Seth Bullock (Timothy Olyphant) & Al Swearengen (Ian McShane) - There's Blood

SETH BULLOCK - They say Bullock was as genuine as the West that made him! In fact he was one of the most notable citizens to have lived in Deadwood. Yeah, he owned a hardware store in the beginning and got roped into being sheriff, but he later became a friend of President Theodore Roosevelt and was appointed U.S. Marshal. Folks that knew him said he could outstare a mad cobra or a rogue elephant. . .


Seth Bullock
Al Swearengen
Alma & Trixie
Mr. Wu


"Lots of people ask, "Did they really use cuss words like that?"

Foul language and cuss words have always been popular in American culture. There's no reason to believe that profanity was invented in modern times. In fact, in 1876 the nation's crusade against profanity was in full force.

For example, we know that Calamity Jane was both hard-drinking and hard-cussing. She was famous for her profanity. One of her contemporaries heard her say to a little boy she was nursing back to health, "Go ahead and eat your soup, ya lil bastard!"

The only reason why there's not a lot of dirty words in the literature from the 1870s is because the Comstock Act of 1873 banned the mailing of "obscene" material. You couldn't print racy books or use profanity in newspapers. But that doesn't mean foul language wasn't used regularly by the masses." --The Truth About Deadwood

COMSTOCK ACT - Federal statute passed by the U.S. Congress in 1873 as an �Act of the Suppression of Trade in, and Circulation of, Obscene Literature and Articles of Immoral Use.�

Named for Anthony Comstock, a zealous crusader against what he considered to be obscenity, the act criminalized publication, distribution, and possession of information about or devices or medications for �unlawful� abortion or contraception. Individuals convicted of violating the Comstock Act could receive up to five years of imprisonment with hard labour and a fine of up to $2,000. The act also banned distribution through the mail and import of materials from abroad, with provisions for even stronger penalties and fines.

Vestiges of the act endured as the law of the land into the 1990s. In 1971 Congress removed the language concerning contraception, and federal courts until Roe v. Wade (1973) ruled that it applied only to �unlawful� abortions. After Roe, laws criminalizing transportation of information about abortion remained on the books, and, although they have not been enforced, they have been expanded to ban distribution of abortion-related information on the Internet. Representative Barney Frank of Massachusetts introduced legislation in 1997 to repeal abortion-related elements of federal obscenity law rooted in the Comstock Act.


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