The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 67, July 1963 - April, 1964 Page: 266

Southwestern Historical Quarterly

pistol." Hardin, enraged, checked out of the card game and went
to the police station, where he posted bond and freed Mrs.
McRose.
While young John Selman, a policeman, was the target for
Hardin's rage, the talk around the bars was that the end would
come with old John Selman taking a stand in place of his son,
particularly if the quarrel was to be settled with pistols. When
the end came, old John gave Hardin no chance to defend himself.
About xix P.M. on August 19, 1895, Hardin was drinking and
shaking dice in the Acme Saloon with H. S. Brown, an El Paso
grocer. He stood with his back to the front door. A few minutes
later old John Selman appeared in the saloon door.
"Four sixes to beat," Hardin said. They were the last words he
uttered. Taking careful aim, Selman shot Hardin in the back of
his head. He kept on shooting until Hardin crumpled to the
floor, dead.
"Selman claimed that Hardin reached for a gun," Coles said,
"but nobody believed him. Before Selman turned lawman, he
had been a cold-blooded killer himself."

266