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N0KFQ > TODAY 23.08.13 20:09l 45 Lines 1834 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
BID : 3501_KB0WSA
Read: GUEST
Subj: Today in History - Aug 23
Path: IZ3LSV<IK6ZDE<VE3UIL<N0KFQ<KB0WSA
Sent: 130823/1456Z 3501@KB0WSA.MO.USA.NA BPQK1.4.55
Aug 23, 1877:
Texas Rangers arrest John Wesley Hardin
Texas Ranger John Armstrong arrests John Wesley Hardin in a
Florida rail car, returning the outlaw to Texas to stand trial
for murder.
Three years earlier, Hardin had killed Deputy Sheriff Charles
Webb in a small town near Austin, Texas. Webb's murder was one in
a long series of killings committed by the famous outlaw-the 39th
by Hardin's own count. Killing a lawman, however, was an
especially serious offense. The famous Texas Rangers were
determined to bring Hardin to justice.
For three years, Hardin was able to elude the Rangers. Moving
between Florida and Alabama, he adopted an alias and kept a low
profile. Nonetheless, the Rangers eventually unmasked his secret
identity and dispatched John Armstrong to track him down in
Florida.
On this day in 1877, Armstrong, acting on a tip, spotted Hardin
in the smoking car of a train stopped at the Pensacola station.
Armstrong stationed local deputies at both ends of the car, and
the men burst in with guns drawn. Caught by surprise, Hardin
nonetheless reacted quickly and reached for the gun holstered
under his jacket. The pistol caught in Hardin's fancy suspenders,
giving the lawmen the crucial few seconds they needed and
probably saving Hardin's life--instead of shooting him, Armstrong
clubbed Hardin with his long-barreled .45 pistol.
Technically, the Texas Rangers had no authority in Florida, so
they spirited Hardin back to Texas on the next train. Tried in
Austin, a jury found Hardin guilty of killing Sheriff Webb and
sentenced him to life in the Texas state prison at Huntsville. He
served 15 years before the governor pardoned him. Released in
1894, an El Paso policeman killed him the following year.
73, K.O. n0kfq
N0KFQ @ KB0WSA.MO.USA.NA
E-mail: kohiggs@gmail.com
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