Original subtitles

[ gunshots ]

[ screams ]

Sheriff, I'm done for!

Get a doctor!

[ gun clicking ]

It appears, prescott, You're spent.

My name is seth bullock,

And I tamed the wildest Gold camp in the west.

A little outpost Deep in indian territory

Called deadwood.

Gomber: deadwood wasn't even Part of the united states,

So u.S. Law did not apply there.

It was as wild As a town could be.

Bullock: As deadwood's first sheriff,

I faced every kind of danger The frontier could muster --

Indian warriors, Highway robbers,

Evil entrepreneurs Like al swearengen,

And hard-up miners

Seething with a murderous Lust for gold.

Milch: civilization Hung by a thread

In that community every day.

That's what made bullock So extraordinary.

If he had to do it With his bare hands,

He was gonna hold That community together.

I've seen it all And lived to tell about it.

First to my dear friend Roosevelt,

And now to you.

To this day, they call me A pioneer in the black hills.

And this is the true story Of how I came to be one.

Wolff: bullock was as brave As any man in the west.

People were afraid of him.

He would just as soon kill you As to be a friend of yours.

[ gunshot ]

-- captions by vitac -- www.Vitac.Com

Captions paid for by Discovery communications

¶ listen while I tell you The tale of black hills gold ¶

¶ turn back the clock Back to 1874 ¶

¶ the custer expedition said

¶ "There's gold here To be found ¶

¶ "Come one, come all

¶ your fortunes can be picked up Off the ground" ¶

¶ it was the gold rush of '76

¶ "Dakota" was the cry

¶ in 1876, we came

¶ some stayed, some left, Some died ¶

¶ those were the days The west was wild ¶

¶ we mined with pans and picks

¶ and deadwood made its mark In time in the days of '76 ¶

Hutton: what a great name.

Deadwood.

When you think about Town names in the west --

Tombstone, deadwood.

I mean, they resonate With the romance of the west.

Deadwood, of course, Grows out of illegality,

And then it thrives on it.

For all of its early history,

It's a town that is fueled By the central tenet

That drove the entire west, And that's greed.

¶

The west had been One mining boom after another

Since the big strike in '49,

And some of the miners who had Been in the california gold rush

Were in that final rush Into the black hills.

It helped to define the west

For a whole generation Of americans,

And of course, It became so identified

With the great sioux war, Custer's last stand,

Wild bill hickok's death.

I mean, this was The center of the wild west

When it was its wildest.

¶

Bullock: I, seth bullock, Was among the many

Who rode for the black hills On the heels of the gold strike,

But I wasn't going there To mine gold

So much as to mine the miners.

I set out for montana In late july of '76

With my friend sol star

At the head of a wagon train Filled with supplies

To sell to the prospectors.

We made for deadwood Knowing full well

That with great opportunity Comes great risk.

But never was that adage so true As in the dakotas that summer.

Whoa! Whoa!

Wolff: All the trails to deadwood Would suffer indian attacks.

When bullock and star

Came down with their wagon train From bismark,

They certainly saw remnants Of a recent indian attack,

And they were surprised Themselves

That they were not attacked.

After all, this was an incursion

Into the great sioux Reservation.

It was, as everybody says, An illegal settlement.

And so, They should've been wary.

They're trespassers.

Boys, these folks Are coming with us.

Charlie, ed, You keep a lookout.

Sol. Yeah.

You make room In the wagons.

The longer we stand here,

The more likely it is We're gonna join them.

Now move!

Bullock: I'm not a man Who believes in omens,

But if I were, I'd count that as one.

In deadwood, blood would prove As regular a sight as whisky,

And it was flowing From the day I got there.

We arrived to word

That the infamous pistoleer Wild bill hickok

Had been shot dead Just the day before...

...By a shameless ne'er-do-well Named jack mccall.

Take that, damn you!

Ross: this is the end of hickok And his west,

But also his brand of lawman.

Hutton: hickok certainly had A great physicality about him,

But he also had A sort of flashiness

That almost made him A marked man.

A man like seth bullock

Went under the radar A little more easily

And was just a quiet enforcer.

Man: whoo-hoo-hoo-hoo!

I got me One of them red bastards!

Y'all come take a gander!

Bullock: It was clear from the get-go

That if I was gonna Turn a profit in this camp,

It would first need a measure Of stability and order.

Of course, Deadwood wasn't my first rodeo.

[ indistinct shouting ]

We want justice!

Bullock: I'd spent the last two years

Rounding up the ruffians Over in helena, montana,

As sheriff Of lewis and clark county.

There I discovered That even the most unbridled mob

Will answer to a six-shooter And a firm resolve.

Stand down!

Stand down, damn it,

Or I'm taking some of you Down with me.

In montana, He presided over a hanging

In front of a lynch mob That wanted to hang the guy,

But seth was gonna do it legal.

String him up!

Now, you all want to Tear this man to pieces,

And he may damn well deserve it.

[ indistinct shouting ] Hold!

This man has been sentenced To hang legally,

And a legal hanging Is what he'll get.

That's too easy! Make him suffer!

He needs to burn For what he's done!

And burn he will.

But not on this earth.

Even though the executioner Had fled,

He held the mob off With a gun in one hand

And managed to hang the guy With the other.

[ indistinct shouting ]

Milch: you see almost everything About his personality

In that act.

He wills order

And he will embrace disorder In order to achieve order.

That's a good quality In a lawman.

Wolff: he could rule

By the force of his personality And his will.

People thought He would kill you,

Take you down if he wanted to.

Bullock: as I saw it,

There were two immediate Priorities in deadwood --

Protect the prospectors From each other,

And protect us all From the natives.

Wolff: They're fearful of attacks.

They recognize Leaving the black hills

That you're always at risk, You're always in danger,

And of course, They dislike indians.

They see them As impeding their progress,

So it's a problem.

Bullock: on august 20th,

18 days After wild bill was killed,

Our worst fears were realized

When crazy horse And 100 of his tribesmen

Swept through the hills.

Wolff: word spread That there was indians

Attacking a horse herd Out on the prairie.

And it was a sunday.

All the miners are in town On sunday having a big old time,

And they all dash out To capture the indians

And get their horses.

And in the process, Two more whites are killed.

Bullock: soon enough,

General crook and his forces Came through

And took care Of our indian problem.

In september,

The sioux made their last stand At the battle of slim buttes.

Their defeat left them no choice

But to sell the black hills To the united states.

From then on,

We were no longer living In enemy territory.

But it wasn't long

Before we found a new enemy Among our own,

And we soon realized

The real threat to deadwood's Survival wasn't the indians.

Get your hands up high Where I can see them.

It was outlaws.

[ gunshots ]

[ bird squawks ]

Bullock: in the fall of 1876,

Deadwood gulch had gold fever.

Over that summer, $1 million worth of gold

Had been pulled out of the hills Around camp,

And I, seth bullock,

Had a plan to profit Without ever swinging a pickaxe.

Kuchenbecker: it was a mass Hysteria coming up here,

And before long, there was over 6,000 inhabitants in deadwood.

Not only had you the prospectors

And the people hoping To get rich by mining.

You had the people Who mined the miners,

And that was the merchants.

The chinese came and set up Laundries and restaurants.

But then you had people Like sol star and seth bullock

Coming here with 30-something Wagons of merchandise

And supplying the mining camp.

A lot of opportunities To make it rich in deadwood

Other than mining.

Bullock: our store, Star & bullock hardware,

Was primed to meet Every prospector's demand.

And with the indian threat On the wane

After the u.S. Army fought The sioux into submission,

There seemed no limit To the money we could make.

He opened Several hardware stores.

He buys mining property, Establishes a ranch.

He always wanted to make money.

On the other hand, he recognizes

That if he and star Are gonna prosper

That they need order And they need stability,

And he's gonna provide that.

Wherever there's money To be made,

There's bound to be Ne'er-do-wells

Looking to steal it.

And deadwood was full of them.

Would-be prospectors Who came late to the party

And found all the good claims Were taken.

So, when the gold started Flowing out of the hills

Bound for the nearest banks In wyoming and montana,

The trails faced A new kind of danger

Every bit as savage As the indians.

Bell: deadwood was so isolated,

And there really were very few Roads in and out of there.

Didn't take a rocket scientist To figure out

That, well, That's where the money is.

Bullock: Most of the gold that left town

Was bound for banks 200 miles south in cheyenne.

That's where The nearest railhead was,

So it was the fastest way To send the money east or west.

But getting a stagecoach To cheyenne was no picnic.

Monahan: It was very treacherous.

The terrain was rocky, It was rough,

It was hilly, It was steep.

It was not an easy journey.

Bullock: running a single coach To cheyenne

Took some 600 horses Switched out along the route.

At an average Of 8 miles an hour,

It took two days To make the trek.

And at any point Along the trail,

Evil and desperate men Could be lurking.

Pratt: it's like Shooting fish in a barrel.

You know, you're out In the middle of nowhere,

Especially in the hills. There's a lot of cover.

Pretty easy pickings, I think.

Bullock: Early on in my deadwood days,

I found out firsthand just How dangerous the journey was.

I was riding shotgun to cheyenne With $65,000 worth of gold.

Robber's roost up ahead.

I got a bad feeling this time, Mr. Bullock.

Yeah?

And I got 20 dimes In this scatter gun.

Wolff: we'd all like to learn To be somewhat fearless.

A lot of us let our inhibitions Get in the way

Of some things we do, And he never did.

I just hope it's enough.

We're bound to get robbed Sitting on this much bullion.

Might want to speak up, Wes,

In case the bad guys Didn't hear you.

Get your hands up high Where I can see them.

There's a lot I'd prefer To forget about that night,

But suffice it to say, That next morning,

That highwayman was found dead.

Milch: I think that bullock was afraid

Of the chaos in his soul,

Because when he lost it, He lost it all the way.

I think it frightened him, And he did something about it.

He became a force for order,

Not only in his own nature, But in the community as a whole.

Bullock: deadwood itself

Was no less dangerous Than the roads into it.

Within months of my arrival,

The gulch was home to 75 saloons

And dozens of other Parlors of ill repute.

Wolff: if you're a highwayman,

You make your money On the trail.

What are you gonna do With your money?

You're gonna go someplace Where you think's

The most easy to spend it And enjoy it,

And they would come to deadwood.

Bullock: In a town teeming with vices,

Al swearengen's gem Was the crown jewel.

Monahan: it was a theater. It was a den of iniquity.

It was a saloon.

They had prize fights,

Boxing matches in there.

They loved masquerade balls.

You had prostitutes.

You pretty much get anything You want at the gem saloon.

Gomber: the portrayal Of swearengen on "Deadwood"

Really calms him down Quite a bit.

He was a lot worse Than the way he's portrayed.

And that's saying something,

'cause he's portrayed As a monster.

Milch: he had great imagination.

Very resourceful guy.

He had a bunch Of different businesses.

He knew What his real business was.

He was a whore master.

He didn't miss a trick In terms of exploitation.

Bullock: at a time When most frontier families

Were scraping by On about $600 a year,

Swearengen was pocketing $5,000 On an average night.

He was the king of the part Of town we called the badlands,

Where every kind of drug, Drink, and depravity

Was ripe for the taking,

And where men with weak wills

Routinely parted With their fortunes.

Sam bass and joel collins Were just these sort of fellas.

They had just driven A herd of cattle up from texas,

For which they were paid $8,000.

But that kind of money didn't Last long in the badlands.

Spent all their money From shipping the cattle up

And didn't have anything To go back home with,

So they turned to what maybe Would've been the easiest money,

And that was robbery.

Ooh-wee. Good god, sam.

Did you ever For one minute think

There'd be Such a sweet pot of gold

At the end of the trail?

Sure as hell didn't.

Well, ain't you laying it on A little thick,

And he ain't even Paid you yet.

Looks to me like you're The cheapest whore in camp.

Man: yeah!

Maybe she just knows a real man When she sees one.

Hey. Hey!

Now, you boys know

The only fighting I allow In here is in that ring.

Besides, what do you want To ruin a good time for?

I'll tell you What I'm gonna do.

I'm gonna get these drinks Topped off,

And then I'm gonna have Two of my finest doves

Give you boys A private tour of the upstairs.

All compliments Of uncle al.

All right, Keep an eye on them.

Make sure The drinks stay full.

And then have the ladies Lighten their load a little bit.

Bullock: when their fortunes Ran dry in deadwood,

Bass and collins Formed the black hills bandits.

They soon set their sights On the trail to cheyenne

And robbed seven stagecoaches In quick succession.

With our main connection To the wider world under siege,

Commerce in deadwood Ground to a halt.

It was clear someone had to Step up and lay down the law.

[ gunfire ]

And as it happened,

I was fast becoming Deadwood's enforcer.

Doc babcock Is on his way.

I'm sorry This happened, j.C.

I am, too, seth.

They're in there.

Barely a month After I arrived in deadwood,

I was called to intervene

In a bloody claim dispute Between two mining companies.

Wolff: the men from the aurora

Were shooting At the men from the keets.

Neighboring mines, Disputes over ground.

J.C. Tuttle Was killed in this exchange,

And here bullock intercedes By himself.

And these men are armed

And they're shooting And they've killed a guy.

Bullock: I'm gonna need you keets boys

To drop your arms And come out now.

I can hit him.

Right between the eyes, Before he'll even blink.

Maybe you can.

But you ain't gonna.

Let's go, fellas.

Nobody here Wants more bloodshed,

But you can be sure That's what you're gonna get

If you don't comply.

Hands in the air!

Wolff: He walks in and he disarms them,

And then he arrests them And he hauls half of them away.

And then he comes back later

And arrests more of them 'cause he's not satisfied.

I don't think many people Can step up and do that.

Takes a lot of courage,

Maybe almost foolish courage,

But a lot of guts, A lot of power.

We're through here, boys.

Everyone back to your camps

Before you do something You'll regret.

Bullock: as the violence Continued to escalate

In and around deadwood,

Those of us with an interest In turning the tide

Formed a board of commissioners.

Being the only member With lawman experience,

I assumed the unofficial role Of sheriff.

[ door opens ]

But there was A new stranger in town

Who had his own sights set On the job.

Evening, mr. Bullock.

Evening mr...Earp, Is it?

That's right. Wyatt earp.

Bell: well, wyatt earp Being in deadwood

Is one of the least-known parts Of his entire career.

Earp was attracted to the place

Because it was A booming boomtown.

That's what he was about.

Hutton: but the mining claims Had been snapped up,

The good ones, at least, Pretty quickly.

And wyatt earp Turned his thoughts

To perhaps picking up The job as sheriff.

We're closed for the day,

But you're welcome back Tomorrow.

I'm not here To make a purchase, sir.

I was hoping I might speak With you and the commissioners

About the matter Of a county sheriff.

There's been talk that you Fellas might be looking for one.

I'd like to state My interest.

Being as I served before In kansas

And have a good sense

For peaceably corralling The undesirables,

Of which this camp Certainly has no shortage.

Seth bullock, though,

Already had that job Nailed down.

There wasn't enough room In deadwood

For both of those lawmen.

Well, I, uh, think I can speak for the group

In expressing our thanks For the offer.

But the position's Been filled.

I see. May I ask by whom, sir?

An announcement Will be forthcoming shortly.

Now, if you'll excuse us,

We have some pressing business To attend.

Certainly.

Pardon the intrusion, Gentlemen.

Pratt: my understanding is He came in the fall

And stayed all winter And basically chopped wood.

He was very popular With the girls, all that.

Kind of made his way.

Bell: It's kind of really interesting

That he did not Leave his mark there.

He's kind of anonymous.

Wyatt earp supposedly said That the gunmen in deadwood

Were the deadliest He'd ever seen

With the possible exception Of tombstone.

Bullock: earp skipped town For good in march 1877,

The same month I was officially appointed

The first sheriff Of lawrence county.

Within days, I had My first crisis on my hands.

Sam bass and his black hills Bandits had struck again,

And this time, They took more than gold.

They took a good man's life.

[ gunshots ]

Here she comes. Man, I bet she's loaded.

Shh.

All right, boys. Lay low and follow my lead.

In march of 1877,

I, seth bullock, Was named the first sheriff

Of lawrence county, South dakota.

That same month,

A band of local thugs Led by joel collins

And the soon to be infamous Sam bass

Gave me a baptism by gunfire.

All right, boys!

Gomber: Well, after they'd squandered

All of the money they'd gotten From cattle,

They basically decided

That rather than Actually work for a living,

It would be easier To hold up stagecoaches.

The stagecoach is coming up the Trail from cheyenne to deadwood,

And it doesn't really stop As commanded.

Gomber: Johnny slaughter was driving,

And when he yelled at them To get out of the way,

They all turned,

And they had guns Pointed at him.

Wolff: one of the outlaws, With a shotgun,

Blew johnny slaughter Off the stage,

Causing the horses to bolt.

Gomber: the bullet killed Johnny slaughter on the spot.

Well, Would you look at that.

I got me two for one.

Guess I ought to go check His wallet.

Gomber: the outlaws fled Pretty much in disarray,

And the stagecoach Made it into deadwood,

Where passengers told the story.

And group of men went back And found slaughter's body.

Bullock: that day, the trail That had become our lifeline

Was stained with death.

This time, not by indians, But by our own kind.

And it fell on me

To bring justice To the perpetrators.

These men will be found.

And when they are,

They'll pay dearly For what they done.

Johnny slaughter Is a fairly famous guy.

His dad was a marshal Down in cheyenne,

And so this was Kind of a big outrage.

Bullock: after the murder,

I posted a handsome reward For the arrest of the shooter,

A brazen young hotshot By the name of reddy mckimie.

And I made it my mission To bring him to justice.

It wasn't long before

He and his partners Felt the pressure.

Gomber: reddy mckimie

Was considered to be Something of a loose canon,

Even among the outlaws.

He was a little deranged.

They thought mckimie was gonna Get them all hung, basically.

I think they were right.

His behavior was too erratic,

And he was dangerous, Possibly even to them.

What do you take us for, Reddy? Buffalo bill?

This ain't no stage play.

There's gonna be heat From this, mckimie.

Your itchy finger's gonna Get us all in hot water.

Mckimie: damn it, joel.

Ain't showboatin'. It's kill or be killed.

I sure as hell Saw that messenger

Reaching for a shotgun,

And I did What had to be done

While you fellas Stood there frozen.

Who's frozen now, Mckimie, huh?

Who's on The working end now?

Take it easy, sam.

Take it easy nothing.

I ain't about to let some boy Get mixed up in man's work.

You're in over your head, Reddy.

I ought to kill you Right here.

Now, you walk away And you keep on walking.

And if you don't look back And you keep your trap shut,

You might yet live To see 1877.

Bullock: for weeks After slaughter's murder,

The trail was quiet.

We made sure every coach To and from cheyenne

Was heavily fortified

With armed men Who were ready to shoot to kill.

Sam bass and joel collins Were smart enough

To take the hint And leave the hills.

A few months later,

They made the papers Coast to coast

After they pulled off the Largest train heist in history,

Robbing more than $60,000

From a union pacific train Down in nebraska.

But mckimie stuck around.

And it wouldn't be long Before he found trouble again.

Meanwhile, back in town,

I had my hands full With the undesirables

Who frequented deadwood's Less reputable establishments.

There have always been Colorful people in deadwood.

There still are.

Shot of whisky And slop it over the brim.

[ chuckling ] Yes, sir.

Attaboy, buck. Hey, uh, leave the bottle.

Bullock: One of the most colorful

Was martha jane cannary,

Who I'd reckon you'd know As calamity jane.

Kuchenbecker: calamity jane Really matched her name.

She dressed as a man To make her way with the troops.

Interesting individual.

She had a big heart,

But she also was A loud, obnoxious,

Hard-drinking prostitute.

Weigert: jane, By all external appearances,

Would seem to be A ruffian of some kind,

And she was So very tender and soft.

And all of that was thrown up

As a vast defense Against attack.

If it isn't The man of the hour.

Aw, suck it, swearengen.

Oh, no, candy lips. That's your job.

Of course, now you might make A better living of it

If you scrape off this hide

And put on A pretty little house dress,

And, uh, Don't forget to shave.

[ gunshot ]

[ screams ]

Give my regards To the devil, boone.

Bullock: shootouts were a fairly Common occurrence in deadwood,

But never did I come So close to eternity

As the night boone may And prescott webb

Went at it out on main street.

May was a stagecoach Shotgun messenger

More brutal than any outlaw,

And he had recently been held up By webb and his cronies

Out on the trail.

Well, lo and behold,

He sees prescott webb On main street.

Next thing you know, They're shooting each other.

And as they're shooting Each other,

Then bullock And some deputies run up

To try to see what's going on.

[ gunshot ]

And prescott webb gets injured.

He takes a bullet.

He's trying to grab a horse And he's trying to get away,

But he's been shot.

Sheriff! [ groans ] I'm done for!

Prescott webb starts saying Things like, "I've had it.

I'm a goner. I'm all done, boys."

Get a doctor!

[ gun clicking ]

Wolff: bullock gets Pretty close to him,

And the guy raises his gun And clicks it twice,

And it misfired twice.

Bullock could've been shot, Could've been mortally wounded,

And it could've ended his career Right then and there.

It appears, prescott, You're spent.

But you're right About one thing.

You're done for.

Take him in, boys.

Bullock: despite the odds Heavily stacked against us,

We started making headway In deadwood

By the summer of '77.

But out on the trail, New trouble was brewing

That threatened to nullify Our progress.

Sam bass and joel collins Were long gone,

But another gang was emerging To fill the void.

Within its ranks Is a familiar thug

Whose trigger finger Was as itchy as ever.

Reddy mckimie had partnered up With the hat creek gang.

And before the year was out,

They'd managed to steal Thousands of dollars in gold,

Murder a respected lawman,

And resolve to assassinate Yours truly.

[ gunshots ]

Word is the mother lode's Bound for cheyenne tonight.

Dunc, if I had a nugget For every time you said that,

I could quit hustling For good.

Wait for my signal.

In the summer of 1877,

Sam bass and his texas boys Left deadwood,

Scared off by the heat around The johnny slaughter killing.

But the thug who pulled The trigger that night,

A reckless young ruffian Named reddy mckimie,

Pressed his luck And hung around deadwood.

It wasn't long before he fell in

With a new gang Of ne'er-do-wells

Intent on robbing the stage.

And I was determined To bring them to justice.

Dunc blackburn headed up The hat creek gang,

So named for The stagecoach station

Nearest his base of operations.

Blackburn had been an employee Of the stage line there

And turned criminal

With an insider's knowledge Of its vulnerabilities.

Throughout the summer of '77,

His gang held The cheyenne-deadwood trail

Under siege.

Boys, this is a bully place For road agents.

[ man shouts indistinctly ]

Put your hands up.

[ gunshot ] Hey!

If another shot is fired, Everybody dies.

Now, now. Howdy, everybody.

I don't want Any sudden moves.

Oh, don't worry, Gentlemen,

We'll have you On your way shortly.

This won't take long.

Oh, what do we got here? A little spanish silver?

I'll have that, too. Thank you kindly.

Aren't you A pretty little thing?

Go ahead. See to your driver.

[ groaning ]

Bullock: For the second time that year,

A bullet From the gun of reddy mckimie

Stained the cheyenne trail In blood.

Sy hawley, The driver of the stage,

Took a bullet in the side.

But he would survive.

[ grunts ]

When are the banks gonna learn

These locks ain't nothing A little explosion can't cure.

[ chuckles ]

Wolff: the gold shipments Out of the black hills

Were always in danger,

And the stage company To deadwood from cheyenne

Would then put what they called A treasure coach,

One of which they named The johnny slaughter coach,

And coated it With iron plates.

Secured a steel box Or an iron box to the floor,

Which the manufacturer Assured people

Would not be vulnerable For opening for 24 hours.

But the outlaws just blew it up,

And they would just take The money ripped.

They didn't care. They just wanted the notes.

And so, they would blast Their way through these.

Okay, go! Go!

Whoo-hoo! Drinks are on me!

Yeah.

Thank you very much, folks. It's been a pleasure.

Bullock: that summer, Deadwood looked to me

To stem the tide Of stage robberies.

With the next sheriff's election Only weeks away,

The pressure was mounting,

And the press Only fueled the flames.

[ clears throat ]

"There is a nest Of these vile marauders

In the vicinity Of the cheyenne river,

And the authorities Must make an effort

To rid the country at once Of such monsters.

Something must And will be done.

The first stage robber Captured will be hung,

And so will the last one,

And some of them are now nearer To eternity than they suppose."

Wow.

You know what you all Got to do, then, don't you?

What's that, reddy?

Don't be the first or last one To get captured is all.

[ laughs ]

Bullock: it was mid-october

Before I finally got A solid lead

On the hat creek gang's Whereabouts.

A rancher in the area said There was a camp out there

That seems to be A little suspicious,

And so he notifies bullock.

Sure as hell must be A lot of gold

Holed up somewhere Near deadwood,

'cause it ain't Come through here yet.

I almost wish they'd put A company of cavalry

On our trail.

At least then we could make Some money out of the horses.

Bullock: in that moment,

My re-election As lawrence county sheriff

Hung in the balance.

Wait for my signal.

After tracking them for months,

I finally had those fellas On the line.

All I had to do Was reel them in.

[ gunshot ]

Let's move!

It's the law, boys!

And as they're getting close To this ambush,

A gun discharges, Then a gunfight ensues.

[ gunshots ]

Hold right there, blackburn!

[ grunts ]

Wolff: during the gunfight, Blackburn is wounded.

But they flee,

And bullock and his men Chase after him.

Ultimately, bullock comes back To deadwood empty-handed.

Unfortunately, because of his Failure to capture these guys,

He lost the election.

He was mocked And he was chastised

For being ineffective And being a bad sheriff

And incapable Of keeping the law.

Bullock: the sheriff's election Didn't go the way I'd hoped.

It's true.

But I was damned if I was gonna Go quietly into the night.

It wasn't long before blackburn And most of the hat creekers

Were rounded up further down The cheyenne trail.

But there was one fella Still on the loose

Whom I considered The grand prize.

If I had to follow reddy mckimie Into the bowels of hell,

I was damn sure Gonna bring him to justice.

[ gunshots ]

Bullock: by january of 1878,

Most of deadwood's Notorious highway robbers,

Including five members Of the hat creek gang,

Were dead or in prison.

My tenure as lawrence county Sheriff was over,

Largely because I had failed To collar any of them myself.

But reddy mckimie, The most deadly of their outfit,

Was still on the lam.

And I made it my mission To hunt him down,

Badge or no badge.

Gomber: bullock was determined To get mckimie, at least.

He was the man who had killed Johnny slaughter

And wounded At least one other driver.

He went all the way to ohio To do it.

Bullock: just days after I left the sheriff's office,

I got wind that a fellow Matching reddy's description

Had been spotted In his hometown in ohio.

His chasing reddy mckimie Across the country

Is to redeem his name.

In large part, it was ego.

He had to go and get reddy,

And he would bring him back If he could.

Bullock: It didn't take long to find him.

There he was,

Running a dry goods store Built on blood money.

Mckimie: it's a simple matter Of supply and demand.

We'll keep it here Waiting for you.

You go ahead And shop around.

Something I can do you for, Mr...?

You know damn well Who I am.

It's closing time, reddy.

It was my intention To bring mckimie back west

To face justice for the murder Of johnny slaughter.

But he had outstanding warrants In ohio, as well,

And the governor there

Wanted him caged On his own home turf.

How'd you like to go with me, Reddy?

I'd sure as hell hate To go back west empty-handed.

I'd just as soon stay As not.

But I'll tell you one thing, Bullock.

I'm going to crease you If I ever get the chance.

I'll take my chances.

But you better look out

That I don't get the drop On you first.

Bullock: that was the last time I ever saw reddy mckimie.

Ohio locked him up For the next 11 years,

After which he was wise enough Not to come looking for trouble.

Neither he Nor any of his cronies

Ever faced justice For johnny slaughter's murder,

But at least I got my man.

Most people remember me as part Of the ensemble of characters

Who made up the fabric Of gold rush deadwood.

But as I see it,

The defining moment Of my life came

Long after that chaotic summer Of 1876.

A chance encounter With a future president

Who would become a trusted ally And a dear friend.

Seth bullock had a cattle ranch Outside of deadwood,

And bullock was out on His pasture rounding up cattle.

Bullock sees this troop coming

With a buckboard and a couple Horses covered in dirt,

And he just looks askance At what's going on.

You boys Looking for something?

Already found him. This here's crazy steve.

We've arrested him On suspicion of horse theft.

We're taking him up to medora.

Crazy steve?

You don't say.

He's wanted Down in deadwood, too.

Who are you?

Well, now. [ laughs ]

Bully! Where are my manners?

Whoa.

Name's roosevelt.

Theodore.

Deputy sheriff of medora.

Hutton: Roosevelt had fled to the west

In the most tragic And traumatic time of his life.

His young wife and his mother

Had died in his house On the very same day,

And he wrote later That depression

Rarely can catch up with a man On a fast horse.

And he remade himself,

Like so many others had remade Themselves in the west,

As a rancher, as a cowboy.

And so this harvard dude

Really did become A man of the west.

Delighted to meet you, Mr...

Seth bullock, Dakota deputy marshal.

Seth bullock. In the flesh.

[ chuckles ] It's truly an honor, sir.

It's pleasure to meet you, Mr. Roosevelt.

Your reputation Precedes you.

[ chuckles ]

But I must say, By your looks,

I thought you were some kind Of tinhorn gambling outfit

I might have to Keep my eye on.

[ laughs ]

I nearly lost him Around the bend over there.

We were moving At a pretty good click,

And he jumped right out The back of the wagon.

[ laughs ]

Roosevelt was always uneasy

With the part of himself That had to be an easterner.

I think he saw a purified Version of himself in bullock,

And they delighted In each other.

Cheers to that.

Cheers to that.

Bullock: for the next 27 years,

The colonel and I Were the closest of friends.

I served alongside him In the rough riders,

And though my unit Never did make it to cuba,

I was proud to be called captain From then on.

When roosevelt was in england After his presidency,

He called for bullock To come join him.

And he said, "I want to hear somebody

That speaks my language Of the west."

That's what roosevelt saw In bullock.

He was quintessential america.

In 1919,

When president roosevelt Passed away...

...Seth bullock wanted to be One of the first in the country

To erect a monument In honor of the lost president,

And so they created The friendship tower

On sheep mountain, Which overlooks deadwood.

Later that year, the same year, Seth bullock dies.

And so, the black hills Pioneer society

Buries him above mount roosevelt

So that he can overlook The friendship tower

And see each other's memorial.

¶

The one word that is On seth bullock's epitaph

Is "Pioneer."

One word and one word only.

It reflects Bullock's entire mentality.

What did the pioneers stand for? They stood for progress.

He was the consummate pioneer.

He came and dug in and stayed

And had a huge impact on the Development of this community,

The fabric of deadwood.

I'm gonna need You keets boys

To drop your arms And come out now.

Pratt: I don't know What else you'd call him

Other than a pioneer.

Milch: that's exactly right,

And in the absolutely best Sense,

The process of taking the land From another people

Is not pretty.

And we did that,

And there were those of us Who redeemed that violation

By the way we comported Ourselves subsequently.

That was bullock, And he was a pioneer.

This man has been sentenced To hang.

Stand down!

You're done for.