The FBI, after decades of deliberation, now defines Serial Murder as “The unlawful killing of two or more victims by the same offender(s), in separate events.”
Guess That Makes John Wesley Hardin One of Texas’s Earliest Serial Killers.
The Early Days of John Wesley Hardin
Nobody could have predicted that John Wesley Hardin, born to a Methodist minister on May 26, 1853, in Bonham, Texas, would become one of the most notorious outlaws of the American Old West.
Rev. James Gibson “Gip” Hardin led a Methodist congregation with a side hustle as a circuit rider. He and his wife, Mary Elizabeth Dixson, had ten children, and John Wesley was their second surviving son. They made Sumpter, TX, their home (now an East Texas ghost town), and Rev. James cut back on his Texas preaching travels to establish and teach at the first school in Sumpter, where his children, including John Wesley, would attend.
The Hardin family had deep Southern roots, with many family members serving as political leaders in Kentucky, North Carolina, and Virginia. At the outbreak of the Civil War, Rev. James was elected a Confederate Captain, and the precocious John Wesley refused to be left behind. At just nine years old, the young Hardin tried to run away and join the Confederate army.
The Making of a Murderer
At 14 years old, while attending his father’s school, a classmate accused John Wesley of writing an unsavory poem about a female student on the schoolhouse wall. Hardin denied it, and blame shifted back to the accuser, which didn’t go over well. The schoolmate charged at John Wesley with a knife, but Hardin was too quick. Hardin stabbed the boy first, almost killing him. He’d remedy that attempt one year later.
When Hardin was 15, he challenged his uncle’s former enslaved person, Maje, to a wrestling match, and Hardin won. The next day, Maje rode by Hardin on his horse and yelled some obscenities at him. The teenage Hardin drew his revolver and shot Maje five times. Maje succumbed to the gunshots three days later.
Hardin’s father was concerned that his son would receive a fair trial, so he sent John Wesley into hiding at his brother’s house, 25 miles north of Sumpter. But a few weeks later, Union soldiers discovered his hiding place, and three Union soldiers, two white and one African American, made their way to arrest Hardin. But Hardin beat them to the punch, and at a creek crossing, he pulled out a six-shooter and double-barreled shotgun, killing all three men.
I waylaid them, as I had no mercy on men whom I knew only wanted to get my body to torture and kill. It was war to the knife for me, and I brought it on by opening the fight with a double-barreled shotgun and ended it with a cap and ball six-shooter. ~ John Wesley Hardin
John Wesley Hardin’s Reign of Terror
In 1871, Hardin cowboyed up and continued his gunslinging journey on the Chisholm Trail. The bodies piled up over the next five years. Seven here, three there, another four, and an assassination of a former State Police Captain and a Deputy Sheriff was the icing on the killer’s cake.
Sometime between the murders, he married and started a family. And because he was a wanted man in Texas, he uprooted them and headed to Alabama, then onto Florida. Finally, he was captured in Pensacola in 1877 by the Texas Rangers and transported back to his home state to stand trial for the murder of Deputy Sheriff Charles Webb, his last murder in Comanche, Texas.
Prison Time
Hardin was sentenced to 25 years for the murder of Webb. While in the Huntsville Penitentiary, he attempted multiple escapes, as well as taught Sunday school to the inmates, wrote his memoirs, and studied law. He was pardoned 14 years into his 25-year sentence. He then passed the bar exam and became a practicing attorney in El Paso, Texas.
After Prison
Hardin was 40 years old when he was released and was back to his old shenanigans in no time. It’s rumored that on a $5.00 bet, he shot a man off of a soapbox but claimed negligent homicide since it was the fall, not the shot, that killed the victim.
Less than a year after his release, John Wesley married a 15-year-old girl named Callie. But it didn’t last, so he made his way to El Paso for a fresh out of prison and marriage start.
The End of an Era
Once in El Paso, Hardin took up with a “soiled dove,” the widow M’Rose (Mroz). Mroz got herself into trouble for brandishing a gun in public and was arrested by lawman John Selman Jr. Hardin came to his lady’s defense and confronted Selman with hostility. Some accounts state that Hardin pistol-whipped the young lawman, and that is what set Selman Jr.’s father on fire. You see, Selman Sr. had a bit of temper in his younger days and had been a wildcard outlaw himself.
On the night of August 19th, 1895, Hardin went to the Acme Saloon to drink and play dice. Just before midnight, Selman Sr. entered the saloon. As Hardin shook the dice for what would be his last roll, he was heard to say, “Four Sixes to Beat.” Seconds later, Selman stood behind Hardin and fired his pistol, shooting Hardin in the head, killing him instantly. Hardin hit the floor. Selman approached his lifeless body and fired three more shots.
When Selman Sr. was arrested, he claimed self-defense, which resulted in a hung jury. A second trial was scheduled, but Selman Sr. wouldn’t make it back to the stand. On April 6, 1896, Selman Sr. and US Marshal George Scarborough scuffled over a poker game. Guns were drawn over their disagreement, and Selman was fatally shot.
Hardin’s Controversy from the Grave
John Wesley Hardin Grave Courtesy Wikicommons
One hundred years and eight days after John Wesley Hardin’s death, there was a battle between his descendants and the city of El Paso. Hardin’s great-grandchildren wanted to relocate his grave from El Paso to Nixon, Texas, where his wife, Jane, is buried. The family showed up with a disinterment permit, but the folks in El Paso got a court order to keep Hardin in his original resting place. El Paso won, and John Wesley Hardin remains buried in El Paso, Texas.
Back to Round Rock, Texas
So, what was this dastardly outlaw and serial murderer doing in Round Rock, Texas?
Join us on our In the Shadows Ghost Tour to find out!