Fame Delayed

A gunfight didn’t reach recognition for two years.

July 1865. In one of the only face-to-face gunfights in Old West history, Wild Bill Hickok kills Davis Tutt in Springfield, Missouri. It was a remarkable feat, a kill shot from 75 yards. But it took two years for it to gain fame.

In 1867, Hickok was the subject of a cover article in Harper’s Magazine, the most popular publication in America. The story (and illustration of the shootout) made Wild Bill a household name—and boosted the Tutt gunfight to historic recognition.