OLDNAVYMCPO
US Veteran, Absent Comrade
John Hardin( May 26, 1853- Aug 19, 1895) is an iconic figure of the Borderland. He was an accomplished killer/ gunfighter who by his own accounts had killed 42 men ( spotty records of the time puts the number closer to 27). He lived here in El Paso since shortly after his release from prison in 1894. He was shot and killed by John Selman,sr in the Acme saloon and is buried at the historic Concordia Cemetery.
Hardin was born near Bonham, Tx to a circuit riding Methodist preacher and a cultured mother. He was the second son of ten children. Descended from a Revolutionary War hero, Col Joseph Hardin, John Hardin ran away from home and tried to join the Confederate army at age nine. He was unsuccessful but six years later, shot and killed his first victim, a freed slave named Maje. He fled what he feared would be Yankee reconstruction justice, then ambushed and killed the three Union soldiers sent to arrest him. He claimed he started the proceedings with a dbl-barrelled shotgun and finished with a cap and ball revolver.
As a fugitive, he teamed up with the outlaw Frank Polk. Pursued by Union soldiers, Polk was eventually captured, Hardin escaped.
The Reconstruction period in Texas was chaotic beyond reason, atrocities were frequently committed on both sides. It was a lawless period in which someone of Wesley's character could thrive. Resentment, distrust and hatred were common human commodities. Desperation and poverty were common conditions. Blacks, Mexicans and Union soldiers were common targets for Hardin's hatred.
In Jan 1870, Hardin participated in a face to face shootout witnessed by a sizeable number of citizens in Towash,Tx. The fight was over a card game, the sore loser of which, Benjamin Bradley, came looking for Hardin later in the day. During the game, Hardin was unarmed, later he was said to be wearing a vest rigged with crossdraw holsters. Bradley fired and missed, Hardin drew both guns and didn't. One head shot and one center of mass. Hardin is also credited with three more victims during that same month.
One year later, at the age of 17, Hardin was arrested for the murder of Laban John Hoffman, city marshal of Waco,Tx. Hardin was secured in a temp jail in Marshal, Tx until he could be transported to Waco. He supposedly bought a pistol from another prisoner. During the trip to Waco, one of the escorting officers left camp to procure horse feed. During his absence, Hardin shot and killed the second officer, Jim Smalley, stole his horse and fled to south Texas. There, he joined in a criminal enterprise with his cousins, the Clemmons, rustling cattle for Jake Johnson and Columbus Carol. The plan was to steal cattle and drive them to market in Kansas.
They gathered a herd and drove them up the Chisolm Trail. With trouble always in his footsteps, Hardin got in a number of fights along the way with Indians and Mexican vaqueros, leaving several fresh graves on the plains.
In Abilene, Ks, another gunfight another killing and Hardin fled. Forty miles down the trail, another killing. While he had been in Abilene, Hardin had used the alias Westley Clemmons but was better known by his nickname " Little Arkansaw". There, Hardin befriended Wild Bill Hickok, Bill being unaware of Hardin's criminal status. Hardin was always his own biggest fan and reveled in his relationship with Wild Bill. Hardin was forced to flee Abilene after he accidently killed a friend in the infamous snoring incident.
Back in south Tx, Hardin once again joined with his cousins and sided with the Taylor family in the famous Taylor-Sutton feud. Trouble followed Hardin like a shadow. Wounded and nearly killed by a shotgun blast in a fight over a poker game, Hardin made a surrender from his sickbed to Sheriff Reagan of Cherokee County, Tx. Yet, when he found out how many murders he was going to be charged with, Hardin reneged, escaped and fled.
In May 1873, Hardin killed DeWitt County Deputy Sheriff J. B. Morgan in Cuero, Tx, then in July, killed the County Sheriff Jack Helms in Albuquerque,Tx. One year later on his 21st birthday, he killed Brown County Deputy Sheriff Charles Webb. In October, he killed one and wounded another Texas State Policeman.
Hardin fled to the Ala/Fla border under the assumed name of James W. Swain. This region was as wild and unruly as the wild west. Hardin was arrested on a train in Pensacola, Fla by local authorities and Texas Ranger John B. Armstrong.
Convicted of killing Webb, Hardin served 17 of a 25 year sentence at Huntsville Prison. He moved to Gonzales, Tx, was pardoned, and passed the state bar exam. He moved to El Paso where he gambled, practiced law and hung-out with a part-time prostitute, M'Rose. His girlfriend was arrested by El Paso lawman John Selman,jr. Hardin confronted Selman verbally and then later argued with Selman's dad, also a lawman. That night, Selman,sr walked up behind Hardin with a revolver, put it to the back of his head and pulled the trigger. Once Hardin lay on the floor, John Selman,sr shot him three more times. A hung jury freed him in the ensuing murder trial.
P.S: For brevity sake, I could not include all the killings for which Hardin is credited. Today, Hardin is back in the news in El Paso because of the recent discovery of the bound, beaten, stabbed, and burned body of "Mexican Jerry" in the basement of the very building which housed the Acme Saloon where Hardin was killed.
Hardin was born near Bonham, Tx to a circuit riding Methodist preacher and a cultured mother. He was the second son of ten children. Descended from a Revolutionary War hero, Col Joseph Hardin, John Hardin ran away from home and tried to join the Confederate army at age nine. He was unsuccessful but six years later, shot and killed his first victim, a freed slave named Maje. He fled what he feared would be Yankee reconstruction justice, then ambushed and killed the three Union soldiers sent to arrest him. He claimed he started the proceedings with a dbl-barrelled shotgun and finished with a cap and ball revolver.
As a fugitive, he teamed up with the outlaw Frank Polk. Pursued by Union soldiers, Polk was eventually captured, Hardin escaped.
The Reconstruction period in Texas was chaotic beyond reason, atrocities were frequently committed on both sides. It was a lawless period in which someone of Wesley's character could thrive. Resentment, distrust and hatred were common human commodities. Desperation and poverty were common conditions. Blacks, Mexicans and Union soldiers were common targets for Hardin's hatred.
In Jan 1870, Hardin participated in a face to face shootout witnessed by a sizeable number of citizens in Towash,Tx. The fight was over a card game, the sore loser of which, Benjamin Bradley, came looking for Hardin later in the day. During the game, Hardin was unarmed, later he was said to be wearing a vest rigged with crossdraw holsters. Bradley fired and missed, Hardin drew both guns and didn't. One head shot and one center of mass. Hardin is also credited with three more victims during that same month.
One year later, at the age of 17, Hardin was arrested for the murder of Laban John Hoffman, city marshal of Waco,Tx. Hardin was secured in a temp jail in Marshal, Tx until he could be transported to Waco. He supposedly bought a pistol from another prisoner. During the trip to Waco, one of the escorting officers left camp to procure horse feed. During his absence, Hardin shot and killed the second officer, Jim Smalley, stole his horse and fled to south Texas. There, he joined in a criminal enterprise with his cousins, the Clemmons, rustling cattle for Jake Johnson and Columbus Carol. The plan was to steal cattle and drive them to market in Kansas.
They gathered a herd and drove them up the Chisolm Trail. With trouble always in his footsteps, Hardin got in a number of fights along the way with Indians and Mexican vaqueros, leaving several fresh graves on the plains.
In Abilene, Ks, another gunfight another killing and Hardin fled. Forty miles down the trail, another killing. While he had been in Abilene, Hardin had used the alias Westley Clemmons but was better known by his nickname " Little Arkansaw". There, Hardin befriended Wild Bill Hickok, Bill being unaware of Hardin's criminal status. Hardin was always his own biggest fan and reveled in his relationship with Wild Bill. Hardin was forced to flee Abilene after he accidently killed a friend in the infamous snoring incident.
Back in south Tx, Hardin once again joined with his cousins and sided with the Taylor family in the famous Taylor-Sutton feud. Trouble followed Hardin like a shadow. Wounded and nearly killed by a shotgun blast in a fight over a poker game, Hardin made a surrender from his sickbed to Sheriff Reagan of Cherokee County, Tx. Yet, when he found out how many murders he was going to be charged with, Hardin reneged, escaped and fled.
In May 1873, Hardin killed DeWitt County Deputy Sheriff J. B. Morgan in Cuero, Tx, then in July, killed the County Sheriff Jack Helms in Albuquerque,Tx. One year later on his 21st birthday, he killed Brown County Deputy Sheriff Charles Webb. In October, he killed one and wounded another Texas State Policeman.
Hardin fled to the Ala/Fla border under the assumed name of James W. Swain. This region was as wild and unruly as the wild west. Hardin was arrested on a train in Pensacola, Fla by local authorities and Texas Ranger John B. Armstrong.
Convicted of killing Webb, Hardin served 17 of a 25 year sentence at Huntsville Prison. He moved to Gonzales, Tx, was pardoned, and passed the state bar exam. He moved to El Paso where he gambled, practiced law and hung-out with a part-time prostitute, M'Rose. His girlfriend was arrested by El Paso lawman John Selman,jr. Hardin confronted Selman verbally and then later argued with Selman's dad, also a lawman. That night, Selman,sr walked up behind Hardin with a revolver, put it to the back of his head and pulled the trigger. Once Hardin lay on the floor, John Selman,sr shot him three more times. A hung jury freed him in the ensuing murder trial.
P.S: For brevity sake, I could not include all the killings for which Hardin is credited. Today, Hardin is back in the news in El Paso because of the recent discovery of the bound, beaten, stabbed, and burned body of "Mexican Jerry" in the basement of the very building which housed the Acme Saloon where Hardin was killed.
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