The Colfax chronicle., 1900-11-24

carouse after the ma nner of their clnsa
Some time that afternoon Deputy Shey-
iff Charley Webb, of Brown county, ar
rived in Comanche with warrant foI
one of Hardin's gang who was accused
of stealing cattle. He soon learned
that the desperate and his fellows
were embattled in the saloon, but,
nothing daunted, tied his horse and en-
tered the back door, which was open.
Hardin knew him and the moment he
put his. face in the doorway shouted:
Hello, Webb! What 90 you want
here?"
''Tye warrant for Cal Shelby" the
deputy was 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'll"
In the party with Yves Hardin when
Webb was shot was Joe Hardin,
younger brother of Wes. then posing as
lawyer, but following closely in the
footsteps of his lawless brother, and
with a growing reputation in Co.
manche as desperate and crook.
+. News of the shooting of Webb spread
quickly over the town, and before dark
the saloon was surrounded by posse
of volunteers. The enraged citizens
stormed the locked barroom about
dusk, and captured four of the inmates,
including Joe Hardin. Yves escaped in
the confusion and rode to temporary
liberty on the horse of the man he
had killed. The posse, determined tc
make an example of somebody
hanged Joe to the nearest tree and
gave his companions hours to leave
the county. When the coroner exam
ined the effects of the dead young
desperate he found the seals of IL
counties which had been profitably
used for months by the quondam law.
yer in the process of making out be
gus bills of sale for cattle stolen by
members of his brothers gang.
Wes Hardin then fed toward Flor.
ida. In the suburbs of Gainesville he
was overtaken by two negroes, Jake
Mcneil and Robert Borup, both OF
whom had worked for Hardin's ia.
ther. Impelled by desire to obtair
the $500 reward offered for Hardin's
capture, they attempted to arrest him
as he was leaving his lodging place
early in the morning. They ap
preached him with leveled pistols. He
had his thumbs in the waistband oi
his trousers and assured them he was
unarmed. AS they attempted to seize
him he whipped two pistols from un.
der his vest and killed one of them
The other was blinded and fed fol
his life. Hardin was caught al
Shreveport a few days later, returned
to Comanche and sentenced to 2.
years imprisonment for the killing
of Charley Webb. .He was set at lib
erty under the exemplary conduct
rule in 1892 and left the penitentiary
with the reputation of having per.
fected himself in the study OF law dur
ing the II years of his incarceration
Immediately after regaining his lib
erty he clinched his reputation fol
being the "meanest bad man on the
border" by betting five dollars that
he could at the first shot knock an
innocent Mexican of soap boz
where he sat summing himself. He
won the bet and left the dead Mexi-
ian in the gutter where he fell. That
ne was proud of his meanness is
proved by story which he boastful.
y told of an adventure in Nogales
He said that in hotel there he was
annoyed by heavy snorer in the next
'oom. Without making an effort tc
'aution the sleeper, he put his ear tc
he thin board partition till he got
he exact position of his snoring
leighbor's head. Then he fired one
5-caliber bullet through the wall
The snoring stopped. The corpse was
ound the next morning shot through
he brain, but the bad man was per.
nitted to ride away.
Whatever he may have known of
he theory of law, his grotesque idea
t its practice was manifest when
e set out for Ell Paso wearing four
ix-shooters and carrying a Winches-
er rife.
For more than six months he ter
orized Ell Paso. There was only one
ian there who dared cross his path
t all times and under all conditions.
hat man. was John Sellman, a bad
ian, too, but of a different mold
rom Yves Hardin. After bloody
areer as soldier, cowboy and border
equity, and with record of what he
allied "23 justifiable Killings" Sell
ian had settled down into the almost
lacid occupation OF patrolling the
treets of Ell Paso. 1t was placid
nough till Hardin came, but a month
tier every man there knew that one
the other had come at last into the
resence of sure death.
The crisis came August 10, 1893.