WILD BILL, as a frontier character of the daring, cunning and honorable
class, stands alone, without a prototype; his originality is as
conspicuous as his remarkable escapades. He was desperate without being
a desperado; a fighter without that disposition which invites danger or
craves the excitement of an encounter. He killed many men, but in every
instance it was either in self-defense or in the prosecution of a duty
which he deemed justifiable. Wild Bill was a necessary character in the
Far West during the period which marked his career. He was essentially
a civilizer, in the sense of a vigilance posse. The law and order class
found in him an effective agent for the correction of the lawless;
it was fighting the desperate with one of their kind, and Bill had
the cunning to remain on the side of society and to always flank his
enemies.
It would require a volume to moralize upon the deeds of this remarkable
man as they deserve, for his desperate encounters find a parallel only
in the atmospheric changes which abate an epidemic. When Bill drew his
pistol there was always one less desperado to harass the law-abiding,
and his presence served to allay the hunger of cut-throats and
rapacious plunderers. As a fighter, he had no equal; as a pistol shot,
none could excel him; as a scout in the service of his country, there
were none more faithful, daring and serviceable; with a disposition as
gentle as a zephyr, but a determination stronger than the hurricane.
Never a boaster; always deferential to those who might differ from
him in opinion; a man of strong friendships and little enmity. Such
were the marked characteristics of him whose memory is deserving of
perpetuation, and whose wonderful exploits it is the purpose of the
writer to describe. The half cannot be told, because of the subject’s
secretive disposition, and extreme dislike to reciting his own
adventures. That which is herewith given is absolutely true in every
particular, without a single shading of fiction or extravagance, and
may confidently be accepted as truthful history.