Wild Bill thought he would head to the gold camps in the Black Hills of the Dakotas. While on his way there, he stopped in Cheyenne, Wyoming, where he married Agnes Lake Thatcher, in 1876. They honeymooned in Cincinnati. From there he went on to Deadwood, South Dakota in the summer of 1876.
It was a gold rush boom town then. On August 2, 1876, Wild Bill sat down for a poker game at Nuttall & Mann's No. 10 saloon. At the table were Carl Mann, owner of the saloon; Captain William R. Massey, a former Missouri River pilot; and Charles Rich, a gambler, gunman, and Wild Bill's friend. For the first time, Wild Bill sat with his back to the door instead of sitting with his back to a wall. Jack McCall, a 25-year-old drifter, shot Wild Bill in the back of the head. At the time he died, Wild Bill was holding two black aces, two black eights, and the jack of diamonds, forever called "the deadman's hand."
McCall was tried the next day, but acquitted. He claimed he was revenging his brother, who Wild Bill had supposedly killed in Kansas. He was tried again, his first trial being declared illegal since it took place in Indian territory. He was convicted and hung on March 1, 1877.
Wild Bill was buried at Deadwood. His Sharps rifle was buried with him. He was 39 years old.
