November 20, 1903
On this day the ever controversial Tom Horn was hanged, one day before his 43rd birthday.* A legendary figure, he paid the ultimate price for working both sides of the street.
It was the murder of 14-year-old Willie Nickell (left) near Iron Mountain, Wyoming, that put an end to Horn’s meandering moral cumpus. Suspected in as many as 17 shootings as a hired gun, he at first had proven himself to be a fearless cavalry scout and soldier. An eye-witness to history, he served as interpreter at the surrender of the famed Apache medicine man, Geronimo, and commanded pack trains assigned to Teddy Roosevelt’s Rought Riders during the Spanish-American War.
Horn’s checkered career, according to historians, may have been informed by his own background. As a middle child in a prosperous Missouri farm family’s 12 children, he reportedly suffered at the hands of an abusive father. As a young man, his prospects for ranching in Arizona were cut short, as well, when his entire herd of 100 cattle and several dozen horses 
disappeared in a single night at the hands of rustlers.
As a “range detective” and Pinkerton agent, he meted out his own brand of frontier justice. He was a deputy to the legendary sheriff, William “Bucky” Oneill (left) during Arizona’s notorious decade-long Pleasant Valley War between the Graham and Tewksbury families. He participated in the lynching of three suspected rustlers at the time and was implicated in the disappearance of Mart Blevins, one of principals in the Pleasant Valley feud.
A spate of killings in the 1890s were also thought to be linked to the sometime lawman. While acting as enforcer for the Wyoming Stock Growers Association and an agent for Pinkerton’s, at least four men were assassinated and another just disappeared. Horn’s questionable activities finally led Pinkerton’s to force Horn’s resignation.
The killing of the 14-year-old son of rancher Kels Nickell’s in July of 1901 was, however, Horn’s undoing. The by-product of the long-running frontier feud, 
Nickell ran afoul of cattleman Jim Miller. Nickell committed the ultimate sin of introducing sheep into the Iron Mountain grazing range.
In August Deputy U.S. Marshal Joe LeFors (left) arrived in Iron Mountain and arrested Miller and two of his sons for the murder. They were released on bond a day later. During the ensuing three-month investigation into crime, however, Kels Nickell was shot and wounded and some six dozen of his sheep clubbed to death.
LeFors, under the guise of a job interview, finally questioned Horn in January, 1902. Still in his cups after a night of heavy drinking, Horn 
allegedly confessed to the murder of Willie. Bragging that the 300-yard kill shot was his best ever, he was arrested the next day.
Rancher John Coble. (left) who had hired Horn as a “cattle detective,” reportedly funded a four-man defense “dream team” for Horn. Apparently the larger cattle interests preferred to sit on the sidelines, hoping for the opportunity to rid themselves of their inconvenient soldier of fortune.
Prosecution witnesses placed Horn in the vicinity of the shooting while a defense witness claimed he’d seen Horn 20 miles away not long after the crime. Convicted on October 24, he received the death penalty.
An appeal to the Wyoming Supreme Court asking for a new trial proved unsuccessful but the delay gave Horn time to pen an autobiography. Highlighting the more heroic aspects of his life and omitting the murder conviction, it was titled “Life of Tom Horn, Government Scout and Interpreter, by Himself”
Even a post-trial affidavit to Wyoming’s governor, Fenimore Chatterton by a local school teacher, Glendoline Kimmell (right) failed to move the needle. The young woman had boarded with Jim Miller’s family was involved romantically with Horn by some sources or at least infatuated with Horn. She insisted that Miller’s son Victor was, in fact, the guilty party.
The circumstances surrounding the confession to LeFors, the conflicting t
rial testimony and lack of an in-depth investigation has kept Horn’s execution a simmering debate and a cause celeb for his supporters. It may have been a case of wrongful prosecution for the Nickell killing, say many researchers, but ultimately justice was served. His hanging was a just payment for the many other crimes he is believed to have committed.
Hollywood appears to be no better at resolving the argument. John Ireland (above) starred in the 1967 film “Fort Utah” which depicts Horn as a reformed gunman. Steve McQueen (right) in his portrayal of Tom Horn in the 1980 movie by the same name, was well received by critics. While not historically accurate, it at least did present McQueen’s character as, shall we say, deeply flawed.
*Never an agreement on Tom Horn, also spelled Horne, some sources list his age as 41 at the time of his death, a day before his 42nd birthday.
Cheyenne, Wyoming’s historic court house at 19th and Carey is the site of the Horn’s 1903 murder trial and home to a Tom Horn exhibit. The location of Horn’s controversial confession is on the second floor above the Wyoming Home store entrance at 216 W. Lincoln. The sign “U.S. Marshal” is visible on the bay window.
In addition, Cheyenne is home to no fewer than six Western museums including the Cheyenne Frontier Days Old West Museum, the Cheyenne Depot Museum, the Nelson Museum of the West, Cowgirls of the West Museum, the Messenger’s Old West Museum and the Wyoming State Museum as well as the Historic Governor’s Mansion and the Wyoming State Capitol. For more information on these and all the city’s attractions go to cheyenne.org, call (800)426-5009 or write One Depot Square, 121 W 15th Street, Suite 202, Cheyenne, WY 82001
© Text Only – 2019 – Headin’ West LLC – All photos – public domain or fair use.
Head On West strives for historic accuracy and uses a number of sources considered reliable. When research differs on significant facts, the various points of view will be cited.