The Outcasts of Poker Flat

The chief antagonist of the story, Uncle Billy is a drunk and a suspected thief (he is believed to steal gold while other people are panning for it) who is exiled from Poker Flat along with Oakhurst, the Duchess, and Mother Shipton. Although he’s only suspected of being a thief, his actions in the story prove that he’s deserving of this reputation. On their first night in the mountains, while the group is still treating their journey like a merry camping trip, Uncle Billy drinks heavily with the others. However, an idea “of a jocular nature" comes to him, and he’s so delighted by it that he slaps his leg merrily and bites his fist in excitement: he is going to steal the group’s mules, who are tied up near where the group has stopped to camp. By morning, Uncle Billy is gone and the mules are nowhere to be found. The story never reveals what happened to Uncle Billy—whether he made it to the next town over or died in the pursuit—but he is nonetheless spared the long, agonizing death that the rest of the outcasts (plus Tom and Piney) are forced to endure. Uncle Billy’s theft is significant not just because it confirms his status as a thief, but also because it goes beyond his reputation as a suspected petty thief—in stealing the group’s mules, he has stranded his companions and effectively sentenced them to death. What’s worse, in the hours leading up to his escape, Uncle Billy seems positively giddy about his plan, as if stealing the group’s sole source of transportation is an impish, playful trick rather than a malevolent and fatal one. Thus, while all of the other outcasts prove themselves more morally complex than first meets the eye—thus suggesting they weren’t necessarily deserving of being demonized in Poker Flat—Uncle Billy remains nothing more than a villain.