John Wesley Hardin captured in Pensacola — again


  • October 24, 2014
  • /   Shannon Nickinson
  • /   government
There's an outlaw coming to Pensacola on Saturday. John Wesley Hardin, the man so mean that legend has it he shot a man for snoring, was captured in Pensacola on Aug. 23, 1877, by Texas Rangers Lt. John B. Armstrong and Jack R. Duncan, along with Escambia County Sheriff William H. Hutchinson and nine Escambia County deputies. The University of West Florida Historic Trust will host a re-enactment of Hardin's capture at the L&N Freight Depot from 2 to 3 p.m. Oct. 25 at Historic Pensacola Village. Hardin and his associates were boarding a train at the L&N Freight Depot at the time of their arrest, which made national headlines. As part of the event, a historical marker will be placed at the northeast corner of Tarragona Street and Zaragoza Street, where the train depot was formerly located. The marker is funded by the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office and provided through the Division of Historical Resources in the Department of State. The Wikipedia entry on Hardin says that he most likely didn't mean to kill rancher Charles Cougar in Abilene, Kan., when Cougar's snores awakened him. Cougar, Hardin and Hardin's cousin, Gip Clements, had been drinking together and Hardin called out several times to Cougar to roll over when his snores came through the shared wall of their hotel rooms. The entry says Hardin likely fired several shots into the wall to wake up Cougar, but one of the shot hit Cougar in the head. He fled the hotel, half-dressed, to escape the wrath of Abilene's marshal, Wild Bill Hickok. Saturday's event is free and open to the public.
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