One of Gib's most popular western pieces is Aces and 8s, depicting the moment on the afternoon of August 2, 1876, just before 'Wild Bill' Hickok was gunned down in Deadwood, Dakota Territory. We asked Gib for the back story, and here's what he told i Deadwood was a rough and tumble frontier town, Gib said, populated mostly by 'miners, gamblers, gunmen and whores.' It wasn't even supposed to exist, because the land on which it was built had been granted to the local tribes. But in 1874, George Armstrong Custer led an Army expedition into the Black Hills and discovered gold.
The resulting rush brought thousands of gold seekers and opportunists, and Deadwood was founded. (The U.S. ultimately reneged on the Treaty, and ownership of the Black Hills is disputed to this day. The Lakota and Cheyenne repaid Custer for his part in the whole affair at the Little Big Horn just five weeks before Hickok's murder.) Hickok was a legendary figure. By the time of his death at age 39, he was famous as a scout, gunfighter and lawman. While many of his exploits were embellished (or even made up) by authors of pulp novels, there was some consensus that he had killed some three dozen men with his Colt Navy pistols.
Like all legends, this one has some mystery to it, including why Hickok had his back to the street that one time, why the killer, 'Broken Nose' Jack McCall, singled him out, and what hand Wild Bill actually held. 'The first one is easy,' Gib said. When Hickok came into the saloon, the guy sitting with his back to the wall was on a lucky streak and he wasn't going to do anything to change it. So either Hickok took the empty chair or he didn't play.
*Why did McCall kill him? Well, some people said it was because Hickok had killed his brother when he was the marshal down in Abilene. Other people said McCall lost his stake in a game the day before and was insulted because Hickok offered to buy him breakfast and told him not to play if he couldn't cover his losses.
'But as I understand it, Hickok was fooling around with McCall's mother. The kid didn't like that and said, "I'm gonna kill you," but Hickok laughed it off. Then the kid was walking down the sidewalk and saw him sitting with his back turned and just shot him.
*The hand Hickok held was supposed to be two black aces and two black eights, which people started calling the "Dead Man's Hand". That's where the name of the piece comes from - Aces and 8. Nobody knows what the fifth card was. He had four up and one down. If they were playing Five Card Draw, that down card may even have been a discard. But the legend is Hickok had been losing and suddenly thought he had a good hand, which may have been why he didn't pay enough attention to the street. I personally think he had a full house. My guess is he had another eight.'
Whatever the details, Gib said the moral of the story is clear. 'Hickok never sat with his back to the window. He made a mistake, man. That's the lesson. You got a lot of people looking for you, don't turn your back?'
- JOHN GOEKLER