Friday, December 11, 2015
HISTORIC INSCRIPTIONS - TOM HORN, 1894:
Tom Horn, 1894, inscription. South-central
Montana. Photograph by Timothy Urbaniak,
used by permission.
Periodically, I include historic inscriptions in RockArtBlog, not that they are art per se, but because they provide a direct link to the history of the Western US. This week I am illustrating the inscription pictured above, Tom Horn, 1894.
"Thomas "Tom" Horn, Jr. (November 21,1860 - November 20, 1903) was an American Old West scout, who carried out varied roles as hired gunman, Pinkerton range detective, cowboy, and soldier." (Wikipedia)
Tom Horn, photograph from internet.
"At Names Hill in
western Wyoming, local ranchers continued to participate in the cultural
tradition of inscribing at that site. During that time there (were) new threats
coming to the cattle ranches across the Northern Plains in the form of
rustlers. As part of an effort to control rustling, Wyoming ranchers from
around Cheyenne hired Tom Horn as an enforcer. In 1894 he was brought in as a
detective by the Swan Land & Cattle Company of Cheyenne.
Reputed as a cold-blooded killer that liked to shoot from afar, the placement
of an inscription reading "Tom Horn, 1894" (Figure 5.68) is placed
high along sandstone rimrocks. An interesting note about the inscription site
is that it is placed on a cliff at the top of a valley between Billings and
Hardin, Montana, with an excellent vantage spot of the travel corridor, and a
place in a break in the sandstone cliffs large enough to contain a horse and
bedroll." (Urbaniak 2014:128)
"Believed to have
committed 17 murders as a hured gunman in the West, in 1902 Horn was convicted
of the murder of 14-year-old Willie Nickell near Iron Mountain, Wyoming. The
boy was the son of sheep rancher Kels Nickell, who had been involved in a range
feud with neighbor and cattle rancher Jim Miller. On the day before his 43rd
birthday, Horn was executed by hanging in Cheyenne Wyoming.
While in jail he wrote
his autobiography, Life of Tom Horn: Government Scout and Interpreter (1904),
which was published posthumously. Numerous editions have been published of this
book since the late 20th century, and debate continues as to whether he was
guilty of Nickell's murder." (Wikipedia)
Tom Horn presents us with an interesting and controversial
case because, as noted above, historians of he are still argue over his guilt
or innocence in that particular murder. Horn had reportedly confessed to it
while drunk but the circumstances throw enough doubt on the case to keep the
question open. Not that Horn did not deserve hanging. His career of murder as a
hired gun certainly qualified him for capital punishment. Reportedly, when
asked if he had any last request before his 1903 hanging Horn asked to have a
friend of his in another cell sing him the song "Life's Railway to
Heaven" or "Life is Like a Mountain Railway." This is also one
of my favorite hymns.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . .
NOTE: Presented through the generosity of Tim Urbaniak, who compiled this material for his 2014 PhD thesis, HISTORIC INSCRIPTIONS OF THE NORTHERN
PLAINS IDENTITY AND INFLUENCE IN THE RESIDUAL COMMUNICATION RECORD at the
University of Montana, in Missoula.
Urbianik,
Timothy Rostov,
2014 HISTORIC
INSCRIPTIONS OF THE NORTHERN PLAINS IDENTITY AND INFLUENCE IN THE RESIDUAL
COMMUNICATION, Dissertation Presented in partial fulfillment of the
requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Anthropology The
University of Montana Missoula, MT, July
2014.
Wikipedia.
Labels:
historic inscription,
historic rock art,
petroglyph,
rock art,
Tom Horn,
Wyoming
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