Jame Butler Hickok Howie

[Pietro]

Here's a pic of Wild Bill Hickok that shows his belt knife

 

[Cruzatte]

One of JB Hickok's biographers Joseph Rosa suspected that the knife, belt, and coat may have been photographer's props. He points out citing several eye witness accounts that Hickok usually dressed quite fashionably in a Prince Albert coat, and carried his twin Colt Navies tucked in a sash.

 

[Whitworth]

That unsheathed toothpick might cause some blood loss.

 

[Loyalist Dave]

That unsheathed toothpick might cause some blood loss.

NO DOUBT, if the man was striding with a purpose and swinging his hands as he walked, he'd lop-off his left thumb!

Gotta be staged..., but they did that back then.

Though it DOES show you a large butcher knife that was available back in those days, if anybody wanted to carry a knife that large, there's a good image of one.

LD

 

[smoothshooter]

One of JB Hickok's biographers Joseph Rosa suspected that the knife, belt, and coat may have been photographer's props. He points out citing several eye witness accounts that Hickok usually dressed quite fashionably in a Prince Albert coat, and carried his twin Colt Navies tucked in a sash.

Hickok surely dressed for the occasion whenever he could. If he was involved in outdoor activities, formal attire would not have been practical, and vice-versa.
I have long believed that the majority of visible guns in non-law enforcement related old photographs were props.
Particularly those taken of cowboys, and young men headed to the gold fields aspiring to become miners

 

[RanchRoper]

Many of those photos were staged studio ones with props, this looks like one of them.

 

[smoothshooter]

Hickok surely dressed for the occasion whenever he could. If he was involved in outdoor activities, formal attire would not have been practical, and vice-versa.
I have long believed that the majority of visible guns in non-law enforcement related old photographs were props.
Particularly those taken of cowboys, and young men headed to the gold fields aspiring to become miners

Agree 100%.
Most of those guys went west because they were broke.
Not because they already had money to afford nice firearms.
Lots of them spent several years working in the mines and gold fields and were still broke.
Not to say none prospered. History tells us many did, if they weren’t killed or maimed by accidents, or ruined by illness.
It is surprising how many people ( particularly new immigrants )
travelled to and/or lived on the American frontier as it was pushed back over the centuries without owning a firearm of any kind because they were either unfamiliar with firearms, or couldn’t afford one.
A situation a lot of them came to regret.