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The proprietor of The Gem Saloon was six months ahead of everyone else in Deadwood, and he runs the town like a corrupt riverboat captain. He knows every move that every person in town makes, anticipates problems and eliminates them. His girls aren't exactly the class of the town, but he controls the most successful bar and whorehouse in all of Deadwood—bringing in $5,000 a day in 1876—and anybody that threatens his sources of income may well end up fed to Mr. Wu's pigs.

Born Martha Jane Cannary, Calamity Jane is nearly as famous as Hickok was and is known to be as tough as any man in the West. Raised in the mining camps of Wyoming, she is a legendary horsewoman and crack shot, and is rumored to have been an Army scout for Custer.  A notorious boozer and brawler—and one of the most foul-mouthed frontierspeople of either sex--Jane is loyal and absolutely dedicated to Wild Bill. She travels across the West with him, and likes to tell people that they are husband and wife.

An apostle of the private mercenary interest as an organizing principle of behavior, Sol Star is a natural entrepreneur and one of the town's new fathers. He is also the life-long friend of Seth Bullock, and perhaps the only person Bullock confides in.  It was Star who urged Seth Bullock to head out to the new camp in Deadwood. As Bullock's partner in the hardware business, Sol handles most of the financial responsibilities of the endeavor, and his enthusiasm and vigor complement perfectly Bullock's decorum and self-possession.

Originally introduced to Al Swearengen as the bagman for the corrupt territorial magistrate, Clagett, Adams has been recruited into Swearengen's operation.

Thirty and beautiful, Alma Garret married after the panic of 1873 to salvage her father's strained finances. Preferring a fool's errand to the circumstances of New York society, she came west with her husband, Brom, to prospect, a woolly situation she softened with liberal use of laudanum.

After her entire family was killed on the trail by a gang of road agents, young Sofia was alone in the world-shivering in a ditch literally surrounded by wolves. Saved by Bullock and Hickok, Sofia is still in danger from human predators, and it has taken all of the love and protection Calamity Jane, Trixie and Doc Cochran. After her recover, she now lives with her new surrogate mother, Alma Garrett.

If Al Swearengen is Deadwood's unofficial mayor, Mister Wu holds the post on the Chinese part of town. Wu has his fingers in every semi-legal pie, including the lucrative opium trade, and though his English is limited to the handful of expletives Al has taught him, the two seem to communicate well enough for business. Among the services Wu offers is the timely and unquestioned disposal of bodies, courtesy of his ravenous pigs. Who will end up paying a visit to Wu's swine is an open question, however, especially as Deadwood's Chinese population becomes a pawn in the power struggle over the town's vice trade.

Morgan Earp, the younger and more hotheaded brother of Wyatt, tries to capitalize on the goodwill that the Earp brothers acquire when they ride into town as heroes, having apparently saved the stage coach from road agents. He spends his goodwill scamming a whore at the Gem for free services, claiming her sister owes him $11, while his brother Wyatt attempts to keep him in line. They are in Deadwood to work a newly acquired timber claim, vowing a simpler life than previous - as law men in Dodge City and Witchita.

The young woman Alma Garret hires to serve as Sofia's tutor is the soul of discretion.  

Eustace Bailey Farnum runs the Grand Central hotel, one of the main hubs of Deadwood. Just about every visitor to Deadwood ends up in Farnum's establishment at one time or another. Appointed by the town's fathers as the default mayor - no one else wanted the job-Farnum has grandiose ideas about his prospects. The hotelier also has connections to Swearengen and is often involved in Al's swindles and schemes, but he has a difficult time getting Swearengen to take him seriously.

If Al Swearengen has some dirty work to be done, he knows that he can count on enforcer Dan Dority. Whether it's working in The Gem or killing off somebody that needs it, Dority can fill just about any role that Swearengen can think up. 

One of Swearengen's crew, the young and ambitious Johnny Burns is looking to stay in his boss' favor, always gunning for a promotion. Obviously in awe of Swearengen, the curly haired Burns is constantly learning the tricks of the trade from him. With the Gem Saloon as his classroom, young Johnny has much to learn.

Al Swearengen's worst nightmare came true when Cy Tolliver brought his own den of gambling and whoring to Deadwood from Chicago. Tolliver's Bella Union is a high class joint, offering more refined and well-kept prostitutes along with sophisticated gaming, including craps.  A former riverboat gambler, Tolliver has been around, and he sees the unlimited earning potential the lawless town of Deadwood offers. Having done his homework and placed his own spies in town, Tolliver quickly establishes that he's not afraid of going head-to-head with Al, and he is just as calculating and wily as his competition.

One of the best known features of The Gem is its selection of whores, and Trixie is Swearengen's best girl.  Although he has no problems using the back of his hand to keep her in line, he also knows that she's a valuable asset.  Of course, whenever Swearengen gets that particular itch, he knows that Trixie is the girl to go to.

Sharing AW Merrick's newspaper office, is the telegraph office, run by Blazanov. The two men share more than an office, confiding to one another during their frequent "perambulations" around the camp.  

Tom Nuttall is the owner and bartender of Deadwood's infamous No. 10 Saloon, an alternative to those wishing to avoid the Gem. The saloon quickly becomes the favorite drinking and gambling establishment of Wild Bill Hickok and Charlie Utter. Nuttall realizes that Hickok may prove to be a boon to his business, so he has no problems advancing Wild Bill some cash in order to keep him happy at the tables.

Ultimately working for Cy Tolliver, Leon is playing both sides in a dangerous con. In exchange for opium to feed his dope habit, Leon acts as Al Swearengen's eyes and ears inside the Bella Union, the Gem's only real competition.

When the Bella Union arrived in Deadwood, it came with its own supply of high-caliber whores. These ladies have a savvy madame in Joanie Stubbs, a woman who knows her craft inside and out. Her business acumen isn't limited to just prostitution either, as she's able to assist Cy Tolliver with a variety of tasks around the Bella Union and serves as one of his confidantes.

James Butler "Wild Bill" Hickok was one of the most legendary figures of the Old West. A renowned marksman and Civil War spy, Hickok was known for his skills with a pair of twin Colt revolvers, killing somewhere between eight and 100 men, depending on whose stories you believe.  As a deputy U.S. marshal, he was a veteran of many Indian battles and served as a scout to officers like George Armstrong Custer. He had been a marshal in Hays City, and then Abilene, Kansas, gaining a reputation as a man who could pacify an untamed community.  After touring the country in a Wild West show with the likes of Buffalo Bill Cody, Hickok drifted from place to place, drinking heavily and gambling even more. He arrived in Deadwood to stake a claim and earn some money for himself and his new wife.

Polite and well-mannered, eight-year-old William is Seth Bullock's nephew, turned stepson after Seth's brother is killed and Seth weds his brother's wife. Well-mannered though he is, he can't resist staring at the jiggling breasts of the prostitutes with whom he and his mother share a bumpy stagecoach ride into Deadwood, nor passing gas in the close quarters, to the bemusement of his mother. Arriving in Deadwood in the midst of a pitched battle between his adoptive father and Al Swearengen, William's innocent look catches the enraged Swearengen's eye, pulling him back from the edge of violence.

Ellsworth has spent most of his days prospecting for gold in one part of the country or another, and has managed to scrounge enough, apparently, to cover for his appetite for whores and booze. Despite his somewhat disheveled appearance, Ellsworth is no fool, and he knows exactly how dangerous Swearengen can be; he knows to keep quiet about witnessing Brom Garret's murder. Still, at Bullock's urging, he accepts responsibility for overseeing Alma Garret's claim and proves himself to be extremely knowledgeable about mining. He is also fiercely loyal to Alma and Sofia.

There's no shortage of news in Deadwood, and chronicling the shootings, the claim-jumpings and the occasional good deed is the responsibility of AW Merrick. The editor (and reporter) for the Pioneer, Merrick has a knack for showing up when something big is about to happen. Because he's always taking notes, many of the residents of Deadwood look upon Merrick with distrust.

There are times when Jewel's sole purpose in life seems to be taking abuse from Al Swearengen. But despite Al's complaints about the noise she makes dragging her crippled leg as she sweeps the Gem, Jewel has the remarkable ability to rise above. Saddled with several disabilities, she's had to face bigger obstacles than Swearengen, and she never gives up hope that things can get better.

Born to neither power nor money, mining magnate George Hearst sends his agent, Francis Wolcott, ahead of him to Deadwood to secure a set of claims. When Hearst finally arrives by coach, Wolcott has managed to consolidate all of the major claims for his employer - save one, Alma Garrett Ellsworth's. She refuses to sell. But Hearst is not a man accustomed to being denied. He keeps his hands clean, but is quick to bloody others (including his second, Turner), in his quest to control all the gold in Deadwood.

Francis Wolcott, agent for the mining magnate George Hearst, arrives in Deadwood and is immediately fawned over by Farnum, who sees in Wolcott's fancy leather bags and his stated intention to "locate and secure an assortment of claims" an easy mark.But Wolcott is far from a rube, as a succession of Deadwood's denizens learn. Indeed, this conniving figure--who can't even stand to be touched--may prove to be the most ruthless and depraved man in town, no easy feat, even for a man willing to ship whores across the country to support his sadistic pleasures.

Wyatt Earp rides into town a hero beside his brother Morgan, claiming to have saved the arriving stage coach from some road agents attempting to hold up the stage. The brothers have secured a timber claim in Deadwood and claim they intend to settle down to work, giving up their past as law men in Dodge City and Witchita. But will Wyatt be able to keep Morgan in line?

Charlie Utter is Bill Hickok's longtime friend and travelling companion. As Hickok is given to drinking and gambling heavily, Utter does his best smooth things over in his friend’s wake and works to keep him solvent, but Hickok’s affinity to gaming and his lack of interest in mining makes this difficult. Utter also gets on well with Calamity Jane, another of Hickok's associates.

Jack Langrishe arrives with a flourish in Deadwood, with his theater group in tow. A flamboyant man of the stage, and old friend of Al Swearengen's, he strikes a deal with Joanie Stubbs to acquire the Chez Ami and convert it to a theater, determined to bring culture to the town.

A witness to unspeakable atrocities on the battlefields of the Civil War, Dr. Amos Cochran is one of the few honorable men in Deadwood. He takes his duties seriously, and does what he can to preserve human life. Even though he is paid by Swearengen to take care of the whores of The Gem, Cochran isn't in Swearengen's pocket, as his first priority is to help anybody in need.

Even as the stagecoach carries Martha to Deadwood and a reunion with her new husband, Seth Bullock is involved in a very passionate embrace with Alma Garret in her hotel room. By the time the stage actually pulls into town, Martha's husband is in a life and death battle with Al Swearengen, who has humiliated Bullock publicly over his affair with the widow Garret. Although startled by the unexpected circumstances of her arrival, she appears to take it all in with supreme dignity.

Maddie, an aging but still attractive former prostitute, has been imported by Joanie Stubbs to serve as Madame for a new brothel. Cy Tolliver, realizing that he's not only losing Joanie but now facing stiff competition, is enraged. "Suck some pr*cks if you like," he tells Maddie, "and keep whatever they give you. My way of saying welcome." "Any blind ones out there?" Maddie shoots back with self-deprecating humor. In Maddie, Tolliver has encountered a formidable foe.

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E.B. Farnum

Played by William Sanderson

About the Series

Deadwood (HBO)

Featured Characters

See All

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