The hanging of Jack McCall on March 1, 1877, is so much a part of Yankton's history (and questionable lore) that it can't be overlooked in this work.

However, his acceptance as some sort of a folk-hero is a totally undeserved recognition and probably should be kissed off with a mere footnote -- but somehow there is great interest in the deeds and demise of Old West characters like Calamity Jane, Billy the Kid and Wild Bill Hickok -- McCall's victim -- so "Broken Nose" Jack will once again be memorialized here.

His story could almost be stretched into book length, but we'll confine it to two segments: the Deadwood episode and the final Yankton chapter.

Like so many historical puzzles with pieces missing, the saga of Jack McCall has drifted from sketchy truth into controversial folklore. The fact that he is better remembered than territorial governors and most upright citizens of his era is one of the enigmas of Dakota heritage.

Virtually nothing concrete is known of McCall's family or birthplace, although the best bet is that he was born in Jefferson County, Ky. It is said that he came to the Black Hills in the spring of 1876 -- the gold rush year -- as a driver on one of "Colorado Charlie" Utter's wagon trains. Supposedly Utter invited Wild Bill Hickok to accompany the same freight caravan, and that's when the off-and-on lawman, gambler and gun-slinger became acquainted with his eventual slayer.

Whether that was fact or fiction, McCall -- then in his mid-20s -- certainly was present in booming Deadwood on Aug. 2, 1876. The rough, tough mining town swarmed with gold-seekers and questionable characters; and the famous gulch was lined with hastily erected shacks and tents in which entrepreneurs of all moral shades traded supplies and services for gold dust and nuggets.

One of those establishments was the Number 10 Saloon (also identified in various publications as the Number 6, Number 66 or the Cricket Saloon). The infamous Number 10 usually has been depicted as a rough-board building, but one eyewitness described it as a "canvas saloon on main street."

Just what brought McCall and Hickok together on that fateful August day is another point of contention. McCall claimed he was avenging his brother whom Hickok had killed when he caught the younger McCall stealing chickens in Hays, Kan. Later it was claimed that McCall never had a brother and might have had three sisters instead.

Another thesis held that McCall -- a down-and-outer with little moral character -- was bribed by lawless individuals in Deadwood to assassinate Wild Bill because they didn't want him cleaning up the town as he reputedly did elsewhere. It must be remembered that there was no "official" law in the Black Hills, since everyone was there illegally because of the Indian treaty, so it was assumed that Hickok would provide the next best thing without badge or other credentials.

A third reason was related to gambling and with three versions: (1) McCall caught Hickok cheating at cards; (2) Hickok caught McCall cheating; and (3) the two of them were partners in flim-flamming other unsuspecting players and they later had a falling out.

George Adler, who claimed to be within "a half dozen paces" of the actual shooting, said that Hickok told McCall to "go to hell" when the latter asked for some money to buy a drink. Whereupon "McCaull" (as Adler spelled his name) went to get his six-shooter, later described variously as a 45-calibre Colt, a navy-size pistol and a Sharps improved revolver.

At any rate, there was no question but that McCall shot Wild Bill in the back of the head without warning. It was claimed, also, that Hickok somehow managed to draw his two pistols but he died before he could use them. The cards he supposedly held -- two black aces and black eights -- thereafter became known as "the dead man's hand."

The confusion continued in reports of McCall's attempted escape. Some say he went out the front door (or tent flap); others said the back. One witness insisted that he was taken into custody when he tried to untie a mule for his get-away. Another said he fell off his horse when the saddle cinch came loose. A fictionalized version has him captured in a butcher shop by Calamity Jane wielding a cleaver to avenge her lover.

McCall was apprehended, of course, and brought to trial before a miners' court in McDaniel's Theatre. "Judge" W. L. Kuykendall presided, a 12-man jury was selected, and the case was tried on the theatre stage.

McCall testified in his own behalf, and the Chicago Inter-Ocean reported his words: "Wild Bill killed my brother and I killed him."

It has been implied -- although unproven -- that the jury was bribed; but for whatever reason, McCall was set free and ordered out of Deadwood by the judge. Some say he was driven out of town at gunpoint by Wild Bill's friends, notably Charlie Utter, who apparently had brought him there in the first place.

From Deadwood the scene shifted later to a Laramie saloon where, in a drunken state, McCall bragged about murdering Wild Bill and was re-arrested. To indicate how so-called historical "facts" sometimes get garbled, various newspapers and individuals reported that the arrest took place in Hay Camp (as Rapid City was then known), at Cheyenne, in Custer City, at Sidney, Neb., or "somewhere in North Dakota" which wasn't even a state then.

Following his arrest, McCall was brought to Yankton by a U. S. marshal and incarcerated in the jail behind the county courthouse at Fifth and Douglas (which became the I.O.O.F. Hall). When he arrived in the territorial capital on Sept. 5, 1876, the Press and Dakotaian described him as "an evil looking man, young in years but apparently old in sin.

Earlier the Chicago Inter-Ocean had reported: "Never did a more forbidding countenance face a court than that of Jack McCall. His head, which is covered by a thick crop of chestnut hair, is very narrow as to the parts occupied by the intellectual portion of the brain, while the animal development is very large. A small, sandy mustache covers a sensual mouth. The nose is what is commonly called 'snub' ... [and he has] cross eyes and a florid complexion."

So it was -- despite all the conflicting accounts -- that the man who gets so much exposure as part of Yankton's past finally awaited his second trial and eventual hanging. It would be the first "official" execution in the Territory.

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Originally published May 16, 1994