James Butler "Wild Bill" Hickok - Deadwood, SD - Statues of Historic Figures on Waymarking.com

County of statue: Lawrence County
Location of statue: Madison St. & Mt. Morah Dr., Mt. Moriah Cemetery, Deadwood
Artist: Original: J.B. Riordan, replacement: David R. Young
Date erected - Original: 1891 Replacement: August 5, 2002

As both articles state, tourists destroy anything they can steal. One life size statue of Hickok which was places at the grave now looks like a male Venus De Milo and resides in the Adams Museum after tourists destroyed it and chipped away the head.

"Hickok was initially buried at Ingleside (below Mount Moriah Cemetery). Two years later, Deadwood's growing population necessitated the removal of bodies buried at Ingleside to be moved up the mountain to Mount Moriah, a permanent city cemetery. Hickok's body was exhumed on August 3, 1879 by his friends Colorado Charley Utter and Lewis B. Schoenfield and reinterred at Mount Moriah.

"The wooden headboard which Colorado Charley placed at the original gravesite was also moved to Mount Moriah. In a short period of time, the headboard was destroyed by relic hunters who whittled off pieces as souvenirs. By 1891, a nine feet tall bust of Hickok by J.B. Riordan was installed at the gravesite. In a period of ten years, vandals who wanted a "piece of Wild Bill" destroyed the rock sculpture." ~ western.freeservers

"While the fence around Hickok's grave has remained on the site for more than 100 years, previous attempts to erect statues or other monuments have ultimately proven unsuccessful because tourists and others hungry to claim just a piece of the Old West represented by the legend of Wild Bill have destroyed other pieces placed on the grave.

"On July 3, 2001, Deadwood commissioned artist David R. Young to recreate the Hickok bust. Young completed the work paying close attention to intimate details." ~~ Society of Black Hills Pioneers