<P> According to a book by Western historian Carl W. Breihan, the cards were retrieved from the floor by a man named Neil Christy, who then passed them on to his son . The son, in turn, told Mr. Breihan of the composition of the hand . "Here is an exact identity of these cards as told to me by Christy's son: the ace of diamonds with a heel mark on it; the ace of clubs; the two black eights, clubs and spades, and the queen of hearts with a small drop of Hickock's blood on it ." </P> <P> Hickok biographer Joseph Rosa wrote about the make - up of the hand: "The accepted version is that the cards were the ace of spades, the ace of clubs, two black eights, and the queen of clubs as the' kicker' ." However, Rosa said that no contemporaneous source can be found for this exact hand . The solidification in gamers parlance of the dead man's hand as two pairs, aces and eights, didn't come about until after the 1926 publication of Frank Wilstach's book Wild Bill Hickok: The Prince of Pistoleers--50 years after Hickok's death . </P> <P> The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department Homicide Division, the Los Angeles Police Department CRASH squad, and the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System all use the dead man's hand in their insignia . The western - themed collectible card game Doomtown makes it the highest rank in the game, with the Jack of diamonds as the fifth card . </P>

Where did dead man's hand come from