August 2nd , 1878 Wild Bill Hickok was shot and killed in a saloon while playing cards. I have a good book on the life of James Butler Hickok, better known as “Wild Bill”.
I first cannot speak highly enough about Landmark Books from my childhood. As well as telling wonderful stories, I also collect the books because of their dust jackets. The artwork is fantastic. This book cover states that “Most boys and girls in Grade 6 can read this book themselves. Those in Grades 5 to 12 will find it interesting.” That book would be “Wild Bill Hickok Tames the West” by Stewart H. Holbrook, 1952.
Wild Bill was born James Butler Hickok, in Troy Grove, Illinois. His family were part of the Underground Railroad. James went on his first run (taking runaway slaves from one safehouse to the next) when he was ten years old. He was always a good shot with a gun. After young James got in a fight with his boss building a canal, (James thought he killed him) he went west.
Hickok worked on Mississippi Riverboat, as a stage driver, and a Union spy and scout. In towns like Hays City, Dodge City, and Abilene, James was the voice of the law. When he stood down a bunch of drunks in Hays City without even shooting his revolvers, a woman shouted “Way to go Wild Bill!” The name stuck.
He was friends with “Buffalo Bill” Cody, Kit Carson, and General Custer. Some rumors were he was even married at one time to Calamity Jane. In 1876, “Wild Bill” went to Dakota to hunt for gold. On August 2, he was in Deadwood Gulch at the Nuttal and Mann’s Saloon playing cards when Broken-Nose Jack McCall came up behind him and shot him in the head. Wild Bill Hickok died instantly, holding the poker cards black aces and eights, a hand that would forever then be known as the Deadman’s Hand.
We should raise a toast to a man who helped tame the wild West (even took the name wild as his own.) Today would be a good day for that because August 2nd, (the first Friday in August) is International Beer Day. I have a book to keep this August adventure going.
This book is “Beers of the World” by Bill Yenne, 1996. I have personally helped drink international beers when canoeing in boundary waters in Boy Scouts. We stopped at a Customs Trading Post and bought a six-pack of Carling Black Label Beer. Since then, l have drunk Kronenbourg 1664, in France; Spaten, Löwenbrau, Paulaner, and Hacker-Pschorr in Munich, (plus every local beer in whatever little German town I visited); Heineken in Amsterdam; Tsingtao Beer in China; Estrella Damm in Barcelona; Peroni in Rome; and Asahi Super Dry in Japan…just to name a few.
My favorite beer was another Japanese beer. I saw this ad when visiting a friend in Japan.
She tracked it down for me, and I took home a few.
As the label says “Will Smooth Beer is brewed from quality ingredients. This beer gives you a lot of refreshment. Open up! Enjoy your time.”
So enjoy your time. I’ll leave with a toast from the book “Toasts, Anecdotes, and After Dinner Speeches: The Fraternal and Modern Banquet Orator” by W.W. Dodge, 1903.
“The Frenchman loves his native wine;The German loves his beer. The Englishman loves his ‘alf and ‘alf, because it brings good cheer.
“The Irishman loves his ‘whiskey straight’ because it gives him dizziness; The American has no choice at all, so he drinks the whole d— business.“
Thanks for partaking with me today.
PS. Still having problems adding photos to comment section, so will add here in original.
A fellow world journeyer reminded me of hopped beverages in vending machines in Japan.
Librarytomes 