Tom Horn was famed as a gunman. But gun ignorance did him in.
He was awaiting execution for the murder of Willie Nickell when he and a pal broke out of the Cheyenne, WY jail on August 9, 1903. Horn grabbed a semi-automatic pistol from a jailer as he ran.
Officers and others were in hot pursuit—many on bicycles (see photo) when Horn tried to hold them off—but he didn’t know how to use the gun and it never fired. He was quickly recaptured. He was hanged on November 20, 1903.
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