Markers on Park Central Square that show where Wild Bill Hickok and Davis Tutt stood during their shootout might not be accurate. Two bronze discs on the square, placed there in 1975, mark where Hickok and Tutt were believed to have stood – Hickok’s is on the southeast corner.
Local history staff at the Springfield-Greene County Library have uncovered new evidence that Hickok might have actually stood on the southwest corner. The markers are placed 75 yards apart, but library historians believe the men were likely closer than that when they fired at one another, leaving Tutt dead.
Staff looked at records from the 1865 court proceedings uncovered in 1997 by archivist Robert Neumann at the Greene County Archives. They paired those with other period sources to discover the new details.
According to the library, eyewitnesses described Hickok’s movements prior to the shootout in relation to businesses that were located on the square. Local History Associate Claire Porter used ads in Springfield newspapers in 1865 to identify where those businesses were. By cross-referencing those locations with eyewitness accounts, Porter found the evidence that suggests Hickok was on a different corner of the square.
Local History and Genealogy Manager Brian Grubbs said in a statement that the findings "underline the importance of returning to period sources in doing historical research."
Local history staff continue working to reconstruct the events of the shootout using the 1865 court records and other historical sources.
