he should be made to leave. In July, the "General" was arrested for stealing from "Lola's Place", and his bad luck continued when Deadwood's first public school teacher was murdered in her sleep in August. It seems that Fields was either constantly in the wrong place at the wrong time, or had become the focus of blame for any evil that was taking place in the camp. Almost immediately after Minnie Callison had been found murdered, rumors began to circulate that the "General" had been seen outside her room that same night. To further complicate matters, Officer Siver found footprints in her yard that were the same size as Fields. Minnie's husband, John Callison, was convinced that Fields was her murderer. On August 20, 1878, Samuel was arrested, and though he was later released, it was yet another cloud that continued to hang over his head. Then, in December, 1878, the papers reported that Fields had prevented a woman named Annie Simms from committing suicide, so it seems it wasn't all mischief that the papers were reporting on. In 1879, Fields' name was submitted for the position of Justice in Deadwood and by November he was once again practicing his "Shakespearian" oratory skills on soap boxes. But the camp hadn't forgotten his alleged "criminal" past and he was egged by the audience. Though he didn't win the election, it didn't curb his political ambitions. In 1883, he was working to fill the vacant position of coroner and did in fact temporarily fill the position. During Fields' time in Deadwood, he was known to have worked at the Merchants, Wentworth, and International Hotels as a porter and as a waiter. By 1889, he had moved on to Omaha, Nebraska, but a year later, he was again back in South Dakota, working as a bellhop in Rapid City. Afterwards, his whereabouts are lost to history. Samuel Fields's exploits were common fodder in local newspapers, such as the Black Hills Pioneer. In popular culture Fields was portrayed by Franklyn Ajaye in the HBO series Deadwood and in 2019's Deadwood: The Movie. References External links Newspaper accounts of General Fields Year of birth missing Year of death missing African Americans in the American Civil War African Americans in the American Old West People from Deadwood, South Dakota Place of birth missing