Outlaws like Billy the Kid, Jesse James and Butch Cassidy have become the stuff of legend, contributing to the “wild and wooly” reputation of the western frontier. In some places, that reputation was deserved. The mining town of Deadwood in Dakota Territory, for example, was in its brief heyday in the 1870s one of the most violent spots on earth, with brawls, gunfights and stagecoach robberies almost everyday occurrences. Equally turbulent was Tombstone, Arizona, site of the famous “Lucky Cuss” silver mine and the notorious 1881 gunfight at the O.K. Corral where “deputies” Doc Holliday and the three Earp brothers killed Billy Clanton and the two McLaury boys. But by contrast Kansas cattle towns like Abilene and Dodge City had relatively few saloons and brothels and, by frontier standards, a low homicide rate. This was a tribute to their early establishment of law and order through the importation of professional gunfighters like James Butler (“Wild Bill”) Hickok, Wyatt Earp and Bat Masterson to serve as deputies and marshals. Hickok’s career as a lawman peaked when he was marshal of Abilene in 1871. Thereafter he toured with Buffalo Bill Cody (1872-1873), then settled in Deadwood where he crossed paths with the hard-drinking Calamity Jane. In 1876, he was killed by a shot in the back while playing cards.