A dead drunk Thomas Haldeman went to sleep under a tree near Nopal, Texas on December 17, 1872. He never woke up. Brown Bowen, brother-in-law of John Wesley Hardin, put a bullet in Haldeman’s head, supposedly because the victim was an informer for the state police.
Bowen was arrested but Hardin engineered a jail break. He was recaptured in Florida four years later and convicted in the Haldeman killing. Bowen accused Hardin of the murder, but an eyewitness said Bowen pulled the trigger.

True West October 2020
In This Issue:
Features
Western Books & Movies
To The Point
More In This Issue
Departments
- Ouray, Colorado
- Western Roundup: October 2020
- The Legendary Colt, the Earp Clan and Matt Dillon’s Lasso
- What History Has Taught Me: Dennis Gallagher
- The Bounty of the Hunt
- Following the Tracks of the Kansas Pacific
- Punch in a Pocket—1848 Baby Dragoon Revolver
- Western Masters Remain Strong
- Studying History is One Thing; Walking History is Another