The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 67, July 1963 - April, 1964 Page: 265
672 p. : ill., maps, ports. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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thought that the mob had come for them individually. "Hurri-
cane Bill," in Slack's opinion "one of the wildest men we ever
had in the west," was among them. When he heard the clatter of
the gathering mob, he remarked, "It would be a pity for them
to bloody up my nice pallet, so I'll just get up."
John Selman, the other man the mob wanted, succeeded in
escaping. He lived in Brownwood for a time in the 187o's and
was frequently seen in Comanche. As these towns became too
civilized for him and others like him, he went farther west. Even-
tually he turned up in El Paso, where he became a peace officer
and soon made himself recognized as the bad man of the place.
Several years ago the late Otis Coles, a long-time resident of
El Paso, gave a talk about John Wesley Hardin before the Pioneer
Association of El Paso. While Coles and Hardin moved in differ-
ent social circles, their paths crossed a few times in the year 1896.
Coles arrived in El Paso that year as night clerk at the old Pierson
Hotel.
Coles recalled that,
John Wesley Hardin came into the hotel and asked if another
clerk, a man named Walter Seamon, was there. I asked, 'What
do you want to see him about?' Hardin said, 'That is my business.'
The other clerk supposedly had mistreated one of Hardin's friends.
I thought that Hardin might be gunning for him, so I got word
to the other boy to skin out.
Hardin's introduction to El Paso was to go into a gambling hall
-either the Gem or the Wigwam-and after gambling pull a six-
gun and order the dealer to give him back all he had lost. He
pulled a lot of shines like that. But there was at least one man in
El Paso who was not afraid of him. That man was Jeff Milton, chief
of police. Milton wasn't afraid of anybody. I ran across the two
on the street one night. Milton was telling Hardin what he was
going to do if he didn't behave.
Hardin had started drinking again after he went to El Paso.
One night when he was playing cards an acquaintance called
him aside. The police had arrested "his woman," he was told,
a Mrs. Martha McRose, whose husband had been slain the month
before by Chief Milton and George Scarborough, a Deputy
United States Marshal.
"Who arrested her," demanded Hardin, "and for what?"
"Young John Selman, on a charge of vagrancy and carrying a265
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 67, July 1963 - April, 1964, periodical, 1964; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101197/m1/307/: accessed April 23, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.