Fair Poker Rooms

Jack McCall (c.1850-1877): Lousy Poker Man II

The "miner's court" was no court at all. It was what we call today a "kangaroo court," unsanctioned by the U.S, judiciary of that time. Deadwood and the Black Hills region were in an autonomous Sioux Reservation that was almost immune from the U.S. justice system. Probably McCall thought, even just for a moment, that this complication could facilitate his escape from retribution. And it does - with a little something in the pockets of its officials.

So where did he get the money? Though the acquittal is factual, the bribery issue is an allegation as much as that about McCall being a hitman - but not without basis. Remember that Deadwood and the surrounding Black Hills was in the middle of a gold rush, and people were monied. But more so were McCall's employers, one of whom he implicates in his real trial.

For several days, Deadwood tolerated his liberated presence until he decides to leave - a sort of "in case the people change their minds!" Wyoming unsuspectingly receives him, and it would have been that way if not for his stupid bragging. At every stage stop and saloon his presence enters, the death of the greatest frontiers law man by his hand was broadcast by his mouth. By this alone, it seems that the story about Lew McCall being his brother gains some credibility: Lew, according to reports, was a braggart, a loud-mouth. It wouldn't be a surprise if Jack's very mouth costs him his life.

But unlike Lew's misfortune, a trial would lay out before Jack's final days. It goes without saying that the U.S. Deputy Marshal in Laramie immediately intercepts this information. Jack is arrested on the 29th of August as a murder suspect, and is hauled to Yankton in Dakota Territory to face trial.

In October, he was indicted; on December 4, the trial begins. Jack McCall was unrepentant. In the trial, he implicates a certain gambler named John Varnes of Deadwood had bribed him for the task. When he could not be found, McCall pulls out the name Tim Brady, who also disappears from Deadwood. If the hitman theory turns out to be true, then these two may well have been the ones that truly got away.

The verdict was handed down two days later: guilty as charged. Wild Bill's brother Lorenzo, who attended the trial, was allowed to speak to McCall afterwards. McCall, in addition to standing firm on his "gun-for-hire" story, was as equally remorseless. Attempts to request for a retrial and commutation of sentence, however, were made but to no avail.

On March 1 1877, Jack McCall was hanged, and when dead, was taken from the gallows and buried in a Catholic cemetery with the noose still around his neck.

Before his death, he actually reached celebrity status, signing autographs and granting interviews behind bars. A hundred and thirty years later, Jack is not forgotten. HBO produces an award-winning mini-series of his life in Deadwood.