Give ’em Enough Rope

Tom Horn died a tough death on the gallows

November 20, 1903. Western legend Tom Horn was to be hanged in the Cheyenne, WY jail for the murder of 14-year-old Willie Nickell. Horn may or may not have been guilty of the crime, but as he himself admitted, he’d done enough killing to warrant such an end. When the trap door opened, Horn fell only four-and-a half feet. His neck was not broken, although he was knocked unconscious. It took another 17 minutes for Tom Horn’s heart and breathing to stop.