b'Tom HornBy Alan RockmanMany of you might know of or have heard of the notorious gunfighter Tom Horn from the 1980 Steve McQueen( his next - to -last film as he was already dying of cancer )movie but that only scratched the surface of the story of this incredible scout, cowboy, rodeo rider, lawman, and as his detractors would say, vicious outlaw.B orn in Missouri in 1860, Horn left home as aFrank Wolcott and the equally notorious Frank Cantonsuspected rustler Annie Bassett, had quarreled with teenager after two traumatic events, the killing ofzzled out, or in the bloody wake of that range war.Dart, and the bad blood between the two of them was his beloved dog and in the aftermath of beatingsDespite at least one non-referenced citation (Wikipedia)pretty well known to the inhabitants. Horn, as Hicks, by his strict father. He drifted southwest to Arizona,that claims he actively participated in the gunning downplayed this rivalry to the hilt, urging Rash to kill Dart and was befriended by and taken under the tutelage ofof Nate Champion, a more recently researched accountbut it was Rash, on the late afternoon of July 7, 1900, the veteran scout Al Sieber. Horn, with help from theof the Johnson County War suggests that he did notwho became Horn\'s rst notable Brown\'s Hole victim. experienced Sieber, largely taught himself to understandarrive in Johnson County until Canton had already leftHorn snuck up upon Rash\'s cabin, red a shot that killed Indian ways and handle a gun very well. That set him(Knowlton, Christopher, The Cattle Kingdom, pp. 293- Rash\'s horse, and when Rash rushed out of the cabin in good stead when he was rst hired by General294, 2017). to see what had happened, Horn perfectly drilled him George Crook to participate in the ill-fated Crawford with three shots from his 30-30 rie, "one in the lung, expedition of 1886. Captain Crawford, on the verge ofLeaving the Pinkertons in 1894, Horn went back toone in the hip, and one in the back as he fell (Kelly, The capturing the wily Geronimo, was treacherously shotwork as a Deputy Sheriff for a spell when he wasn\'tOutlaw Trail, p.228). A grief-stricken Annie Bassett down by Mexican troops. It was Tom Horn, who withparticipating and winning awards in rodeos. In 1898was so enraged, she took out her anger at another some difficulty, plus being wounded in an arm, not onlyat the outbreak of the Spanish-American War henearby rancher whom she suspected of hiring Horn dragged the mortally wounded Army officer back to thevolunteered and was hired by now Colonel Leonardto kill her ance, Ora Haley, drowning scores of his American lines, he also managed to get the MexicanWood (who remembered well his close association withcattle, but never completely putting him out of business troops to cease re, avoiding a massacre on both sides asthe former scout on that nal grueling mission in the(Burroughs, John Rolfe, Where the Old West Stayed his own (loyal to the Army) Apache Scouts were bayingSonoran desert to apprehend Geronimo) and LieutenantYoung, p. 224, 1962). She also tried to openly accuse that for blood. Crawford\'s second-in-command, LieutenantColonel Theodore Roosevelt to become the chief mulemysterious stranger Tom Hicks (Horn) of murdering Marion Maus would later praise Horn for extricating thepacker for the Rough Riders. Horn did get to CubaRash, a very (pardon the pun) rash thing to do even rest of Crawford\'s command after the mortal woundingbut came down with malaria, and as a result, missedfor a high-spirited young woman, but Horn was merely of his commanding officer, citing: "I cannot commendparticipating in the great battle on San Juan Hill. amused, and the locals laughed her out of court. In the too highly Mr. Horn, my chief of Scouts. His gallant end, she didn\'t dare go up against Hicks (Horn) (Kelly, services deserve a reward which he has never receivedReturning to the states for rest and recuperation, HornThe Outlaw Trail, p.229).(Horn, Tom, Life of Tom Horn (with an introduction byonce again drifted northwest to the Hole-in-the-GangDean Krakel, University of Oklahoma, 1964, p.196).country, hired by the same Wyoming Stock GrowersIn the meantime, Horn plotted the murder of his nextAssociation that instigated the Johnson County War tovictim, who would be the black Cowboy Dart. Once Subsequently, Crook\'s replacement, General Nelsonshoot down rustlers at $500 a head, which he did withagain, the scattered suspected rustlers in Brown\'s A. Miles hired Scout Horn in their expeditions togusto. Horn\'s specialty was to "dry gulch" suspectedHole received posted warnings on their property to track down Geronimo. He was, in fact, Captain Henryrustlers, sneaking up on them and ring from a suitablemend their ways or be shot. Some of them heeded the Lawton\'s chief scout in that nal (1887) track down ofdistance where the rustler not only would not have awarnings and cleared out of Brown\'s Hole, but not the elusive Apache chief prior to Geronimo\'s surrenderchance to return re, he would be dead in an instantIsom Dart, he continued to alternately ranch and rustle to General Miles in Skeleton Canyon. Riding alongside(Kelly, Charles, The Outlaw Trail, p. 226, 1959). Underthroughout the late summer and early fall of 1900. Lawton and Horn was a young Army surgeon by thethe name of Tom Hicks or Hix, Horn entered theHorn settled in at a nearby ranch and waited for the name of Leonard Wood. The then Lieutenant Woodnotorious "Brown\'s Hole," or "Robber\'s Roost in theperfect opportunity to strike. would, as we shall note, never forget the stamina,area of Southwestern Wyoming that bordered on theendurance, and tracking skills of Horn. then territories of Colorado and Utah in the summer ofIt came on the early morning of October 11, 1900.1900, claiming that he was looking for work on the localWith no bathroom inside his cabin, Dart walked out It is said that Horn, who was Sheriff Glenn Reynolds\'sranches. This mysterious stranger Hicks or Hix at rst,to the woods nearby to relieve himself. He had walked deputy several years after the surrender of Geronimoingratiated himself with the locals, but as the body countjust a short distance when a shot rang out, and Dart was involved in a rodeo when Reynolds went off onbegan to rise, they would soon be fearful of this drifting,fell dead, shot in the heart. Horn almost immediately that ill-fated ride with the Apache Kid in custody. Thefearless Cowboy with the deadly aim. left Brown\'s Hole thereafter, but from that moment on, Kid and his accomplices were able to grab Reynolds\' rustling in Brown\'s Hole almost totally ceased, with the gun, shoot him down, and escape into the mountains ofHorn would usually give one unspoken warning totwo major rustlers in the outlaw community shot dead Southern Arizona. To his dying day Horn, who had wonrustlers to mend their ways, usually a posted noticeby Tom Horn (Kelly, The Outlaw Trail, p. 230-232). The awards at that rodeo, regretted not being with his friendon the cabin doors of the suspected rustlers. If thesuspected surviving rustlers, including Annie Bassett\'s Reynolds for he was sure the Apache Kid would neveradvice wasn\'t heeded, Horn, trained scout that he was,brother Ebb, who was at Dart\'s cabin at the time and was have been able to get a weapon had he been around. Aswould silently creep up on the rustler\'s hideout, whicha witness to his death by ambush, quickly mended their he would later say, "I won the prize roping award at thewas usually a cabin. He would then proceed to mowways and curtailed their rustling, afraid that they would fair but it was at a very heavy cost." down the culprits, sight unseen and from an incrediblebe next. distance. Among his victims were the famed blackHired by the Pinkertons, Horn drifted north toCowboy and notorious rustler Isom Dart and Dart\'s oneAs Horn would later say in words that would ultimately Wyoming and while he was said to have participatedtime associate turned rival Matt Rash. Rash, a knowndoom him, "Killing is my specialty."in the Johnson County War, it appeared that he eitherrustler, and neer\' do well who was, however, engagedarrived on the scene just as the "invasion" led by Majorto the "Queen of Brown\'s Hole." The rancher and alsocontinued on page 44ArizonaRealCountry.com May 2019 43'