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The
Gonzales Inquirer, Thursday, August 22, 1895.
San Antonio Express.
El Paso, Tex., Aug. 19. - (Special) -
John
Wesley Hardin, the noted Texas desperado, is no more. He was shot
and instantly killed to-night about 11:30 o'clock in the Acme saloon
by Constable John Sellman. Hardin threatened Sellman's life several
times during the evening but on meeting, Sellman was too quick for
him.
Sellman, who
is very cool and deliberate, but at the same time very quick, has
killed a number of bad men and Hardin reckoned without his host
when he ran up against him. Hardin fell dead with his boots on before
he could get a shot at Sellman.
Wes Hardin,
as he was familiarly known over Southwest Texas, was especially
the most noted of the living Texas desperadoes. Hardin's early career
was spent in DeWitt
county, and he was a terror in that section in the '70s, or
until he was sent to the penitentiary.
He was sentenced
to fifteen years, but got a time allowance for good conduct, which
enabled him to secure his discharge eighteen months earlier than
would have been the case had he been compelled to serve out his
full time.
Hardin during
his incarceration concluded that upon his release he would take
to the practice of law, and so spent the latter part of the period
of his confinement in studying the intricacies of jurisprudence.
He gave his attention principally to the criminal law, in which
he expected to figure with distinction.
After spending
some time in Cuero
and afterwards at Gonzales,
where he nearly got into trouble in the excitement of the county
election last year, he came to El
Paso about three months ago.
Hardin was the
son of a Methodist preacher, and was born in Trinity county being
45 years of age at the time of his death. He was sent to the penitentiary
from Lampasas
county in 1876 for the killing of the sheriff of Comanche
county, who was attempting to arrest him.
He was released
in 1894, and stood his last trial for murder in Cuero
in the same year. [According to The El Paso Times, the Cuero case
was dismissed.]
In personal
appearance Hardin was as typical a Texas desperado of the earliest
type as was ever portrayed in a dime novel. He was of medium weight,
nearly six feet tall, straight as an arrow and dark complexioned,
with an eye as keen as a hawk.
As an expert
shot he was the peer of either King Fisher or Ben Thompson in their
palmiest days. He could shoot as quickly and aim as straight as
either of them. It was almost sure death for anyone who was in front
of his gun when Hardin drew a bead.
Seventeen scalps
are said to have dangled from his belt and it is likely that the
number of human lives that he has taken will exceed that number.
The trouble
which resulted in his death last night was brought on by his telling
Constable Sellman, in the Acme saloon, he did not like his (Sellman's)
son, who was one of the party of officers who had arrested him,
a few nights before. One word brought on another and it ended by
his telling Sellman to get out in the middle of the street and he
would come soon and he would come "smoking."
Sellman waited
for him several hours but he did not come out. Then Sellman went
into the saloon with a friend and, stepping up to the bar near Hardin
they both watched one another through the mirror in front. After
Sellman had taken his drink he says Hardin reached for his gun and
he pulled his own and turned loose. The first shot crashed through
Hardin's brain and killed him instantly. He received two more shots
while falling to the floor. He had a gun in each hip pocket, but
he did not get a chance to pull either. Thus ended the career of
the man who has for several months been feared by the public in
general.
© Murray
Montgomery
Lone Star Diary May,
2001 Column
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