Fergus County argus. [volume] (Lewistown, Mont.) 1886-1946, 1903-11-25

tdlllt utNcCllNt. ne WAS lne sNOul
in charge of the party that captured
Geronimo and was chief of scouts un.
der General Miles in his Porto Rico
campaign. In 1892 Horn participated
in the raid against the cattle rustlers
of Johnson county. Wyoming.
Horn was a self-educated man. He
spoke German, Spanish, Apache and a
number of Indian languages fluently.
Last summer he wrote a 100000
word history of his career This book
he left to his staunch friend, John C.
Coble, of Bosler. Wyoming.
Horn was suspected of having com.
mitted several murders besides the
one for which he was hanged.
In giving brief history of Tom
Horns career the Chicago Record
Herald contains the following:
The boy learned deceit and trick.
cry from the Indians and brutality
from the Mexicans. The army Off
GERS tried to keep him out of mischief
by setting him at small tasks around
the post and lending him books to
read.
A thorough acquaintance with the
geography of the vicinity and as in.
innate knowledge of the ways of the
copperskins of the neighboring reser-
vations. made him valuable to the
army as scout. Later he turned
northward and turned his time and
attention to the cattle business.
determination is Planned.
hat Ez ,f h.,
cattle barons began to find that the
"rustlers" for whose determination
the organization was effected had
about all disappeared. They began to
find, too, that there were small own
ers on the ranges who had land they
might be compelled to abandon il the
right kind of persuasion were brought
to bear. So they employed Horn 10
supply the persuasion.
1t was not difficult to know when
small owners were marked" by the
cattle pool. Occasionally. on the way
across lonely stretch of range, some
one in ambush would chip away =
fragment of their apparel with bull
let. Most men too the hint and left.
n iSW oeoscu. IL was tHcot iou fioih
was delegated to transact business
with. Horn confessed that he was
paid $500 for a killing.
First Horn murdered old man Lew.
is, who had long been his friend. The
cattle men wanted Lewis land, so
Horn went to his cabin and killed
him. Then. at Brown Park, Colo, he
coolly shot William Powell, one
armed man, as he worked in the hay
field.
Supreme Deed of All.
But the deed of brutality that sur
passed the others was the slaughter
of young William Nickel, for which
Horn was hanged. In the Blue
Springs Valley, of Wyoming, Kels
Kickell, the father. owned land want
ed by all the cattle barons. They de-
termined to be rid of Nickel.
1t is supposed that Horn lacked the
nerve at first to kill Kels Nickel, and
hit on the idea of driving him away
by shooting his son, big enough to be
of help about the ranch. Horn found
the lad riding 200 yards from the
house one July afternoon. Hidden by
pile of brush, he took aim and fired.
Young Nickel groaned and collapsed
as the lead penetrated his side. He
had wits enough to turn the horse to-
ward home and with his remaining
strength urge it into gallop.
Horn followed. A wire fence few
yards from the Nickel house marked
an inclosure which the lad must enter
for shelter. He threw himself from
the horse to unfasten the gate. Pass
ing through it he tripped on a wire
and fell.
Before he could recover Horn was
at his side. The defenseless boy
struggled to his knees, supporting
himself with one hand and extending
the other as il to shield himself from
the rifle leveled almost within his
grasp. Horn fired, and, with the lad
looking at him in death agony, fired
again.
This cruelty explains why William
Nickel patroled the prison inclosure.
armed, in the hope of opportunity for
revenge on his sons murderer in the
event of the cattle barons' effecting
his release from the Cheyenne peni-
tentiary.