A TRIBUTE PAGE (of sorts) to
JAMES BUTLER 'WILD BILL' HICKOK
and THE LEGEND of his DEAD MAN'S HAND
DEAD MAN'S HAND: ACES and EIGHTS
JAMES BUTLER 'WILD BILL' HICKOK
and THE LEGEND of his DEAD MAN'S HAND
This page seeks to collect and display any relevant or interesting news items, articles, images, films, books, videos, music, 'branded' products, quotes, reviews, artwork, etc that touch upon the Dead Man's Hand legend or "Aces and Eights" in any way.
Where possible each item listed below has a link to an external site / page with more info on that particular item. Please note these are beyond our control and you should tread as warily off site as a one-legged gunslinger trying to sneak up on Wild Bill while he was playing cards.
WILD BILL HICKOK
"To be Wild Bill Hickok (1837-1876) must have been a joyless enterprise. He left the only woman he ever loved, was a target for every man who wanted to prove himself in a fast-draw contest, made a fool of himself in Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show, and was killed by being shot in the back during a poker game. The hand he was holding when he died (aces and eights) became known as the Dead Man’s Hand, which is not the kind of immortality one seeks. Hickok also suffered from glaucoma, which is hell if you’re a gunfighter and no convenience if you’re a poker player."
Roger Ebert in The Chicago Sun-Times (1995)
ACES and EIGHTS (1936)
Narrator (Opening lines): "Wild Bill Hickok was a gunfighter who almost triumphed over death. His gun was drawn, his thumb had cocked the hammer, his cards were neatly stacked. It held two pair. And so it was from then on, aces and eights were called "the death hand." Cast in the same mold was another who, unlike Wild Bill, never carried a six-shooter, preferring to let agile fingers do his talking. From the Missouri to the Rockies he was known as Gentleman Tim Madigan and the aces and eights that spelled death for Wild Bill wrote a different fate for Gentleman Tim."
Editor Otto Penzler: "The biggest surprise about putting together a collection of stories combining poker and crime is that it has not been done before now."
Ride through 20 dangerous missions, exploring deserts, hills an abandoned mines across the Old West.
Choose from authentic Old West weapons, from six-shooters and rifles to Bowie knives & dynamite sticks.
Before each mission, you'll get to the saloon for a game of poker - try to win extra Ammo, health or legend points.
Choose from authentic Old West weapons, from six-shooters and rifles to Bowie knives & dynamite sticks.
Before each mission, you'll get to the saloon for a game of poker - try to win extra Ammo, health or legend points.
DEAD MAN'S HAND NIGHTCLUB
A Vegas poker-themed hard-rock joint
DEAD MAN'S HAND - STARSHIP TROOPERS
WILD BILL
(1995)
(1995)
Mick LaSalle in The San Francisco Chronicle (1995)
Calamity Jane [Ellen Barkin]: "A man that cheats at cards ain't got no religion."
The Hollow Men by T. S. Eliot
Verse III This is the dead land
This is cactus land
Here the stone images
Are raised, here they receive
The supplication of a dead man’s hand
Under the twinkle of a fading star.
The Hand of Glory: The Nurse's Story by Richard Harris Barham
Now open lock
To the Dead Man's knock!
Fly bolt, and bar, and band!
- Nor move, nor swerve
Joint, muscle, or nerve,
At the spell of the Dead Man's hand!
Sleep all who sleep! - Wake all who wake! -
But be as the Dead for the Dead Man's sake!
CHORUS: “Hey, hey, hey, waiting for the marching band
Hey, hey, be the devil to pay
Can't beat the devil with a dead man's hand!”
DEAD MAN'S HAND Q & A
Dear Mark,
I need some Hickok history regarding the "Dead Man's Hand." I know it consisted of Aces and Eights, but do you know what the "kicker was?
- Marcus S.
Eight years ago when replying to a "Wild" Bill Hickok Dead Man's Hand question, I identified the kicker (fifth card) as a queen of hearts. However, further research over the years has my altering that answer. Since the complete hand no longer exists, the composition of the hand can never be proven with total certainty, but, Marcus, I have found a few new nominees.
The five of Diamonds - the town of Deadwood has this card on display, claiming it to be the actual card.
The nine of Diamonds - according to supposed eyewitness accounts at the time.
The jack of Diamonds - according to the transcripts of McCall's trial, a witness claims that this was the card.
The queen of Clubs - Ripley's Believe It Or Not has this card on display.
Then there are the documentaries, movies and plays that depict it as the Jack, Queen or King of Spades.
Although we will never know exactly what cards "Wild" Bill Hickok had when he was shot, when dealt black Aces and black Eights, be assured you're holding a Dead Man's Hand.
www.GoGambleNow.com
DEAD MAN'S HAND Q & A
Dear Cecil:
On a recent pilgrimage to Troy Grove, Illinois to visit the home of Wild Bill Hickok, one of our company happened to mention that according to legend Wild Bill was shot while holding "black aces and eights." This hand has come to be known as the "dead man's hand." Is the story apocryphal, and if it is true, what was the fifth card in Wild Bill's hand?
- Larry N., Chicago
Cecil replies:
You've settled on one of the few bits of Western lore that has some basis in fact. Wild Bill was indeed holding black aces and eights when he was plugged by Jack McCall on the fateful day of August 2, 1876, in the charming suburb of Deadwood, deep in the Dakota Territory. Bill's fifth card was the deuce of spades, which must have made for a pretty grim-looking hand. I'm surprised he didn't commit suicide.
John Ford got things a little confused when he tried to lay the curse of the Dead Man's Hand on one of the heavies in the movie Stagecoach. Poor Luke Plummer found himself holding the appropriate black eights, but one of his aces was red - diamonds, to be specific. Luke's fifth card was the queen of hearts, all of which made for a much nicer composition than the real thing. John Wayne offed him anyway.
- Cecil Adams
www.StraightDope.com
WILD BILL HICKOK VIDEO
"Bat Masterson" The Hunter (1960) TV series
Poker Player: Aces and eights. Those ladies were awfully expensive, Bat.
'Bat' Masterson: Most of them are, my friend.
Starring Casper Van Dien, Bruce Boxleitner and Ernest Borgnine
William David Lee on DVDTown.com
NOTHING DIVINE - Dead Man's Hand SANITY ASSASINS - Dead Man's Hand
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