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Ghost Town
In NorthernColorado
LongsPeak 
PioneerClimbers
Outlaws
In EarlyColorado
Skiing
SteamboatSprings
 
WildBillHickok 
The Man andthe Myth
NorthColorado
First PioneerTown
FrontierSchool
Snake inthe Classroom
CoverPicture:
Maroon BellsMountains,see page 3
 V 
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The Senior
 July 2008
Local Attractions • Scenic Places • History • Money • Health • News
 
2• July 2008 • The Senior Voice
 About Healthcare
T
here is little doubt in my mind thatAmerica’s health care system isbroken.We are headed toward a crisis, andAmericans are finding it more andmore difficult to obtain affordablecare.I was reminded of a comment thatsums up my view: “The health of thisnation is a national concern; financialbarriers in the way of attaining healthshould be removed.”That statement was made byPresident Harry Truman in 1945. It isclear that the issue has been buildingfor years and has, in my opinion,reached the breaking point.With an annual health care expen-diture of over $2 trillion, we arespending more per capita than ourcounterparts throughout the world. Infact, the U.S. currently spends 50percent more per capita on health carethan other industrialized countries.But what success do we see as a resultof this investment? Based upon statis-tics with which we have become alltoo familiar, the dollars are not trans-lating into readily-accessible,high-quality care.Our high spending might not besuch a cause for concern if we knewthat our citizens had access to carethat produced outstanding outcomes,but that is not the case. I hear frompeople in Colorado every day whocannot afford treatment for their basichealth care needs.According to the Department of Health and Human Services, nearly40 million people (19 percent of theU.S. population) did not receive“needed services” in 2005 becausethey could not pay for them.Where is the money going?________________
You can call Sen. Salazar’s Fort Collins office at 224-2200.
■
15 convenient locations for pick-up
Serving Fort Collins, Loveland,Greeley, Windsor and Longmont
Door-to-door service alsoavailable
(970) 663-3500
www.
hlchospice
.org
Compassionate carefor the whole family,when and whereit is needed the most.
 ByU.S. SenatorKen Salazar
 
The Senior Voice • July 2008 • 3
 Published Locally Since 1980
 VOL. 28, NO. 8
email thevoice@frii.com www.theseniorvoice.net
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The Senior Voice 
newspaper has beenpublished locally the first of each monthsince 1980 for residents age 50-plus.
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© Copyright 2008
The Senior Voice 
EDITORIAL OFFICE:
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No material may be reproduced by any means without permission of the publisher.
Dr. William Lambdin, Publisher 
By Bill Lambdin
I
n poker, aces and eights are called“a dead man’s hand” becausethat’s what Wild Bill Hickok heldwhen he was shot to death atDeadwood, South Dakota, in l876.A local drunk shot him in theback while Hickok played cards in asaloon, according to someresearchers. Hickok was 39 yearsold, the most famous lawman of histime. The drunk was 25.Born James Butler Hickok inl837 on an Illinois farm, Wild Billbecame one of the West’s bestknown figures. Many stories havebeen told about him, some true butmost exaggerated.He shot several men but not asmany as people believed. He joinedBuffalo Bill Cody’s Wild Westshow, but only for a brief timebecause he did not like it.He was an impressive lookingman, conscious of his reputation anda good shot with a pistol or rifle. Hewas six feet tall, wide shouldered,with golden-brown hair and a facethat many women found attractive.He dressed more like a gamblerthan a lawman, in a black frockcoat, white linen shirt and expensivecalfskin boots.Hickok became accustomed toviolence as a young man. In l859he worked as a wagon driver on theSanta Fe Trail and was nearlykilled by a bear near Trinidad,Colorado.In l86l some said he shot a stagestation operator over a woman theywere both courting. Hickok was nota lawman then, and the shootingwas considered murder by somepeople, though Hickok claimed self defense.He worked as a frontier scout forthe army, and in l865 he killedanother man: David Tutt was shotthrough the heart at 75 yards with apistol. That incident earned Hickoka reputation as a deadly, accurateshooter and a man to be feared.In l869 he became sheriff atAbiline, Kansas, then one of theroughest cow towns in the West,where he shot several outlaws orwild, drunken cowboys. Recordswere not accurately kept on suchmatters, and few frontiersmenwanted them to be.Although Hickok was a killer, hewas not a bully. Strangers who methim were surprised by how quietand courteous he was. Some of themen he shot probably drew on himfirst simply because of his reputa-tion.In one incident, he threw adrunken man in jail for disorderlybehavior. Some of the man’s drunkfriends found Hickok and tried tokill him.One grabbed him from behind.Hickok managed to get one armfree, pulled his pistol, poked it overhis shoulder and shot the man. Thenhe shot another coming at him fromthe front.Those were the kinds of peoplehe often dealt with as a lawman infrontier towns, the same unsavorycharacters policemen deal withtoday.By l87l he had grown tired of that life and joined Buffalo Bill’sshow on the East Coast. But Hickokdisliked show business and returnedto drift for a time in Colorado andWyoming.He married at Cheyenne in l876,the year gold prospectors beganheading for the Black Hills in SouthDakota. Hickok joined them and,with a friend called ColoradoCharley Utter, staked some miningclaims near Deadwood.It was in that town that a 25-year-old bum named Jack McCallshot Hickok. The incident was like abad scene out of an old movie,according to some historians.Some local men were afraidHickok would be elected sheriff of Deadwood; so they got McCallliquored up and convinced him tokill Hickok.No one paid any attention to thedrunk as he slowly worked his waybehind Hickok’s chair at the pokergame. Suddenly a gun exploded, andHickok’s body was thrown violentlyonto the card table.The drunk backed out of thesaloon and staggered to his horse.The saddle belt was loose. As hetried to mount, the saddle turnedunder the horse’s belly and McCallfell to the ground. He stumbleddown the street, was caught andlater hanged.Inside, the famous lawman layface down on the table, his hand stillclutching his cards: aces and eights.________________
COVER PICTURE: The Maroon Bells peaks near Aspen, taken by Andy Cook. See his fine photos at www.rockymtnrefl.com.
■
William Butler Hickok. Colorado Historical Society.
Wild Bill Hickok 
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