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N0KFQ > TODAY 01.06.17 13:03l 80 Lines 3772 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
BID : 34394_N0KFQ
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Subj: Today in History - Jun 1
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Sent: 170601/1159Z 34394@N0KFQ.#SWMO.MO.USA.NA BPQ6.0.13
1871 John Wesley Hardin arrives in Abilene
John Wesley Hardin, one of the deadliest men in the history of
the Old West, arrives in Abilene, Kansas, where he briefly
becomes friends with Marshal Wild Bill Hickok.
Hardin revealed a tendency toward violent rages at an early age.
When he was 14, he nearly killed another boy in a fight over a
girl, stabbing his victim twice with a knife. A year later, he
shot a black man to death after the two tangled in a wrestling
match. By the time he finally went to prison in 1878, Hardin
claimed to have killed 44 men. The outlaw may have been
exaggerating, though historians have positively confirmed about
half that number.
In 1871, when Hardin was 18 years old, a Texas rancher hired the
young gunman as trail boss for a cattle drive up the Chisholm
Trail to Abilene, Texas. Hardin was eager to get out of Texas - a
few days earlier, he had murdered a Texas state police guard who
was transferring him to Waco for a trial. Hardin needed to lay
low, but he proved incapable of keeping his hot temper under
control for long. During the cattle drive, a Mexican herd crowded
Hardin's animals from behind. Hardin complained to the Mexican in
charge of the other herd, and when the exchange grew heated, shot
him through the heart.
When Hardin and his herd arrived at Abilene, Kansas, on this day
in 1871, the town marshal, Wild Bill Hickok, was apparently
unconcerned with prosecuting a murder that had taken place
outside of his jurisdiction. To the contrary, he took an almost
paternalistic interest in the young gunslinger - Hardin was 16
years his junior - and the two men struck up an uneasy friendship.
Like many of the early western lawmen, Wildd Bill Hickok had won
a formidable reputation by committing several killings of his
own. He may have seen something of himself in Hardin, believing
he was a hot-tempered young man who would eventually grow up to
be a reasonably useful and law-abiding citizen. For his part,
Hardin was simply proud to be associated with the celebrated
gunfighter.
For several weeks, Hickok and Hardin drank and womanized
together, but the marshal's faith in the basic decency of his
young friend was ultimately undermined. During his stay in
Abilene, Hardin rented a room at the American House Hotel. One
night, a stranger in the next room began to snore loudly. Hardin
became so annoyed that he began firing bullets through the wall
to quiet him. The first bullet was high, and it merely woke the
man. The second bullet silenced the unsuspecting stranger
permanently.
Hardin realized that his friendship with Hickok would not save
him. "I believed," Hardin later said, "that if Wild Bill found me
in a defenseless condition, he would take no explanation, but
would kill me to add to his reputation." Wearing only his
undershirt, Hardin escaped through the hotel window and jumped
down to the street. He spent the night hiding in a haystack,
stole a horse at dawn, and returned to the cow camp. The next day
he left for Texas, never to set foot in Abilene again.
Years later, after he had become a notorious outlaw, Hardin
recalled that the Abilene murder had given rise to an
exaggeration. "They tell lots of lies about me," he complained.
"They say I killed six or seven men for snoring. Well, it ain't
true, I only killed one man for snoring."
Hardin eventually served 15 years in the Huntsville, Texas, state
penitentiary. He was pardoned in 1892 and made an unsuccessful
attempt to go straight. In August 1895, he died after being shot
in the back by an El Paso policeman who was looking to embellish
his reputation as a gunman. Hardin was 42 years old.
73, K.O. n0kfq
N0KFQ @ N0KFQ.#SWMO.MO.USA.NA
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