The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1900-11-24
A WESTERN BAD MAN.
rFrom the C,bicapo Record1

John wesley Hardin whose death at
che hands Of iC.oDsta he Tnbn SelIman of
III Paso is VET within The memory Of
newspaper readers, affords str king type
Of his life ana in The manner Of his death
de was the son OF a Baptist preachSSI,
grew to be an unruly, shiftless and sku K
Ing member of the communi Y before Ne
was fifteen years old. He was born in 1851
near the town CT Comanche, Texas, ana
began his wild career before he was
twelve years old by riding to death the
He refused to go to school, was caught
years old, and in the same year put out
the eye Of a neighbor's son in a quarrei
over cock fight. Preacher Hardin died
Ccmanche county, that he dled If a brok-
en- heart over the wickedness Of his fav-
old, John Wesley or ives Hardin estab-
lished himself on a part of his father
cabin a company of the widest young
men in the county None of them had
yet after a few months of midnight rides
into adjoining counties their corrals Were
Of Comanche began to fear and suspect
Hardin and his gang. Not satisfied with
the desperadoes soon began to make mid
night raids upon the town. It became
every ever night at ec iitoP '!t Shoot ' up the
stores, carry off what they wanted in the
into silence the protesting storekeepers.
It IS current history in C9manche TO this
town almost in bondage during the great
er part Of the year 1873.
Many farmers who had suffered at the
hands of the rustlers then began to as
seE1bled in Comanche for the purpose Of
invest gatiSg" Hardin's Icy Ut Whether
this visitation had anything to do with
his departure, or whether store footing
and ranch life became too dull, is not
and identified himself with the Comanche
county gang Of Taylors, then engaged in
a feud war of four years standing with
the sons and friends of a man named
Sutton. who was killed by one of the Tay
lor family in De Witt county in 1868.
Hardin had no personal interest in the
feud. but he was chosen leader of the
Comanche Taylors, and during the short
period of his leadership got Credit for
Staying three of the Sutton faction. To
show how ineffective was the machinery
of the law in Furnishing the perpetrators
of these border crimes it is said that
thirty-eight men, participants in the Tay-
years in Gonzales. De Witt and CCmanche
counties and their slayers were neither
punished nor pcs lively Identified. Report
gives Hardin credit for shoe irg many of
the Sutton party, but he boasted always
proud and jealous of his man killing rec
ord it is pr, bable that he killed no m re
February Is. 1874. Hardin reappeared
suddenly in Comanche with crowd of
the principal saloon of the town, barred
the front door and proceeded to carouse
time that afternoon Deputy Sheriff
Charles Webb, of Brown county. arrived
Hardin's gang who was accused of cattle
stealing He soon learned that the des-
the saloon, but. nothing daunted tied his
horse and entered the back do r, which
was open- Hardin knew m and the mo-
ment he put his face in the doorway
He 10, Webb. What do you want here?'
We warrant for Cal Selby'' the dep
uty was sayi as he PULLED he cume
him through the heart. adding. 4 que s
YOU wont serve it!' In the party with
Yves Hardin when Webb was shot was
then posing as a lawyer. but following
closely in the footsteps of his lawless
in Comanche as a de perad and a crook
News or the shooting of Webb sprea
quickly over the town, and Def re d 'rk
the saloon was surrounded bv a posse of
volunteers; The enraged eitiz ms torme
the locked barroonf about dusk and cap
tured four of the inmates, il I'd ng ] )e
Hardin Yves escaped in the confusi n,
horse of the man he had killed. The D s.
Sc, determined to make pie of
someoody, hanged Joe to the nearest tree
and gave his companions hours to leave
the county When the coroner examined
he found the seak Of thirteen oe cdHnfieo
which had been proftably used for
pr cess of making GU b. gus bills sa e
cattle stolen by members of his broth
IVES Hardin, then fed toward Florida.
IN the suburbs of Gainesville he WAS
cver-al1en by two regroes. Jake Men
worked T -Hardin's father ImpelIed bv
de ire to obtain the $500 reward offered
6 for Ha ,5Ili capture, they attempted 10
place early in the morning. They APP
preached him with levelled pistols He
had his thumbs in the waistband of his
trousers and9 assured them he was un-
armed. AS they attempted to seize him
l he whipped two pistols from his vest and
ed and fed for his life. Hardin was
caught at Shreveport a few DAYS later
returned to Comanche and sentenced to
twenty-five years Imprisonment for the
killtrg Of Charley Webb. He was set at
liberty under the exemplary conduct rule
IN 1892 and left the penitentiarv vi b the
r put alton Of havf G p RI cted himself in
the study. of law during the seventeen
years of his incarceration. Immediate "
after r CARING his liberty he cir ched his
reputation for being the ''meanest bad
man on the border" by betted IS that he
could at first shot knock an innocent
Mexican of a soap box WHERE he sat sun
ming himself. He won the bet and left
the dead Mexican in the gu ter where he
fell That he was proud Of his mean es
is proved by a story which he astfu ly
told cf an adventure in Nogales. He said
that in a hotel there he was ANNOYED bv
a heavy snorer in the next room With
cut making an e If TT to caution the sleep
m fhn in hoo