Hardin
One of the most notorious desperadoes to ever call Texas his home, in 1896 Hardin is trying to begin live anew in El Paso, after indulging in almost a decade of sudden violence after the American Civil War (Hardin tries to run away from his preacher father's farm and join the fighting, at the tender age of nine) that has the youth killing his first man, former slave Major "Maje" Holshousen, at the age of fifteen (only because the student he stabs in school over a supposed insult, Charles Sloter, survives an 1867 attack), sending a man to his doom for snoring too loudly in the hotel room next door, killing numerous ex-slaves, Indians, and Mexicans that cross his path (he does not keep track of the total, finding them all unworthy opponents), participating in the infamous Sutton-Taylor feud that costs thirty-five individuals their lives, and generally creating havoc throughout the state and its border regions (so much so, that when Hardin escapes justice in 1874, a mob takes its wrath out of members of Hardin's family, lynching his brother Joe, and cousins, Bud and Tom Dixon). Hiding out from his myriad crimes, in 1877, the gunfighter is arrested on a train in Pensacola, Florida by Texas Rangers that beat him unconscious when he attempts to draw on them (his pistol, a cap-and-ball Colt .45 catches in the suspenders he is wearing). Brought back to Texas in chains, Hardin is found guilty of 1874 murder of Brown County Sheriff Charles Webb and sentenced to serve twenty-five years at the state prison in Huntsville. Finally settling down after multiple escape attempts, in prison he reads theological treatises, becomes superintendent of the prison's Sunday School, studies law, and writes an autobiography filled with tall tales in which he confesses to killing forty-two men. Released in 1894, having served seventeen years of his sentence (he will receive a full pardon from Governor James Stephen "Big Jim" Hogg in 1896), Hardin passes the bar and obtains a license to practice law in the state, marries fifteen-year-old Callie Lewis in 1895 (they soon separate), and moves to the wild border town of El Paso.
Young Hardin
Hogg
In El Paso, Hardin learns a lesson many former convicts receive upon being released from prison ... the public has not forgotten his past crimes. Cases few and far between, the outlaw is soon drinking and gambling again (a habit that brought about many shootings of his youth), practicing his quick draw in front of a mirror, using his gun to take back monies he feels he has been cheated out of, handing out autographed playing cards he has shot holes in, and associating with many of the town's tarts. One tart, Helen Beulah M'Rose will be the death of him.
El Paso - 1890s
The Acme Saloon - El Paso, Texas -
1892
The road John Henry Selman Sr. takes to El Paso also features excessive gun violence. Born in Madison County, Arkansas in 1839, after his father dies in 1861, Selman joins the 22nd Texas Cavalry as a private to fight in the American Civil War, deserts after fifteen months, re-enlists in the Texas State Militia in 1864, and ends the conflict as a lieutenant in 1865. Married and with children, he settles in New Mexico, and becomes a deputy sheriff under Shackelford County Sheriff John M. Larn ... but Larn is actually a crook who controls crime in the region, rustling cattle from his neighbors' ranches and gunning down anyone who gets in his way, assisted by his corrupt deputy. Their game discovered in 1877 (arrested and shackled to the floor of the Albany, Texas jail floor in June of 1878, Larn will be gunned down by vigilantes irate that they can't take the rustling lawman outside for a lynching), Selman moves on to being the head of a gang of cut-throats known as "Selman's Scouts" that become involved in the territory's Lincoln County War (featuring the exploits of Billy the Kid). Moving back to Texas, Selman is arrested by Texas Rangers, escapes from jail, hides out in Mexico (wife Edna Degrafenreid dead in 1879 giving birth to a stillborn baby, his four children are placed in the custody of his wife's niece), then when his name is somehow cleared of all charges against him, comes back to the United States and moves to El Paso in 1893, soon marrying Romula Granadine and becoming a town constable. As a member of the town's law enforcement, trying to quiet down a drunken former Texas Ranger, he engages in a whorehouse gunfight with Sebastian Lamar "Bass" Outlaw in 1894 that sends the ex-lawman to Boot Hill (after he kills a former friend, Texas Ranger Joe McKidrict), and gets Selman wounded twice in the thigh. Then John Wesley Hardin comes to town.
Selman
Larn
Outlaw
Trouble between the pair of badmen takes place when Hardin engages in relationship with the widow M'rose, the wife of a former outlaw client (crossing the border from Mexico into the United States, Mr. M'rose is shot to death by El Paso Police Chief Jeff Milton and Deputy U.S. Marshal George Scarborough on the evening of 6/29/1895). He is incensed when his "lady" is arrested by Selman's son, Constable John Selman, Jr. on charges of being drunk and disorderly in public. Soon he is threatening to kill the younger Selman, threats get back to the father, and in the blink of an eye, the two gunfighters feud, yelling at each other on the streets of El Paso ... a feud that ends at the town's Acme Saloon. Drinking and playing dice at twenty-five cents a throw with local grocer H. S. Brown, Hardin learns the Wild Bill Hickok lesson of not having your back to a door. Tossing four dice, the gunfighter exclaims, "You have four sixes to beat," to the grocer as Selman Sr. enters the saloon with his gun already drawn, walks up behind Hardin and fires his Colt Single Action Army .45. In some accounts, Hardin sees the danger coming in a mirror mounted over the bar and is in the process of turning and drawing his own revolver, in others, the gunplay comes with no warning whatsoever. Whether from the front or the back, the first bullet Selman Sr. fires is fatal to Hardin, a slug that goes through the shootist's brain and leaves a hole under his left eye. Crashing to the barroom floor, Selmon Sr. then makes sure the job is done, firing three more bullets down at Hardin's body (one bullet misses and hits the floor, while the other two hit Hardin in the arm and chest). Over. Pulled away from his triumph when Junior runs into the bar a moment later and admonishes his father, "Don't shoot him anymore. He's already dead."
Junior
Hardin
Hardin And His Pistol
Swearing the shooting was in self-defense, everyone in Texas knowing what a viper Hardin is, a jury hangs over innocent or guilty verdicts, and Selman Sr. is released on bond, pending a retrial ... which never comes. One too many gunfights, on Easter Sunday, April 5, 1896, after a evening of drinking and cards at the Wigwam Saloon, Selman Sr. tries to convince his friend, Deputy U.S. Marshal George Scarborough, to cross into Mexico and help break Junior out of the Juarez jail he is being held in (as a result of an affair with the daughter of a Mexican ambassador that doesn't approve). The refusal causes Selman Sr. to become irate, the men argue, and finally decide to step into a nearby alley and settle things, with the settling not going the killer of Hardin's way thanks to slugs that drill him in the neck, hip, knee, and side. No witnesses to the 4:00 in the morning encounter, Scarborough is acquitted of the killing by an El Paso jury, but again, won't be around to celebrate for long. Forced to move from El Paso after the killing, Scarborough settles in Deming, New Mexico, where he finds work as a deputy sheriff, state ranger, and stock detective for the Grant County Cattleman's Association. On April 1, 1900, while tracking rustlers near San Simon, Arizona with rancher Walter Birchfield, Scarborough gets into one last gun scrape, taking out one of the rustlers, but also being hit in the leg by a bit of rifle lead ... taken back to Deming, though his leg is amputated, the lawman dies four days later at the age of forty.
Scarborough
As for Hardin, though a stone cold psycho killer killed, he never really leaves the American consciousness, appearing as a character in fictional literature, as a character in films (Rock Hudson and Jack Elam playing Hardin ... GIVE ME A BREAK!), in numerous television westerns, as the subject of magazine articles and non-fiction tales of the Wild West (a TV ad for the Time-Life series on the Old West uses the gunfighter to sell its books), and as a musical subject capable of interesting the likes of Johnny Cash, Bob Dylan, Michael Martin Murphy, and other singers, and as a collectible name (one revolver and holster belonging to Hardin has sold for $168,000, another pistol of the gunfighter has brought in $100,000, and incredibly, the bullet that blew out the desperado's brains, in 2002, is sold in auction is sold for $80,000 grand!!!!!!). And in death, even still, over a century later, Hardin has the ability to start major feuds ... in 1997 there is a confrontation at his El Paso grave site between two groups wanting the rights to his resting place, a tug of war between El Paso and great-grandchildren of the shootist wanting him dug up and buried in Nixon, Texas, next o his first bride, Jane Bowen (a judge will eventually rule in El Paso's favor).
Movie Poster
Dylan Album
Jane Bowen Hardin
If you have a thing for saying hello to dead maniacs and are in El Paso, stop in to the Concordia Cemetery, where you will find John Wesley Hardin reaping what he sowed in a very bloody life of forty-two years.
Resting Place
John Wesley Hardin
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