From a distasteful painting that got people killed, to the unlikely location of a Civil War battle, these are some of the most interesting true stories of the Old West.
The Old West is brimming with stories.
Like a game of telephone, accounts of events that have been retold again and again over the course of more than a century have twisted original recollections beyond recognition of what actually happened.
This is how myths and legends are born. But look a little deeper into Old West history and you’ll be treated to a myriad of true stories that range from bizarre to haunting to hilarious.
Here’s a look at several genuinely true stories of the Old West.
A painting of a bull with abnormally large genitals sparked a deadly shootout in Kansas.
The kind of Wild West shootouts resulting in someone getting killed that are portrayed in movies are typically inspired by the kinds of trouble you’d expect: gambling disputes, women, robbery.
But in 1871, two men died by gunfire over an advertisement featuring a comically well-endowed bull. When two proprietors of the Bull’s Head Saloon painted the image on the side of the building’s wall, the town flew into an outrage and enlisted the help of City Marshal Wild Bill Hickok to remove it.
When they refused, Hickok took it upon himself to remove the mural, and enraged the saloon owners in the process. In an attempt to intimidate Hickok, one of the owners told him he could “kill a crow on the wing.”
What Hickok said next would become one of the most famous sayings in the west and prescient of what was to come:
Did the crow have a pistol? Was he shooting back? I will be.”
One of the owners later tried to fire at Hickok suddenly in the street, but he drew his gun first and killed him. This is where the story turns tragic. Seeing a figure rapidly running towards him from the corner of his eye, Hickok reactively fired and the figure crumpled.
He then saw that he’d accidentally killed his friend and associate Abilene Special Deputy Marshal Mike Williams, and the accident would go on to haunt him for the rest of his days.
Related read: Wild Bill: The True Story of the American Frontier’s First Gunfighter
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