John Wesley Hardin

On the 17th I was to meet Jack Helms at a little town called Albukirk in Wilson county. I went there according to agreement, a trusty friend accompanying me in the person of Jim Taylor. We talked matters over together and failed to agree, he seriously threatening Jim Taylor's life, and so I went and told Jim to look out, that Jack Helms had sworn to shoot him on sight because he had shot Bill Sutton and because he was a Taylor. Jim quickly asked me to introduce him to Helms or point him out. I declined to do this, but referred him to a friend that would. I went to a blacksmith shop and had my horse shod. I paid for the shoeing and was fixing to leave when I heard Helms' voice:

"Hands up, you d— s— of a b—."

I looked around and saw Jack Helms advancing on Jim Taylor with a large knife in his hands. Some one hollered

"Shoot the d d scoundrel."

It appeared to me that Helms was the scoundrel, so I grabbed my shot gun and fired at Capt. Jack Helms as he was closing with Jim Taylor. I then threw my gun on the Helms crowd and told them not to draw a gun, and made one fellow put up his pistol. In the meantime Jim Taylor had shot Helms repeatedly in the head, so thus died the leader of the vigilant committee, the sheriff of DeWitt, the terror of the country, whose name was a horror to all law-abiding citizens, meet his death.

He fell with twelve buckshot in his breast and several six-shooter balls in his head. All of this happened in the midst of his own friends and advisors, who stood by utterly amazed. • The news soon spread that I had killed Jack Helms and I received many letters of thanks from the widows of the men whom he had cruelly put to death. Many of the best citizens of Gonzales and DeWitt counties patted me on the back and told me that was the best act of my life.

This image (or other media file) is in the public domain because its copyright has expired. This applies to the United States, where Works published prior to 1978 were copyright protected for a maximum of 75 years. See Circular 1 "COPYRIGHT BASICS" PDF. Works published before 1923, in this case 1896, are now in the public domain.

This image is also in the public domain in countries that figure copyright from the date of death of the artist (post mortem auctoris), in this case Robert Jenkins Onderdonk (January 16, 1852 – July 2, 1917), and that most commonly runs for a period of 50 to 70 years from the last day of that year. +sookie tex 

This image (or other media file) is in the public domain because its copyright has expired. This applies to the United States, where Works published prior to 1978 were copyright protected for a maximum of 75 years. See Circular 1 "COPYRIGHT BASICS" PDF. Works published before 1923, in this case 1896, are now in the public domain. IMAGE and TEXT CREDIT: The Life of John Wesley Hardin Author: John Wesley Hardin. Publisher: Smith and Moore, 1896. Original from: Princeton University. Digitized: Jan 28, 2009. Length: 144 pages. Subjects: Crime and criminals, Frontier and pioneer life. Graphics by: Robert Jenkins Onderdonk (January 16, 1852 – July 2, 1917)