KCPL, author Craig Crease to highlight Wild Bill’s time in the KC area
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Kansas City Public Library and historian Craig Crease will be hosting a special event on Saturday, July 13 from 2 p.m. to 3 p.m. The event will highlight the life and times of James Butler Hickok, better known as Wild Bill, through Crease’s new book.
“The Wanderer: James Butler Hickok and the American West” focuses on the stories of the famous western lawman, gambler and folk hero. This edition of the Missouri Valley Saturdays will also give insight into Hickok’s time in the Kansas City area.
Crease’s book details that although Wild Bill only spent a few years of his youth in the Kansas City area, they were packed with stories of adventure, the Civil War and much more. When Hickok returned to the area years later, he was a living legend.
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Initially, Hickok came to Leavenworth in 1856 via a St. Louis riverboat. In just a few short years, he would go on to stake a claim in the Kansas Territory, fall in love, serve as a bodyguard for a future U.S. senator and participate in two of the Border War battles that eventually led to the Civil War.
Now going by Wild Bill, Hickok returned to the area in 1872, residing in what is now Kansas City’s River Market. However, the western legend moved on to Springfield and various other parts of the U.S. before being killed at a poker game in Deadwood, Dakota Territory at just 39 years old.
To learn more about Wild Bill and his time in Kansas City and the surrounding areas, RSVP for the KCPL’s event on Saturday here.
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