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America Is The Wild, Wild West
We all can learn from history. Some in our own families.
During the course of my genealogy research, I found out that I was related to Wild Bill Hickock, my 4th cousin.
According to Wikipedia:
James Butler Hickok (May 27, 1837 – August 2, 1876), better known as "Wild Bill" Hickok, was a folk hero of the American Old West known for his life on the frontier as a soldier, scout, lawman, gambler, showman, and actor, and for his involvement in many famous gunfights. He earned a great deal of notoriety in his own time, much of it bolstered by the many outlandish and often fabricated tales he told about himself.[citation needed] Some contemporaneous reports of his exploits are known to be fictitious, but they remain the basis of much of his fame and reputation.[citation needed]
He was an actor, a soldier, and a gunman. And loved telling tall tales about himself. He got out of many scrapes but not the one who killed him, during a card game.
He lived in the Wild West. But I think even Wild Bill would have been shocked by the Wild West of 2022.
And on the other side of the coin, I am also related to Jesse James and Butch Cassidy, both outlaws.
When the Wild West era ended, circa the turn of the 20th century, I think a lot of Americans breathed a…
