18. The Deadliest Outlaw of the Old West?
It is highly likely that John Wesley Hardin (1853 – 1895) was the deadliest outlaw gunslinger to have strode across the Old West. A trigger-happy killer who was eager to pull out a gun and blast away for any good reason, bad reason, or no reason at all, Hardin’s victims numbered in the dozens. He once shot a man for snoring too loud. According to his own claims, which might or might not have been exaggerated, he killed 42 men. Contemporary newspapers verified 27 killings that were attributed to Hardin.
Whatever the actual number of his victims, this murderer and all-around psychopath came from an unlikely background. The son of a Methodist minister and a member of a prominent Texas family that included a judge and a state legislator, Hardin was a bad ‘un from early on. His violent career began in 1867 when he stabbed a schoolmate. A year later, at age fifteen, he shot and killed an uncle’s former black slave in an argument over a wrestling match.
