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9. A “Bully from Canada”
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160 “But the lynx eyes of the Taylors never lost sight of him. Jim and Bill Taylor, implacable as fate, followed him to Indianola. Sutton’s noble little wife suspicioned their intentions, and so assiduous was her solicitude for her husband that she remained at his side, and thus shielded him from the murderous lead already molded and consecrated for his destruction.” Victor M. Rose, The Texas Vendetta t was common knowledge that the Taylors had attempted to kill Sutton several times. Jim Taylor had shot him in a Cuero saloon, breaking his arm; he had had a horse killed under him on the prairie in another assassination attempt, and another horse killed under him while crossing the Guadalupe River. Hardin complained that Sutton “was looked upon as hard to catch, and I had made futile efforts to get him myself. I had even gone down to his home at Victoria, but did not get him.” The fact that Sutton was “so wiley that he always eluded us,” explains why the Taylors had found it expedient to bring in an outsider, a man whom Sutton would not know. Joe Hardin and cousin Alec Barekman now entered into the feuding country, but whether Wes requested them for the specific purpose of setting up Sutton, or if it was simply a visit to him that took on this deadly addition is uncertain. But Joe did go to Indianola where Sutton’s cattle were to be shipped from to investigate: “I told Joe that Bill Sutton was my deadly enemy,” Wes recalled, “and that he was soon going to Kansas by way of New Orleans. Further instructions were that he was to find out when Sutton would be there to leave Indianola, in order that word could get to Jim Taylor in time.” Joe Hardin and Alec Chapter 9—A “Bully From Canada” 161 Barekman actually “got acquainted” with Sutton and learned when Sutton planned to leave. When Joe Hardin learned of Sutton’s plans he informed Jim Taylor, who, with his cousin Bill Taylor, went to Indianola for the sole purpose of killing Bill Sutton. The two Taylors remained out of sight until Joe Hardin learned the exact date and time of his departure. In addition two good horses were hired for their escape following the killing. It would take place aboard the steamer Clinton. Just in case Jim and Bill needed any back up, “there were six or eight brave men there who stood in with the play.” Wes may have expected a regular battle, as he wrote that the plan was to allow “Sutton and his crowd go aboard and then for Jim and Billy to follow and commence shooting as soon as they saw him.”1 Hardin does not explain who he meant as the “crowd” he believed would be accompanying Sutton. Apparently Sutton did not suspect he would be in any danger leaving the state, or that his actions would be known by his enemies. His wife was pregnant and he may have given unusual care for her and during this time let his guard down. Whatever the circumstances, on March 11, 1874, Bill Sutton and his wife were together with his friend Gabriel Webster “Gabe” Slaughter, whose only known participation in the feud with the Taylors was that he had signed one of the peace treaties. This is Hardin’s version of the background and the “play” that resulted in the killing of Sutton and Slaughter. Following an early lunch Mr. and Mrs. Sutton and Slaughter took a hack from the train depot to the wharf where the Clinton was docked. Stockman John N. Keeran and Ed McDonough rode in the same hack. McDonough and Slaughter got out first and walked up the gang plank, followed by Keeran and the Suttons. The Clinton was scheduled to depart at 2:00 p.m. While the Sutton party was getting onto the deck, “the utmost peace and quiet reigned all around,” in the words of the Austin Daily Democratic Statesman, one of several stories about the incident.3 But then the two Taylors appeared, shattering the day’s tranquility. Their watching and waiting now had paid off as their prey was there before them only paces away. One witness observed that Jim Taylor drew a 162 Chapter 9—A “Bully From Canada” brace of pistols, Sutton “gasped” and uttered “Hell is in the door, Gabe. Yonder comes Jim Taylor.” He drew his Smith & Wesson revolver but was instantly shot...