‘Cowboy’ Jim Gray

Michael Williams arrived in Abilene, Kan. hoping to “cash in,” in some way, from the exciting atmosphere of the wild cattle town.

One hundred sixty head of Texas cattle hit the trail for Kansas in 1869. In response the stockyards were enlarged for the 1870 season. The drive doubled to 300,000 head! A phenomenal 110,000 to 120,000 head were shipped that season from Abilene.

No one, including Mike Williams, could have imagined the tidal wave that was coming for the 1871 season.

By July 20 the editor at nearby Salina noted that the entire country was filled with cattle.

“There is not only cattle ‘on a thousand hills,’ but a thousand on one hill, and every hill ... Perhaps not less than 200,000 head are now within the precincts of the State, 60,000 of which are within a day’s ride of Salina. And the cry is ‘still they come’.” Before the season was through, 600,000 head of Texas cattle arrived in Kansas. The railyards were so busy that markets opened as far north as Schuyler, Neb. on the Platte River.

Abilene’s streets were crowed each day from daybreak until late into the night. Merchants, traders, and drovers were joined by the “dregs” of society “just as the eagles gather to the carcass.”

Reigning over the festivities was Marshal Wild Bill Hickok. With a bevy of deputy officers to back him Hickok tempered the wild urges that dominated Abilene’s saloons and dance halls.

Mike Williams knew his way around the “sporting world.” In Warrensburg, Mo. he had operated a saloon before moving to Kansas City. He headed for Abilene in June, 1871.

Mary, his 19-year-old wife, remained at a boarding house with Mike’s brother John and family. At Abilene Mike found work under Marshal Hickok as a “jailer.”

When William H. (Billy) Mitchell opened the Novelty Theater in July, Mike took an additional job working as a security guard for Mitchell. The Novelty offered stage entertainment including singers, comedians, and stage plays as well as the opportunity to “skip the light fantastic” with a beautiful dance hall queen.

Inevitably, Marshal Hickok would make enemies among the sporting men. One well-known feud involved Phil Coe, a partner in the Bull’s Head Saloon. Rumor had it that Coe and Hickok had vied for the same woman. Coe was said to have vowed to get Hickok “before the frost.”

By late September cattle shipments were winding down. Business houses and saloons were strangely quiet. On Thursday, Oct. 5, after a day of lounging in hotels and saloons the Texans set out to “hurrah the town.” Phil Coe was in the lead.

Their first “victim” was Jake Karatofsky, a popular merchant who had made a tidy fortune selling general dry goods. Surrounded by a dozen Texans, Karatofsky was carried to the Applejack saloon and forced to “set up the drinks.” It was good-natured fun.

The Texans even looked up Marshal Hickok as he was enjoying his dinner at Mrs. Smith’s Restaurant. He went along and offered to “set them up” at the Novelty, but advised that he would stop them if he found they were carrying their pistols. They left in high spirits and the revelry continued.

At 9 p.m. Hickok was in the Novelty talking with Mike Williams. Williams was planning to take the train to see his wife in Kansas City at the end of his shift. Suddenly a shot rang out in the direction of the Alamo Saloon. Leaving through the back door of the Novelty, Hickok rushed down the alley and into the back of the Alamo where he discovered the shot had come from the street. Stepping out the front door Hickok demanded to know who had fired the shot. Fifty men stood before him.

With the pistol still in his hand, Coe menacingly said he had shot at a stray dog.“As quick as thought,” Hickok drew his pistols. Both men fired simultaneously. One of Coe’s bullets went through Hickok’s long coat, the other kicked up dust between the marshal’s legs. Coe fell to the ground with two bullets in his abdomen.

To Hickok’s right a figure charged forward from the shadows. Hickok fired twice and the shadowy figure fell hard. It was Mike Williams. In shock Hickok picked up his friend, carried him into the Alamo, and gently laid him on a billiard table. Phil Coe lingered in agony until death carried him away a few days later.

Phil Coe’s body was sent back to Texas. Instead of going home to see his wife Mike Williams was returned to her in a casket. Wild Bill Hickok had killed his last man on The Way West.

“The Cowboy,” Jim Gray is author of the book Desperate Seed: Ellsworth Kansas on the Violent Frontier, Ellsworth, KS. Contact Kansas Cowboy, 220 21st Road, Geneseo, Kan. Phone: (785) 531-2058 or kansascowboy@kans.com.