The Untold Story Of Wild Bill Hickok's Only Wife

Publish date: 2024-05-03

The circus delighted Agnes so much that in her teen years she decided to run off with Bill Lake, a circus clown she met while he was performing at the big top in her hometown. The couple eloped and were married in Louisiana.

Despite her family's disapproval, Lake began training as a performer herself, and she soon became a talented equestrienne, tightrope walker, and lion tamer. She was known as the "Circus Queen," touring throughout the southern and eastern United States with her husband and their band of 240 performers, acrobats, and animals. The couple had a daughter, who also became an accomplished performer and horseback rider. They even did a stint abroad, performing for one season in Germany in 1862. When they returned from overseas, Agnes and Bill Lake decided to start their own circus. They performed together until Bill was tragically murdered in 1869. They were putting on a show in Granby, Missouri, when Bill encountered a man who had snuck into the show without paying for a ticket, according to the Times. When Lake confronted the man, he shot Bill dead. Now suddenly a widow, Agnes completely took over the management of the circus, raising her daughter and running the business while continuing to perform.

Agnes met Wild Bill two years after her husband's death, when they both happened to be passing through Abilene, Kansas in 1871.

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