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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

PHIL COE: POKER GENIUS AND WILD BILL HICKOK VICTIM

A Texas dandy, Phil Coe was the prototype of the Hollywood Western gambler; elegantly dressed, with evenly trimmed beard, ivory-headed cane and derby hat. He was a man whose heart was as warm as a hanky soaked in ethyl chloride.

Unfortunately, history will remember him solely in relation to the man who killed him. His killing by City Marshal Wild Bill Hickok in Abilene, Kansas, October 5, 1871, dulled his reputation as a phenomenal poker player and gunman. Having the incredulous distinction of being Hickok's last shooting victim assures him a place in the annals of Western archives.

Information is sparse on Coe because he charged his story more often than he changed underwear. We know absolutely that his father emigrated to Texas before July, 1835, settling in present day Washington County. Young Phil served as an officer in numerous expeditions against Indian attacks. He made a gallant show of himself in the skirmish with Mexico.

The skeletal record of Coe's years in the military reveals that in late 1862 he joined Captain William Tobin's company that replaced Company "F" of the original 2nd Texas Cavalry. It was here that he became immediate friends with another famous-to-be gambler and gunfighter named "Terrible" Ben Thompson. Both spent their lifetimes as professional gamblers. Both died fighting viciously for the spoils of their forage.

After the war they became traveling gamblers, drinking to access and choosing their victims from hotels, casinos and other places where good-time Charlies congregated. By the 1860s Coe was already a fixture on the gambling circuits. He had his reminiscences ghost-written by Floyd B. Steeter, who wrote that he and Tom Bowles opened a gambling casino in Austin, Texas and Thompson and Coe were frequent card players. Another gambler loosed on the community was a gunfighter equal in reputation to Wild Bill Hickok or Ben Thompson.

His name was John Wesley Hardin. At age seventeen he was already a fugitive on the dodge during the ladder part of 1870. His life was gambling and whoring. Still another notorious gunfighter who sat in on their poker games was Bill Longely, and, frequently, Jim Brown and Ben Hinds. All three made their living traveling from one gambling emporium to another. Hardin wrote in his autobiography, The Life of John Wesley Hardin As Written by Himself.

I met a good many well-known characters on those trips to Brenham (Washington County, Texas). I used to gamble a good deal and it was there I got the name of 'Young Seven-up.' I met Phil Coe first in Brenham, that notorious Phil Coe who was afterwards killed in Abilene, Kansas, by 'Wild Bill."

Coe, Thompson, Wild Bill and Hardin were all specialized poker players during the calamitous summer of 1871. The only thing certain about Coe's shenanigans at the time of his death is that he lived on the outskirts of Salina, Kansas, near Abilene. Though his companions were frequently notorious rouges, he was not one himself. The memoirs of frontiersman W.M. Walton provides an insight to Coe's character. This is his interpretation of the famous gambler:

Just at this time Phil Coe, Ben's old army comrade, find and quasi officer, came to Abilene and had with him some thousands of dollars. A line of action was at once concluded on between him and Ben. Coe was a man who would attract attention in any county; over six feet for inches high, splendid presence, frank face, handsome as a prince, brave as a lion, generous to a fault, faithful as a woman, positive and decisive in action, forgetting a friend never, and yet could forgive a foe. They at once combined their resources and became proprietors of the Bull's Head saloon, jointly. They addressed all their energies to the establishment of the character of their place of business. They were successful and had a great run of custom. So much so that a gold mine could not have been more profitable.

When Hardin made his acquaintance with Coe and Thompson, in May, the Bull's Head Tavern and Gambling Saloon was already a thriving establishment steered to appeal to Texas cattlemen fresh off the range, looking for an honest game of chance. Unfortunately, they were in competition with the Alamo, the foremost gambling palace in town. Wild Bill Hickok, who, as town marshal, was not only guardian of the Alamo, but he and city authorities were in colleague up to their sombreros.

The enmity between Hickok and Coe probably began when Coe remarked that Texas cattlemen were being hornswoggled by rigged gambling games at the Alamo. Calling Wild Bill Hickok a 'card cheat' was tantamount to road rage with Mike Tyson. More historians claim that Coe and Hickok were smitten by a female with an hourglass figure, named Jessie Hazel. Jessie's father was a real estate broker and she gave lots away. It was certainly possible that Jessie's presence added enough fuel to touch off an explosion of rivalry that would play into the modus operandi of the gunfighting Wild Bill Hickok. Others say it is difficult to image that the unpleasantness between Coe and Hickok surfaced over a woman because Wild Bill, by all accounts, was not the sort to weave tangled plots to goad anyone into a gunfight.

Wild Bill had been appointed City Marshal by those in authority on April 8, and controlled that position until he was dismissed December 13, 1871. During his tenure as towntamer, he improved his aim by shooting stray dogs which were not appropriately registered. He was paid fifty cents for each dog he killed.

The Abilene Chronicle reported that his mere reputation and presence prevented considerable violence in the town of grieving widows. But his predecessor, Tom Smith, another notorious gambler of the times, gained a more respectful reputation because he tamed Abilene with his fists instead of guns.

Tension was further heightened between Wild Bill and Coe by what is generally known as the Shame of Abilene. Coe and Thompson had the front of their gambling parlor painted with a gigantic bull, with an embarrassingly large genitalia. Although Abilene was overrun with crooked gambling, drunkenness, prostitution and dissimilar forms of debauchery, the city fathers denounced the bull's dangling genitalia as vulgar. Coe and Thompson on the other hand, found it enhanced their business extremely. The Shame of Abilene was carried all the way back to outspoken east coast presses.

Historians differ on what happened next. Some claim the fight started solely because Wild Bill wanted to control the lion's share of Abilene's gambling business. Others say as city marshal, he was impelled to do something about it by other gambling interests and some of the more refined citizens of Abilene. Hardin's autobiography relates the following occurrence: Phil Coe and Ben Thompson at the time were running the Bull's Head saloon and gambling hall. They had a big bull painted outside the saloon as a sign, and the city council objected to this for some reason. Wild Bill, the marshal, notified Ben Thompson and Phil Coe to take the sign down or change it somewhat. Phil Coe thought the ordinance all right, but it made Thompson mad. Wild Bill, however, sent up some painters and materially changed the offending bovine. Accounts in the Abilene Chronicle give no indication that Coe was anything but a professional gambler and card sharp.

True, he was au courant with guns, having extinguished himself in the war, and during Abilene's wickedest era nearly every proficient gambler carried a weapon of some sort. Yet, it is doubtful that Coe felt himself capable of standing up to Wild Bill in a gun battle. In any event, the bubble burst on October 5, 1871. A more exciting story would have been if Thompson would have been Hickok's opponent instead of Coe, for Thompson's skills with a pistol more closely matched Wild Bill's. But Thompson was out of town when the fracas occurred, and we will never know what the outcome might have been. The Junction City Union, dated October 7, gave this account: Two men were shot at Abilene, Thursday evening. The circumstances were as follows, so out informant says: Early in the evening a party of men began a spree, going from one bar to another, forcing their acquaintances to treat, and making things howl generally. About 8'oclock, shots were heard in the "Alamo," a gambling hell; whereupon City Marshal, Haycock (Hickok) better known as "Wild Bill," made his appearance. It is said that the leader of the party (Coe) had threatened to kill Bill, "before frost." As a reply to the Marshal's demand that order should be preserved, some of the party fired upon him, when, drawing his pistols, "he fired with marvelous rapidity and characteristic accuracy" as our informant expressed it, shooting a Texan, named Coe, the keeper of the saloon, we believe, through the abdomen, and grazing one or two more. In the midst of the firing, a policeman rushed up to assist Bill, but unfortunately got in the line of his fire. It being dark, Bill did not recognize him, and supposed him to be one of the party. He was instantly killed. Bill greatly regrets the shooting of his friend. Coe will die. The verdict of the citizens seemed to be unanimously in support of the Marshal, who bravely did his duty. Numerous newspaper accounts dealing with the shoot-out indicate that Hickok was playing poker when he heard a gunshot fired outside the Alamo. Since there was an ordinance against firing guns within city limits, Hickok ran outside to see who fired the shot. Coe explained that he merely fired at a stray dog. This infuriated Hickok since he was getting paid 50 cents for each dog he killed. He reprimanded Coe for cutting in on his paycheck. With incredible pluck, Coe went for his gun. According to contemporary evidence, Hickok and Coe fired at one another simultaneously. At that instant, Hickok's deputy, Mike Williams came running to help Wild Bill. Thinking he was being attacked from behind, Hickok whirled and fired. Williams fell mortally wounded. Hickok's reputation as a Marshal tarnished, he was branded "trigger-happy" and eventually forced from office.

Earlier in the day Williams received a telegram urging him home to Kansas City because his wife ailing. He had purchased a ticket on the Denver express and was to leave in the morning. Instead his body was shipped home in a pine box and buried on Sunday, October 8. Hickok paid the freight. Coe's grave today is located in Prairie Lea Cemetery, near Blinn College, at Brenham. His passing was hardly mentioned in the Daily Democratic Statesman of Oct. 12: A telegram from Abilene, Kansas, to Mrs. Bowles of the city, announces the death of Phil Coe, a citizen of Austin (Abilene). He was killed by "Wild Bill, the terror of the West," a notorious gambler and desperado, at one time sheriff of Ellsworth, in that State. The remains of the deceased will be sent to this city. Phil Coe vanished into oblivion, but not marble nor the gilded monuments of kings will outlive the legend of Wild Bill Hickok.*****