- Two books about American legend Wild Bill Hickok are in this edition: Life and Marvelous Adventures of Wild Bill, the Scout & Wild Bill's Last Trail 'Wild Bill' Hickok American James Butler Hickok (1837-1876) was a folk hero of the Old West, known for his frontier work wagon master, soldier, spy, scout, lawman, gunfighter, gambler and showman. He was notorious due to his outlandish - and often fabricated - tales about his life. Hickok was born and raised on an Illinois farm in an era when lawlessness and vigilante activity was rampant. Hickok was attracted to this ruffian lifestyle and headed west at 18 as a fugitive from justice. He worked as a stagecoach driver and later a frontier lawman in Kansas and Nebraska. He spied for the Union Army during the American Civil War and was well-known as a scout, marksman, and professional gambler. Over the course of his life, he was involved in several notable shootouts. Book I Life and Marvelous Adventures of Wild Bill, the Scout, being a true and exact history of all the sanguinary combats and hair-breadth escapes of the most famous scout and spy America ever produced (First Published 1880). By author J. W. (James) Buel This is purportedly a "true" history of the hair-breadth escapes of the most famous scout and spy America has ever known. The book is generally considered the first biography of Wild Bill, but author J.W. Buel was not known for his accuracy. The author claimed to have known Wild Bill and to have had access to his diary, but -- as is the case in many works about legendary Western figures -- the truth and the fiction often combine. Book II Wild Bill's Last Trail, by Ned Buntline (pen name of New York writer Edward Zane Carroll Judson, Sr. 1821-1886). A story of one of the most noted shots, and certainly the most desperate man of his age and day west of the Mississippi River Author Ned Buntline was an American publisher, journalist, writer, and publicist. He reputedly commissioned the Colt firearms manufacturer to make a customized revolver (although evidence of that is hard to come by). Buntline was reportedly in Nebraska when learned that "Wild Bill" Hickok was in Fort McPherson. He hoped to interview him and found Hickok in a saloon. As the story goes, Buntline rushed up to Hickok saying, "There's my man! I want you!" Hickok wasn't a fan of surprises. He threatened Buntline with a gun and told him to get out of town within 24 hours. Buntline wasn't taking any chances and left but he decided to finding Hickok's friends to gather stories. This may be how he first met Buffalo Bill.