Tell Cotten tells me his favourite of his
novels is LEE, number #6 in the Landon
saga.
Tell is indirectly
related to Texas legend Charlie Goodnight. He has won numerous awards,
including Best New Western in the Laramie Awards, Gold
and Silver in the Readers' Favourite awards, and bronze in the Global ebook
awards for CONFESSIONS OF A GUNFIGHTER.
LEE tells of outlaw Lee Mattingly who
decides to give up the outlaw trail for the life of a gambler, runs into John
Wesley Hardin and finds himself in Huntsville Prison.
Gamblers
out west deserve a blog all of their own. I thought I’d take a quick look at
the career of JOHN WESLEY HARDIN.
Hardin
was one of the breed of loners described in Time Life’s Old West volume The Gunfighters as: ‘emotionally maimed
and socially alienated killers who, for the most part, took up the gun in their
teens, murdered men with profligate ease…’
He was
born in Bonham, Texas in 1853. In adulthood Hardin was described as 5 feet 9 inches tall and 160
pounds, with a fair complexion, hazel eyes and dark hair. But this slight,
pleasant-faced young man became one of the worst ‘man-killers’ on the frontier.
At age 15 he killed his first man, and spent the next 9 years as a fugitive,
drifting between Texas and Kansas. In that time he killed between 27 and 44
men. As a large number of his victims were either black or Mexican, there can
be little doubt many of his killings were racially motivated.
Hardin
made a living as a gambler and once – briefly – a school teacher.
He kept
his guns in an unusual place. He had holsters sewn into his vest (waistcoat for
British readers) so that the butts of his pistols pointed inward across his
chest. He crossed his arms to draw. Hardin claimed this was the fastest way to
draw, and he practiced every day.
In 1871
Hardin arrived in Abilene, Kansas where he managed to not get into a confrontation with the town marshal JAMES (known as ‘WILD
BILL’) HICKOK. Young Hardin seems to have hero-worshipped this legendary gun
man.
A few of
Hardin’s killings might have been justified, but most seem to be plain murder.
A killing he committed in Abilene shocked even the hardened citizens of that
‘wild and woolly’ cow town. Sleeping in his hotel room, Hardin was awakened in
the night by loud snoring coming from the room next door. Hardin shouted
several times for the snoring man to "roll over" and then, irritated
by the lack of response, fired several bullets through the wall between them.
The luckless snorer was hit in the head and killed. Hardin exited through a
second-story window onto the roof of the hotel and fled Abilene. The incident
earned Hardin a reputation as a man "so mean, he once shot a man for
snoring.” Years later Hardin reportedly said, "They tell lots of lies
about me. They say I killed six or seven men for snoring. Well, it ain't true.
I only killed one man for snoring.”
After killing Deputy Sheriff Charlie Webb in
Comanche, Texas in 1874, Hardin fled his home state with a $4,000 reward on his
head. The Texas Rangers pursued and 3 years later found him on a railroad car
in the unlikely location (for a western gun man) of Pensacola, Florida. When
the rangers approached he attempted to draw a .44 Colt pistol but it got caught
up in his suspenders. The officers knocked Hardin unconscious and hauled him
back to Texas.
After serving 17 years (1877-1894) in Huntsville Prison
Hardin obtained a lawyer’s license and opened a practice in El Paso. In 1895 he
got into a dispute with two local lawmen after they arrested a prostitute
Hardin was acquainted with. One of these men, Constable JOHN SELMAN SNR.
approached Hardin in the Acme Saloon, where he was playing dice. Selman shot
Hardin in the back of the head, killing him instantly. Ironically Hardin died
as his hero, ‘Wild Bill’ Hickok had died.
Despite
strong evidence that Hardin was a racist psychopath, Hollywood gave us a
sympathetic Hardin (played by ROCK HUDSON) in ‘THE LAWLESS BREED’ in 1952.
Among
many 5 star reviews for LEE:
‘A tense
narrative filled with action and fascinating characters… a master of writing
terse dialogue… If you enjoy westerns with a hardboiled quality, Tell Cotten is
one writer you need to check out.’
‘A
wonderful story.’
‘Another
exciting and refreshing story recounted by his easy flowing style.’
https://www.amazon.com/Lee-Landon-Saga-Book-6-ebook/dp/B00WQ6OGRE/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr
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