New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1900-10-14

saying as he pulled the document half out
OF his pocket But Hardin shot him through
the heart, adding Il guess you won't serve it,
In the party with Yves Hardin when Webb was
shot was Joe Hardin, younger brother of Wes
then posing as a lawyer, but following closely
in the footsteps of his lawIess brother and with
a growing reputation in Comanche as a des-
perado and a crook. News of the shooting of
Webb spread quickly over the town. and before
dark the saloon surrounded by a posse of
volunteers. The enra&ed citizens stormed the
locked baTroom about dusk and captured four
of the inmates, including Joe Hardin Yves es-
capped In the confusion, and rode to temporary
liberty on the horse of the he had killed
The posse, determined to make an example of
somebody, hanged Joe to the nearest tree and
gave his companions hours to leave the county
When the Coroner examined the effects Of the
u I young desperate he found the seals of
thirteen counties which had been proftabIv
USED Tor months by the Quondam lawyer in the
process or making out bogus bills Of sale Tor
cattle stolen by members of his brothers gang
Yves Hardin then fled toward Florida. In the
suburbs of Gainesville he was oVertaken by two
negroes, Jake MenZel and Robert BOrup. both
of whom had worked for Hardin's father I'm
PEELED by desire to obtain the $500 reward Of
fered for Hardns capture, they attempted to
arrest him as he was leaving his lodging place
early in the morning. They approached him
with levelled 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
fled for his life. Hardin caught at Shreves-
port few days later. returned to COmanche and
sentenced to twenty-five years Imprisonment
for the killing of Charley Webb. He was set
at liberty under the exemplary conduct rule in
1892 and left the penitcntary with the reputa-
ton of having perfected himself in the study Of
law during the seventeen years of his incarcera-
ton. Immediately after regaining his liberty he
clinched his reputation for being the "meanest
bad man on the border by betting Sd that he
could at the first shot knock innocent Mexi-
can off a soap box where he sat summing him
self. He won the bet and left the dead Mexican
in the gutter where ne fell. That he proud
OF his meanness is proved by story which he
boastfully told of an adventure in NOgales. He
N n a
heavy snorer In the next ROOM Without max
ing 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 .45-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 FL PaSO wearing
four six-shOoters and carrying a Winchester
rife. 1t was during the trial of the Miller
Frazier cattle conspiracy that he arrived.
Accoutred as he was he went to the office Of
The Ell Paso Times" and in a badly written,
come to FL Paso Ito practise law high
plain He meant plane" of course but his
spelling was as bad as his later legal perform
anCes. From the newspaper office he called at
the White Elephant saloon, and at the point OF
a gun borrowed 800 from the proprietor. With
this ready money he engaged in open crap
game in the Gem saloon, in Texas ave. lost all
his capital and then, with pistol in each hand,
compelled the PLAYERS ana the croupiers TO nav
him back what he had lost. He collected about
5000 and went back to the salOOnkeeper whom
he had first robbed, offering buy a half
interest" in the place for $500 and enforcing his
proposal with his ready WCa pons He got
the half interest and before daylight all FL
Paso knew that Yves Hardin guns and all haG
come to town to practise law on high plane"
For than six months ne terrOrized FL
Paso. There was only one man there who dared
cross his path at all times and under all
ditions. That man John Sellman, a bad
man, too, but of a different mould from Yves
Hardin. After a bloody as a soldier,
cowboy and border deputy, and with ii record of
what he called "twenty-thrse Unsuitable kill
ings.' Sellman had settled down into the almost
placid occupation of patrOnG the streets of
FL PasO 1t was placid enough till Hardin
came, but month later every man there knew
that or the other had last into
the presence of sure death.
The crisis came on August 10. 1898. old John
ScllmanS son, who was policeman, had
rested Hardin'S friend. and Hardin al an
nCunced that he would eXterminate the whole
Sellman family, beginning with the father. To
this end the offended desperate armed himself
with pistols and a quantity of whis<cy and went
stated at his trial afterward that he knew it
only question of time when he must kill
HarGin. traced him TO the Echo saloon. With
that peculiar and almost anomalous sense OF
fairness which charaCt erZed many of his class.
Seman then sent word to Hardin that if he
would come out of the saloon he Selman, would
give him fair chance to eXterminate or he
eXternina ted Those were the very words of
Seman reported at the trial. After waiting
hour for a reply Sellman entered the bar
room. Hardin his reflection in the glass
and had his pistol out in a second But Sellman
was sober His first shot pierced Hardin'S head
from hatband to hatband. and even when his