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In his forty years as a freelance writer and newspaper reporter, Bill Kelly had interviewed and written about hundreds of names familiar to us: Mickey Rooney, Rory Calhoun, Sylvester Stallone, Gene Autry, Roy Rogers, Broderick Crawford, Henry Fonda, Victor Mature, Ginger Rogers, Ida Lupino, John Wayne, Aldo Ray, Joe Louis, Rocky Marciano, Sugar Ray Leonard, Muhammad Ali, and Henry Armstrong are among many.

Bill has authored an astounding 15,000 magazine articles -- a phenomenal feat for any writer. He had appeared in Poker Digest, Card Player, Real West, True West, Treasure Search, Treasure Cache, Lost Treasure, South Bay, Country Review, True Detective, Inside Detective, California Highway Patrolman, Oklahoma State Trooper, Texas Highway Patrol, Inland Empire, Reader’s Digest, Poker World, Ring Magazine, Boxing Illustrated, K.O., and Variety.

His freelance work has appeared in too many California newspapers to list here, but they include, Herald Examiner, Orange County Register and Press-Enterprise.

His critically-acclaimed Collector’s Edition of Bill Kelly’s Encyclopedia of Gunmen is a reference book treasured by historians and Western buffs alike. Bill’s second book, Treasure Trails and Buried Bandit Booty, is a collection of true accounts of buried outlaw swag, and contains clues to reportedly hidden loot throughout the United States.

Bill recently appeared on the History channel as an old west historian in High Rollers: The History of Gambling.

His latest book is Gamblers of the Old West ($24.95). An autograph copy can be purchased by contacting Bill by e-mail: wildbill@cosmoaccess.net or by snail mail: 29759 Longhorn Dr. Canyon Lake, Ca. 92804.

Bill Was born in Tom’s River, New Jersey, on May 5, 1927. He now resides in Canyon Lake, California, where he spends most of his waking hours writing tons of articles to be enjoyed by thousands of readers.

His book, EMPTY SADDLES, is a nostalgic tribute to the sagebrush sagas of the 1940s and 50s, and contains Bill’s interviews with fifty Cowboy stars that made cinema history. No release date has been set for this book at this writing

THE DEAD MAN'S HAND

Public gambling in the Old West consisted of a poker table and a deck of cards in remote towns; either draw or five card stud, no joker. The use of a joker to make aces, straights and flushes, lowball, seven card stud, wild cards and such didn't appear until the turn of the century.

Marion Speer, of Huntington Beach, Ca., before he crossed that Great Divide at the age of 93 in 1978, recalled a story of a poker player who sat in one game for thirty-seven consecutive hours, only leaving his chair to visit the men's room. He ate an occasional sandwich and drank nothing but coffee. "Smart gamblers," Speer said, "never touched liquor while playing. This man wouldn't leave while winning, he wanted to win more; he wouldn't quit when losing because he wanted to win it back."

According to Speer, who claimed to have sat in on a poker game with the famous Bat Masterson, "Poker yields the least profit to casino owners, because players play against one another instead of against the house. In panguingue and poker parlors in California players in the old days paid rent for seats at a poker table."

The more elaborate gambling houses had a faro bank layout in addition to poker tables. Faro bank was favored by gamblers - for one, James Butler Hickok - better known as "Wild Bill." The reason Hickok favored Faro was the odds between the player and the house were exactly even. The layout was simple: A table with thirteen cards painted on it - always spades - a dealer with a little open-faced dealing box to hold the cards face up and a small raised platform where the lookout sat behind and to the dealer's right. The first card drawn from the box was laid aside, the second card drawn was the loser and the card left face up in the box was the winner. The players placed their bets on the cards painted on the table.

Through the years faro has lost favor, "because few people know how to play it," Speer said. "In Reno I saw a man, whose ancestors came from Mexico, win so many chips he couldn't pick them up when he quit. He swept them into his sombrero to carry them to the cashier."

During the gold mining years, when dust and nuggets were plentiful, there were very few roulette wheels in the posh clubs of such places as San Francisco and Virginia City, Nevada. Saloon owners liked the game, as the percentage in favor of the house was over 5%, but the wheels were too expensive. They had to be shipped in from far away by slow freight, and sometimes were badly damaged through shipping.

According to Speer, an actual eye-witness to the events, old-time gamblers were good losers. His grandfather, who knew Wild Bill Hickok, said Hickok was a polite and courteous gambler. Those who were crooked and tried to cheat, who dealt seconds, or off the bottom, were usually beaten and run out of town, shot, or even hanged.

The most controversial card game ever played in the Old West, concerned the renowned "Dead Man's Hand." Like the famous Dempsy-Tunney "Long Count," people to this day argue over it. We will attempt to lay the controversial "Dead Man's Hand" to rest, here and now.

Historians agree that on August 2, 1876 Jack McCall, a notorious gambler, entered the rear door of a saloon in Deadwood, South Dakota, not giving the least hint of his cowardly purpose. He strolled to the bar, Harry Young being the bartender, then sauntered around to a point of a few yards behind Wild Bill, who had just drawn three cards; before receiving the fifth card McCall drew and fired a 45-caliber Colt and fired. The bullet passed through Wild Bill's head, issued his right cheek and before it had spent its course, pierced the arm of Captain Massey, who was sitting opposite Hickok. It was precisely 4:10 P.M.

Those who were sitting in on the game with Wild Bill were: Carl Mann, Charles Rich, and Captain Massey, the latter a former Missouri River Pilot.

Historians also agree that Hickok was holding Aces & Eights when he was killed, but there is some diversity as to, not only the fifth card, but also the name of the saloon.

From information received from various newspapers of South Dakota and Colorado, from the last of the "Old Timers" I interviewed during the 1940s, from the information Bureau, Washington, D.C., and from Bill Honerkamp, South Dakota Department of Economic and Tourism Development, we are able to authenticate the hand, as well as gather proof-positive evidence as to where it all happened.

First, the name of the saloon. Some writers claim in was No. 6, others No. 10. Harry Young, the bartender on duty at the time Hickok was shot, states in his book "Hard Knocks," that it was No.66. While one can argue Young's book by literary standards, they can scarcely abjure direct testimony from an eye witness account.

Everyone agrees that Hickok was holding two black aces and two black eights, but there has been considerable argument over whether the fifth card was the Nine of Diamonds or the Queen of Hearts. The Old Style Bar in Deadwood, the saloon where Hickok was killed, uses the Nine of Diamonds in all its promotions. On the other hand, the Deadwood Chamber of Commerce leans toward the Queen of Diamonds.

When queried about this matter, The South Dakota State Historical Society sent this writer a sheet produced by the United States Playing Card Company. The USPCC claims the Fifth card was just being slid across the table when the fatal shot was fired. It seems reasonable, however, that if someone took the time to inspect the four cards Hickok dropped, they would have checked the fifth card on the table also. Then again, maybe not.

Doc Pierce, the impromptu undertaker, who took charge of the remains, stated that when he came in to get the body, Hickok was lying on his side, with his knees drawn up, just as he slid off the stool (they had no chairs in those days), and the four cards lying by his side were two black Aces and two black Eights. Bill's death seemed like fate, as McCall's pistol, every chamber loaded, the cartridge that killed Bill was the only one that would fire.

The fact remains that no one seems to have been able to authenticate Wild Bill Hickok's last hand. But in actual practice, whenever poker players gather, they consider any hand which contains two black aces and two black eights as "The Dead Man's Hand," irregardless of the fifth card.