DEADWOOD
DICK
May
6, 1930, Deadwood, South Dakota, the Black Hills gold mining town,
where dance halls and saloons bring in tourist, the last of a
picturesque procession of early plainsmen died of old age and
pneumonia.
'Deadwood
Dick' m Indian fighter, fur trader, pony express rider and military
scout for General George Custer. He was 83 years old.
With
the death this year of 'Poker Alice' Tubbs, it left 'Deadwood Dick'
the lone survivor of the Black Hills pioneers, whose exploits gave
reality to Wild West novels.
Gone
before there was 'Wild Bill Hickok' who was shot in the back of his
head by Jack McCall in a Deadwood gaming house. Preacher Smith,
killed by the Indians, Johnny Slaughter, stage coach driver, shot
and killed by robbers stealing a shipment of gold .
“Poker
Alice”, graduate of a select southern girls school, attained the
distinction of a poker and faro dealer in the gold camps, was the
best known woman character of early Black Hill days.
Another
was 'Calamity Jane' who was Martha Jane Canary, who had a
questionable
reputation, but gained the 'nickname' when mountain fever broke out
in General Cooks camp near Rapid City and she nursed sick soldiers
back to health.
Most
of of the pioneers we talk about today, 'died with their boots on'
but Deadwood Dick did not. Surviving the rigors of the wild west
pioneer life, he lived to become a tradition and was pointed out to
tourist as the last landmark of the 'old west'. Last year, he made
a trip to Washington, D.C. by airplane and was received and
honored by President Coolidge.
He
was born, 1847, Richard Clarke, in Hansbourough, England, came to
America at age16, joined up with a party of prospectors in Illinois
and made the difficult over land trip to the black Hills when the
'gold rush' was at it height.
As
Richard Clarke he became a stage coach driver out of Deadwood where
he became known
as
'Deadwood Dick' .
Abstract:
Wilmington Evening Journal, May 6, 1930, Wilmington, Delaware
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