Tom Horn

[Silver Creek Slim]

I just watched the movie "Tom Horn" with Steve McQueen. How historically correct is the movie? Was there any tangible proof that Tom shot the boy? Do you think Tom shot the boy? Was he framed by the cattlemen's association? What are your thought on this matter?

Slim

[Forty Rod]

I think Horn was perfectly capable of dropping the hammer on anyone, man, woman, or kid, but I can't see him making a mistake doing it.  He was too careful, and I can't believe the kid was anybody's intended target.

I think he was set up.

[Delmonico]

I think they hung Tom for a crime he didn't do, they did not hang an innocent man.  If they truly hung him.  Of any of the folks that are supposed to have died but didn't I would put my vote on Tom.  It was not a public hanging and there was money who would have wanted him alive. 

Just food for thought.

[Silver Creek Slim]

I think they hung Tom for a crime he didn't do, they did not hang an innocent man.  If they truly hung him.  Of any of the folks that are supposed to have died but didn't I would put my vote on Tom.  It was not a public hanging and there was money who would have wanted him alive. 

Just food for thought.

In the movie, they built walls around the gallows and no women were inside the walls, that I could see.

Slim

[Delmonico]

Only county officials, a preacher and a few chosen freinds were behind the wall, unusual at the time.  Also the coffin is said to have been closed behind the wall and never opened.  Sides that nobody ever much claimed he was alive or claimed to be him like Billy the Kid and Jesse James.  My self if I thought Tom Horn was alive I'd never say nothin' or some mornin' I might be outside the cabin peein' and bang, thunk and I could be face down in the mud.

[Forty Rod]

Oooooooooooooooooooh!

Yuck!

Pee mud.

[Scattered Thumbs]

I just watched the movie "Tom Horn" with Steve McQueen. How historically correct is the movie?
Slim

Tom Horn used a Winchester 1894 at that time not a 1876.

I think the revolver used in the movie was really Tom Horn's 1877 Double action Colt.

For the rest, he was no innocent, even if he may have not been the one to kill the boy.

[Silver Creek Slim]

I just watched the movie "Tom Horn" with Steve McQueen. How historically correct is the movie?
Slim

Tom Horn used a Winchester 1894 at that time not a 1876.

I think the revolver used in the movie was really Tom Horn's 1877 Double action Colt.

For the rest, he was no innocent, even if he may have not been the one to kill the boy.

But, I liked seeing the Win 1876. In the movie, he never used a pistol just the Win 1876.

Slim

[Will Ketchum]

I, like Forty Rod, think he was set up.  I have a hard time believing he ever shot something he didn't mean to..  Although he wasn't a nice person he was a product of his time.  Those he did kill weren't innocents either.  They knew the score and their likely fate when they started down the Owlhoot Trail.

Tom Horn is one of my favorite Western characters.  Del, I have never heard that he might not have actually been hanged that day.  It would do my heart good to thin he wasn't.

Will Ketchum

[Delmonico]

I can't remember where I first heard that rumor.  Remember he most likely had the most powerful men in Wyoming behind him.  These would have been the same men who got the Invaiders of the Johnson County War off the hook.   

Might it be better with that ugly mess still leavin' a bad taste in many folks mouths to "hang" Tom Horn and get him out of the picture.   Why was such a famous person the first person in the area to be hung in private?   I myself do not think Tom was set up as far as the original murder, but it could have been a convienant avenue to makin' Tom dissappear. 

Myself I would not want to go diggin' around the theroy to much, I learnt' my lesson on another rancher/homestead issue a while back that is closer to home.  I was feared I was gonna get puched or worse, was talkin' with another fella interested in the local history and was overheard by a desendant of someone involved.  His family history does not agree with the Nebraska State Historical Society and he told me so.

[Will Ketchum]

I use to work with a man who hunted the land where Nickles had their ranch.  Feelings were still pretty strong in that area then (1975).  I hate admit that when he told me about it I didn't even know who Tom Horn was since I was into buckskining, the fur trade and The Revolutionary War and not Old West History.

Will Ketchum

[Delmonico]

I know of several incedents in Nebraska history that happened over a 100 years ago that will still get things stirred up if they are brought up in the wrong company. 

[Forty Rod]

Some of those things die hard.

If you don't believe it, stand on a street corner in any city in the south and yell "Hooray for (pick the Yankee general of your choice.)"

No one is likely to find your body.

I personally had family connections with Porter Rockwell.  He was well thought of in my community, but some folks still see him as a butcher in spite of reams of writings from the period, some from those opposed to him and the Mormons.

[RowdyBill]

I wonder if Tom Horn was just a guy who started out good and became callous over time.  After all, his job was to snipe squatters and such, wasn't it?  A person would have to become somewhat cold to do a job like that.

[Col. Riddles]

Actually walled courtyards where the gallows was located was quite common for courthouses nationwide. The old Cochise County Courthouse in Tombstone has one. There are no gates in the brick wall & the only entrance/exit is through the courthouse, and if I remember correctly there is an outside iron stairway leading from the 3rd story jail to the ground in the courtyard. I remember seeing an old photo of people sitting on top of the 12' high wall watching a hanging. In many cases hangings were by invitation only and not open to the public. I have seen antique post cards that were used by county sheriffs as invitations to view a hanging.  Public hangings were often thought to be too gruesome for small children and some ladies to view in the Victorian age.

[Forty Rod]

Don't know about in this country, but a Brit friend told me that public hangings there were like a free-for-all for pick-pockets.

[Capt. Hamp Cox]

A couple of articles regarding Tom Horn (particularly his firearms) that I found to be interesting.

http://www.leverguns.com/articles/staley/horn_vs_hollywood.htm

http://www.leverguns.com/articles/staley/tom_horn.htm

[Will Ketchum]

Very interesting.  Tom Horn has long been one of my favorites.  I base some of my persona on him.

Thanks Captain.

Will Ketchum

[litl rooster]

 This is an interesting thread... The story I heard was, that Horn left a calling card with his victims, a rock.  The story and went on to say that he was hung for killing the boy, but he may have been set up to rid the area of him. He had out stayed his welcome. So the person or persons responsible for the boys death knowing of Horn's calling card left a rock also.  The rock, was the way he identified his work for the bountys.  I liked the movie with McQueen any ways even if not accurate.  Admittingly haven't seen it in years so it's scetchy in my feeble head. The story might make a good remake.

[Capt. Hamp Cox]

More.  http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0BTT/is_150_25/ai_67886007