Hard Knocks by Harry (Sam) Young
Recently, Mr. Martyn Beeny of the SDSHS Press sent a very nice email to the blog.
He writes:
I thought I might draw attention to a book published by the South Dakota State Historical Society Press that would be a fascinating read for anyone with an interest in Deadwood.
Hard Knocks: A Life Story of the Vanishing West, by Harry 'Sam' Young, is the real-life account of Deadwood at the time of Hickock's death.
Harry Young was the bartender in Saloon No. 10 the night Hickok was shot and recalls the events in great detail. Young's memoir does not solely concern itself with Hickok, but also looks at all aspects of Deadwood in the mid to late-1870s as well as his journey through the Vanishing West.
Martyn Beeny
Associate Editor/Marketing Director
South Dakota State Historical Society Press
Cultural Heritage Center
Long out of print, Young’s story of his adventures in the early West is available again with a new introduction by Calamity Jane biographer James D. McLaird.
Hard Knocks: A Life Story of the Vanishing West
by Harry ("Sam") Young
copyright 2005.
- From the introduction
With two dollars and fifty cents in his pocket, Harry ("Sam") Young left his New York home at the age of fourteen to find the Wild West he had read about in dime novels. For the next thirteen years, he traveled throughout the West as a bullwhacker, teamster, and general handyman.
In 1875, Young and Calamity Jane rode the lead wagon into the Black Hills of Dakota Territory on the Jenney Expedition. During the illegal Black Hills gold rush of 1876, Young was the bartender at Saloon No. 10 in Deadwood, South Dakota, when Wild Bill Hickok was shot in the back during a game of cards. Testifying at the first trial of Jack McCall, Young gives an eyewitness account of Hickok’s final moments.
Told from the perspective of a working man, Hard Knocks captures the squalor and excitement of the frontier West. McLaird offers an introduction that provides context for Young’s gritty memoir.
"Young’s recollections [are] an interesting narrative about a young man who ran away from home to experience first-hand the adventures he had read about in dime novels. In his quest, Young traveled through Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Wyoming, Dakota, Utah, Nevada, California, Oregon and Alaska. He actually met some of his heroes, such as Wild Bill Hickok and experienced gold rushes, railroad booms, homesteading, and cowboy life."
276 pages, 12 black-and-white photographs, index
Click on the Book Cover above if you want more information or to order this interesting story and/or the many other great books the SDSHS offers. Click on the SDSHS logo below for their home page.
