On July 21, 1865, frontier legend James Butler "Wild Bill" Hickok and gambler Davis Tutt faced each other in a square in Springfield, Missouri. The two men, previously friends despite serving on opposite sides during the American Civil War, had recently developed bitter feelings towards each other following accusations of Hickok fathering an illegitimate child with Tutt's sister and Tutt fraternizing with Hickok's paramour. Hostilities between the two began to manifest with Hickok refused to play any card game involving Tutt, an act to which Tutt replied by supporting Hickok's opponents at the card table with money and advice. Before long, Tutt and Hickok fell in to a dispute regarding a the amount Hickok owed on a gambling debt, resulting in Tutt seizing Hickok's pocket watch as collateral. While this in itself was considered attack on Hickok's honor, continued mocking by Tutt and his friends and Tutt's flaunting of the watch over the next several days goaded him into action.

Despite attempts at negotiations, the two men faced each other in the streets of Springfield, Missouri, at approximate 6 o'clock in the afternoon of July 21. At a distance of roughly 75 yards, the two men drew their pistols and fired simultaneously. While Tutt's shot missed, the ball from Hickok's Colt Navy flew true and struck Tutt dead. Hickok was arrested the next day and charged with manslaughter. He was later acquitted at trial. The duel between the two men forged the image of the gunfighter engaging in quick-draw duels which characterizes the Western genre, even though it was only a few such fights ever actually occurred.

Hickok would go on to serve as a lawman in such places as Hayes and Abilene, Kansas, as well as a scout for the US Army, a position he had also held during the American Civil War. In 1876, James Butler "Wild Bill" Hickok was shot in the back of the head and killed by Jack McCall while playing poker in Deadwood, Dakota Territory (now South Dakota). According to legend, Hickok had been holding two pair, aces and eights, of the black suits when he was killed, leading to what it now known among poker players as the "dead man's hand."