Capturing “The Man-Killer” John Wesley Hardin, Texas Ranger John B.Armstrong

Texas Ranger John B. Armstrong, the man who captured “the man-killer” John Wesley Hardin. “Texas, by God!” cried notorious killer John Wesley Hardin when he saw a Colt .45 pointed at him on a train in Florida. At the other end of the pistol stood Texas Ranger John B. Armstrong. “Armstrong wore a goatee at this time. As the court adjourned, Hardin’s wife, who had been in court, hastened up to him and grabbed him by the goatee and denounced him for having captured her husband. She showered him with abuse and said she was going to raise her son to kill him. Armstrong said that that was one of the most painful experiences he ever had. Curiously, Jane Hardin’s temper received some attention in the Montgomery Advertiser and Mail after the arrest which corroborates Armstrong’s recollection of her pulling his goatee. Jane was interviewed holding her six-week-old baby, Callie Jane, in her arms. Mrs. Hardin has the bearing and converses like a person of much more than ordinary nerve and courage. She boasts of being able to shoot and manage a horse as well as most men, and says things will be made extremely lively for Armstrong and Duncan, the detective, and also for some others who had a hand in the capture of Hardin.” Montgomery Advertiser and Mail, August 28, 1877