John Wesley Hardin: The Deadliest Outlaw of the Wild West

there might be more famous outlaws out there who roamed the wild west but few of them if any were deadlier than john wesley hardin he bragged about gunning down over 40 men although newspapers of the time were only able to corroborate around 25 victims even so this is still a lot more than other notorious gunmen of the time such as billy the kid jesse james or wild bill hickock hardin branded himself the deadliest killer of them all but as you were about to find out he was also a man who was a lot more interested in creating an image for himself than speaking the truth there are many claims he made which at this point are simply impossible to corroborate fully like the time he killed a man for just snoring too loudly but the same can be said for most other figures of the wild west and most other figures on this channel in fact when you become famous and enough time passes the truth always gets mixed in with a bit of exaggeration and legend so we will do our best as we bring you the violent and bloody story of the outlaw john wesley hardin [Music] right off the bat we should point out that a lot of the details surrounding hardin particularly his early life come to us straight from the man himself and are completely unsubstantiated by any other sources he actually wrote an autobiography in prison titled the life of john wesley hardin which was published in 1896 shortly after his death hardin was born on may 26 1853 in bonham texas the son of a methodist preacher named james hardin and his wife elizabeth dixon they did a lot of traveling throughout the state when hardin was a young boy because his father was a circuit rider meaning that he was an itinerant clergyman who traveled from one settlement to another to organize congregations eventually the family settled down in sumpter trinity county where james hardin served as a teacher until the outbreak of the civil war in 1861. according to his son's autobiography the senior hardin immediately wanted to join the confederate army but was convinced to stay behind as he would be more useful in his hometown hardin himself had wanted to go off fighting yankees although he was only nine at the time and even made a plan with his older brother joe to run away and join the confederacy however their master plan was foiled when their father found out about it and beat them until they came to their senses the civil war had a serious impact on the development of a young hardin he became a typical confederacy supporter who considered slavery the white man's right and resented all minorities but particularly black people it was only a few more years until john wesley hardin first showed off his extremely violent nature in 1867 the fourteen-year-old harding got into a fight with another boy called charles slaughter and both drew their knives hardin stabbed the other boy twice and nearly killed him he claimed that he acted in self-defense and presumably he convinced the school's officials of this fact as he avoided any serious consequences while slaughter might have avoided hardin's fatal wrath it was only a year later that the future outlaw killed his first man a former slave named mage again according to hardin this was also self-defense which is a recurring theme in his autobiography as he constantly portrays himself either as a victim or someone completely justified in his actions as he succinctly put it the people that he killed needed killing hardin and his cousin got into a wrestling match with the former slave the two boys won while hardin even drew blood from mage something which enraged him to the point of wanting to shoot it out the 15 year old hardin was not one to back down so he went home to retrieve a gun but his uncle got wind of what he intended to do and kept him in the house the next day hardin was out riding when he met with mage again still filled with violent rage that latter ran into the road and grabbed hardin's horse by the bridle at which point the former pulled out a colt 44 and shot mage four times [Music] mage died a few days later and hardin saw himself forced to go on the run again in his own version of events hardin painted himself as the victim one who would have never received proper justice from the courts as they became filled with northern bureaucrats and agents and other inveterant enemies of the south hardin had the same bitter loathing and prejudice for union soldiers that he did for minorities while it's feasible that his first two violent encounters could have been self-defense the third one made it clear that john wesley hardin was a cold-blooded murderer plain and simple soon after the death of mage an arrest warrant was issued for hardin's arrest authorities got a tip on where he was hiding and sent union soldiers to take him in but the outlaw caught wind of the incoming posse from his brother joe and waited for them in ambush as hardin himself put it he had no mercy on men who he knew only wanted to get his body to torture and kill armed with a shotgun and a revolver hardin waylaid the three union soldiers gunned them all down and buried their bodies in the bed of a nearby creek john wesley hardin was still just 15 years old and had already killed four people once he was a fully-fledged outlaw hardin began quickly associating with other criminals throughout navarro county texas he rode with frank polk for a while a gunman pursued by a detachment of soldiers for killing another man named tom brady the soldiers managed to capture polk but hardin escaped their grasp when he was hanging out with jim newman harding claimed he shot a man's eye out just to win a bottle of whiskey in a bed he later rode for a bit with a cousin of his named simp dixon who was a member of the ku klux klan they also got into a shootout with some union soldiers and killed two more of them in 1869. dixon was later captured alone and executed by firing squad later that same year hardin left navarro county and roamed around texas for a while as expected the conflicts and confrontations kept coming one after another oftentimes they turned violent and sometimes even deadly hardin claimed to have killed another four men during this time including a pimp and a circus performer in january 1871 hardin stood accused of being involved in the murder of city marshal laban john hoffman of waco texas hoffman was sitting in a barbershop chair with his face lathered waiting for a shave when someone walked up behind him and shot him in the back of the head killing him instantly the gunman then sped out of town on horseback harding claimed to be innocent in his autobiography of course his word means nothing but reports of that time named him as an accomplice instead of the killer while also mentioning another criminal named wild george thomason who was apparently gunned down in a shootout with state police so it is possible that thomason was the shooter instead of hardin anyway hardin was caught and arrested for a while it seemed like his outlaw days might have come to an end but he still had a few tricks up his sleeve for some reason hardin was not held in waco while awaiting trial instead he was transferred to a small town called marshall where he was kept inside a log cabin jail somehow hardin managed to get his hands on a pistol from another prisoner which he kept hidden by tying it with a string under his arm he waited for the best opportunity to use it which he got when he was being transferred back to waco on the road he was being escorted only by two state policemen edward stakes and jim smalley at one point stakes left to get wood for the fire hardin retrieved his gun while small he wasn't looking and killed him before making a run for it on his horse afterwards hardin hid out in gonzales county for a while with some cousins of his named clements he needed to get out of texas so his cousin suggested work as a cowboy driving cattle on the chisholm trail between texas and kansas of course just because he needed to lay low did not mean that hardin left behind his violent ways he got into multiple gun fights with mexican faqueros cattle rustlers and native americans which ended in fatalities nobody's really sure how many victims harding claimed but according to him he could have killed up to eight people just in the few months that he served as a cattle driver undoubtedly the most memorable part of hardin's life occurred in the summer of 1871 when he made his way to abilene in kansas this is where he had a few run-ins with the local town marshall who also happened to be one of the old west's most famous icons wild bill hickok by the way if you're not familiar with the many exploits of wild bill we've already done a biographics video on him a few months ago so maybe go check it out if you want to anyway when hardin got into town he adopted the name clements after his cousins seeing as how he's still a wanted man most people including hickok apparently called him little arkansas and it is unclear who if any were aware of his true identity at first he got along well with wild bill even having a few drinking sessions with him and going on cattle drives together and this is despite the fact that right off the bat other people tried to turn harden against hickok hoping that he might be the one to take down the ruthless lawman who by that point had already built a fearsome reputation for himself according to hardin when he arrived in town there was an ongoing conflict between the town marshal and the proprietors of a local saloon named the bull's head tavern those proprietors were businessman phil coe and ben thompson a noted gunman in his own right they got into a dispute with hickok over the logo painted on the side of their tavern which was a vulgar image of a bull after getting complaints from the locals wild bill told cohen thompson to change the picture they refused so hiccup brought some painters and he did it himself since then the two saloon keepers hated wild bill's guts and wanted him gone but would have preferred if someone did the dirty work for them enter john wesley hardin he and ben thompson quickly developed an amicable relationship hardin frequented the bull's head tavern a lot and thompson had fought for the confederacy during the civil war and as we've previously mentioned harding was a die-hard supporter of the south while having nothing but murderous scorn for the northern yankees as it happened wild bill hickok served the union during the war so thompson saw a great opportunity to sow some dissent he whispered in harden's ear about how hickok was a typical yankee who hated southerners particularly texans and always shot them dead at the slightest provocation hardin saw where this was going and said that he had no interest in fighting someone else's battle resorting to thompson that if bill needs killing why don't you kill him yourself that being said hardin was eager to make it clear that he was not afraid of wild bill hickok as soon evidenced by their very first confrontation and just to be clear we're not saying we believe for a minute this is what actually happened but we are relating the story exactly as told by hardin in his autobiography one day he was bowling in one of the saloons making a lot of noise with a bunch of other texans hardin still had his guns on him even though he was supposed to disarm when in town the marshal entered the tavern and told him to keep it quiet and that's when he saw that hardin was armed the two of them exited the saloon peacefully but hardin acted reluctant to give up his guns not one known for his patience wild bill drew his own revolver and went to arrest him arden slowly took out his weapons and handed them towards hickick but first the marshal reacted to grab them but hardin quickly spun them around in his hand so that all of a sudden wild bill had two barrels in his face and was forced to surrender his own gun the trick was known as the road agent spin or the curly bill spin as if this wasn't fantastical enough half the city soon gathered around them cheering on hardin and encouraging him to shoot a kick dead at this point the marshall began pleading with the outlaw not to let the angry mob gun him down a request that the noble and heroic hardin acquiesce to by shouting that it was his fight alone and that he would kill the first man that fires a gun afterwards hickok tried to befriend hardim by telling him you're the gayest and quickest boy i ever saw let us compromise this matter and i will be your friend let us go in here and take a drink as i want to talk to you and give you some advice and the two indeed went into a private room had a few drinks and came out as friends and that's the story of the day that john wesley hardin drew on wild bill hickock at this point you might be able to see why most wild bill historians don't take hardin's autobiography seriously and consider it more of a presentation of his personal fantasy than a factual historical account there are quite a few problems with the story starting off with the idea that wild bill hickok would fall for such a trick in the first place it's not impossible but it's highly unlikely given how cautious he was around other gunmen and even if he did even more outlandish was the idea that hickok would just let the whole thing go after a few drinks especially when hardin had just humiliated him in front of the whole town and basically destroyed his reputation as a fearsome gunslinger then there is also a total lack of other sources as harden himself was the only one to mention this event and last but not least hardin only started sharing this tale after hiccup had already died [Music] and so we arrive at the most infamous moment of the hardin legend the night when he killed a man for snoring we should mention that while this event definitely happens the details are conflicting although harden himself admitted to the deed at first quite proudly in fact he later amended the story for his book instead of killing an unsuspecting defenseless sleeping man he shot a would-be robber or even an assassin who broke into his room and was armed with a dirk dagger on august 6 1871 hardin put up for the night at the american house hotel in abilene he went to bed only to discover that the man in the adjacent room was snoring very loudly whether the man was a complete stranger or a confederate of hardings is uncertain either way harden got so annoyed with him that he began shooting through their shared wall it's unclear if the outlaw intended to kill the man from the outset or if he just wanted to wake him up and scare him but at least one bullet hit the sleeping man who died in his bed everybody heard the shots and while they may not have realized yet that hardin killed a man he still broke the law by shooting his guns within city limits hickon's deputies were on their way so harden had to make a quick getaway he did not have time to get dressed so he left in his night clothes he climbed out of his window and onto the porch roof he jumped down into the street and hid inside a haystack where he slept until morning when the sun came harden crawled through a cornfield until he ran into a lone cowboy and stole his horse making his exit from abilene he would never return a few days later a newspaper reported his crime simply noting that a man was killed in his bed at a hotel in abilene monday night by a desperado called arkansas the murderer escaped this was his sixth murder this shows that at that point authorities were still unaware that the gunfight from abilene was the same as john wesley hardin who was wanted for a lot more than six murders whatever the real number was it didn't stay the same for long for the rest of the year hardin went back to texas where he was again involved in multiple shootouts that resulted in fatalities including that of a police officer named green paramore killed on october 6 1871. according to reports paramore and another officer named john lackey tried to arrest hardin in a general store in nopal gonzalez county the killer pretended to disarm but again used the road agent's spin again he shot both officers and made a run for it although lackey survived his injuries the year 1872 saw hardin make an attempt to settle down he married a woman named jane bowen and the couple had three children together at one point he was injured in a gunfight and turned himself into the authorities thinking he was going to die however hardin made a full recovery and soon had a change of heart once he realized that he was going to be charged with multiple murders he escaped from jail and went on the run again in 1873 hardin was in dewitt county texas where he found himself embroiled in one of the longest and bloodiest rivalries of the old west the sutton taylor feud the exact origins of this conflict are a bit murky but the animosity between these two families erupted into a full-blown feud in 1868 when william sutton a deputy sheriff in clinton texas shot and killed charlie taylor during an arrest for horse theft later that same year sutton killed another member of the taylor family named buck as well as an associate called dick chisolm during a saloon fight hardin joined the feud a few years later on behalf of the tailors who were introduced to him through his cousins the clements by the time the dispute ended in 1876 thanks to the intervention of the texas rangers at least 35 people had been killed how many of them died at the hands of john wesley hardin as hard to say as even he remained vague about his involvement in his book he definitely took part in the murder of lorman jack helm although he may have been an accomplice while jim taylor was the one who actually pulled the trigger on may 26 1874 hardin celebrated his 21st birthday by this point it already killed dozens of men and yet never really suffered any serious consequences for his actions but his next murder would be the one that would finally land him in hot water hardin was in a saloon in comanche texas drinking with some of his associates in honor of his birthday they got into a fight with deputy sheriff charles webb and gunned him down hardin himself managed to make a run for it although some of his accomplices were arrested taken to jail and later killed by an angry mob this ended hardin's involvement with the sutton taylor feud as he had to flee the state traveling first to alabama and then to florida he was finally captured in 1877 in pensacola florida and transferred back to texas to stand trial for some reason hardin was only charged initially with webb's murder for which he received 25 years in huntsville prison he later added a second two-year sentence for another murder but as part of a plea bargain he was allowed to serve both sentences concurrently at first hardin was a problem inmate getting into multiple fights and being part of several unsuccessful escape attempts with time however he began adapting to prison life he spent a lot of time writing his fabricated autobiography he became a constant attendant at sunday school and began studying law books believe it or not hardin actually passed the law exam and made a half-hearted attempt at setting up a legitimate practice when he was released before falling back into his old ways the texas governor pardoned harding for good behavior after serving 16 years in 1894 he went to gonzalez to be with his kids as his wife had passed away while he was in prison this new and reformed harden only lasted a few months and before you knew it he was back on his own again this time he was located in el paso texas at one point harding got into an altercation with a local lawman named john selman jr after the latter had arrested hardin's girlfriends for carrying a gun within city limits the fight got pretty heated and the former outlaw threatened salman's life word of this reached the young officer's father john selman senior who also had a violent past like hardin serving as both a lawman and lawbreaker at times he understood what kind of man had him was and probably considered him a threat to his family on the afternoon of august 19th 1895 selman entered the acme saloon where hardin was playing dice and shot him in the back of the head killing him instantly he then put a few more bullets into his chest for good measure salman was arrested and tried for hardin's murder but was released following a hung jury his defense was that harden had seen him enter the saloon in a mirror and was reaching for his gun so he shot him in self-defense salman was never put on trial again because less than a year later he was also killed in a shootout with u.s marshal george scarborough as for hardin he was buried at a local cemetery but he kept stirring up controversy even 100 years after his death his descendants began petitioning to have him dug up from el paso and buried in nixon texas next to his wife jane the resident of el paso didn't want to give him up because his grave was a popular tourist attraction so a lawsuit ensued which was eventually ruled in favor of keeping john wesley hardin in el paso where he still rests to this day so i really hope you found this video interesting if you did please do hit that thumbs up button below don't forget to subscribe and as always thank you for watching

Channel: Biographics

Views: 559,936

Keywords: biographics, biography, biographies, people, famous people, simon whistler, American History, Wild West, American West, American Frontier, John Wesley Hardin, American Outlaws, Texas Rangers

Id: T84gpiiOYRs

Length: 19min 11sec (1151 seconds)

Published: Wed Sep 30 2020

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