He is featured in the book "Deadly Dozen", written by author Robert K. DeArment as one of the twelve most underrated gunmen of the 19th century west.
Spillman, Bill Arnett, and B.F. Jermagin had entered the camp about three days before Bull and Fox arrived.
Bull and Fox captured Spillman with no incident, and placed him in the custody of several miners while the two continued to search for the others.
After locating them in a large tent used as a saloon, Bull stepped inside with a double barrel shotgun, and demanded both men throw up their hands and surrender.
Arnett immediately grabbed his pistol, which was lying on the table beside him, at which point Bull shot him dead with one blast from his shotgun in the chest.
Inside, within the presence of an excited crowd, the two combatants (with their seconds) came to an agreement with regard to the rules of pugilism to be allowed: They thereupon adjourned to the street.
Mac Waterhouse was selected by the Englishman as his second, and George Loney by the Irishman, and after these preliminaries had been gone through with, the mauling commenced about twelve o’clock.
Twenty-one rounds were fought and for a time the battle was very hotly contested, both giving and receiving very hard knocks and showing no signs of yielding.
It is claimed however, that the result was entirely owing to the instructions Mac gave his man during the twenty-first round; that is, to feint with his left, take one step back, and give an uppercut with his right.
A large crowd witnessed the contest, many being present in dishabille [state of casual attire], not having time to dress themselves when they jumped out of bed to see what was going on.
[Reese River Reveille – Feb. 23, 1864]By 1865 Bull had partnered with Langford Peel, they were moving together next to Belmont, Nevada.
[3] Bull and Peel, by early 1867, had moved their operations on to Belmont, Nevada, and then to Salt Lake City, Utah.
On the night of July 22, 1867, Peel and Bull were seated at a table in the "Greer Brothers Exchange Saloon", and for some reason the argument they had previously had was rekindled.
Bull retreated to his room, quickly wrote down a makeshift will for the disposition of his property in the event of his death, then took his gun.
[7] Shortly before midnight, on July 12, 1873, while in the company of gambler George Mehaffy, Bull and Mehaffy stabbed railroad employee Samual Atwood outside the "Crystal Saloon" in Omaha, due to Atwood warning others that Bull was a crooked gambler running a crooked game.
Town Marshal Gilbert Rustin gathered several policemen and went searching for the two men, locating Bull inside "Sullivan's Saloon".
In 1874, he and Mehaffy were arrested for armed robbery, citing that they had robbed a man named Wilkinson in a gin mill.
By 1879 he had settled in Denver, Colorado, and over the next few years his name often appeared in police reports, often being arrested for public drunkenness and disturbing the peace.
On the night of October 14, 1880, Bull, now partnered with gambler Jim Moon, became involved in an altercation with two city policemen.
Moon's wife and another woman who had been dating Bull became involved, throwing chinaware at the officers, causing them to retreat.