A Pistol Packin' Mama

 Story Under a Stone: Margaret Hickey, A Pistol Packin’ Mama

By Lynn Bueling

Near the west entrance of the Sheldon cemetery stands a tall slender stone marking the graves of a married couple, John T. Hickey and Margaret Hickey. Each has a story rich and unique enough to feature in separate accounts. We’ll start with the wife.

Part of her story can be gleaned from the pages of The Sheldon Progress. In August 2, 1907 we learn she underwent an operation at the Sheldon hospital. The article went on to say she is doing as well as could be expected. A week later a report stated she had been very low, but took a turn for the better. Then on August 16 her obituary appeared.

Born in Galena, Illinois, in 1862, she was just shy of her 45th birthday when she died. In 1882 she arrived in Fargo to visit relatives, met John, and married him in December. They moved to Sheldon in 1890, where they lived for seventeen years prior to her death.

The writer of the obituary referred to her popularity in the community by stating, “The casket was hidden in a profusion of flowers … No one was more ready to come to the aid of any neighbor in sorrow or trial than Mrs. Hickey. Her unfailing kindness and charity in word and deed won for her the affection and esteem of all who knew her.”

Several years ago one of her relatives sent me a short biography of the family which spoke in part about Margaret. It described her as a very small lady who carried a Colt revolver with her at all times because many unsavory characters wandered about in Sheldon. The family remembered one physical trait about her - she had small feet and had to wear baby shoes until she started school. As an adult she had her shoes custom made in Chicago because she couldn’t find them small enough locally.

One son of the Hickeys earned the nickname “High Speed Hickey” in the early days of race car driving. They said he once broke a track record earlier set by Barney Oldfield. (Someone else can find the statistics for this.) His racing career ended with an accident occurring when a wheel came off his car. He enlisted in the army at the start of World War I and served as a motorcycle courier where once again he suffered injuries from an accident. He didn’t race again.

Part II will appear in a week to feature John T. Hickey, a man who experienced extraordinary events in the Wild West.