- [Narrator] News is the first draft of history.
It is immediate and takes place in real time.
Legends take longer to develop
and are sometimes based on myth.
This Fox News series looks at the truth behind the legend.
(chattering) (suspenseful music continues)
- Barmaid, drink for my deputy, please.
(gunshot)
- [Wild Bill] Mike, stay here.
Who fired that shot?
- Just shooting at a stray dog, Hickok.
- I don't care what you're shooting at Bill.
The law says no guns in town.
(screaming)
(gunshots)
♪ My country 'tis of thee
♪ Sweet land of liberty
♪ Land where my father's died
♪ Land of the pilgrim's pride
♪ From every mountain side
♪ Let freedom ring.
- [Narrator] On the North American plains
opportunity calls men of courage
to chase the sun west into a new frontier.
They would shape a nation
lay hold of their destiny
and birth a new mythology.
But with the passing time,
every myth has its reckoning.
James Butler Hickok better known to America as Wild Bill,
an unruly lawman and king of the quick draw,
turned professional gambler and ruthless killer.
But behind every badge stands a man
and behind every legend lies the truth.
- Wild Bill Hickok,
even his nickname conjures an image
of an out-of-control gunslinger.
The truth is Bill Hickok is a righteous man of justice
who would much rather avoid a fight than start one.
There was some truth to his legend, though.
If you dare to take on Wild Bill
chances are you'll wind up dead.
- [Narrator] In the spring of 1861,
24 year old William Hickok turns up in Rock Creek, Nebraska,
a tiny stop on the Pony Express
where Bill works odd jobs, keeps to himself,
and stays out of trouble.
- Horace got my money yet, Duckbill?
- Not yet. Told you not to call me that.
- Well, you tell him I'm coming back.
You tell him I'm coming back for what's rightfully mine.
- If you knew what a wholesome disregard I had
for liars and rascals,
they'd be liable to stay out of my way.
- I'm coming back, Bill. I'm coming back.
- The station was owned by a tough local character
who had Southern sympathies by the name of Dave McCanles
and the Pony Express company hadn't been paying their rent.
McCanles was always coming around
and harassing the people at the station.
- So there was animosity between David McCanles
and Wild Bill Hickok.
And McCanles was a bully.
- [Narrator] Hickok's dislike for bullies
traces back to his youth in Illinois.
As a young boy, Hickok grows up with abolitionist parents.
His family is part of the Underground Railroad
that helped slaves escape to freedom.
- The underground railroad was a network of trails
and safe houses that helped people escape
from slavery to the north and then on to Canada.
It's illegal to do what they were doing,
but many would be involved for what they would call
higher law, higher calling.
- [Narrator] Hickok is expected to help
despite the risk of being caught
by bounty hunters and shot dead.
- Hurry, Pa, they're catching up.
(horses whinny)
(whistling)
- [Searcher 1] I'm not seeing anything over here.
Come on, let's go.
- [Searcher 2] Let's get outta here.
(suspenseful music plays)
- [Narrator] The danger of rescuing slaves
makes a lasting impression on young Bill,
giving him a fearlessness
that begins to define him as a man.
- [Thug 1] Oh, down he goes.
- [Thug 2] What are you going to do, cry?
(laughing)
- [Wild Bill] Hey.
- [Narrator] Hickok continues his abolitionist ways
working in the Union army.
He comes to the rescue of one of his fellow scouts,
a 12 year old named William Cody.
The two would remain lifelong friends.
- [Wild Bill] All right, son?
You fellows like picking on children?
- Hickok's sense of justice,
greatly influenced by his parents,
caused him to get into situations
where he should always stand up for right.
He was a defender of the downtrodden.
He was a defender of those who couldn't defend himself
and all this added to his aura.
- [Narrator] The restless Hickok makes his way west
and finds work with the Pony Express.
- The Pony Express is the fastest means of communication
in the old west.
A relay set up
between different riders
to get letters from one of these outposts to the other.
So what towns ended up doing
are setting up relay stations along the way.
And it's at one of those relay stations
that Wild Bill Hickok,
who at this point is not Wild Bill, but Duckbill,
has his first brush with violence and fame.
- [Narrator] The owners of the Rock Creek Station
are in debt to Dave McCanles
and he wants his money or the deed to the property.
- We don't have it.
- He's right. We ain't got it.
- Horace, there's someone coming.
- Dave's here,
with his son and the James's.
- Ladies, better go to the cellar.
- Go that way.
(pounding on door)
- This ain't your property no more.
- Well, I guess, since you haven't paid, it's mine again.
Well, hello, Duck. How about a glass of water?
There's no need for that.
Mr. McCanles will be leaving soon.
We can't pay what we don't have.
You'll get your money.
- When! That's the question.
- [Jane] It is not a matter of pride
that we do not pay our debts.
- [McCanles] What is it a matter of?
- Sir, we have a piece of paper that says this is,
- I have a piece of paper that says you owe me two months.
(gunshot)
(scream)
(gunshot)
(screams)
(suspenseful music plays)
- The biggest mystery of the shootout at Rock Creek
is who fires first, Wellman or Hickok.
We won't ever know for sure,
but many historians find it hard to believe
that Hickok would take the first shot,
especially from behind a curtain.
It's just not in his character.
The more likely scenario is that Wellman
takes the first shot and Hickok,
being the better shot, prevails.
- [Narrator] The boy escapes,
but two in McCanles's gang are still alive.
The Wellmans act out of desperation in the moment.
But Hickok is determined to see it through to the end.
- You started this.
- Now we got to finish it.
(screams)
- The McCanles incident becomes the story of one man,
single-handedly taking on an entire gang of ruffians.
(gunshot)
And Wild Bill becomes someone
who has not just killed maybe one or two men, but hundreds.
This is the moment where the Wild Bill legend is born.
And it is that legend that Hickok will trade on
for the rest of his life.
- [Narrator] Hickok is now branded a gunslinger,
a reputation that is undeserved.
But to survive the untamed west,
it's a reputation he will need to earn.