John Wesley Hardin
John Wesley Hardin was a prominent figure of the American Old West, known for his violent criminal career and reputation as a gunfighter. Born in 1853 in Texas, Hardin's life was marked by early conflicts, including a stabbing incident at age fourteen and a deep-seated animosity toward Union soldiers and freed slaves stemming from the Civil War. He worked various jobs as a young man, including as a cowboy and schoolteacher, but his life took a darker turn as he became involved in numerous killings, claiming to have killed at least twenty-three men in gunfights.
Hardin's criminal exploits led him to prison, where he was sentenced to twenty-five years for murder but was pardoned after showing good behavior. His life ended violently when he was killed by Sheriff John Selman in 1895 during a verbal altercation. Hardin's legacy lives on in popular culture, where he has been depicted as both a notorious outlaw and a vigilante hero in various films, television shows, and songs, often blending historical fact with legend and myth. His story offers a complex view of the lawlessness and tumult of the Old West era.
John Wesley Hardin
- Born: May 26, 1853
- Birthplace: Bonham, Texas
- Died: August 19, 1895
- Place of death: El Paso,Texas
American gunfighter and outlaw
Major offenses: Robbery and murder
Active: 1868 to July 23, 1877
Locale: Northern Texas, southern Kansas, southern Alabama, and northern Florida
Sentence: Twenty-five years in prison; served sixteen years
Early Life
John Wesley Hardin (jahn WEHS-lee HAHR-dihn) was the second of two sons born to Elizabeth and James G. Hardin, a schoolteacher and a Methodist preacher. Events associated with the Civil War embittered young Hardin against Union soldiers and freed slaves. At the age of fourteen, he stabbed a schoolmate during a fight.
As a young man, Hardin worked as a cowboy on a ranch and a schoolteacher in Navarro County, Texas. At the request of his father, Hardin earned a diploma from Landrum’s Academy in 1870. In 1871, he participated in a cattle drive along the Chisholm Trail and spent some time in Abilene, Kansas, where he met and reportedly had an uneventful confrontation with U.S. marshall Wild Bill Hickok. Hardin married Jane Bowen in 1872. They had three children.
Criminal Career
In 1868, Hardin killed a black man and then killed one or more Union soldiers who attempted to take him into custody. He and a friend killed two more soldiers in 1869. Shortly thereafter, Hardin killed a circus worker. During a gambling dispute, he killed gunfighter Jim Bradley in 1870. After escaping from jail and killing a guard, Hardin killed three more Union soldiers who were tracking him.
In August, 1871, Hardin and a friend killed gunfighter Juan Bideno. Near the end of 1871, Hardin killed Gonzales County law officer Green Paramoor. While participating in the Sutton-Taylor range war in DeWitt County, Texas, in 1873 and 1874, Hardin killed lawman J. B. Morgan and was also involved in the killing of Sheriff Jack Helm. On May 26, 1874, Hardin killed Brown County sheriff Charles Webb in a gunfight. As he fled to Florida, he reportedly robbed some trains in Louisiana, Alabama, and Florida.
Legal Action and Outcome
Hardin was arrested in Longview, Texas, in the spring of 1871 and charged with murder. Shortly thereafter, he escaped and killed a jail guard. In the fall of 1872, he spent time in jail but again escaped.
The law caught up with Hardin again on July 23, 1877, in Pensacola, Florida, where he was arrested on a train by Texas Ranger John B. Armstrong. On September 28, 1877, Hardin was tried and convicted of murder and sentenced to twenty-five years of hard labor at Rusk Prison in Huntsville, Texas. After good behavior, he was pardoned and released from prison on March 16, 1894. He was killed by Sheriff John Selman over a verbal dispute in El Paso, Texas, on August 19, 1895.
Impact
John Wesley Hardin became known as one of the most notorious gunfighters and vigilante heroes in the Old West. His career paralleled that of Jesse James and William Bonney (Billy the Kid). Hardin killed at least twenty-three men in gunfights. Many historians rank him as having the fastest gun and sharpest eyes of any Old West gunfighter. His criminal activities increased the intensity with which law officers hunted down outlaws.
Hardin has been portrayed in many television and film Westerns. His life was explored on the television series Death Valley Days and in the film Streets of Laredo (1949). Country musician Johnny Cash wrote and recorded a song about Hardin titled “Hardin Wouldn’t Run.” The title song of one of folksinger Bob Dylan’s albums was also about Hardin. Most of the films and songs include legends and myths that tend to glamorize Hardin or the man who finally killed him.
Bibliography
Block, Lawrence, ed. Gangsters, Swindlers, Killers, and Thieves: The Lives and Crimes of Fifty American Villians. New York: Oxford University Press, 2004. This work includes an account of the life of Hardin, including truths and myths.
Hardin, John Wesley, Jo Stamps, and Roy Stamps. The Letters of John Wesley Hardin. Austin, Tex.: Eakin Press, 2001. A collection of 281 letters that were written by Hardin, his wife, and friends between September 8, 1876, and July 28, 1895, which reveal insights about the life and legend of Hardin.
Pryor, Alton. Outlaws and Gunslingers: Tales of the West’s Most Notorious Outlaws. Roseville, Calif.: Stagecoach, 2001. Explores the lives of twenty-seven of the most famous gunfighters known in the Old West, giving a detailed account of the outlaw life of Hardin.