Charles H. Utter (b. near Niagara Falls, New York

Niagara Falls, New York

Niagara Falls is a city in Niagara County, New York, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 50,193, down from the 55,593 recorded in the 2000 census. It is across the Niagara River from Niagara Falls, Ontario , both named after the famed Niagara Falls which they...

, around 1838 – death unknown after 1912) was an early figure in the American Wild West, best known as a great friend and companion of Wild Bill Hickok

Wild Bill Hickok

James Butler Hickok , better known as Wild Bill Hickok, was a folk hero of the American Old West. His skills as a gunfighter and scout, along with his reputation as a lawman, provided the basis for his fame, although some of his exploits are fictionalized.Hickok came to the West as a stagecoach...

.

Utter grew up in Illinois

Illinois

Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...

, then went westwards in search of his fortune, becoming a trapper, guide

Guide

A guide is a person who leads anyone through unknown or unmapped country. This includes a guide of the real world , as well as a person who leads someone to more abstract places .-Guide - meanings related to travel and recreational pursuits:There are many variants of...

, and prospector

Prospecting

Prospecting is the physical search for minerals, fossils, precious metals or mineral specimens, and is also known as fossicking.Prospecting is a small-scale form of mineral exploration which is an organised, large scale effort undertaken by mineral resource companies to find commercially viable ore...

 in Colorado

Colorado

Colorado is a U.S. state that encompasses much of the Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains...

 in the 1860s. In early 1876, Utter and his brother, Steve, took a 30-wagon wagon train

Wagon train

A wagon train is a group of wagons traveling together. In the American West, individuals traveling across the plains in covered wagons banded together for mutual assistance, as is reflected in numerous films and television programs about the region, such as Audie Murphy's Tumbleweed and Ward Bond...

 of prospectors, gamblers, 180 prostitutes, and assorted hopefuls from Georgetown, Colorado

Georgetown, Colorado

The historic town of Georgetown is a Territorial Charter Municipality that is the county seat of Clear Creek County, Colorado, United States. The former silver mining camp along Clear Creek in the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains was established in 1859 during the Pike's Peak Gold Rush...

 to the gold rush

Gold rush

A gold rush is a period of feverish migration of workers to an area that has had a dramatic discovery of gold. Major gold rushes took place in the 19th century in Australia, Brazil, Canada, South Africa, and the United States, while smaller gold rushes took place elsewhere.In the 19th and early...

 in Deadwood, South Dakota

Deadwood, South Dakota

Deadwood is a city in South Dakota, United States, and the county seat of Lawrence County. It is named for the dead trees found in its gulch. The population was 1,270 according to a 2010 census...

. Like many wagon trains, the wagons were Shutler wagon

Peter Schuttler

Peter Schuttler has often been referred to as the "Great Chicago Wagon King" in Midwestern U.S. lore. He was born on December 22, 1812 in Wachenheim, Germany and died on January 16, 1865 in Chicago....

s which were notable for "gaudy paint jobs". In Cheyenne, Wyoming

Cheyenne, Wyoming

Cheyenne is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Wyoming and the county seat of Laramie County. It is the principal city of the Cheyenne, Wyoming, Metropolitan Statistical Area which encompasses all of Laramie County. The population is 59,466 at the 2010 census. Cheyenne is the...

, Wild Bill Hickok became partners with Utter in the train, and in Fort Laramie, Wyoming

Fort Laramie, Wyoming

Fort Laramie is a town in Goshen County, Wyoming, United States. The population was 243 at the 2000 census. The town is named after historic Fort Laramie, an important stop on the Oregon, California and Mormon trails as well as a staging point for various military excursions...

, Calamity Jane

Calamity Jane

Martha Jane Cannary Burke , better known as Calamity Jane, was an American frontierswoman, and professional scout best known for her claim of being an acquaintance of Wild Bill Hickok, but also for having gained fame fighting Native Americans...

 also joined up. The train arrived in Deadwood in July, 1876, and Utter began a lucrative express delivery service to Cheyenne, charging 25 cents to deliver a letter and often carrying as many as 2,000 letters per 48 hour trip.

Utter had been a close friend of Hickok for some time previous, constantly watching to ensure that Hickok's weaknesses of alcohol

Alcohol

In chemistry, an alcohol is an organic compound in which the hydroxy functional group is bound to a carbon atom. In particular, this carbon center should be saturated, having single bonds to three other atoms....

 and gambling

Gambling

Gambling is the wagering of money or something of material value on an event with an uncertain outcome with the primary intent of winning additional money and/or material goods...

 would not bring him to a bad end. Unfortunately, he was not present on August 2, 1876, when Hickok was fatally shot in the back of the head by Jack McCall

Jack McCall

John "Jack" McCall , known by the nickname "Crooked Nose Jack or Broken Nose Jack, was the killer of James "Wild Bill" Hickok, shooting him from behind, an act that among admirers of Hickok and students of Hickok's history has given rise to the phrase "the coward Jack McCall."-...

, as he played poker. Utter claimed the body and placed a notice in the local newspaper, the Black Hills Pioneer

Black Hills Pioneer

The Black Hills Pioneer, published by A. W. Merrick along with W. A. Laughlin, was the first newspaper in Deadwood, South Dakota. The newspaper continues to be published today, but has moved its offices to Spearfish, South Dakota....

, which read

"Died in Deadwood, Black Hills, August 2, 1876, from the effects of a pistol shot, J. B. Hickok (Wild Bill) formerly of Cheyenne, Wyoming. Funeral services will be held at Charlie Utter's Camp, on Thursday afternoon, August 3, 1876, at 3 o'clock, P. M. All are respectfully invited to attend."

Attendance at the funeral was heavy, and Utter had Hickok buried with a wooden grave marker reading

"Wild Bill, J. B. Hickock killed by the assassin Jack McCall in Deadwood, Black Hills, August 2d, 1876. Pard, we will meet again in the happy hunting ground to part no more. Good bye, Colorado Charlie, C. H. Utter."

Utter left for Colorado, but returned in 1879 to have Hickok reinterred, at Calamity Jane

Calamity Jane

Martha Jane Cannary Burke , better known as Calamity Jane, was an American frontierswoman, and professional scout best known for her claim of being an acquaintance of Wild Bill Hickok, but also for having gained fame fighting Native Americans...

's urging, in a ten foot square plot at the Mount Moriah Cemetery, surrounded by a cast iron fence and with an American flag in the ground.

In February, 1879, Utter purchased the Eaves Saloon in Gayville, South Dakota

Gayville, South Dakota

Gayville is a town in Yankton County, South Dakota, United States. The population was 407 at the 2010 census.-Geography:Gayville is located at .According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of , all land....

, but ran into a string of bad luck. He was found guilty of selling liquor without a license

License

The verb license or grant licence means to give permission. The noun license or licence refers to that permission as well as to the document recording that permission.A license may be granted by a party to another party as an element of an agreement...

, then of maintaining a nuisance dance hall

Dance hall

Dance hall in its general meaning is a hall for dancing. From the earliest years of the twentieth century until the early 1960s, the dance hall was the popular forerunner of the discothèque or nightclub...

 in the nearby town of Lead. He returned to Deadwood in time for the September 26, 1879 fire which devastated Deadwood, wiping out many residents. Since Deadwood was no longer a frontier town where fortunes could be built (or rebuilt) from nothing, the newly impoverished left to try their luck in other gold rushes, and Utter followed: first to Leadville, Colorado

Leadville, Colorado

Leadville is a Statutory City that is the county seat of, and the only municipality in, Lake County, Colorado, United States. Situated at an elevation of , Leadville is the highest incorporated city and the second highest incorporated municipality in the United States...

 in February 1880; then Durango, Colorado

Durango, Colorado

The City of Durango is a Home Rule Municipality that is the county seat and the most populous city of La Plata County, Colorado, United States. The United States Census Bureau said that the city population was 16,887 in 2010 census.-History:...

; then to Socorro, New Mexico

Socorro, New Mexico

Socorro is a city in Socorro County in the U.S. state of New Mexico. It stands in the Rio Grande Valley at an elevation of . The population was 9,051 at the 2010 census...

, where he opened a saloon. After this his trail disappears. However, Utter's biographer, Agnes Wright Spring, traced Utter to Panama

Panama

Panama , officially the Republic of Panama , is the southernmost country of Central America. Situated on the isthmus connecting North and South America, it is bordered by Costa Rica to the northwest, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north and the Pacific Ocean to the south. The...

 in the early 1900s. Now blind he owned drugstores in Panama City

Panama City

Panama is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Panama. It has a population of 880,691, with a total metro population of 1,272,672, and it is located at the Pacific entrance of the Panama Canal, in the province of the same name. The city is the political and administrative center of the...

 and Colón

Colón, Panama

Colón is a sea port on the Caribbean Sea coast of Panama. The city lies near the Atlantic entrance to the Panama Canal. It is capital of Panama's Colón Province and has traditionally been known as Panama's second city....

. Utter was last reported in Panama in 1913 and there remains no record of his place or date of death. There is disagreement over whether this Charlie H. Utter is the same man as his birthdate was recorded as 1843 whereas Colorado Utter was believed to have been born in 1838. Likewise the Leadville, Colorado Charlie Utter is also in doubt as his birthdate was given as 1831.

Utter cut a notable figure; although only five and a half feet tall, he is reported as being extremely meticulous in his appearance, highly unusual for that place and time. He had long, flowing blond hair and mustache, perfectly groomed, wore hand-tailored fringed buckskin

Buckskin

Buckskin may refer to:*Buckskin , leather made of buck hide*Buckskins, an outfit of buckskin leather*Buckskin , a color of horses similar to buckskin leather...

s, fine linen shirts, beaded moccasins

Moccasin (footwear)

A moccasin is a slipper made of deerskin or other soft leather, consisting of a sole and sides made of one piece of leather, stitched together at the top, and sometimes with a vamp . Though sometimes worn inside, it is chiefly intended for outdoor use, as in exploring wildernesses and running from...

, and a large silver belt buckle, and carried a pair of gold, silver, and pearl ornamented pistols. He would allow nobody into his tent, even Hickok, on pain of being shot; in his tent he slept under the highest quality blankets, imported from California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

, and carried with him mirrors, combs, razors, and whisk brooms. Most unusual of all, he was well known for his "bizarre habit" of bathing daily.

In popular culture

Utter was portrayed in the HBO television series Deadwood

Deadwood (TV series)

Deadwood is an American Western drama television series created, produced and largely written by David Milch. The series aired on the premium cable network HBO from March 21, 2004, to August 27, 2006, spanning three 12-episode seasons. The show is set in the 1870s in Deadwood, South Dakota, before...

. He was played by Dayton Callie

Dayton Callie

Dayton Callie is a Scottish-born American actor, best known for playing Charlie Utter on HBO's Deadwood and Ernie Dell on CSI. He now portrays Police Chief Wayne Unser on Sons of Anarchy. He has also voiced Whitaker in Valve's Left 4 Dead 2, appeared in Halloween 2, & had small roles in episodes...

.