Hardin, John Wesley

The killings that followed Webb's death are not on this plaque. After John Wesley Hardin shot Charles Webb in May 1874, the Handbook says, a mob of 300 men from Brown and Comanche counties stormed the Comanche jail in what it calls misguided retaliation. They lynched three prisoners. True West magazine names them as Hardin's brother Joe and the cousins Bud and Tom Dixon, and dates the hangings to May 31, 1874. The Handbook calls the other two only associates of the outlaw.

What the plaque says

Hardin, John Wesley Champion gunfighter in personal combat, Hardin was brought to justice for first time for murder of Deputy Sheriff Charles Webb here in Comanche in 1874. Served 15 years in prison. On release, opened law office in El Paso, 1894. Killed at age of 42 when shot in back, 1895. (1966)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Dublin Bottling Works — 21 mi
  The Erath County plant that bottled Dr Pepper with cane sugar from 1891 until a 2012 settlement ended its Dr Pepper license, and that still makes its own sodas the same way.
• Lake Brownwood State Park — 24 mi
  A CCC park on a reservoir that filled in a single flood before its dam was done, with stone cabins, a hilltop dance pavilion and a grand staircase climbed by dancers arriving by boat.

More markers nearby

• Mollie E. Moore — steps away
• Comanche County — 0.3 mi
• The Comanche Chief — 0.8 mi
• Indian Raid in Comanche — 0.8 mi