The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1900-10-21

| guess you won't serve it," In the party
| with Yves Hardin when Webb was shot
was Joe Hardin, younger brother of
Yves. then posing as lawyer, but fol-
lowing closely in the footsteps of his
lawless brother, and with a growing rep
utation in Comanche as desperate and
a crook News Of the shooting of Webb
spread quickly over the town. and be-
fore dark the saloon was surrounded by
a posse Of volunteers. The enraged citi-
zens stormed the locked barroom about
dusk and captured four of the inmates
including Jeo Hardin. Yves escaped in
the confusion, and rode to temporary
liberty on the horse Of the man he had
killed. The posse, determined to make an
example of somebody. hanged Joe to the
nearest tree and gave his companions
twenty-fcur hours to leave the county.
When the coroner examined the effects OF
the dead young desperate he found The
seals Of thirteen couneies which had been
profitably used for months by the quon-
dam lawyer in the process Of making out
bogus bills of sale for cattle stolen by
members of his brothers gang.
Yves Hardin then fed toward Florida. In
the suburbs Of Gainesville he was overta
ken by two negroes, Jake" Mcneil and
Robert Borup. both Of whom had worked
for Hardins father. Impelled by a desire
din's capture, they attempted to arrest
him as he was leaving his lodging place
early in the morning. They approached
him with leveled pistols. He had his
thumbs in the waistband Of his trousers
and assured them he was unarmed. AS
they attempted to seize him he whipped
two pistols from under his vest and killed
one Of them. The other was blinded and
fed for his life. Hardin was caught at
Comanche and sentenced to twenty-five
years imprisonment for the killing of
Charley Webb. He was set at liberty I'M
der the exemplary conduct rule in 1892,
and left the penitentiary with the reputa-
ton of having perfected himself in the
study of law during the seventeen years
Of his incarceration. Immediately after
regaining his liberty he clinched his repu-
tation for being the "meanest bad man on
the border by betting S. that he could
at the first shot knock an innocent Next
can off a soap box where be sat summing
himself He won the bet and left the
dead Mexican in the gutter where he fell.
That he was proud of his meanness is
proved by story which he boastfully told
Of an adventure in Nogales. He said that
in hotel there he was annoyed by a
heavy snorer in the next room. Without
making an effort to caution the sleeper, he
put his ear to the thin board partition till
he got the exact position of his snoring
neighbours head. Then he fired one As
calibre bullet through the wall The
snoring stopped. The corpse was found the
next morning shot through the brain, but
the bad man was permitted to ride away.
Whatever he may have known of the
theory of law. his grotesque idea of its
practice WAS manifest when he set out for
Ell Paso wearing four six-shooters and
carrying Winchester rife. 1t was dur
ing the trial of the Miller Frazier cattle
conspiracy cases that he arrived. Ac-
coutred as he was he went to the office
Of the "El Paso Times" and. in badly
written, badly spelled card" announced
that he had come to Ell Paso ito practice
law on high plain" He meant plane"
OF course. but his spelling was as bad as
his later legal performances. From the
newspaper office he called at the White
Elephant saloon. and at the point of a
gun borrowed 500 from the proprietor.
With this ready money he engaged in an
open crap" game in the Gem saloon. In
Texas Avenue. lost all his capital. and
then. with a pistol in each hand COM
PEELED the players and the croupiers to
pay him back what he had lost. He col
lected about 5000 and went back 20 the
saloonkeeper whom he had first robbed.
offering to buy half interest in the
place for $500, and enforcing his proposal
with his ever-ready weapons. He got the
hafl interest. and before daylight all Ell
Paso knew that Yves Hardin, guns and all,