This Day…

1877- Pensacola, Florida- John Wesley Hardin was arrested on a train for the murder in 1874 of Deputy Sheriff Charles Webb by Texas Ranger John Barclay Armstrong. Armstrong killed Jim Mann and pistol-whipped Hardin until he was unconscious. Armstrong used the $4000 reward to purchase more than 50,000 acres of cattle land in Wallace County, Tex., calling his spread the XIT ranch, one of the largest at that time. He maintained a large crew of cowhands and rigidly bossed their work, much as he had when operating as a Texas Ranger. One cowboy, a truculent sort, refused to take Armstrong’s harsh order on Nov. 18, 1908, and shot his boss out of his saddle. (The cowboy was later sent to prison for attempted murder.) Armstrong survived this attack as he had so many others and died peacefully in his bed on his ranch, May 1, 1913.