James Butler Hickok, later known most widely as Wild Bill Hickok, dies in Deadwood, a town in the Dakota Territory, when he is shot in the back of the head by John McCall ("Jack" or "Broken Nose Jack" McCall).
Hickok has been playing poker at Nuttal & Mann's Saloon No. 10 in Deadwood when he is killed. Had he been facing the door, as was his habit, he would not have been killed.
McCall will be acquitted of the murder after he claims at this trial that he was avenging the murder of his brother. This claim may or may not be true. A second trial held in Yankton, capital of the Dakota Territory, will result in a guilty verdict and a sentence of death.
Wild Bill Hickok is buried in Deadwood's original cemetery, Ingelside Cemetery, but he will be moved when a new cemetery has to be opened. Charlie Utter supervises the move and finds that because of an incomplete embalming, calcium carbonate from soil has petrified Wild Bill Hickok. Those involved with moving the body estimate that he weighs between 400 and 500 pounds.
