Synopses & Reviews
Thus spoke one lawman about John Wesley Hardin, easily the most feared and fearless of all the gunfighters in the West. Nobody knows the exact number of his victims-perhaps as few as twenty or as many as fifty. In his way of thinking, Hardin never shot a man who did not deserve it. Seeking to gain insight into Hardinand#8217;s homicidal mind, Leon Metz describes how Hardinand#8217;s bloody career began in post-Civil War Central Texas, when lawlessness and killings were commonplace, and traces his life of violence until his capture and imprisonment in 1878. After numerous unsuccessful escape attempts, Hardin settled down and received a pardon years later in 1895. He wrote an autobiography but did not live to see it published. Within a few months of his release, John Selman gunned him down in an El Paso saloon.
About the Author
Leon C. Metz, Archivist in the University of Texas Library at EI Paso, has exhaustively researched this definitive biography of Garrett and has traveled far and wide to interview Garrett's family and friends-the people who knew him well. He has laid to rest many of the rumors and speculations surrounding Garrett's life and death, as well as those of his most famous victim. He has discovered many rare and previously unpublished photographs of Garrett and his associates, all included in this book.