Description

Deadwood History will feature a lecture on Friday, June 19, 2015, at 12:00 p.m. with author and historian Tom Griffith at the Celebrity Hotel outdoor venue on Historic Main Street, Deadwood.  The event is open to the public and is wheelchair accessible.  Please call 605-722-4800 for more information.  Parking for the Celebrity Hotel is available in the city parking ramp.  In case of inclement weather, the lecture will be moved to the Homestake Adams Research and Cultural Center (HARCC), 150 Sherman Street.
The Wild West was a tough place to scratch out a living during America’s early years, and South Dakota was no exception. Banks attracted burglars, cattle drew rustlers and saloons enticed all sorts of gamblers, gunslingers and despicable delinquents into town.
 
After surviving the Plum Creek Massacre as a teen, bootlegger-turned-prospector William Gay served less than a year in prison for one murder, but failed to escape the noose the second time around. In 1875, the citizens of Deadwood were convinced of Martin Couk’s innocence in the murder of the town’s first teacher, but Couk’s final words years later left them utterly dumbfounded.
 
Tom Griffith will explore the challenges of researching and writing the second edition of Outlaw Tales of South Dakota, a book that introduces fifteen of the most dramatic events and the most daring and despicable desperadoes in the history of the Mount Rushmore State.