| John Wesley Hardin |
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John Wesley Hardin ( May 26 , 1853 – August 19 , 1895 ) was a well-known Outlaw and Gunfighter in late 19th-century Texas . He was reputed to be the meanest man alive, an accolade he supposedly earned by killing a man for snoring. He admitted to killing more than 40 men over 27 years. BIOGRAPHICAL DETAILS Born in Bonham, Texas , to James G. Hardin (a Methodist preacher) and Elizabeth Hardin, he grew up during the trying times of the American Civil War and Reconstruction . At the age of 15, Hardin committed his first murder, the shooting of a black man. After admitting this crime to his father, he was urged by his family to flee. His killing spree began in earnest in his flight, during which he claimed to have killed at least one Union soldier and possibly more. Surfacing on the Chisholm Trail , Hardin continued killing men over all manner of personal disagreements. He famously claimed that he never killed a man that didn't need killing. In May of Brown County , for which he was relentlessly pursued. John Barclay Armstrong , a Texas Ranger known as "McNelly's Bulldog" since he served with the Special Force of the Texas Rangers as a sergeant and Captain Leander H. McNelly 's right hand, asked for permission to arrest the gunman, which was granted. Pursuing Hardin across Alabama and into Florida , Armstrong caught up with Hardin in Pensacola . After Armstrong boarded a train that Hardin and four companions were on, with his Colt revolver in hand, the outlaw shouted, "Texas, by God!" and attempted to draw his own pistol, but it became stuck in his clothing. When it was over, one of his gang members was killed and his three surviving friends were staring at Armstrong’s pistol. Hardin had been knocked unconscious. Armstrong's hat had been neatly pierced by a bullet, but he was uninjured. Hardin was tried for murder, convicted, and sentenced to 25 years in prison. Seventeen years later, Hardin was pardoned by Governor Jim Hogg and released from prison on March 16 , 1894 . He moved to El Paso , where he began practicing law. On August 19 , 1895 , he was shot in the back of the head and murdered in the middle of a dice game at the Acme Saloon by John Selman over a personal disagreement. Hardin had hired the killer to assassinate a man, because he was having an affair with his wife, and had not paid the hitman for his service. An experienced gunfighter later said of Hardin's murder "If he was shot in the head by the front, that is good marksmanship, if he was shot in the head by the back, that is good judgement." After his death, an Autobiography was released containing Hardin's accounts of many of his murders. THE FOLK FIGURE
HARDIN AND THE LAW
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