Did Tom Horn kill Willie Nickell? Brian Madison Venice, Florida That’s one of the great mysteries. Tom Horn confessed to the 1901 ambush killing of the 14-year-old boy, for which he was hanged in 1903. But he was drunk when he confessed to lawman Joe LeFors, who had hidden stenographers recording Horn’s words—today, his confession would be tossed out of court. In 1993, a mock trial acquitted Horn. Horn was a hired assassin in the Johnson County War, probably responsible for dry gulch


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