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Timeline
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"The
fact that he had more than thirty
notches on his gun is evidence that
no more dangerous gunman ever
operated in Texas."
 John
Wesley (Wes) Hardin, outlaw, son of
James G. and Elizabeth Hardin, was
born in Bonham, Texas, on May 26,
1853. His father was a Methodist
preacher, circuit rider,
schoolteacher, and
lawyer.
Hardin's
violent career started in 1867 with
a schoolyard squabble in which he
stabbed another youth. At fifteen,
in Polk County, he shot and killed a
black man as a result of a chance
meeting and an argument. With the
Reconstruction government looking
for him, he fled to his brother's
house, twenty-five miles north of
Sumpter, Texas, where in the fall of
1868 he claimed to have killed three
Union soldiers who sought to arrest
him. Within a year, he killed
another soldier at Richard Bottom.
In 1871
Hardin went as a cowboy up the
Chisholm Trail. He killed seven
people en route and three in
Abilene, Kansas.
After
allegedly backing down city marshal
Wild Bill Hickok, who may have
dubbed him "Little Arkansas," Hardin
returned to Gonzales County, Texas,
where he got into difficulty with
Governor Edmund J. Davis's State
Police. Hardin then settled down
long enough to marry Jane Bowen. Out
of that marriage came a son and two
daughters.
Hardin added
at least four names to his death
list before surrendering to the
sheriff of Cherokee County in
September 1872. He broke jail in
October and began stock raising but
was drawn into the Sutton-Taylor
Feud in 1873-74. He aligned himself
with Jim Taylor of the
anti-Reconstruction forces and
killed the opposition leader, Jack
Helm, a former State Police captain.
In May 1874 he started two herds of
cattle up the trail; while visiting
in Comanche he killed Charles Webb,
deputy sheriff of Brown County.
From that
time, Hardin was constantly pursued
in Texas. He went with his wife and
children to Florida and Alabama,
adding one certain and five possible
names to his death list before the
Texas Rangers captured him in
Pensacola, Florida, on July 23,
1877. He was tried at Comanche for
the murder of Charles Webb and
sentenced, on September 28, 1878, to
twenty-five years in prison. During
his prison term he made repeated
efforts to escape, read theological
books, was superintendent of the
prison Sunday school, and studied
law.
He was
pardoned on March 16, 1894, and
admitted to the bar.
In 1895 he
went to El Paso to appear for the
defense in a murder trial and to
establish a law practice. Despite
efforts to lead a decent life, he
was soon in trouble. He took as his
lover the wife of one of his
clients, Martin Morose, and when
Morose found out about the affair,
Hardin hired a number of law
officials to assassinate him. On
August 19, 1895, Constable John
Selman, one of the hired killers,
shot Hardin in the Acme Saloon,
possibly because he was not paid for
the murder of Morose. Hardin died
instantly and was buried in
Concordia Cemetery, El Paso.
His
autobiography, completed to the
beginning of his law studies in
prison, was the subject of some
litigation and was published in
1896. Hardin was an unusual type of
killer, a handsome, gentlemanly man
who considered himself a pillar of
society, always maintaining that he
never killed anyone who did not need
killing and that he always shot to
save his own life. Many people who
knew him or his family regarded him
as a man more sinned against than
sinning. The fact that he had more
than thirty notches on his gun,
however, is evidence that no more
dangerous gunman ever operated in
Texas.
"HARDIN,
JOHN WESLEY."
The Handbook of Texas Online.
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Born
May 26,
1853
in Bonham, Texas
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1867
He stabbed another youth in a
schoolyard squabble.
age
13-14
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1868
He shot and killed a black man
during an argument.
age
15
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Fall
of
1868
He claimed to have killed three
Union soldiers, north of Sumpter,
Texas, who tried to arrest him
for the earlier killing of the
black man.
age
15
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1869
He killed another soldier at
Richard Bottom.
age
15-16
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1871
He killed seven people on the
Chisolm Trail while en route to
Abilene, Kansas as a cowboy.
After arriving, he killed three
more.
age
17-18
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Circa
1871
Allegedly backed down Wild Bill
Hickok, who may have dubbed him
"Little Arkansas"
age
17-18
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September1872
He killed at least four more
before surrendering to the
sheriff of Cherokee County.
age
19
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October
1872
He broke jail and began stock
raising
age
19
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1873-1874
He became involved in the
Sutton-Taylor Feud on the Jim
Taylor side of the
anti-Reconstruction forces,
killing the opposition leader,
Jack Helm, a former State Police
captain.
age
20
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May
1874
He killed Charles Webb, deputy
sheriff of Brown County, after
which, he was constantly pursued
in Texas.
age
near 21st birthday
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July
23,
1877
He went to Florida and Alabama
with his wife, the former Jane
Bowen, and children. During this
jaunt, he killed between 1 and 5
more. He was captured by Texas
Rangers in Pensacola, Florida on
this day.
age
24
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September
28,
1878
He was sentenced to 25 years
imprisonment for the murder of
Charles Webb.
age
25
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During
imprisonment
He attempted escape, repeatedly.
He read theological books, was
superintendent of the prison
Sunday school and studied
law.
age
25-40
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March
16,
1894
He was pardoned and admitted to
the bar.
age
40
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1895
He went to El Paso, Texas to
establish a law practice.
age
41-42
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August
19,
1895
Constable John Selman shot Hardin
in the Acme Saloon. He died
instantly.
age
42
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Buy
the
Book
Fugitives
From
Justice
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Books about John
Wesley Hardin
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 The
Life of John Wesley Hardin: As Written By
Himself
From the
Publisher
In an era and area notable for
badmen and gunslingers, John Wesley Hardin was
perhaps the most notorious. Considered by many of
his contemporaries to be almost illiterate, he
nevertheless left for publication after his death
in 1895 this autobiography, which, though biased,
is remarkably accurate and readable.
Hardin was born in 1853 in
Bonham, Texas, the son of a Methodist preacher. His
first brush with the law came at the age of fifteen
when he killed a Negro during an altercation
typical of the strife-torn Reconstruction era. In
the ten years between his first killing in 1868 and
his final capture and imprisonment, he killed more
than a score of men in personal combat and became
the "most wanted" fugitive of his time.
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 John
Wesley Hardin; Dark Angel of
Texas
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 John
Wesley Hardin Texas Gunman
From the
Publisher
One of the most
sensational gunfighters of the Old West, Hardin,
who was a minister's son, had killed 27 men by the
time he was eighteen years old. His was a
paradoxical life. Being alternately feared and
revered by many, he went to prison for murder and
emerged a lawyer. A detailed and absorbing
biography.
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 The
Lost Cause: John Wesley Hardin, the Taylor-Sutton
Feud, and Reconstruction Texas
From the
Publisher
This time Jackson
takes on the legend of John Wesley Hardin, the most
famous and violent gunfighter ever to ride across
the sweeping Texas landscape. Hardin is a legendary
figure, a gunfighter reputed to have killed
twenty-three men, a hero to some and the darkest of
villains to others.
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 Reflections
in Dark Glass: The Life and Times of John Wesley
Hardin
From the
Publisher
Reflections in Dark Glass is
based on the personal reminiscences of individuals
who knew Hardin best. The story reveals
relationships and details not found in the existing
literature about the life of Hardin, and covers the
period from his boyhood to the killing of Deputy
Sheriff Charley Webb in 1874, an altercation which
brought about Hardin's incarceration 1878 in the
state penitentiary in Huntsville, Texas.
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 Gunfighter
From Internet
Book Watch
Gunfighter is the
autobiography of famed western gunfighter John
Wesley Hardin. It was 1868 when John killed his
first man at the age of fifteen and became a wanted
outlaw. He took up a life of cattle drover,
gambler, and killer whose bloody trespass through
Southern states after the end of the Civil War
brought him into contact with Wild Bill Hickok, the
Texas Rangers, an emerging Ku Klux Klan, lynch
mobs, bounty hunters, and assassins. His
journal/autobiography ends abruptly in 1889 and was
first published in 1896, a year after his
assassination and remains the only extent and
authentic autobiography of a western gunfighter.
Out of print for the last four decades, this new
edition of a western classic is enhanced with an
informative introduction by Mark Manning and highly
recommended reading for western buffs and students
of American frontier history.
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  The
Pisoleer
From the
Publisher
In a novel of
uncompromising depth and power, Blake recreates the
life of John Wesley Hardin, from his youth to his
final days. "An ingenious reconstruction".--Dale L.
Walker, Rocky Mountain News.
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We are adding
books on other Outlaws,
so check each one for list.
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