Hardin, John Wesley

Born in Bonham, Texas, John Wesley Hardin (1853-1895) was the son of Methodist preacher James G. Hardin and his wife Elizabeth. In 1868, during Reconstruction, Hardin killed a black man after an argument and several soldiers who tried to capture him. Three years later on the Chisholm Trail, Hardin, now a cowboy, traveled to Abilene, Kansas, killing 10 more people en route.

After his return to Gonzales County, Texas, Hardin married Jane Bowen, with whom he had three children. During this time he killed four more people, then surrendered to the Cherokee County sheriff in 1872 only to brake out of jail later that year. After a new career in stock raising, Hardin allied with Jim Taylor during the Sutton-Taylor Feud (1873-1874) and killed former police captain Jack Helm, who had sided with William Sutton.

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