Birth and Death in the Texas Spring

For John Wesley Hardin, May 26 had great importance.

May 26, 1853. John Wesley Hardin is born near Bonham, Texas. Over the next two decades, he builds a big reputation as a shootist. On his 21st birthday–May 26, 1874–he and friends and kin are celebrating in Comanche, Texas. Brown County Deputy Sheriff Charles Webb shows up. According to Hardin, the lawman tries to shoot him in the back; Hardin turns and kills him. And Texas turns against one of its most noted sons.