota Territory. Jack McCall stepped up behind Hickok, and without warning shot him in the back of the head. Historians have long debated the facts of the killing, as well as McCall's motive. McCall was initially tried and acquitted by a miners' jury in Deadwood, but was later re-arrested and tried in Yankton, where he was found guilty and sentenced to death.He was executed on 1 March 1877. Joseph G. Rosa (1932-2015) was an independent scholar and author of American Western history. Joe was a long-term member of the English Westerners' Society, and is best known for his biography of Wild Bill Hickok, 'They Called Him Wild Bill', first published in 1964, and still the leading work on its subject. Joe went on to write numerous books, including 'The West of Wild Bill Hickok' (1982) and 'Wild Bill Hickok Gunfighter' (2001).