"Wild Bill" Hickok
Springfield of the Ozarks written by Harris and Phyllis Dark and published in 1981.
page 63
"During the war years people had become accustomed to violence. Thus it was not a great shock to Springfieldians when on July 21 of 1865, the Public Square was the scene of a fatal shooting by James "Wild Bill" Hickok, of a former friend named Dave Tutt, the culmination of a festering feud.
Tutt appeared on the square openly flaunting Hickok's gold Waltham watch and chain, which he had won at cards. Wild Bill warned him not to wear the watch publicly; when Tutt showed his defiance, there was a genuine western-style shoot-out, with both men firing simultaneously. Tutt fell dead with a shot through his heart, and Hickok walked first to the body and recovered his watch, then to the courthouse to surrender his pistols to the sheriff.
On August 3 Hickok was tried before Circuit Judge "Pony" Boyd. John S. Phelps, for whose son Hockok had served as a Union scout, was the defense lawyer. The verdict, arrived at in only 10 minutes, was "Not Guilty"- the jury had been unable to agree on which of the two was the aggressor."
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Contributed by Jerry Rogers