Legends of the Old West - WILD BILL HICKOK Ep. 4 | “Marshal of Abilene”

Episode Date: December 8, 2021

A month after Hickok becomes marshal of Abilene, two Texas gunfighters, Phil Coe and Ben Thompson, start a saloon called the Bull’s Head Tavern. The rowdy joint creates tension all summer in 1871 and leads to a dramatic — and tragic — shootout at the end of the cattle season. Add Texas outlaw John Wesley Hardin to the mix, and Hickok has his hands full in Abilene. Join Black Barrel+ for ad-free episodes and bingeable seasons: blackbarrel.supportingcast.fm/join For more details, visit our website www.blackbarrelmedia.com and check out our social media pages. We’re @OldWestPodcast on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. This show is part of the Airwave Media podcast network. Please visit AirwaveMedia.com to check out other great podcasts like Ben Franklin’s World, Once Upon A Crime, and many more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Fortnite created to give players of all ages, including kids and families, a safe digital space to play in. Download Fortnite on consoles, PC, cloud services, or Android and play Lego Fortnite for free. Rated ESRB E10+. On a hot night in August of 1871, Abilene Marshal Wild Bill Hickok was summoned to the

American House Hotel. Gunshots had erupted in the night, and Hickok needed to figure out what was going on. The details of the shooting are still in question, so it's likely Hickok knew even less than we do today. He rushed into the lobby and was probably directed to the source of the shots on the second floor. There was a dead man in one of the rooms, and he was clearly the source of the shots on the second floor. There was a dead man in one of the rooms, and he was clearly the victim of the shooting. His name would be reported in the Abilene Chronicle as Charles Cougar. The newspaper also stated that there were four bullet holes in the wall of Cougar's hotel room. It looked like someone in the neighboring room had fired through

the wall and killed Cougar while the poor man was sitting in his bed reading the newspaper. There was obviously nothing Bill could do for the dead man, so he looked for the shooter. But the gunman was nowhere to be found. Bill hadn't seen him in the hall or the lobby, so the killer must have escaped out the window. In the years that followed, that was exactly the story that was circulated. The killer or killers crawled out of a second-story window and onto the roof of the hotel. Then he or they jumped down into a small wagon and hightailed it south out of town. Justice for the killing was delayed but not denied, though Bill wouldn't live to see it.

was delayed but not denied, though Bill wouldn't live to see it. At the moment, here in the waning days of the summer of 1871, the Abilene Chronicle informed its readers that the culprit was Wesley Clements, alias Arkansas. But what the newspaper meant was John Wesley Harden, the killer from Texas who was just 18 years old. the killer from Texas who was just 18 years old. As a podcast network, our first priority has always been audio and the stories we're able to share with you. But we also sell merch, and organizing that was made both possible and easy with Shopify. Shopify is the global commerce platform that helps you sell and grow at every stage of your business. From the launch your online shop stage all the way to the did we just hit a million orders stage. Whether you're selling scented soap or offering outdoor outfits, Shopify helps you sell everywhere.

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Shopify has allowed us to share something tangible with the podcast community we've built here, selling our beanies, sweatshirts, and mugs to fans of our shows without taking up too much time from all the other work we do to bring you even more great content. And it's not just us. Shopify powers 10% of all e-commerce in the U.S. Shopify is also the global force behind Allbirds, Rothy's, and Brooklinen, and millions of other entrepreneurs of every size across 175 countries.

Because businesses that grow, grow with Shopify. Sign up for a $1 per month trial period at shopify.com slash realm, all lowercase. Go to shopify.com slash r-e-a-l-m now to grow your business, no matter what stage you're in. Shopify.com slash realm. From Black Barrel Media, this is Legends of the Old West. I'm your host, Chris Wimmer. In this season, we're telling the story of legendary lawman and gunfighter Wild Bill Hickok.

This is Episode 4, The Marshal of Abilene. The trouble that jumped off late in the summer and became worse in the fall had been simmering for a couple months. Wild Bill became the Marshal of Abilene in mid-April 1871. The next month, Phil Coe arrived in town. He's commonly labeled a gunfighter, though hardly anyone gives details about how he acquired that reputation. Whether he was a shootist or not, a future mayor of Abilene called him, as vile a character as I ever met. And that vile character teamed up with a real gunman, Ben Thompson, to start a saloon. It was

called the Bull's Head Tavern, and it was out on the edge of town so that it was the first joint the cowboy saw when they rode into Abilene. And as the two unsavory characters began to stir up trouble, a teenage killer from Texas added himself to a brew that was already toxic. John Wesley Harden was a Methodist preacher's son from Bonham, Texas. Bonham is just east of Sherman, Texas, where Jesse James and the rest of Quantrill's raiders liked to spend the winter during the Civil War. And Bonham is only 10 miles south of the Red River, so if an outlaw committed a crime, it was a short ride to Indian territory.

By the time Hardin was 18, he'd already stabbed a schoolmate, killed a former slave, possibly killed a gambler, possibly killed a lawman in Waco, possibly killed three soldiers who were sent to catch him, and possibly wounded several other men in gunfights. As you'll hear in an upcoming series, John Wesley Harden was the greatest promoter of the deeds of John Wesley Harden, so accuracy is a bit of an issue. Regardless of the numbers, he was fast with a gun and had no problem killing, and Phil Coe and Ben Thompson tried to use that to their

advantage. Harden arrived in Abilene in early June with a herd of cattle, according to his own story of his life. He encountered Marshal Hickok shortly after he hit town and learned that there was a law against carrying guns in city limits. Hardin didn't seem to have a problem with the rule. He didn't seem to be one of those eternally angry, cold-blooded murderers who just hates the world and everything in it. He had more personality to him, maybe a cross between Billy the Kid and Doc Holliday.

Hardin was on the run from Texas, and now he struck a deal with Hickok. Hickok wouldn't arrest him and serve the murder warrant, and Harden wouldn't kill anyone while he was in town. With the bargain in place, there are accounts that say Hickok and Harden became friends. They drank and gambled and generally had a good time together. Phil Coe and Ben Thompson noticed the improbable friendship between the 34-year-old lawman and the 18-year-old gunslinger. The saloon owners repeatedly whispered in Harden's ear and tried to poison him against Hickok. They tried to coax Harden into killing the famous marshal,

but Harden wouldn't go for it. Not only was Hickok friendly toward Harden into killing the famous marshal, but Harden wouldn't go for it. Not only was Hickok friendly toward Harden and looking the other way on the warrant, but Harden wasn't some hot-headed, arrogant child who wanted to test his luck in a gunfight against a man who'd proven himself over and over again. If Coe and Thompson wanted to kill Hickok, they'd have to do it themselves. As the summer progressed, Hardin kept his word. But for the young outlaw in those years, it was only a matter of time. In the early morning hours of August 7th, the bloodless streak came to an end.

There are tons of different versions of the story, but it's the infamous Snoring Man incident. There are tons of different versions of the story, but it's the infamous Snoring Man incident. That night, Hardin was out drinking, possibly with his cousin, Gib Clements. At the end of the night, they returned to their room at the American House Hotel. They were thoroughly drunk, and at some point in the night, Hardin, and maybe Clements too, fired four shots through the wall into the room next door. When they realized they'd killed the man in the room Charles Cougar they dashed for the window

and jumped out onto the roof. Harden didn't even bother to grab his pants. They slid off the roof and escaped town and never set foot in Abilene again. set foot in Abilene again. It's tempting to dramatize the event into a movie escapade, but the fact is, no one knows for sure what happened. A version says an intruder burst into Harden's room, Harden grabbed his gun and fired, then jumped out the window, slid down the roof, fell into a wagon, and used it to escape

town. Another version theorizes that Harden and Clements were trying to sleep and the guy next door was snoring. They yelled at him to stop. He woke up, sat up in bed, and started reading his newspaper. Then he dozed off and started snoring again. So Harden and maybe Clements fired four shots through the wall in a drunken attempt to get the man to be quiet. One of the shots killed him, and that's why the paper reported he died sitting up in bed with the newspaper in his lap. Harden thought Hickok might run into the hotel and shoot him before trying to arrest him, so he escaped the hotel,

hid in a hay bale for part of the night, then stole a horse and fled town. The bottom line was, a man died in the American House Hotel in early August, and Harden was probably responsible. And that was John Wesley Harden's last night in Abilene. was John Wesley Harden's Last Night in Abilene. With Harden's exit, the simmering trouble between Phil Coe and Bill Hickok rose to a boil. Coe had more animosity toward Hickok than his partner Ben Thompson did. It seems like they both wanted the strict lawman gone, but Coe was more forceful in his reproach. Thompson didn't seem like he was itching for a fight, even though he was the more proven gunman of the two. Thompson was born in England,

but his family moved to Austin, Texas when he was young. He and his younger brother Billy served with the Texas Mounted Rifles in the Civil War, and then Ben went down to Mexico as a soldier of fortune. Presumably, that's where he met Phil Coe. Coe was born in Gonzales, Texas, and served with the Texas Cavalry in the Civil War, and then went down to Mexico as a mercenary. Coe was up in Kansas by 1870, and then he and Thompson opened the Bull's Head Saloon in Abilene in the spring of 1871.

Coe and Thompson were known as Texas gunfighters, and with all the trouble that had been caused by Texas cowboys over the years, the bar owners were not loved by the people of Abilene. And when their saloon quickly became the rowdiest in town, they had frequent run-ins with the new marshal and his stable of deputies. They had frequent run-ins with the new marshal and his stable of deputies. In the first week of October, the cattle season was in its final week of the year. It was the last hurrah for the cowboys who were still in town, and they wanted to go out with a bang.

They started a bar crawl at the Apple Jack Saloon. They went from saloon to saloon, drinking heavily and adding people to the group as they went. At one point, they passed the boarding house where Hickok was having dinner. Hickok stepped outside, saw that the crowd wasn't carrying guns, and then made a contribution to their drinking fund. Later that evening, around 9 p.m., Hickok was with his friend and deputy, Mike Williams. They were outside the theater that was the current stop on the bar crawl. As the cowboys whooped it up inside, a gunshot rang out from a neighboring street. Hickok walked toward the sound and found Phil Coe outside the Alamo Saloon.

Coe had a pistol in his hand, and he said he'd just shot a dog. The possession and use of a gun in town was illegal, but it seemed like Hickok might let it slide. But then Coe turned the gun toward Hickok, and in an instant, Wild Bill pulled both pistols. He fired twice and hit Coe in the stomach with both shots. Coe squeezed off a couple rounds, but they went wild. As Phil Coe fell to the ground, Hickok caught a flash of movement out of the corner of his eye. He spun and fired and shot another man who'd run into the street. The man died on the spot. Hickok turned back to the crowd of cowboys and told them to get on their horses and get out of town damn quick. The reverie of the night was broken, and the cowboys mounted up and rode toward their camps.

At that point, Bill went to the second man he'd shot and made a terrible discovery. He'd killed his deputy, Mike Williams. Mike had been a good friend on the force, and Mike had hurried toward the sounds of the gunshots when Bill drew down on Phil Coe. Not only was the reverie broken, but something broke inside Bill that night too. He'd killed a friend in a tragic accident, and he was never the same afterward. Shop with Rakuten and you'll get it. What's it? It's the best deal. The highest cash back.

The most savings on your shopping. So join Rakuten and start getting cash back at Sephora, Old Navy, Expedia, and other stores you love. You can even stack sales on top of cash back. Just start your shopping with Rakuten to save money at over 750 stores. Join for free at rakuten.ca or get the Rakuten app. That's R-A-K-U-T-E-N. Hickok never talked about the killing, but it's probably safe to say he was sad and angry at the same time. Right after the shooting, he helped carry Mike's body into a nearby saloon. Then he reloaded his pistols, grabbed his shotgun, and went back out into the

street. He went from saloon to saloon and ordered the cowboys to get gone or he'd shoot them right there. Word spread fast that Hickok was shutting down the town, and cowboys hurried for their camps. By the time Hickok made it to the last saloon, the town was pretty much empty. The next day, Bill wired Mike's mother about the tragedy. He paid all the expenses for her to come to town and take her son back to Kansas City to be buried. Phil Coe survived the first night and lingered in agony for four days before he passed away. His partner Ben Thompson thought it was probably a good idea to move along, so he drifted west toward other cow towns and had a memorable encounter in one

with a young marshal named Wyatt Earp. Even after the shootout with Phil Coe, outlaws were still gunning for Wild Bill. A few weeks later, as winter was on the doorstep of Abilene, three gunmen came to town to kill Hickok. They claimed that the mother of someone Bill shot put a $10,000 bounty on his head. Bill learned of their intent and pulled off a nifty trick. He spread word that he was taking the train to Topeka, and it wasn't a lie. He boarded the eastbound train and began the trip. The three gunmen followed him onto the train as he knew they would. They took their seats in one of the cars, and Bill surprised them with a sawed-off shotgun. He forced them to walk out onto the platform between cars,

and then jump off the train while it was chugging along at a good pace. The jump must have hurt like hell, and they never came back to Abilene. Bill had successfully avoided another shootout in the middle of town. And in fact, the gunfight with Phil Coe was the last of Hickok's career. He found himself in plenty of scrapes and tussles and bar room fights in his remaining years, but there were no more shootouts. And as Bill went through a change in the second half of 1871, part of it was probably due to meeting his future wife. 1871, part of it was probably due to meeting his future wife. Agnes Lake was the first woman in America to own and operate a circus. Traveling circuses were huge in the 1800s, and in 1871,

there were 26 different groups that crisscrossed America throughout the spring and summer. On July 31st, Agnes Lake's strangely titled Hippo Olympiad and Mammoth Circus arrived in Abilene. She and her troupe performed for three nights and then moved on. But during that time, Bill attended one or all of the shows. He met Agnes, and apparently their brief encounter made an impression on both of them. Agnes had been a widow for two years, and she was nearly 11 years older than Bill. But the age difference didn't seem to matter. She was born in Germany and given the name Maria Agnes Polschneider at birth. Her family moved to America, and she fell in love with a circus performer

named William Lake Thatcher at a young age. She literally ran off to join the circus. They got married and eventually started their own show. But he was tragically killed in 1869, and then she became the first woman to fully own and operate a circus. Bill and Agnes would encounter each other again soon and begin exchanging letters as a romance slowly blossomed. And it was probably her influence that led Bill to a radical career change. Just like in Hayes City, his time in Abilene was brief, less than a year. He'd made his mark on Abilene, for better or worse, and it was mostly better. for better or worse, and it was mostly better. In December 1871, the town leaders decided they no longer needed a lawman with Bill's ability and reputation with guns. The town had changed.

It was more tame, partly because of Bill and partly because the railroad was progressing to the west and new cow towns were opening up. So as 1872 rolled around, Bill was once again unemployed. But his fame as a lawman and a gunfighter was secure, and soon he decided to try to make money off it, and it did not go well at all. Like he had all his life, Bill drifted west after Abilene. He ended up in Georgetown, Colorado in the early spring of 1872, and that's where he met one of the handful of men who he considered true friends.

Colorado Charlie Utter was similar to Bill in some ways, and very different in others. They both had long hair. They both wore two guns. They wore buckskin clothes with some regularity. They both loved gambling. And they were both considered weird at the time because they took a bath every day. Yeah, that was laughable behavior in 1872, and people would make fun of you for having silly habits like cleanliness. People would make fun of you for having silly habits like cleanliness. The obvious difference between the two was that Bill was over six feet tall and Charlie was five foot six. Charlie was born near Niagara Falls in upstate New York, which would be the site of Bill's next adventure.

Bill and Charlie spent a couple months playing poker in Georgetown and formed enough of a bond that Bill would seek Charlie out in the future. But like Bill's meeting with Agnes Lake, this first stint was relatively short, though Bill probably learned that he had more in common with Charlie than some appearance-related things. Charlie was born in New York, but he grew up in Illinois just like Bill. Charlie was only a year younger, so they spent their early years on homesteads in the same state. Like Bill, he drifted west in his later teenage years and ended up in Kansas. But during the years of bleeding Kansas, Charlie wanted no part of the constant violence. He continued west in search of gold that was rumored to be in Colorado. Charlie ended up in the snowy range of the

Medicine Bow Mountains. He was the only white man in the area. He built a cabin and became decent friends with members of the Ute tribe who passed through the area. A few years later, he married a young woman and built a new ranch farther south near the town of Empire, Colorado. For those who know the area, it's about 30 miles straight west of Denver off modern-day Interstate 70. And just south of Empire, right on Interstate 70,

is the small community of Georgetown. Charlie used to ride down to Georgetown to spend time gambling, which was how he met Bill in the spring of 1872. But after a couple months playing poker with Charlie in Colorado, Bill headed back east. He went to Kansas City, where he finally began to confront a problem that had been growing for some period of time. While Bill Hickok's eyesight was failing, he experienced blurred vision and irritation.

For the most famous lawman in the West, who had a permanent target on his back, that was bad. A doctor in Kansas City reportedly told Bill that he would eventually go blind, though to this day, no one knows the exact problem. There are no surviving medical records or other documents that can provide a specific name for the issue, but it slowly grew worse over time. In his own mind, Bill had probably already retired as a lawman, but the diagnosis would have solidified it. He could still make some kind of living as a gambler, but that was obviously unreliable. So when Sidney Barnett approached Bill in Kansas City

with an idea for a traveling Wild West show, Bill jumped at the chance. Barnett wanted to do what Buffalo Bill actually did several years later. He wanted to take the experience of the West and show it to Eastern audiences. Barnett pitched an idea to Hickok, and Hickok invested all his money. Wild Bill would be the master of ceremonies,

and the goal was to begin the show at Niagara Falls, which had recently become a hot tourist destination in summer months. And with summer fast approaching, they had to work quickly. They called the show The Daring Buffalo Chase of the Plains. Obviously, a show like that would require buffalo, so Bill and three cowboys had a crazy experience rounding up six buffalo and herding them onto a train. Hickok and Barnett recruited four Comanche men to perform in the show, and the Comanche brought with them a tame bear and a pet monkey.

So, as Bill turned 35, this motley crew piled onto a train and headed for Niagara Falls. The concept of a Wild West show was good, as Buffalo Bill would prove in the future, but in this case, the execution was poor, though it was certainly entertaining. The crew arrived in Niagara Falls at the end of June and scheduled opening night for July 20, at the end of June and scheduled opening night for July 20, 1872. There was a ton of work to do to get ready. They had to build an arena and promote the show and sell tickets and also write the show. They didn't have much more than a basic concept. They were going to stage a buffalo hunt, but beyond that, they didn't have any firm plans, and even the buffalo hunt hadn't really been choreographed. As opening night drew closer,

the stage was almost literally set for a comedy of errors. Hickok and Barnett had spent almost all their money just feeding the performers and the animals during the trip to New York and during the pre-production phase. As a consequence, they had almost nothing left to build a proper arena. The venue, if you could call it that, was just a simple enclosure created by wire fence. And that was not going to stop six charging buffalo.

On opening night, thousands of people showed up. The excitement and anticipation was palpable. Wild Bill Hickok, the most famous frontier lawman and gunfighter, was about to bring the West to life. But the only sequence that Hickok and Barnett scripted, to some extent, was the buffalo chase. And as it turned out, they wouldn't need any more than that. The four Comanche and the three Cowboys pushed and prodded the six buffalo into the arena. The creatures were a fun spectacle for the audience, but then the animals just stood there. So Hickok fired one of his guns, and that scared the buffalo into running.

The Comanches, the Cowboys, and a pack of dogs chased the buffalo. The buffalo were now terrified, and they smashed through the fence. Hickok and the cowboys galloped after the buffalo, which ran straight into a residential neighborhood. Residents locked and barred their doors as the scared animals rampaged through town. Bill and the cowboys eventually corralled the buffalo and herded them back to camp, but by that point, opening night was destined to be closing night. Back at the arena, a spectator had opened the bear's cage, and the monkey got loose and started throwing food at the crowd. By the time Bill and the cowboys returned with the escapees, crowd. By the time Bill and the Cowboys returned with the escapees, most of the audience was gone.

It was the one and only performance of the daring Buffalo chase of the plains, and Bill had to sell the Buffalo to local butchers to buy train tickets for himself and the others back to Kansas City. Bill was broke, and that fall he drifted back to Springfield, Missouri, the site of his gunfight with Davis Tut five years earlier. Bill spent the winter in Independence, Missouri, and then headed back to Kansas City in the spring of 1873. By that time, the changes to Wild Bill Hickok were visible. His clothes were a little ragged, he was drinking more than he used to, and his eyesight was getting worse. His only way to make a living was to gamble, and lots of towns in the West were cracking down on drifting gamblers. In Kansas City, Wild Bill Hickok was arrested for

vagrancy. That became the common charge against drifting gamblers who had no jobs or other source of income. And it wouldn't be the last time Bill was arrested as a vagrant. But when he was probably approaching his lowest point, an old friend rode to the rescue. Buffalo Bill Cody was in town, and he offered Hickok a chance at salvation. Ironically, it was in the form of a performance piece, the one that was vastly different from Hickok's failed Wild West show. Cody's show was a stage play called Scouts of the Plains. It was written by one of the most notorious and despicable characters in the history of the West, Ned Buntline. The early shows had received terrible reviews, but people still flocked to see it. It was Hickok's only reliable way to make money,

so he agreed and headed out on tour with Buffalo Bill. Next time on Legends of the Old West, Wild Bill has a hell of a time as an actor. He drinks too much, fights too much, and hates the play. But he reunites with Agnes, and then with Charlie Utter, and he makes the fateful decision to try his luck in a new camp called Deadwood. That's next week on Legends of the Old West. And members of our Black Barrel Plus program don't have to wait week to week.

They receive the entire season to binge all at once with no commercials. Sign up now through the link in the show notes or on our website, blackbarrelmedia.com. Memberships begin at just $5 per month. Audio editing and sound design by Dave Harrison. Original music by Rob Valliere. I'm your writer, host, and producer, Chris Wimmer. If you enjoyed the show, please leave us a rating and a review on Apple Podcasts or wherever you're listening. Check out our website, blackbarrelmedia.com, for more details and join us on social media. We're at Old West Podcast on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. This show is part of the Airwave Media Podcast Network.

Airwave Media Podcast Network. Please visit airwavemedia.com to check out other great podcasts like Ben Franklin's World, Once Upon a Crime, and many more. Thanks for listening.