Born in Illinois in 1837, James Butler "Wild Bill" Hickok first gained notoriety as a gunfighter in 1861 when he shot three men who were trying to kill him. A highly sensationalized account of the gunfight appeared six years later in Harper's New Monthly Magazine, helping spark his rise to national fame; other articles and books followed, and though his prowess was often exaggerated, he did build his reputation through a string of impressive gunfights. After accidentally killing his deputy during an 1871 shootout in Abilene, Texas, he never fought another gun battle. For the next several years he lived off his reputation, appearing as himself in Buffalo Bill Cody's Wild West Show and occasionally working as a guide for wealthy hunters. As his eyesight began to fail, he wandered the West trying to make a living as a gambler and was arrested for vagrancy several times. In the spring of 1876, he arrived in the Black Hills mining town of Deadwood, South Dakota, where he became a regular at the poker tables of the No. 10 Saloon, eking out a meager existence as a card player. On August 2nd in 1876, while playing cards with his back to the saloon door, he was approached from behind by Jack McCall and shot in the back of the head at 4:15 in the afternoon, dying immediately. McCall later was tried, convicted, and hanged.