The First Kill

John Wesley Hardin’s first victim may have been unarmed.

November 1868–exact date unknown. John Wesley Hardin guns down a former slave called Maje in Polk County, TX. The 15-year-old boy claims Maje attacked him, but other versions say Hardin put five bullets into the man without warning. The incident was preceded by a fight between Maje and Hardin—one started by Wes—in which the teenager was soundly beaten. It is Hardin's first killing–there will be an estimated 40 more before he dies in 1895.