John Wesley Hardin

For the Bob Dylan album, see John Wesley Harding (album).

John Wesley Hardin
This ferrotype photograph is a mirror image of the outlaw.
Born	(1853-05-26)May 26, 1853 Bonham, Texas, United States
Died	August 19, 1895(1895-08-19) (aged 42) El Paso, Texas, U.S.
Occupation(s)	Gambler, Cowboy, Lawyer
Known for	Very young Outlaw and prolific Gunfighter 1868-1877; 1894 {Alleged}
Spouses	Jane Bowen Carolyn Jane "Callie" Lewis
Parent(s)	Father: James Gibson "Gip" Hardin Mother: Mary Elizabeth Dixson
Notes
Brothers: Joseph Gibson Hardin Benjamin Hardin Jefferson Davis Hardin Barnett Hardin Sisters: Elizabeth Ann Hardin Martha Ann Hardin Nancy D. Hardin Children: Mary Elizabeth Hardin John Wesley Hardin, Jr. Jane "Martina" Hardin

John Wesley Hardin (May 26, 1853—August 19, 1895) was an outlaw and gunfighter of the American Old West. He was born in Bonham, Fannin County, Texas. When Hardin went to prison in 1878, he claimed to have killed 42 men, but a considerably lesser number of these killings have been documented as actually attributable to him. Hardin's criminal career resulted not only in the deaths of his victims but also in the deaths of his brother Joe and two cousins who were hanged by a lynch mob seeking revenge for a Hardin killing.

Early life

Hardin was born in Bonham, Texas in 1853 to James "Gip" Hardin (a Methodist preacher and circuit rider) and Mary Elizabeth [Dixson] Hardin (who was, as described by him, "blond, highly cultured...charity predominated in her disposition.") He was a direct descendant of Col. Joseph Hardin, a legislator (from North Carolina; the lost State of Franklin and the Southwest Territory) and Revolutionary War hero. John Wesley Hardin was the second surviving son of ten children, his brother, Joseph Gibson Hardin, being three years his senior. Hardin's father traveled over much of central Texas on his preaching circuit, until, in 1869, he and his family settled in Sumpter, Trinity County, Texas. There he taught school, and established a learning institution that John Wesley and his siblings attended. Hardin was named after the founder of the Methodist faith.

At the school, another student, Charles Sloter, taunted Hardin as being the author of some graffiti on the schoolhouse wall which was insulting to a girl in his class. Hardin denied writing the poetry, accusing the other boy of being the author. Sloter attacked Hardin with a knife, but before he could strike, Hardin drew his own pocket knife and stabbed Charles twice (in the chest and throat), almost killing him. Hardin was nearly expelled over the incident even though it was at his own father's institution.

At the age of 15, Hardin challenged an ex-slave of his uncle's, named Mage, to a wrestling match and won while badly scratching Mage's face. According to Hardin, the following day a vengeful Mage hid by a path and attacked him with a large stick as he rode past. Hardin drew his revolver and told Mage to back off while Mage grabbed the reins of Hardin's horse and threatened to kill him. Hardin fired his revolver into Mage five times before he finally dropped the reins. Hardin then rode to get help for the wounded ex-slave who ended up dying three days later. The shooting could be claimed as a case of self-defense according to the laws of the day. However, Rev. Hardin saw little chance of a fair hearing for his son. (Texas was going through Reconstruction. As a "Johnny Reb" accused of killing a former slave in the Union-occupied state of Texas —where more than a third of the State Police were ex-slaves —the elder Hardin believed that his son had little hope of a fair trial.) He told John Wesley to go into hiding. The authorities eventually heard of Hardin's location, and sent three Union soldiers to arrest him. Despite being warned by his older brother, Hardin chose to stay and fight.

"I waylaid them, as I had no mercy on men whom I knew only wanted to get my body to torture and kill. It was war to the knife for me, and I brought it on by opening the fight with a double-barreled shotgun and ended it with a cap and ball six-shooter. Thus it was by the fall of 1868 I had killed four men and was myself wounded in the arm."

Life on the run

On the run Hardin claimed to meet a outlaw named Frank Polk in Pisgah in Navarro County, Texas who had killed a man named Tom Brady; a detachment of Yankee soldiers from Corsicana, Texas went out after both Hardin and Polk. Hardin escaped but Polk was captured but later freed - he was later killed in Wortham, Texas after killing the town mayor. Hardin also admitted that to win a bet of a bottle of whiskey he shot a man's eye out - which he collected years later. Hardin then rode with his cousin "Simp" Dixon who was a member of the Klu Klux Klan and hated Yankee soldiers. In Richland Bottom Hardin claimed that he and Dixon engaged in a gunfight with Yankee soldiers and killed two of them.

On December 25, 1869, Hardin was playing cards with Jim Bradley in Towash, Hill County, Texas. Hardin was winning almost every hand, which angered Bradley, who threatened to "cut out his liver" if he won another. After Bradley drew a knife and a six-shooter, Hardin (who was unarmed) excused himself and left. Later that night, Bradley went looking for Hardin. Upon seeing him on Towash Street, he fired a shot which missed. Hardin drew both his pistols and returned fire — one shot striking Bradley's head and the other his chest. Dozens of people saw this fight and from them there is a good record of how Hardin had used his guns. His holsters were sewn into his vest, with the butts pointed inward across his chest. He crossed his arms to draw. Hardin claimed this was the fastest way to draw, and he practiced every day.

Hardin's next fight was a month later on January 20, 1870 in Horn Hill, Limestone County, Texas, where he killed a man in a gunfight after an argument at the circus. Less than a week after this incident, in nearby Kosse, Hardin was escorting a saloon girl home when he was accosted by a man demanding money. He threw his money on the ground and shot the would-be thief when he bent to pick it up. It was to be a year before he killed again.

Arrest and escape

Hardin was arrested in January 1871 for the murder of Waco, Texas City Marshal L. J. Hoffman, which he claimed not to have committed. Unable to persuade a judge of his innocence, he was held temporarily in a log jail in the town of Marshall, awaiting transfer to Waco. While locked up, he bought two useful items from a fellow prisoner: an overcoat against the winter cold, and a revolver. Thus he was armed when Captain Edward T. Stakes and guard, Jim Smolly, (of the Texas State Police) tied him on a horse with no saddle to convey him to Waco for trial. Hardin was wearing the overcoat when they arrived. Under it, tied to his shoulder with twine, was the handgun.

One night while the three men were camping en route, Stakes went to procure fodder for the horses, and Hardin was left alone with Smolly. The 17-year-old Hardin claimed that Smolly began to taunt and beat him with the butt of a pistol. Hardin then burst into tears and huddled against his pony's flank. Hidden by the pony, he slipped his hand into his coat and untied the string that held his gun. Hardin shot Smolly dead and rode Smolly's horse. Later he "convinced" a blacksmith to remove his shackles. Hardin then claimed that he was arrested by three men named Smith, Davis and Jones who he killed.

After the last of these incidents, he found refuge among relatives gathering at Gonzales, in south Texas, the Clements family. They informed him that by getting into the growing cattle market he could make money in Kansas. This would allow him to get out of Texas long enough for things to cool down. Hardin worked with the Clements, gathering cattle for Jake Johnson and Columbus Carol. They persuaded a rancher to hire Hardin as a trail boss for his herd. In February 1871 while the herd was being put together, Hardin injured and wounded three Mexicans in a argument over a Three-card Monte card game. A negro named Bob King cut a beef cow out of the herd; when he refused to obey Hardin to stop doing so, Hardin hit him over the head with his pistol On the trail to Kansas, Hardin was reputed to have fought Mexican vaqueros, Indians, and cattle rustlers among others. On the way Hardin killed two Indians in separate gunfights. Toward the end of the drive, a Mexican herd crowded in behind Hardin's and there was some trouble keeping the herds apart. Hardin exchanged words with the man in charge of the other herd. Both men were on horseback. The Mexican fired, putting a hole through John Wesley's hat. Swift to retaliate, Hardin found that his own weapon, a worn-out cap-and-ball pistol with a loose cylinder, would not fire; he dismounted, managed to discharge the gun by steadying the cylinder with one hand and pulling the trigger with the other, and hit the Mexican in the thigh. A truce was declared and they went their separate ways. However, Hardin borrowed a pistol from a friend and went looking for the Mexican, this time shooting him through the head. A fire fight between the rival camps ensued. The Mexicans suffered all the casualties. Six vaqueros died in the exchanges – five of them shot by Hardin.{However a contemporary newspaper account of June 8, 1871 reports that a week before, that three Mexican herders killed at Park City, Shedgwick County Kansas}

A Texas Historical Marker reflects that in the 1870s, John Wesley Hardin would hide out not just in Gonzales County, but in a specific vicinity of that county known as Pilgrim.

Abilene

Ben Thompson as Austin City Marshal 1881–1882

The Bull's Head Tavern, in Abilene, Kansas, had been established by gambler and gunman Ben Thompson, along with businessman and gambler Phil Coe. The two entrepreneurs painted a picture of a bull with a large erect penis as an advertisement for their establishment. Citizens of the town (described by Dee Brown<-- ? --> as "prudish") complained to Abilene's marshal, "Wild Bill" Hickok. When Thompson and Coe refused a request to take down the bull, Hickok altered it himself. Infuriated, Thompson exclaimed to Hardin, "He's a damn Yankee. Picks on Rebels, especially Texans, to kill." Hardin simply replied, "If Wild Bill needs killin', why don't you kill him yourself?"

By all accounts, despite Hardin's having been a dangerous man, he seemed to have, at the very least, respected Hickok. Later that night, Hardin was confronted by Hickok, who told Hardin to hand over his guns. Hickok did not arrest Hardin, for reasons unknown, although it was later claimed that Hickok had no knowledge of Hardin being a wanted man. Hickok did advise Hardin to avoid problems while in Abilene. One version suggests Hardin impressed Hickok by performing a Road agent's spin with both of his pistols (flipping the guns from the reverse position and cocking the hammers while pointing both barrels at Hickok).

Hardin claimed that after performing the Road agent's spin he entered a restaurant with a one armed friend named Pain. There Hardin got into a argument with several anti Texans of whom the leader and Hardin pulled out guns. In the crossfire Pain was shot in the arm, while Hardin's bullet struck his would be assailant in the mouth and exited behind his left ear. Hardin ran out and confronted an policeman and told him to put his hands up. The man did so and Hardin fled to the Cottonwood. On July 4, 1871 a Texas trail boss named William Chorn was killed on the Cottonwood 40 miles south of Abilene by a unnamed Mexican who fled south but was killed 250 miles south of Abilene by two men. In Hardin's version he calls the murdered cattleman "Billy Coran" and the Mexican "Bideno"; he does confirm that he killed the Mexican in a restaurant at Bluff City, Kansas

Second encounter with "Wild Bill" Hickok

J.B. Hickok 1869

Hardin met up, one other time, with marshal Hickok (still acting as the cattle town's reigning peace officer), while on another cattle drive. This time, Hickok took an indulgent attitude toward the young Hardin. He drank with Hardin, whored with him, and gave him advice. Hickock allowed Hardin to carry his pistols in Abilene —something Hickok never allowed others to do. For his part, Hardin was fascinated by Wild Bill and reveled at being seen on intimate terms with such a celebrated gunfighter.

Hardin had put up for the night at the American House Hotel. It is alleged that he began firing bullets through a bedroom wall and the ceiling, simply to stop the snoring of a stranger in the next room. The first bullet merely woke the man; the second killed him. In the silence, Hardin realized that he was about to plunge into deep trouble with Wild Bill Hickok. Still in his undershirt, he exited through a window and ran onto the roof of the hotel portico —just in time to see Hickok arriving with four policemen (having been alerted by other guests). "I believe," Hardin said later, "that if Wild Bill found me in a defenseless condition, he would take no explanation, but would kill me to add to his reputation."

Hardin leaped from the roof into the street and hid in a haystack for the rest of the night. Toward dawn he stole a horse and made his way back to the cow camp outside town. The next day he left for Texas, never to return to Abilene. In his autobiography, Hardin claimed that following this shooting and some 35 miles from Abilene he ambushed lawman Tom Carson and two other deputies at a cowboy camp but did not kill them, he only forced them to remove all their clothing and walk back to Abilene. Years later Hardin made a casual reference to the episode. "They tell lots of lies about me," he complained. "They say I killed six or seven men for snoring. Well, it ain't true, I only killed one man for snoring."

After his October {not September} 1871 gunfight with Texas State Policemen Green Paramore and John Lackey {confirmed} and a another alleged gunfight with a negro posse, Hardin claimed that 45 miles from Corpus Christi, Texas that he was followed by two Mexicans and that he shot one off his horse while the other "..quit the fight...I never did know whether I killed both Mexicans or not.."

Sutton-Taylor feud- Surrender and escape

About this time Hardin turned up in south central Texas, in the area around Gonzales County, reuniting with his Clements cousins, who were allied with the local Taylor family, who had been feuding with the rival Sutton family for several years. Already notorious, Hardin was wounded by a shotgun blast in a Trinity City gambling dispute on August 7, 1872; he was shot by Phil Sublett with a shotgun after Sublett had lost his money to Hardin in a poker game. Two buckshot pellets had ripped through Hardin's kidney and for some time it looked like he would die. Hardin now decided he wanted to settle down and made a sickbed surrender in Gonzales, handing his guns to Sheriff Reagan and asking to be tried for his past crimes "to clear the slate." However, when Hardin learned how many murders they wanted to charge him with, he changed his mind. A relative smuggled in a saw, and Hardin escaped after sawing through the bars of a window. After recovering, he resumed his depredations. In 1873 he killed J.B. Morgan in Cuero, Texas

Hardin's main claim to fame in the Sutton-Taylor feud was the killing of Jack Helm, a former captain in the Texas State Police who was the sheriff of DeWitt County, Texas. For years, Helm had been allied with the Suttons. On the afternoon of May 17, 1873, in Albuquerque, Texas (Albuquerque was on the Clear Fork of Sandies Creek two miles south of the junction of Gonzales, Wilson, and Guadalupe counties in Gonzales County), Hardin, Helm and Sam McCracken Jr. were sitting having a friendly conversation in front of the blacksmith's shop. Helm was unarmed having left his revolvers at the widow Mrs. McCracken's boarding house where he was residing. A stranger, later identified as Taylor, advanced on Helm from behind and discharged his revolver, but it misfired. As Helm turned, Taylor fired again this time striking Helm in the chest. Helm rushed Taylor with the intent to grapple with him but Hardin discharged his double barrel shotgun, shattering Helm's arm. As Helm attempted to flee into the blacksmith shop, Taylor unloaded the remaining five bullets from his revolver into Helm's face and head. As Hardin and Taylor mounted their horses and were preparing to ride away, they said they had accomplished what they had come to do.

The next night, Hardin and other Taylor supporters surrounded the ranch house of Sutton ally Joe Tumlinson. A shouted truce was arranged and both sides signed a peace treaty in Clinton, Texas (DeWitt County). Within the year, war once again broke out between the two sides, culminating when Jim and Bill Taylor gunned down Billy Sutton and Gabriel Slaughter as they waited on a steamboat platform in Indianola, Texas on March 11, 1874. Coincidentally, Billy Sutton was set to leave the area forever at the time of his killing. Hardin admitted that he was involved with both Taylors in Sutton's death

More killings

On May 1, 1874 in Gainesville, Florida Hardin claimed to have knocked a negro down and shot another negro at a disturbance outside the county jail; a negro prisoner named "Eli" - who was held on a charge of attempted assault of a white woman - was killed when the jail was burned down by a mob; Hardin claimed to have been part of the mob - along with the County Coroner who came to the verdict that "Eli" had died after setting fire to the jail himself!

On May 26, 1874, Hardin, Jim Taylor, and others were celebrating Hardin's 21st birthday in Comanche, Texas when Hardin spotted Brown County, Texas, deputy sheriff Charles Webb. Hardin asked Webb if he had come to arrest him. When Webb replied he hadn't, Hardin invited Webb into the hotel for a drink. As he followed Hardin inside, Webb drew his gun. One of Hardin's men yelled a warning and Hardin spun around while drawing his own guns. In the ensuing gunfight, Webb was shot dead. Two of Hardin's accomplices in the shooting were Bud Dixson and Jim Taylor.

After a lynch mob was formed, Hardin's parents, wife, brother and two cousins were immediately taken into protective custody. A group of Brown County men broke into the jail and hanged Hardin's brother Joe and his two cousins . It is claimed that the ropes were deliberately too long, as grass was later found between their toes, in order to cause death through slow strangulation. (The Other two hanged were Tom and Bud Dixson.) Shortly afterward, Hardin and Jim Taylor parted ways for the final time.

Jim Taylor was killed on December 27, 1875. Jim Taylor's cousin William Taylor was found guilty of murder in the second degree in 1875 and sentenced to 10 years. He escaped from Indianola during a September 17, 1875 cyclone, but was tried in Indianola and Texana twice on a charge of killing Sutton and was acquitted. On November 17, 1875, William Taylor shot and killed Cuero ex-town marshal Reuben Brown, who had once arrested Taylor. Taylor died about 1890.

After the hanging in July 1874 Hardin and a companion Mac Young while passing through Bellville, Austin County Texas were reported as possible horse thieves and followed by a posse; Hardin pulled his pistol on Sherriff Gustave Langhammer of Austin County - but did not shot him and rode away. Young was arrested and fined $100 for carrying a pistol.

Capture, Trial and Imprisonment

John Barclay Armstrong

On January 20, 1875 the Texas Legislature authorized Governor Richard B. Hubbard to offer $4,000 reward for apprehension of John Wesley Hardin

Catching Hardin was no easy matter. The Texas Rangers caught up with Hardin when undercover Ranger Jack Duncan intercepted a letter that was sent to Hardin's father-in-law by his brother-in-law (outlaw Joshua Robert "Brown" Bowen). The letter mentioned Hardin's whereabouts as on the Alabama and Florida border under the assumed name of James W. Swain. On August 24, 1877 Hardin was arrested on a train in Pensacola, Florida, by Texas Rangers and a local authority. The lawmen went on board the train to effect Hardin's arrest. When Hardin realized what was going on, he attempted to draw his gun but got it tangled in his suspenders. Texas Ranger John B. Armstrong shot and killed one of Hardin's friends named Mann, knocked out Hardin, and arrested two others. Hardin's problems with his suspenders probably saved some lives that day, including his own. There is a report that just prior to his capture, two former negroes of his father named "Jake" Menzel and Robert Borup, tried to capture Hardin in Gainsville, Florida - Hardin killed one and blinded the other.

Hardin was tried for the killing of Deputy Charles Webb and was sentenced to Huntsville Prison for 25 years. Hardin was stubborn, sullen, and vicious the first five years in prison; this period was hallmarked by several failed escape attempts which were aptly punished. However, Hardin then began to adapt to prison life and ultimately used prison as an opportunity to better himself. He read theological books, was superintendent of the prison Sunday school, and studied law. Hardin was also plagued by recurring poor health in prison; the wound he received from Sublett became infected in 1883 and Hardin was bedridden for two years. Another event that marred Hardin's prison term was the death of his wife, who died on November 6, 1892.

Later life, and death

Hardin was released from prison on February 17, 1894 after serving nearly 16 years of his 25-year sentence and being behind bars for 17 years since his capture. He promptly returned to Gonzales, Texas, as a 41-year-old widower who had three children who did not even know what he looked like. Within six months of release, two significant events occurred in Hardin's life. First, on March 16, he was pardoned, and then on July 21 he passed the state's bar examination, obtaining his license to practice law. On January 9, 1895, he married a 15-year-old girl named Carolyn "Callie" Lewis. However, the marriage did not work out, and it quickly ended, albeit never legally dissolved. Neither Hardin nor his wife ever disclosed why the marriage failed so abruptly. Ill feelings about his failed second marriage probably contributed to Hardin's desire to move west, specifically to El Paso. There is a report that after his release from prison, Hardin, to win a $5 bet, committed his last murder: killing a Mexican who was sunning himself.

John Selman, Sr.

Hardin's post mortem photo

El Paso lawman, John Selman Jr., arrested Hardin's friend, the widow M'Rose (or Mroz), for "brandishing a gun in public." Hardin confronted Selman, and the two men had a verbal dispute. On being told of the argument, John's 56-year-old father, John Selman Sr., a constable, approached Hardin on the afternoon of August 19, 1895, and the two men exchanged words. Later that night, Hardin went to the Acme Saloon, where he began playing dice. Shortly before midnight Selman Sr. walked in and saw Hardin with his back to him, and shot him in the back of the head, killing him instantly. As Hardin's body lay on the floor, Selman fired three more shots into him.

Selman Sr. was arrested for the murder and stood trial, where he claimed he had fired in self defense. A hung jury resulted in his being released on bond, pending retrial. However, Selman was killed in a shootout on April 6, 1896, by US Marshal George Scarborough. Selman and Scarborough had been playing cards and got into an argument. Both exited to the alley and shot it out, after which Scarborough returned alone.

Scarborough was arrested for murder as no gun was found on Selman. However, just before his trial a thief was arrested and it was discovered he had Selman's gun. He stated he had seen the shooting and stolen the gun before the crowd arrived. Scarborough was then released.

On April 5, 1900, four years after he shot John Selman, Scarborough was mortally wounded in a gunfight with two robbers.

Hardin and the law

Prior to his killing of Deputy Sheriff (and ex-Texas Ranger) Charles Webb on May 26, 1874 and his arrest on August 24, 1877, Hardin had at several confirmed clashes with the law:

• On January 9, 1871 he was arrested by Constable E.T. Stakes and twelve citizens in Harrison County, Texas on a charge of four murders and one horse theft.
• On January 22, 1871, Hardin killed Texas State Police Private Jim Smalley and escaped.
• On October 6, 1871, in Gonzales County, Texas State Policemen Green Paramore and John Lackey tried to arrest Hardin; Paramore killed and Lackey wounded.
• On July 26, 1872, Texas State Policeman Sonny Spites was wounded in the shoulder by Hardin in Hemphill, Texas
• In September 1872, he surrendered to the Sheriff of Cherokee County, Texas; he escaped in October 1872.
• On June 17, 1873, Joshua "Brown" Bowen was broken out of Gonzales County Texas jail by his brother-in-law John Wesley Hardin. (Bowen was charged with the killing on December 17, 1872, of Thomas Holderman; and also with killing a man named Phillips and a freeman named Rob Taylor. Hardin was implicated in Holderman's death as well). Texas Governor Edmund J. Davis offered a $600 reward for Bowen's capture. "Brown" Bowen was hanged in May 1878.
• On August 1, 1873, Hardin was involved in the killing of Dewitt County Sheriff John M Helms, and in May 1873, of a J.B. Morgan of Cuero, Texas. (Letter from DeWitt County, Texas Museum citing Metz's work). (These killings happened during the Sutton-Taylor Feud. In 1892 Hardin plea bargained and served a two-year sentence for killing of Morgan).
• In May 1895, Hardin believed he was being cheated in an El Paso dice game and took back the $95 he had lost at gunpoint. In July 1895 he was fined $25.00 for gaming Two weeks later he surrendered and was charged with "unlawfully carrying a pistol," fined $25 and had the gun confiscated.

Hardin associates

At least six accomplices and two relatives of Hardin had clashes with the law:

• On June 5, 1869, two accomplices from the Taylor Faction killed a Texas sherriff.
• On August 19, 1871, an accomplice, Hugh Anderson, was involved in the Kansas "Newton Massacre" aka Gunfight at Hide Park.
• On June 9, 1874, an accomplice killed a Texas deputy sheriff.
• On February 28, 1876, an accomplice from the Taylor faction killed a Texas posseman.
• On September 23, 1878, a friend of Hardin killed a Texas city marshal.
• On March 28, 1898, Hardin's brother killed a Texas deputy sheriff.
• On August 1, 1906, Hardin's cousin by marriage killed a police officer.

Hardin and unconfirmed claims

Like his contemporary fellow outlaw Bill Longley, in several cases where Hardin claimed to have been involved in killings, the reports either cannot be confirmed or prove to be nonexistent. For example:

• His claims to have shot three Union soldiers in 1868 and one of two soldiers killed in 1869 in "Richland Bottom" — the other killed by his cousin "Simp Dixon;" see summary of Reports for the Fifth Military District August 1867-September 1868 in which four soldiers were killed and four are wounded from the U.S. 6th Cavalry Regiment from "Executive Documents Printed by order of the House of Representatives" 1868–1869, plus a reference to one soldier injured and a deputy sheriff killed in 1869 in the Lee-Peacock feud (see supplement in March 1868 report against Lee's band) +plus a report of 2 soldiers of the US 4th Cavalry killed 1867; in none of these records is Hardin named as a suspect nor do they agree with his claims.
• His claim that that after his 1871 arrest he escaped, killing a guard named Jim Smalley, and killed three men named Smith, Jones, and Davis in Bell County, when they arrested him for an alleged killing; he also made another claim that in September 1871 in Gonzales County he killed one man named Green Paramour and wounded another named John Lackey who tried to arrest him, and then forced an African-American posse which had come after him for those two shootings to flee from there back to Austin after he killed three of them. Although there is confirmation of the shootings involving Texas State Policemen Smalley, Paramore and Lackey, there are no contemporary newspaper accounts from either Bell County (Letter from Bell County Texas Museum which stated that only account of alleged triple killings in Bell County is from Hardin-no contemporary newspaper account) or from Gonzales County to confirm these triple killings. He also claimed that after recovering in Trinity City Texas in August/September 1872-after being wounded by Phil Sublette-he either, according to different versions he gave at different times, killed one/two members of the Texas State Police or merely drove them off.
• He claimed that after his brother had been lynched after Sheriff Webb's killing that he drove off 17 Texas Rangers after having killed one of them on July 1, 1874. Roll of Honor for Texas Rangers for this year has four dead; The Officer Down Memorial Page lists two killed in a skirmish July 12, 1874, with Native Americans; while the Texas Ranger Web site lists an additional Ranger killed in same skirmish and the other as having died 1874 — no remarks on how or where he died. According to ODMP researchers Hardin killed four lawmen {Smalley, Paramore, Helms and Webb} and no Texas Rangers.
• His alleged killing of two Pinkerton National Detective Agency Agents on the Florida-Georgia border sometime between April and November 1876 after a gunfight with a "Pinkerton Gang" who had been tracking him from Jacksonville, Florida. Hardin claimed that he had been tipped off to this "Pinkerton Gang" by Jacksonville local law officers. , This never happened — the Pinkerton Detective Agency never tracked nor pursued John Wesley Hardin. (Letter from Pinkerton National Detective Agency Archives).
• His claim that on election night, November, 1876, he and a Jacksonville, Florida policeman named Gus Kennedy were involved in a gunfight with Mobile, Alabama policemen in a saloon in which one was wounded and two killed; that Hardin and Kennedy were arrested but later released — this also never happened. (Letter from Mobile, Alabama library).

Hardin's legacy

Hardin's legacy as an outlaw has made him a colorful character and subject of various forms of media from the 1920s to the present day.

Hardin in literature

Hardin's autobiography was published posthumously in 1925 by the Bandera printer, historian, and journalist J. Marvin Hunter, founder of Frontier Times magazine and Frontier Times Museum. Many people came to know of Hardin through the TV ad for Time-Life Books "Old West" series. During the description of the book The Gunfighters the famous claim is made, "John Wesley Hardin...by the time the Texas Rangers caught up with him, he'd killed forty-three men, one just for snoring too loud."

Hardin has also been the subject or supporting character of various historical novels about the Old West such as Larry McMurtry's novel Streets of Laredo. Western novelist J. T. Edson uses Philip José Farmer's Wold Newton family theory to insert John Wesley Hardin into his novels as the paternal nephew of Ole Devil Hardin and cousin of Dusty Fog, the protagonist of Edson's "Floating Outfit." James Carlos Blake wrote The Pistoleer, a novel about Hardin published in 1995. Four Sixes To Beat: The Tale of a Killer by Bruce N. Croft is a classic historical fiction novel first published in 2004, a fictional tour of Hardin's life in the West. There is a reference to him in the 2008 book The Book with No Name.

Hardin in film and television

John Wesley Hardin has been portrayed on screen by John Dehner in the 1951 film The Texas Rangers; Rock Hudson in the 1953 film, The Lawless Breed; Jack Elam in the 1970 film Dirty Dingus Magee; Max Perlich in the 1994 film Maverick; and Randy Quaid in 1995 TV mini-series Streets of Laredo. The actor Richard Webb (1915–1993) played Hardin in a 1954 episode of Jim Davis' syndicated western television series Stories of the Century. The segment shows Hardin shooting two Indians in the back, gunning down a sheriff in a saloon in Abilene, Kansas, and finally being outgunned himself by an El Paso officer attempting to arrest Hardin, who by then was a lawyer who had served his time in the state penitentiary in Huntsville, Texas; Hardin supposedly was wanted on a new murder warrant, possibly his 41st or 45th killing. A 1959 episode of Maverick, "Duel at Sundown," has the character of Bart Maverick posing as "John Wesley Hardin" to stage a fake gunfight against his brother Bret, in order for him to avoid a real gunfight with a local tough, played by a pre-famous Clint Eastwood. As Bret and Bart ride out of town, they meet a stranger who wants directions to meet the "fake" John Wesley Hardin. The stranger is none other than the "real" John Wesley Hardin.

Hardin in music

Country music singer Johnny Cash wrote and recorded a song about Hardin entitled "Hardin Wouldn't Run," released on his 1965 album Johnny Cash Sings the Ballads of the True West. It relates some of the true events of Hardin's life, including his murder at the Acme Saloon.

Folk rocker Bob Dylan named his 1967 album John Wesley Harding after the outlaw, albeit the name was misspelled. The title track depicted Hardin as "a friend to the poor" who "was never known to hurt an honest man."

"Here's to John Wesley Hardin" is a song composed by former street musician Moondog, released on his album H'art Songs in 1979.

Singer-songwriter Wesley Stace uses the stage name John Wesley Harding, after Dylan's misspelling of the name.

Hardin is among the outlaws mentioned in the song "Rhymes of the Renegades," by western singer-songwriter Michael Martin Murphey.

Singer-songwriter Rob Wilson, of Television Hill, recorded a 6 song EP called My Name's Hardin, poking fun at the Bob Dylan misspelling. The EP is a biographical work exploring Hardin's life.

Hardin's guns and effects

In 2002 Greg Martin's auction house in San Francisco, California auctioned three lots of John Wesley Hardin's personal effects. A deck of playing cards owned by Hardin, one of Hardin's business cards, and a newspaper account of Hardin's death sold for $15,250. The bullet that killed Hardin in the Acme saloon in El Paso sold for $80,000.

Court records show John Wesley Hardin was carrying a Colt Model 1877 "Lightning" revolver, serial number 84304, and an Elgin watch, serial number 4069110, when he was shot and killed on August 19, 1895. The revolver and the watch had been presented to Hardin in appreciation for his legal efforts on behalf of Miller in his trial for murdering Frazer. The Colt, (with a .38 caliber, 2½" barrel) is nickel-plated, with blued hammer, trigger and screws. The back-strap is hand-engraved: "J.B.M. TO J.W.H." It wears mother-of-pearl grips. The Lightning was recorded in Colt factory ledgers as shipped on July 16, 1891, to Hartley & Graham, New York City, with five like guns in the shipment. The Colt was accompanied with a tooled leather holster, marked with a barely visible stamp of an El Paso maker. This gun and its holster were sold at Greg Martin's auction house for $168,000.. Another Colt 1877 revolver, known as a "Thunderer," in .41 caliber, owned by Hardin and used by him to rob the Gem Saloon, was sold at the same auction for $100,000.

References

Sources

• 1878 indictment/trial of Hardin for Webb's killing
• John Wesley Hardin from the Handbook of Texas Online
• Query with additional links on Hardin killings-Reference only
• Gunfighter: The Autobiography of John Wesley Hardin, by John Wesley Hardin, reprinted by Creation Books, 2001.
• John Wesley Hardin Collection Texas State University
• "The Feud that Wasn't" James Smallwood, 2008 book on Sutton-Taylor Feud (reference only)