Wild Bill Hickok

Originally Aired: November 6, 1940 In Cavalcade of America #199, "Wild Bill Hickok," the legendary lawman's life unfolds from his youth in Illinois to his dangerous days enforcing justice on the Kansas frontier. At just fifteen, Jim Hickok helps a runaway slave escape and stands up to the bully Charlie Hudson, knocking him off a bridge and forcing young Jim to flee west to Kansas. There he meets Sarah, who warns him that Dave McCanles is coming to gun him down over a disputed payment for an express station. Despite Sarah's feelings for both men, a deadly confrontation erupts when McCanles and his men draw their weapons. As marshal of Independence Town, Hickok faces constant challenges maintaining law and order in the rough Kansas territory. When an angry mob threatens to lynch Jess Wallace, a saloon keeper, Hickok must intervene to prevent vigilante justice from overtaking his town. Throughout these trials, the narrative follows the making of a frontier legend whose gun became the symbol of justice in a lawless land, featuring folk singer Woody Guthrie's ballad chronicling Hickok's transformation from an Illinois boy into Wild Bill, the most feared lawman of the Old West.