Barela went to jail, and at midnight a few dozen other men joined him, although not just to cheer him up, or keep him company. They shoved the guards aside, removed Barela, and on second thought also removed another prisoner, Giovanni Dugi, an Italian also awaiting trial on a murder charge. Both men were dragged to the windmill in the center of the town plaza, Barela being hanged first and Dugi second. The Lcx_s egaq Gazette noted, "In half a minute after the hangings were accomplished, the plaza was clear of people and the town was as quiet as a graveyard." No one ever went to trial for the two lynchings.
As for the windmill, it came down on February 9, 1880, the 2;cs Vegas Optic saying that its dark influence and bad memories were too much for the children, many of whom had tried to hang their dogs from the windmill.
See c; DODGE CITY GANG
HANKINS, John Henry (a.k.a. James Jenkins; James W. Smith; Six-Shooter Smith) (1856?-1882)
Like so many of the less-well-known men of the gunfighting era, John Henry Hankins, alias James W. "Six-Shooter" Smith, is somewhat of a puzzle.
Most reports simply indicate that he was probably a Texas or a Missouri product and that he had formerly lived in Kansas. Rumors gave him credit for being at least a hanger-on or maybe a full-fledged member of the disreputable "Dodge City Gang," then primarily operating out of the wicked railroad town of East Las Vegas, New Mexico. Whatever, Hankins was adept at con games, at robbing hoboes, gambling, and whoring. Hankins specialized in popping off bullets at unsuspecting neophytes, just to see how close he could come without actually hitting them.
By 1881, "Six-Shooter" had moved near to Deming, New Mexico, where he set up his own modest saloon at the Rio Mimbres water tower stop. Accompanied by some nefarious individuals, Smith declared himself the law. A Deming newspaper referred to him as "the big dog with the brass collar." All of this neither amused nor frightened Grant County sheriff Harvey Whitehill, who rode down to the water tower with his truly dangerous deputy, Dan Tucker. That quieted down the atmosphere at Deming, and "Six-Shooter" Smith meandered off to Benson, Arizona, and then to Colorado, where he was arrested and convicted at Durango on October 12, 1881, for carrying a concealed weapon.
Not long after that, Smith walked away from a work detail and returned to Texas, where he adopted the nickname "California Jim" and found employment in a Laredo restaurant. When Smith and his boss argued about how much to charge a customer, the Laredo city marshal attempted to quell the disturbance. "Six-Shooter" Smith shot him dead. Smith then fled to San Antonio, where he robbed a nearby station master at Cactus, Texas. That led to a shootout with lawmen Charley Smith and Wesley DeSpain when they tried to arrest him near Cibolo, Texas. Smith shot and disabled DeSpain but was mortally wounded by Charley Smith. On June 23, 1882, the "bloody, naked body" of John Hankins, alias "Six-Shooter" Smith, "was placed in a rough pine box, and lowered into a shallow grave in the brush."
.SPE a1S0 DODGE CITY GANG; TUCKER, DAVID; WHITEHILL, HARVEY HOWARD
HARDCASE
This refers to a tough individual, someone who ordinarily cannot be broken, an outlaw who will not confess or implicate his associates.
HARDIN, John Wesley (1853-1895)
This greatest of all Texas gunmen entered the world on May 26, 1853, by the Red River at Bonham, Texas, the second of 10 children of James and Elizabeth Hardin. His devout Protestant parents (the father was a Methodist preacher, a circuit rider) named him for John Wesley, the founder of Methodism. Young Hardin grew up wild and restless, stabbing Charles Sloter, a schoolmate (who survived), when the two were 10 years old. In November 1868, Hardin and a cousin entered a wrestling match with a black freedman named Major (Madge) Holshousen. It ended in a brawl. On the following day, Hardin stalked Madge and shot him dead during a trailside confrontation.
John Wesley Hardin now became a fugitive from the Texas Reconstruction government, which charged him with murder. In December of that same year, in Trinity County at Hickory Creek Crossing, Hardin killed three Union soldiers, two with a shotgun and one with a revolver. Nearby farmers buried their bodies in the creek bed.
From that time on, Hardin killed people as a regular thing. He shot and killed Jack Helm, sheriff of DeWitt County and a former state police captain. Hardin shot Benjamin Bradley during a quarrel over a card game. This slaying earned Hardin a place in the 1878 List of Texas Fu,-.Oves fiom JJ&tace, often known as Te Bile. On January 20, 1870, he killed a jealous boyfriend (or husband) who had interrupted Hardin during a sexual tryst. According to Hardin, that was number eight. By this time, Phil Coe, a Texas gambler, had given Hardin the moniker of "Young Seven Up," the Seven Up referring to a card game popular among gamblers.
Between shootings, Hardin frequently taught school and even Sunday school. Nevertheless, killing people remained his primary talent. On January 22, 1871, Hardin killed lawman Jim Smalley, near Waco, Texas, and escaped from two other officers. Less than two weeks later, he killed three additional Texas lawmen in their sleep, officers he identified only as Smith, Jones, and Davis. Smith and Jones died in front of a shotgun. Davis went down under a sixshooter.
Hardin now decided to leave Texas for a while, so he hired on as a cowhand during an Abilene, Kansas, trail drive. Along the way Hardin killed two Indians (he said they were stealing cattle) and five Mexican the latter during a wild, dramatic shootout on the banks of the Little Arkansas River. These later deaths forever gave John Wesley Hardin the sobriquet of "Little Arkansas." Many writers since have incorrectly assumed the "Little" referred to Hardin's height; the stocky Hardin stood about five foot 10, average or slightly above for the time.
John Wesley Hardin (Robert G. McCubbin Collection)
In Abilene, Hardin became a two-gun man, wearing his weapons openly in spite of City Marshal William "Wild Bill" Hickok's admonition against it. Yet, the two became friends, often drinking, gambling, and chasing girls together. Hardin killed two Abilene rowdies in separate incidents, and Hickok hardly flinched. Then came two of the most controversial occurrences ever to dog Hardin's backtrail.
Hardin had been in Abilene several weeks, constantly wearing his guns in spite of a city ordinance to the contrary. One afternoon Marshal Hickok decided that enough was enough. He ordered Hardin to hand over his weapons. Hardin stuck them out, butts forward, then spun them around in his hands and covered Hickok, forcing the marshal to back down. The question therefore becomes, did the incident really happen? The only evidence is Hardin's own controversial narrative. Passionate, knowledgeable advocates can easily be found who support the incident as either fact or fiction.
The second alleged event involves "shooting a man for snoring." Hardin, his cousin Gip Clements, and Texas cattleman Charles Cougar had been out on the town, drinking heavily. They returned late at night to their side-by-side, second-story hotel rooms. Hardin and Gip shared one room; Cougar had the one alongside. Hardin's memoirs do not mention the friend. He notes that late in the night, a sneak thief eased into his darkened room and picked up Hardin's trousers. The thief had barely reached the door when Hardin shot him dead.
However, Abilene newspapers never mentioned an intruder. They stated that it was Cougar, Hardin's friend in the next room, who was shot, and that he was shot while sitting in his own bed reading a newspaper. Shortly afterward, a story started circulating that Hardin had killed a man for snoring. The evidence thus points to the possibility that Hardin may have yelled for his neighbor friend to "roll over." After that happened a couple or three times, Cougar may have sat up in bed to read a newspaper and stay awake. He fell asleep again, started snoring, and an exasperated Hardin fired a shot through the wall to "really" wake him up. Hardin "probably" never meant to kill Charles Cougar, but he did-and at that point Hardin hastily departed for Texas.
Back in eastern Texas, Hardin married Jane Bowen on February 29, 1872. Although Wesley Hardin spent more time sleeping on the ground than in Jane's bed, the marriage produced two daughters and one son. Meanwhile, John became deeply involved in the Sutton-Taylor feud,
and the killings started to mount. The deaths culminated in the May 25, 1874, slaying of Brown County deputy Charles Webb on the streets of Comanche, Texas. Hardin had now likely notched his 32nd victim.
A few days later, vigilantes hanged John Wesley Hardin's attorney brother, Joe, plus two other relatives. Over in DeWitt County on June 21, a midnight mob lynched additional Hardin relatives and supporters. On January 20, 1875, the Texas legislature placed a $4,000 reward on the head of John Wesley Hardin, making him the most wanted outlaw ever in the state of Texas. For that kind of money the Texas Rangers would follow Hardin across the ice cap, and
Hardin knew it. He, his wife, and children fled east (with a few killings along the way) to Florida, where the rangers took him prisoner onboard a train at Pensacola on August 23, 1877. Hardin was returned to Texas, tried for murder in the second degree of lawman Charles Webb, and sentenced to 25 years in the state penitentiary at Huntsville.
Hardin attempted to escape several times and was brutally beaten. He then started cooperating, becoming head of the debating team and the Sunday school class. He studied law. Hardin's wife, Jane, died of undisclosed causes on November 6, 1892, at the age of 35. A year and three months later, on February 17, 1894, John Wesley Hardin walked out of prison after 15 years and eight months behind bars. He went to Gonzales County to practice law and see his children, but the relationship seemed strained. He then moved to the Texas Hill country, where the 41-yearold Hardin married 15-year-old Callie Lewis on January 9, 1895. The marriage lasted less than a week, and by some accounts only an hour. Hardin returned her to her parents. There was no divorce, no annulment.
John Wesley Hardin moved on to El Paso to practice law, his only client being New Mexico cattle rustler Martin Mrose. Martin sought refuge in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, across the Rio Grande from El Paso, and sent his wife, Beulah, into El Paso to get him an attorney. She got John Wesley Hardin, but within a week the attorney/female relationship had blossomed all too well, and she wasn't returning to her husband. When the husband began threatening his attorney, Hardin encouraged several El Paso lawmen-former chief of police and now U.S. Deputy Marshal Jeff Milton, U.S. Deputy Marshal George Scarborough, Texas Ranger Frank McMahan, and (perhaps) El Paso constable John Selman-to lure Mrose across the Rio Grande and shoot him to death.
At Hardin's dictation, Beulah commenced an autobiography entitled Lafe of Jobrt Wesley as Written k-y '`. However, their own lives quickly deteriorated into drunken brawls, threats, and arrests.
On August 19, 1895, John Wesley Hardin, and Constable John Selman argued on a San Antonio street. Later that night at about 11 o'clock, Hardin walked into the Acme Saloon in San Antonio, bellied up to the bar, picked up the dice for a game of Ship, Captain, and Crew, rolled them down the bar, turned to a grocer beside him, and softly said, "Brown, you have four sixes to beat." At that instant Selman stepped through the door and shot Hardin four times, the first bullet taking effect in the back of the head.
So far as is known, Hardin had never killed anyone after he left prison. As for the total string of dead men haunting his backtrail, the figures range somewhere between 20 and 50.
John Wesley Hardin is buried in El Paso's Concordia Cemetery. Beulah paid the entire funeral cost, $77.50. The grave has a Texas state historical marker, and is one of the most visited tourist attractions in the El Paso area. As for Beulah, she moved to California, dying in Sacramento a few years later of acute alcoholism.
See HICKOK, JAMES BUTLER; MILTON, JEFFERSON D.; MROSE, HELEN; MROSE, MARTIN; SELMAN, JOHN HENRY; SUTTON-TAYLOR FEUD
HAROLD, George (1840-1911)
If George Harold attended school, either he didn't pay attention to his lessons or the educational experience was short-lived. He was illiterate in the ways of readin' and writin', but make no mistake, the fluently bilingual George Harold was not an ignorant manespecially when the subject matter was outlaws and thieves. Born south of Richmond, Virginia, George had somehow made it to Texas in time for the opening salvo of the Civil War. He signed up with the Second Texas Field Artillery Battery and saw active service.
After the conflict, Harold signed on as chief of police at Laredo, but in October 1877 he made a career move and enlisted in the Texas Rangers. On July 19, 1878, Harold found himself posted on surveillance at Round Rock, Texas, sitting on a bale of hay in Highsmith's livery stable, awaiting the arrival of outlaw Sam Bass and his gang of robbers. Harold wasn't to be disappointed. Three of the outlaws ambled into town, and were approached by officers. Then the fireworks started. Harold took up a position between the members of the gang, who were all still afoot, and their horses. When Bass attempted to mount his horse, Harold shot him in the side, the bullet punching through a kidney and then exiting close to Sam's belly button. Bass and Frank Jackson managed to get out of town, but the outlaw leader couldn't make it far. He was later captured and
returned to Round Rock, where he died. Jackson escaped.
A coroner's jury ruled that George Harold had killed Sam Bass and that fellow Texas Ranger Dick Ware was responsible for the death of Seaborn Barnes, another outlaw.
Just before the new year dawned in 1880, George Harold was mustered out of the Texas Rangers. Reportedly, he pulled some gendarme duty in Old Mexico, but by 1883 he was in El Paso, where six years later he signed on with the city police force. On April 17, 1890, an area rancher, John Barnes, dashed into town and alerted officers that Mexican thieves were running off a herd of his livestock. The sheriff was unavailable, so Texas Ranger Charles Fusselman, aided by policemen George Harold and Barnes, galloped north. Eight miles away, in the Franklin Mountains, the trio of lawmen picked up the rustler's trail and captured Ysidoro Pasos, the rustler's rear guard. Shortly thereafter the trail took a tragic turn. Riding ahead of the other lawmen, the 24-year-old Ranger Fusselman unexpectedly stumbled upon the rustlers. A furious gun battle erupted; Fusselman was shot in the head and was killed instantly. Harold fired back, at the same time attempting to grab Fusselman, who he thought might still be alive. The opposing thieves, however, continued shooting, forcing Harold and Barnes to race back to El Paso for reinforcements. The bandits escaped. Years later, Geronimo Parra was hanged in El Paso for his role in Fusselman's death.
Harold continued with the El Paso Police Department, retiring in 1916. He maintained his residence at El Paso until his death from natural causes a year later, on December 11, 1917. George Harold was remembered as a genuine "terror to thieves" and a "first class fighting man." He is buried in El Paso's Evergreen Cemetery on Alameda Street.
.Sr'e aISO: BASS, SAM; EL PASO, TEXAS; FUSSELMAN, CHARLES; WARE, RICHARD CLAYTON
HARRIS, Jack (?-1815)
Jack Harris was reportedly born in Massachusetts, spent some time at sea, and then lived in Marysville, California. By 1860, he had reached Nevada and was married in Carson City. He also became a saloon operator. In late 1865, the Nevada authorities arrested Harris and several companions for the August 28, 1865, holdup of the Pioneer stage between Placerville, California, and Silver City, Nevada. Harris was acquitted and then moved briefly to Washington, D.C., where evidence suggests that he worked as a city policeman. Nevertheless, he was back in Virginia City, Nevada, by October 31, 1866, that being the date he stopped a stage, robbed the passengers, and took the strongbox. On June 10, 1868, he and another man carrying double-barreled shotguns robbed the Overland stage. Much of the holdup money he spent on opening and operating saloons, and sometimes opening mines, but neither was as successful or as lucrative as robbing stages.
He proved it in May 1871 at Pioche, Nevada. Two mining companies drilling in the same mountain opened tunnels and each claimed ownership of whatever ore they found. When one tunnel intersected another, barricades went up as well as tensions. On one occasion the two companies, with Harris egging them on, waged a 24-hour gun battle inside the shaft. Since both sides used black powder, the smoke drifted everywhere. The fight ended with four dead and a half-dozen wounded, Jack Harris being neither one nor the other.<
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Over time, most of the Jack Harris stage-robbing associates were shot dead, in various gunfights. Jack Harris, often referred to as the Comstock Bandit, died in bed at Pioche, Nevada, of apparent natural causes in May 1875.
HART, Edward (a.k.a. Little Hart) (?-1878)
Edward "Little" Hart likely migrated with the Horrells to New Mexico from Lampasas, Texas, for he was certainly there by December 1, 1873, when a race war broke out at Lincoln County. He also may or may not have been with the Horrell partisans on the night of December 20, when those riders fired six-shooters into a wedding party at Lincoln, killing four Hispanics and wounding three others.
Near the end of January the following year, during Horrell's retreat from New Mexico Territory, several of their cohorts, Hart included, tormented the area residents. Little Hart, Bill Applegate, Zack Crompton, and an accomplice identified only as Still were driving stolen horses and mules when they paused at Picacho, New Mexico. At this point, Hart, learning that local rancher Joe Haskins had a Mexican wife, casually remarked, "Well, we'll just go over there and kill the fellow." As Haskins opened his door to greet the strangers, Hart shot him down.
New Mexico ranchers, in a state of fury about the murders and thefts, organized a posse led by Aaron and Frank Wilburn. They took their revenge at Hueco Tanks, just across the Texas line, 40 miles northeast of El Paso, Texas. On February 20, finding the outlaws still in their bedrolls, the volunteer vigilantes showed no mercy. Zack Crompton and Still were shot dead in their blankets. Applegate and Edward "Little" Hart escaped.
The Encyclopedia of Lawmen, Outlaws, and Gunfighters Page 24