Death Chair of Wild Bill Hickok
- Date Visited: September 28, 2020
- Address: Saloon No. 10, 657 Main Street, Deadwood, SD 57732
- Phone: 800-952-9398
- Website
- Hours: Sunday thru Saturday 8am-2am
- Price: Free
When you walk into Saloon #10 you will feel like you have walked right into a bar from the old west. Sawdust coats the floor, whiskey bottles are lined up behind the bar and cowboys sit at tables playing cards.
Tons of artifacts and historical photos cover the walls making the old bar a little museum depicting Deadwood’s past. The heads of Wild Bill Hickok, Jack McCall, and Calamity Jane will greet you at the bar where you can order a shot of over 171 Bourbons, Scotchs, and whiskeys they offer.
During peak season you can also see live re-enactments of the shooting of Wild Bill Hickok multiple times a day. There is live nightly music, poker and blackjack tables, and slots. Upstairs there is also a steakhouse and wine and martini bar.
All of this is great, but there was only one reason I entered this old west establishment.
Above the front door of the saloon sits a velvet lined, illuminated glass case displaying the chair Wild Bill Hickok was “allegedly” shot and killed in.
The had only been in Deadwood for a month, but his murder in the town made it famous.
At 4:15 in the afternoon, while playing cards in the No. #10 Saloon, young gunslinger Jack McCall walked up behind Wild Bill and shot him in the back of the head.
Wild Bill Hickok died instantly on August 2, 1876.
Now is this the actual chair Wild Bill Hickok was shot in?
I don’t know if it truly is, but it’s still a quirky little stop in a unique place and that’s the kind of adventure I like to embark on.