The Elusive Truth about Tom Horn

Thanks to Mr. Evan Green and the Wyoming State Museum for use of this information.

Evan Green, Firearms Historian

Wyoming State Museum

4/2/2025

Published books, articles, oral histories, and of course, the internet perpetuate a river of misinformation, distortions, and outright lies about the Life of Tom Horn. Horn was a mule packer, Army scout, Spanish American War veteran, Wyoming range detective, and serial killer. Horn’s autobiography is the source of many of these inaccuracies. Subsequent writers have used the information without fact-checking. Larry D. Ball, author of "Tom Horn in Life and Legend", the well-researched book on Horn, said the autobiography should be read as a work of fiction.

Here are a few examples of incorrect information.

Horn left home at 14 to escape an abusive father and went to Arizona at 15. Horn makes this claim in his autobiography (Life of Tom Horn: Government Scout and Interpreter. Written by Himself) and is repeated by other writers including Chip Carlson. Family history says he left in his later teens. Horn’s location can be documented from newspaper articles, city directories, and government records that place him in Kansas and Colorado between 1876 and 1880 but do not document his age. (See Tom Horn timeline). At 19, he was in Missouri to have his infected tonsils removed. He could have returned from Colorado or Kansas for the procedure. 1881 is the first record of Horn in Arizona.

In July 1876, when Tom was fifteen, Al Sieber, chief of army scouts of the Fifth Cavalry, hired him as a Spanish-English interpreter at the San Carlos Indian Agency in southern Arizona. (Chip Carlson, Blood on the Moon, p. 33.)

Tom Horn arrived in Arizona in 1875 and worked as a teamster, driving a stage between Santa Fe and Prescott. At the age of 16, he went to work as an apprentice for the famed Army scout Al Sieber. (https://www.rimcountrymuseum.org/a-short-history-of-tom-horn-1861-1903 ARIZONA DAYS.) Information posted by the Rim Country Museum comes from Marshall Trimble’s book Arizona Adventure which contains other errors of fact.

While still in his teens, he went to work for Al Sieber, Chief of Apache Scouts for the U.S. Army in its campaigns against the Apache. (Tom Horn: Wyoming Enigma. Wyohistory.org article by Chip Carlson. November 8, 2014.)

Horn at fifteen and sixteen was probably still at home in Missouri. Marshall Trimble, author of Arizona Adventure - action-packed true tales of Early Arizona, is the source of the Rim Country Museum information. Trimble relies on Horn’s autobiography which has been discredited. Trimble may also be depending on Carlson, who repeats the “teenage” Horn error. First evidence of Horn in Arizona is driving a portion of the stage route from Santa Fe, New Mexico to Prescott, Arizona in 1881 when he was 21. The first record of his employment at an Army installation is with a civilian contractor in 1882. He was a mule packer in 1882 perhaps supporting Sieber’s Apache Scouts but was working for the Army and not yet enlisted. His skill in tracking did attract Seiber’s attention which led him to recruit Horn for a position with the Scouts. Some sources say Horn was not fluent in either Spanish or Apache, but could communicate well enough for his purposes.

How and where could Horn have become fluent in Spanish at age fifteen if he left home at 14? See Tom Horn Timeline. Reliable sources place Horn in other locations – Kansas, Missouri, Leadville, and Cripple Creek, Colorado until he was 20 years old. He was probably 22 when he arrived at San Carlos and worked as a mule packer for Seiber’s Apache Scouts. The first official U.S. Army record of Horn in Arizona dates to 1881 when was 21. At least one source said he learned Spanish working on the railroad. Horn’s first job in Arizona was driving a stage on the. Because Horn knew the Santa Fe to Prescott route, he was hired to take a herd of mules to Beaver Head Station in Arizona. From there, he went to Camp Verde and then to the San Carlos Reservation where he worked as a livestock herder and mule packer.

In 1882 Horn joined the U.S. Army and took part in the Tupper-Rafferty-Enmedio fight in Sonora. The following year Horn was recruited by Al Sieber as a scout on the Sierra Madre expedition led by Major General George Crook. In 1885 Horn was appointed chief of scouts for the pursuit of Geronimo in the Sierra Madre and was involved in his capture in September 1886. https://spartacus-educational.com/WWhornT.htm Note that “joined” does not in this case mean enlisted.

He fought in the Battle of Big Dry Wash in 1882. A Short History of Tom Horn 1861-1903. Rim Country Museum. The Battle of Big Dry Wash, also known as the Diablo Canyon fight, was fought on July 17, 1882, between troops of the United States Army's 3rd Cavalry Regiment and 6th Cavalry Regiment and warriors of the White Mountain Apache tribe. “Tom Horn was not chief of scouts at this time. He was a packer in one of the pack-trains—at San Carlos if my memory serves me right. Reliable army officers have told me Horn was not in the fight but was with the pack-trains back of the lines. The quartermaster records at Washington have been searched for Horn's record as a scout. They show that the one and only time he was employed by the U. S. Government as a scout was "at Fort Bowie, Arizona, from October 13, 1885, to September 30, 1886." This was during Miles' Geronimo campaign in Mexico. His long yarn in his book telling of his presence at the Battle of Cibieue is an outrageous, barefaced lie from start to finish. I knew every soldier, officer, packer and scout who took part in that fight. I saw the command leave Fort Apache and met it four or five miles west of the post the afternoon they returned from the unfortunate affair. Tom Horn was not with the command at any time. General Cruse says his yarn about the Cibieue fight was false from beginning to end.” Barnes, Will C. “The Apache’s Last Stand in Arizona: The Battle of Big Dry Wash.” Arizona Historical Review, vol. 3, Jan. 1931, pp. 35–59.

In 1886, Horn escorted the Army column that captured the famed Apache leader, Geronimo, for the final time. Horn was Chief of Scouts in 1886 and was present in the expedition that ultimately led to Geronimo’s surrender. In the army's final campaign against Geronimo in 1886, General Nelson Miles used 5,000 army soldiers, 500 Apache scouts, and 150 Navajo scouts, Horn would have been in charge of the Scouts, accounting for 10% of the Miles’ command. (https://www.nps.gov/foun/learn/historyculture/indian-scouts.htm)

In 1890 Horn joined the Pinkerton Detective Agency at Denver. Four years later he became a detective with the Swan Land and Cattle Company. This source references Horn’s autobiography. There is solid evidence he was in Wyoming and working for the Swan Land and Cattle Company in 1892, not 1894.

Horn killed dozens of men. Various sources and forum posts. The agreed-upon number is 17. Two and perhaps four were cases of mistaken identity; Horn killed the wrong men. The total does not include those he may have killed in the Apache Wars. His first murder was allegedly in Arizona in a dispute over a prostitute. There is little hard evidence for most of these murders, including the killing of Willie Nickell. Horn’s braggadocio led to his conviction, not evidence of his crimes. After the trial, T. Blake Kennedy, a member of his defense team, was asked if he thought Horn killed Willie Nickell. Kennedy replied, “I don’t know, but he killed lots of other people.” Some recorded Horn quotes: “Men, I have a system that never fails, when everything else has. Yours has!” “I consider it a business proposition, and I have a corner on the market.” “Killing men is my specialty.”

Tom Horn was a participant or even organizer of the 1892 Invasion of Johnson County by a cadre of cattlemen and Texas gunmen. There is no hard evidence of his participation. He was not on the list of invaders captured by the cavalry at the TA Ranch. Claims he was involved come from single sources who said they saw him at some point.

Willie Nickell was wearing his father’s coat and hat when he was killed. One source said his father’s slicker. Willie was wearing his own clothes. Deputy U.S. Marshall Joe LeFors visited the Nickell home shortly after the murder and reported seeing Willie’s blood-stained coat hanging next to his father’s. (Krakel, p 41.) Willie’s clothes were introduced as evidence at Horn’s trial but have been lost to history. (Chip Carlson’s personal website.) Willie was, however, riding his father’s horse.

Horn was drunk when he confessed to Joe LeFors. Horn was not drunk when he confessed to Joe LeFors. Horn “confessed” to the Willie Nickel murder in the presence of Deputy U.S. Marshal Joe LeFors. A court stenographer and deputy sheriff were concealed in an adjacent room. Horn claimed he and LeFors were just “yarning,” telling tall tales to impress the other. Transcripts of the Willie Nickell trial include witnesses who swore to both conditions.

Horn was never directly employed by the Wyoming Stock Growers Association (the architects of the 1892 Invasion of Johnson County). “At this time, he was still on the Wyoming Stock Grower’s Association payroll, according to a subsequent president, Russell Thorp. U.S. Senator Joseph M. Carey, who chaired a secret Wyoming Stock Growers Association committee for the purpose of combating rustling after the 1892 debacle, was responsible for hiring Horn.” (Ball, pp. 166-167.) The WSGA and Carey’s descendants are understandably reluctant to be associated with Tom Horn.

Tom Horn escaped his execution. Various sources and forum posts opine that authorities in league with the cattle barons arranged to hang a transient (or a dummy).

Reputable witnesses, including Deputy U.S. Marshal Joe LeFors, Sheriff Ed Smalley, Deputy Richard Proctor, Deputy Leslie Snow, two physicians, John Coble, and the Irwin brothers, Charles and Frank, witnessed the execution. They observed Horn mount the gallows and saw the hood placed over his head. Due to a miscalculation of Horn's weight, he remained visible with his head and shoulders exposed after the gallows tripped. A coroner's jury examined the body and signed the death warrant. Tom’s older brother Charles claimed the body and arranged for burial in Boulder, Colorado. He reluctantly yielded to requests and allowed an open casket viewing. They hanged the right guy, maybe for the wrong reason. Tom Horn was hanged with a horsehair rope he braided while in the Laramie County Jail. While awaiting the outcome of an appeal, Horn spent his time braiding a rope and writing an autobiography. His appeal was denied. He was hanged using his own rope on November 20, 1903. http://userpages.aug.com/bdobson/horn.html

Horn did braid various items while in jail, including at least one horsehair rope, as documented by a picture of his with a hair rope. Hangmen used a specific type of Manila hemp rope that was soaked in water and then stretched with sandbags to create the proper tension for the traditional hangman’s noose and knot. No hangman would use a horsehair rope for an execution. No executioner would allow a condemned person to build their own electric chair.

REFERENCES:

Ball, Larry D. “The Life and Misfortunes of Tom Horn. A Brainpower & Brown Bag Lecture.” Department of Cultural Affairs Media Center: 28 July 2024, media.nmculture.org/event/2239/the-life-and-misfortunes-of-tom-horn.

Ball, Larry D. Tom Horn in Life and Legend. Norman, Oklahoma. University of Oklahoma Press, 2014.

Barnes, Will C. “The Apache’s Last Stand in Arizona: The Battle of Big Dry Wash.” Arizona Historical Review, vol. 3, Jan. 1931, pp. 35–59.

Carlson, Chip. Joe Lefors: “I slickered Tom Horn…” Cheyenne, Wyoming. Beartooth Corral LLC, 1995.

Carlson, Chip. Tom Horn: “Killing Men is my specialty…” The Definitive History of the Notorious Wyoming Stock Detective. Cheyenne, Wyoming. Beartooth Corral, 1991.

Carlson, Chip. Tom Horn: Blood on the Moon: Dark History of the Murderous Cattle Detective. Glendo, Wyoming. High Plains Press, 2001.

Carlson, Chip. Tom Horn: Wyoming Enigma. Wyohistory.org. Wyoming Historical Society. Wyoming. November 8, 2014.

Davis, John W. The Trial of Tom Horn. Norman, Oklahoma. University of Oklahoma Press, 2016.

LeFors, Joe, and Dean Krakel. Wyoming Peace Officer: An Autobiography. Laramie, Wyoming. Powder River Publishers. Reprint. (Second Printing, December 1954.) Original Copyright 1953 by Mrs. Nettie (Joe) Lefors.

Krakel, Dean F. The Saga of Tom Horn. The Story of a Cattlemen’s War. Lincoln and London. University of Nebraska Press, 1954.

Monaghan, Jay. Tom Horn: Last of the Bad Men. Lincoln and London. University of Nebraska Press, 1997. Reprint by Bison Books from the original 1946 edition by Bobbs-Merrill Company, Indianapolis.

Shields, Alice M. Ed Smalley: One of Cheyenne’s First Native Sons. The Wyoming Historical Department. Cheyenne. Annals of Wyoming, Vol. 13, No. 1, pp. 69-72.

Shields, Alice M. The Life of Nannie Clay Steele: In Which Southern Girl Becomes Western Ranch Woman. The Wyoming Historical Department. Cheyenne. Annals of Wyoming, vol. 13, No. 2, April 1941.

The Gillette News, Volume 15, Number 07, March 26, 1920.