Legends of the Old West - OUTLAWS Ep. 3 | John Wesley Hardin: “The Most Wanted Man In Texas”

Episode Date: February 9, 2022

On a return trip from Louisiana, John Wesley Hardin nearly dies after a shootout in Trinity City, Texas. He surrenders to law enforcement, but then escapes from jail. He helps kill a county sheriff and then a deputy sheriff, and the murder of the deputy changes Hardin’s life. He flees Texas and starts a new life in Florida. But the Texas Rangers are on his trail, and he won’t remain free for long. Join Black Barrel+ for ad-free episodes and bingeable seasons: blackbarrel.supportingcast.fm/join To advertise on this podcast, please email [e-mail] For more details, visit our website www.blackbarrelmedia.com and check out our social media pages. We’re @OldWestPodcast on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. This show is part of the Airwave Media podcast network. Please visit AirwaveMedia.com to check out other great podcasts like Ben Franklin’s World, Once Upon A Crime, and many more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In August of 1872, John Wesley Hardin, now a married man, left his wife Jane at home in Gonzales, Texas, while he took a herd of horses to Louisiana to sell. at home in Gonzalez, Texas, while he took a herd of horses to Louisiana to sell. On his way home, he met up with a cousin, and they went into Trinity City, Texas, to do some drinking and gambling. At a local saloon, Harden got involved in a game of ten-pen, a precursor to bowling, and began making wagers with a man named Phil Sublett. According to Harden, he beat Sublett in six straight games and won $35. Sublett didn't take the loss as well, so Harden bought him a drink at the bar as a show of good sportsmanship. But Harden suddenly realized Sublett had slipped away. He was sure the man left to retrieve his gun, so Harden immediately retrieved his two six-shooters. Shortly thereafter,

the saloon owner alerted Harden that Sublette was waiting for him in the back alley and was ready for a showdown. As soon as Harden appeared in the doorway leading to the alley, Sublette took a shot at him with one barrel of his double-barrel shotgun. Sublette apparently missed, somehow, and Harden shot back. But Harden claimed he purposefully missed Sublette because he wanted to avoid getting into any more trouble. He meant to scare him. Sublette fired the second barrel and hit Harden. Sublette ran from the alley. Harden chased him and fired again, and this time hit Sublette in the shoulder. But Harden was weak from blood loss, and he couldn't keep up the chase. Harden knew his injuries were serious, and he was sure he

was about to die. His cousin arrived at the scene and rushed Harden to the doctor. The doctor's assessment was grim. He would have to perform a desperate and dangerous surgery. Harden believed he was on his deathbed, and he made his cousin promise to deliver the gold and silver from the sale of the horses, around $3,000, to his wife Jane. And then the cutting began. As a podcast network, our first priority has always been audio and the stories we're able to share with you. But we also sell merch. And organizing that was made both possible and easy with Shopify.

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I'm your host, Chris Wimmer. In this season, we're telling the stories of two outlaws, John Wesley Harden and Henry Plummer. This is Episode 3, John Wesley Harden, the most wanted man in Texas. In the summer of 1872, John Wesley Hardin had just turned 19 years old. He'd been on the run for the better part of four years. By his own account, he'd killed 24 men.

He'd killed soldiers, lawmen, and civilians. He was wanted for murder across half the state of Texas, and if anyone could prove it, he'd be wanted for murder in Kansas, too. But in early 1872, he'd settled, more or less, in the area around Gonzales, Texas. Gonzales is about 50 miles east of San Antonio, and his cousins, the Clements, operated a cattle ranch in the region. He'd married a local girl, Jane Bowen, and he adored her. But he also had a restless spirit. It was hard for him to stay home for long stretches of time. A few months after they were married, he drove a herd of horses to Louisiana. He made a good sale, and on the way home, he stopped at his Uncle Barnett's ranch. One of Barnett's sons traveled with Hardin to Trinity City for some entertainment.

But as always, Hardin was a magnet for trouble. By the end of a fun evening, he was lying on an operating table, assuming he would die. He was lying on an operating table, assuming he would die. Harden had been peppered with buckshot from the second barrel of the shotgun. Without anesthesia, the doctor removed as much as he could, but some of the pellets had passed through one of Harden's kidneys and lodged in his spine. When the operation was complete, the doctor told Harden that his chances of recovery were slim. Harden instructed his cousin to give the money from the sale of the horses in Louisiana to his wife if he died. With that done, he could only wait and see what happened.

What happened was, he survived, although his injuries plagued him for the remainder of his life. He survived, although his injuries plagued him for the remainder of his life. But he couldn't rest in Trinity City for long. The Texas State Police were still actively looking for him, so Harden and his cousin knew they had to get out of town quickly. Although riding was difficult and painful, Harden and his cousin slipped out of Trinity City under the cover of darkness. They rode to an old friend's house in Angelina County,

the area around Lufkin. The friend, Dave Harrell, and his wife hid Harden in a back bedroom while he convalesced. In the meantime, Harden learned that he had been indicted in Trinity County for assaulting Phil Sublett with a deadly weapon and intent to murder. It wasn't long before the police discovered Harden's hiding spot. His host learned that lawmen were on their way and he alerted Harden to the trouble. Harden had access to a double-barrel shotgun, but he was too weak to ride. When the law arrived, there would be a fight. Two officers showed up at the home, and Harden opened fire. A gun battle erupted. Harden killed one of the officers and then took a bullet to the leg. Dave Harrell brought Harden's horse around the back of the house, and Harden found a reserve of strength to get himself to move. Harden struggled onto his horse and escaped to the home of another friend, Till Watson, in neighboring Cherokee County.

He was in bad shape, and he assumed a mob would be after him. Harden's greatest fear was to be at the mercy of a mob. Now he was in dire physical condition. His ability to travel was severely limited. He was one of the most wanted men in Texas, and everyone knew he was in the area. Maybe for the first time in his life, Harden was afraid for his life. He decided his only option was to surrender to the law. He sent Dave Harrell to the town of Rusk to talk to Sheriff Dick Reagan. Harden would allow himself to be arrested, but he had a few conditions.

In his autobiography, Harden claims he set rules for his surrender. First, the sheriff needed to bring a doctor with him. Second, the sheriff had to split the reward money with his new prisoner. As always, Harden tried to portray himself as the one in power. And as usual, there's another side of the story. A local woman said the sheriff was a man of integrity, and he would never have agreed to give reward money to Harden. She said it was Harden's father who contacted the sheriff.

Reverend Harden and the sheriff were friends, and the reverend asked the sheriff to take custody of his son as a protective measure against a potential mob. At that point, arrest was inevitable, and it was better to be arrested by a friend than lynched by a mob. In the first week of September 1872, Sheriff Reagan and four deputies rode out to Till Watson's place and arrested John Wesley Hardin. road out to Till Watson's place and arrested John Wesley Harden. The arrest went fairly smoothly. Sheriff Reagan owned a hotel in Rusk, and he took Harden to one of the rooms instead of a jail cell. Harden had a lot of recovering to do, and his prospects would be better in the hotel than in the jail. But that would be his last comfortable bed for a spell.

When he was well enough to travel, Harden was transported to Austin, the headquarters for the Texas State Police, where he was locked up in the Travis County Jail. Once word got around to various law enforcement agencies and jurisdictions that John Wesley Harden had finally been captured, warrants and indictments for his crimes began rolling in. The sheriff of Gonzales County, which was now Hardin's home county, was one of many with a warrant for Hardin. The sheriff convinced the authorities in Travis County that their jail wasn't secure. In November 1872, four Texas state policemen escorted Hardin 75 miles down to

Gonzales County and locked him in the local jail. Within days, Hardin escaped from jail. It's commonly believed it wasn't so much an escape as a jailbreak. Many believe the Gonzales County sheriff was secretly a supporter of Hardin's, and the Sheriff allowed a mob of Hardin loyalists to break the outlaw out of jail. As expected, the governor was furious. Governor Edmund Davis, who was a Southern Unionist and a general in the Union Army during the Civil War, knew all about Hardin's support for the Confederacy and his animosity toward Union soldiers. He also knew that Hardin's support for the Confederacy and his animosity toward Union soldiers. He also knew that Hardin was responsible for murdering several of them. He immediately

offered a $1,000 reward for the capture of John Wesley Hardin. Hardin's cousin, Jim Clements, picked him up after he escaped and took him home to his wife, Jane. It was late November, and she hadn't seen him since early summer. She had a surprise for him. She was pregnant, and the baby was due fairly soon. On February 6, 1873, Jane gave birth to their first of three children, a daughter named Molly. By that time, Hardin was as close to full strength as he would ever be. He now had a family to support, so he hit the trail and began herding cattle.

But he was still a wanted man with a substantial bounty on his head. On a trip to Cuero, about 30 miles south, he met a county sheriff named Jack Helm, who had once been a Texas State Police Captain. Sheriff Helm was well aware that Harden was a wanted man, but according to Harden, the two developed an understanding of sorts. Harden's version is too incredible to be believed, but here's how he said it happened. Harden dared Sheriff Helm to arrest him, and then he accused Helm of being a coward and a murderer. Harden believed that the sheriff led a band of vigilantes who had hanged several men. In Harden's version, Sheriff Helm agreed not

to arrest the outlaw if Harden would spare his life. And then the sheriff went one step further by asking Harden to join his vigilante group. Harden claimed he refused to join Helm's vigilantes because they had waged war against the Taylor family in the infamous Sutton-Taylor feud. The two factions had been fighting each other for six years. Harden met the Taylors through his cousins and became friendly with some of their number. Harden insisted he was neutral, but Sheriff Helm sided with the Sutton family. According to Harden, they made an uneasy truce. Harden said he met with Helm a couple more times. For their final meeting in mid-April 1873, Helm brought a deputy as added protection,

and Harden brought a friend and one of his cousins. According to Harden, the two men parted ways, and each believed the other would keep his end of the bargain. Harden and his buddies went to a saloon to have a drink, and of course, the situation deteriorated from there. While Harden was standing at the bar, a man named J.B. Morgan rushed up to him and, for some reason, demanded that Harden buy him a bottle of champagne. Harden refused, and Morgan became angry and wanted to fight. Harden's companions pulled

Morgan away and calmed him down while Harden went outside. Harden was talking to a friend when Morgan appeared, accused him of insult, and asked him if Harden was armed. Harden told him he was, at which point Morgan reached for his gun. But Harden reached faster and killed Morgan in the street. The very random and strange confrontation ended with J.B. Morgan as victim number 25. number 25. Harden rode home to Gonzalez, and it would be another four years before he learned he had been indicted for the murder of J.B. Morgan. A week or so after the killing, Sheriff Helm and about 50 men, all allegedly members of his vigilante group, rode to Gonzalez to look for the three Taylor brothers who were

central to the feud. Apparently, they were also looking for Harden, but none of the men were around. Only the wives of the men were present, and Harden claimed that Helm and his gang threatened and insulted the women when the women wouldn't give up the locations of their husbands. When Harden and the Taylor brothers heard of the encounter, they were understandably mad, and one of the brothers, Jim Taylor, believed Sheriff Jack Helm was responsible for ambushing and murdering his father during the feud. The sequence becomes fuzzy, but some of the angry parties eventually converged on the village of Albuquerque. The village was near the junction of Gonzales, Wilson, and Guadalupe counties,

and it was a ghost town by 1912. But in 1873, Jack Helm used the local blacksmith shop as a workstation for some new inventions that he hoped would help the cotton industry. Harden and Jim Taylor arrived in town, and Harden went to the blacksmith shop, apparently to get a new shoe for his horse. He said that he heard Jack Helm shout and then turned to see Helm advancing on Jim Taylor with a bowie knife. Harden unlimbered his double-barrel shotgun and blasted Helm. Then Jim Taylor drew his pistol and fired repeatedly. Within seconds, the county sheriff was dead. Taylor believed Helm was a cowardly killer, and Harden believed Helm was the leader of a vicious gang of vigilantes. Harden called Jack Helm the terror of the country, without any hint of irony.

But a Gonzales newspaper reported a different version of the fight. The paper said that Harden and Helm were talking in the blacksmith's shop and apparently getting along fairly well. Then a stranger, who was later revealed as Jim Taylor, rode up to the shop, who was later revealed as Jim Taylor, rode up to the shop, dismounted, and walked up behind Jack Helm. The stranger pulled his pistol and tried to fire, but the gun failed. Helm spun around, and then the stranger successfully fired a shot that hit Helm in the chest. But Helm was tough, and he grappled with the shooter. At that point, Harden blasted Helm with the shotgun and shattered his arm. Jack Helm tried to escape the shop, but the stranger fired several shots and killed the county sheriff. Then Harden and the stranger leapt onto their horses and galloped out of town.

A year passed, and both Harden and Jim Taylor managed to elude arrest, despite neither keeping low profiles. Harden continued to make a living as a cattleman, but he also developed a love of horse racing. And the love wasn't just gambling on the races. It was actually riding his horse, Rondo, at the track. Rondo at the track. In April of 1874, Harden and Jim Taylor took Rondo to Comanche County, where Harden's parents now lived. They planned to spend time with the Reverend and Mrs. Harden and a few of Harden's siblings who were still at home, but they also planned to enter Rondo in the upcoming Comanche races. In a fun coincidence for John Wesley Harden, the races fell on May 26th, his 21st birthday. According to Harden's retelling of the story, this is how things unfolded that day.

Harden and his friends were in a local saloon celebrating both his birthday and his success at the races that day when Harden heard of a looming threat. his success at the races that day when Harden heard of a looming threat. Charles Webb, the deputy sheriff of neighboring Brown County, was on his way to Comanche with 15 men. He wanted to capture Jim Taylor and cash in on the reward for the man who killed Jack Helm. Harden also heard that Webb planned to do what the sheriff of Comanche County was unwilling to do, capture or kill John Wesley Harden. After Webb and his men arrived, Harden was told that Webb was bragging that he was going to kill Harden and capture Jim Taylor before the sun went down that very day. Harden claimed he laughed off the threat and said he hoped Webb would wait until dark. As the sun set, a confrontation

loomed on the very near horizon, and with Harden, if trouble was possible, then it was almost guaranteed to happen. When Harden and Jim Taylor decided they'd had enough to drink, they left the saloon and prepared to ride to the Hardin residence where they would spend the night. Hardin stood outside the saloon waiting for Jim when Sheriff Carnes of Comanche County walked up. Hardin now counted the sheriff as a friend, and the two men had a brief chat until Carnes saw someone walking toward them. He allegedly said, here comes that damned Brown County Sheriff. Harden claimed that Deputy Sheriff Charles Webb got within a few feet of him and looked him over. Apparently, Webb didn't recognize Harden, so Harden introduced himself and asked Webb if he

had a warrant for Harden's arrest. Webb said he did not. Harden invited Webb into the saloon to have a drink and smoke a cigar. Webb agreed, but as Harden turned to go inside, Webb began to pull his gun. Jim Taylor shouted for Harden to watch out. Harden quickly stepped to the side and drew his gun just as Webb fired a shot that struck Harden in his left side. Harden returned fire, and Webb fell to the ground. Jim Taylor and two more of Harden's friends drew their guns and fired at Webb, too, hitting him multiple times and killing the deputy sheriff of Brown County. But of the many things that are hard to believe, the first is that Harden introduced himself and invited the sheriff into the saloon for a drink. Supposedly, the sheriff was there to kill Harden,

so it didn't make much sense for Harden to basically present himself for execution. But Harden always tried to portray himself as bold and fearless. He was rarely, if ever, himself as bold and fearless. He was rarely, if ever, the aggressor in his own stories. And the altercation was a classic example of Harden's spin. Not surprisingly, there's another version of the story. Sheriff Carnes claimed he was actually no friend to Harden. He claimed he was only pretending to be his friend in order to maintain calm. He also knew that his jail was not adequate to hold a prisoner like Harden, so he hoped Webb or another sheriff would arrest him. Carnes also claimed that Webb's strategy was to get Harden and Taylor involved in a poker game with other men at the saloon. Then Webb and his men could enter and catch them by surprise.

But regardless of intentions or strategy, the shooting did happen. Newspapers in the surrounding area reported that Webb did not fire first. They said Harden and Taylor ambushed the sheriff. And that might be a better explanation for why Webb was shot so many times. Harden claimed he shot Webb in the face. If that was true, it certainly would have been enough to mortally wound Webb and maybe even kill him outright. There would have been no need for Harden's friends to join the fray, but they did join and riddled Webb with bullets. When the sun rose that day, a grand jury indicted Harden and Taylor for the murder of Deputy Sheriff Charles Webb. Despite killing as many as 26 men before the deputy sheriff, Webb's murder was the big one.

Harden knew the state police would scorch the earth to find him. He knew angry mobs could snatch him and string him up at any time. And now, the Texas Rangers were on the case. Harden was scared to go home to Gonzales County because he might put his wife Jane and his young daughter Molly at risk. In fact, he was scared to go anywhere that was associated with the Harden name. Some of his family members were taken into protective custody. Others were put under surveillance.

The heat on Harden cranked up to 11 as he tried to stay free. Eventually, eight of Harden's family members and friends were killed by mobs and lawmen who wanted retaliation for Webb's murder. Those killed included Harden's older brother Joe and his cousins Tom and Bud Dixon. All three of them were hanged together. Harden was outraged and at the same time scared for his parents and his wife and daughter. Harden swore revenge, but now the manhunt was beyond anything he'd experienced. It was said that roughly 500 lawmen and vigilantes were conducting a massive search for Hardin.

They covered every corner of Texas. Hardin had clearly misjudged how Webb's murder would galvanize the people of Brown and Comanche counties. They wanted John Wesley Hardin caught, dead or alive. He eluded the law and the lynch mobs for a while, but he knew his luck would eventually run out. Revenge would have to wait. His only chance for survival was to leave Texas. In 1874, the year Hardin helped kill Charles Webb, the Texas state legislature approved the establishment of six new companies of Texas Rangers, with 75 men in each. John Wesley Harden was at the top of the list of fugitives the Rangers were determined to capture. Harden fled Texas and made his way to New Orleans, where he reunited with his wife and daughter. They took a steamship across the Gulf of Mexico to the Florida Keys.

Then they traveled by wagon up to Gainesville. There, the young Hardin family tried to make a fresh start, and Hardin bought a saloon with an attached grocery store. He changed his last name to Swain in honor of his friend Harry Swain, who had escorted Hardin's wife and daughter safely to New Orleans. But the Hardins didn't stay long in Gainesville. In 1875, Hardin sold his saloon and bought another in Jacksonville. He also got back into the cattle business and eventually sold the saloon and concentrated on the cattle. and eventually sold the saloon and concentrated on the cattle. That same year, Jane gave birth to John Wesley Jr.

But just because the growing family had traveled more than 1,600 miles and changed its name, it didn't mean they were out of reach of the manhunt. Two detectives tracked Harden to Jacksonville. Harden believed they were Pinkertons, but in fact they were private detectives. By that time, Harden had befriended the county sheriff and the Jacksonville city marshal, and his friends tipped him to the arrival of the detectives. Harden immediately fled Jacksonville and was on the run again. When the detectives caught up with Harden and his traveling companion, Harden claimed a shootout erupted between the four men that ended with both detectives dead. It was reported that two detectives went to Florida to look for Harden and never returned,

so some sort of fatal conflict probably happened. But whether it was a fair fight or another ambush, we'll never know. While Harden ran, Jane and her two children went to Pollard, Alabama to stay with relatives. The tiny community is just north of the Alabama-Florida border and about 60 miles straight north of Pensacola. Hardin eventually joined them, but only temporarily. In the spring or early summer of 1877, Hardin, who was now 24 years old, went down to Florida to get into the lumber business. He worked in a town near Pensacola called Millview. And back in Texas, while Hardin had been away, his name went through the same

process that the names of all famous outlaws went through. He was accused of nearly every crime in the state. Harden was supposedly spotted everywhere. He was the prime suspect for robberies and murders he couldn't possibly have committed. But even with all the cases of mistaken identity, the Texas Rangers had honed in on his location with remarkable speed. They learned he was now somewhere between Alabama and Pensacola, Florida, and they dispatched two of their best men to bring him back. And the next confrontation would not end like all the others. John Wesley Harden's days as a free man were truly numbered.

Next time on Legends of the Old West, the Texas Rangers use some clever detective work to trap John Wesley Harden. But it turns out that catching him isn't the most difficult part of the job. Getting him back to Texas becomes the real challenge, as Harden's supporters scheme to rescue him and Harden's enemies plan to hang him. That's next week on the final episode of the story of

John Wesley Harden. And members of our Black Barrel Plus program don't have to wait week to week for new episodes. They receive the entire season to binge all at once with no commercials.

Sign up now through the link in the show notes or on our website blackbarrelmedia.com. Memberships begin at just $5 per month. This series was researched and written by Michael Byrne. Original music by Rob Valliere. I'm your host and producer, Chris Wimmer.

If you enjoyed the show, please leave us a rating and a review on Apple Podcasts or wherever you're listening. Check out our website, blackbarrelmedia.com, for more details and join us on social media. We're at Old West Podcast on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. This show is part of the Airwave Media Podcast Network. Please visit airwavemedia.com to check out other great podcasts like Ben Franklin's World, Once Upon a Crime and many more. Sous-titrage Société Radio-Canada Vous se frissons d'obtenir le meilleur deal? Les membres de Rakuten, eux, oui. Ils magasinent les marques qu'ils aiment et font d'importantes économies, en plus des remises en argent. Et vous pouvez aussi commencer à gagner des remises en argent dans vos magasins préférés,

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