Bill became enamored with guns and began target practice on small wildlife around the farm. During this time, the lean and wiry young man got his first taste of hostile gunfire when he and his father were chased by law officers who suspected them of carrying more than just hay in their wagon. His parents also operated a station along the Underground Railroad, where they smuggled slaves out of the South. Bill had four brothers and two sisters, and his parents were God-fearing Baptists who expected Bill to keep up his chores on the farm and attend church every Sunday. James Butler Hickok was born in Troy Grove, Illinois, on May 27, 1837, to William Alonzo Hickok and Polly Butler Hickok. James Butler Hickok, better known as “ Wild Bill,” was a wagon master, soldier, scout, lawman, gunfighter, gambler, showman, and actor well-known in the American West. Captain Jack Crawford, who scouted with Wild Bill before they both followed the gold rush to Deadwood. … He was loyal in his friendship, generous to a fault, and invariably espoused the cause of the weaker against the stronger one in a quarrel.” “… Wild Bill had his faults, grievous ones, perhaps … He would get drunk, gamble, and indulge in the general licentiousness characteristic of the border in the early days, yet even when full of the vile libel of the name of whiskey which was dealt over the bars at exorbitant prices, he was gentle as a child unless aroused to anger by intended insults.
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