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342 “[John Wesley Hardin is] a quiet, dignified peaceable man of business.” El Paso Daily Times, April 7, 1895 ohn Wesley Hardin found El Paso much to his liking. In some ways it reminded him of the wild towns of his youth; El Paso now was a wild town of his middle age. The railroad had reached there in 1881 and by the time Hardin arrived the population had boomed to over ten thousand souls. That population was more Mexican than Anglo, but the latter held the power and influence. Hardin’s arrival was noted in the El Paso newspapers. The Herald, rushing to get the news into print, provided a two-sentence notice that contained two errors: “John Wesley Hardin, at one time one of the most noted characters in Texas, is in the city from Comanche County. It is reported that John Wesley is now studying law.”1 He had not been to Comanche County since 1878, and he was beyond “studying law” as he was already established as a bona fide attorney. After deciding he would make El Paso his home he opened his law office on the second floor of the Wells Fargo Building.2 He had business cards printed, indicating his office was located at 200-½ El Paso Street. In contrast to the brief lines of the Herald, the Times provided a lengthy announcement , which no doubt was contributed by Mr. Hardin himself. This was not an unusual practice; although the publication termed it a “card,” it amounted to nothing more than a self-serving advertisement. The announcement read: Chapter 21—Troubles in El Paso 343 Among the many leading citizens of Pecos City now in El Paso is John Wesley Hardin, Esq., a leading member of the Pecos City bar. In his young days, Mr. Hardin was as wild as the broad western plains upon which he was raised. But he was a generous , brave-hearted youth and got into no small amount of trouble for the sake of his friends, and soon gained a reputation for being quick tempered and a dead shot. In those days when one man insulted another, one of the two died then and there. Young Hardin, having a reputation for being a man who never took water, was picked out by every bad man who wanted to make a reputation, and there is where the “bad men” made a mistake, for the young westerner still survives many warm and tragic encounters. Forty-one years have steadied the impetuous cowboy down to a quiet, dignified peaceable man of business. Mr. Hardin is a modest gentleman of pleasant address, but underneath the modest dignity is a firmness that never yields except to reason and the law. He is a man who makes friends of all who come in close contact with him.3 El Paso was filled with notorious characters, or noted characters, depending on whether you stood for law and order or for a continuation of the reform movement, which was in the early stages when Hardin arrived. George A. Scarborough, the son of a preacher like John Wesley, was there; only he had followed the opposite path that Hardin had. After serving two terms as sheriff of Jones County, Texas, in the 1880s,4 he became a deputy United States marshal working in El Paso. Born October 2, 1859, he was younger than Hardin by about six years, but he had accomplished a great deal; he had nerve, had killed men, and had valuable experience as a working lawman.5 Jefferson Davis Milton, born November 7, 1861, son of a governor of Florida, had an equally exciting career before arriving in El Paso where he was named Chief of Police on August 10, 1894. He and Scarborough 344 Chapter 21—Troubles in El Paso were friends; they had known each other back in 1878 before Milton had drifted to Walker County and—ironically—worked as a guard for the penitentiary, but whether he and Hardin ever met with the bars between them is not known. This work proved to be too tame for young Milton and to ensure more adventure he joined the Texas Rangers in 1880. He was nominally too young to join, but on July 27, 1880, he was mustered in after lying about his age.6 On one occasion Milton and others arrested Hardin’s cousin Mannen Clements in San Angelo, but no details have survived.7 In El Paso Milton and Scarborough renewed their...

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