16. This Old West Outlaw Worked Hard to Hone His Lethality
John Wesley Hardin worked hard to perfect his skills as a gunslinger. He carried his pistols in holsters sewn into his vest, with the butts pointed inwards across his chest. He crossed his arms to draw, which he deemed the quickest way to get his pistols into action, and he practiced his draw technique every day. He also kept on steadily piling up the corpses, and on his 21st birthday in 1874, he quarreled with a deputy sheriff and shot him dead.
That killing of a lawman led to a $4000 “Dead or Alive” reward placed on Hardin (today, that would be the equivalent of over $86,000). He chose discretion over valor and fled Texas with his wife and daughter. He eventually settled in Florida, and under an assumed name, set himself up as a businessman. That peaceful interlude lasted until 1877 when Texas Rangers caught up with Hardin on a train in Pensacola. He tried to draw a revolver, but it got snagged on his suspenders, and the Rangers pistol-whipped him into submission.
