The Murder of Willie Nickell: Wyoming's Revenge on a Hitman?

Tom Horn braiding rope in the Cheyenne County jail 

On November 20, 1903, Tom Horn was hanged in Wyoming for the murder of 14-year-old Willie Nickell, a crime that many historians believe that the infamous hired killer did not actually commit. While Horn certainly was responsible for many deaths in the Old West, whether or not he murdered the sheep rancher's son and his possible motive are still a subject of debate and speculation.

Thomas Horn, Jr., known as "Tom" was born in 1860 in Memphis, Missouri. He was the fifth of twelve children and suffered at the hands of an abusive father. His only companion as a child, a dog named Shedrick, was killed by two boys who Tom had gotten into a fist fight with.

By the time he reached his teen years, it was clear that Tom Horn was a very skilled hunter and marksman. Legend has it that, at the age of sixteen, he shot and killed another man in a duel over a sex worker. After heading out west in the mid-1870s, he held various jobs as a cowboy, miner, army scout, deputy sheriff, and packer for the Rough Riders in Cuba, before finally settling into the role of a hired gun. He worked for the Pinkerton Detective Agency for four years, tracking down and apprehending, often violently, outlaws who preyed on Pinkerton clients.

In 1894, Tom Horn signed on as a "Range Detective" with the Wyoming Cattlemen's Association. The title was basically a euphemism for hired killer. By the mid-1890s, homesteaders and new ranchers had begun moving into Colorado and Wyoming, reducing the available land and water needed by the larger cattle operations. "Range Detectives" were tasked with eliminating any ranchers who were seen as troublemakers by the area's cattle barons. Horn was an especially skilled "Range Detective". With the ability to shoot his victims from 200 yards away, he could kill them before they even knew what hit them. In some cases, he didn't just shoot his targets. After killing Isom Dart, a cowboy suspected of cattle rustling, Horn cut off Dart's ears and hung them up as a warning to homesteaders.

On July 15, 1901, Tom Horn met with cattle ranchers Jim and Dora Miller. The Millers were in a dispute with sheep farmer Kels Nickell over Nickell's alleged use of the Millers' land for grazing his sheep. The body of Nickell's fourteen-year-old son Willie was found on July 18. On August 4, Kels Nickells was shot and wounded. Several of his sheep were found shot or clubbed to death. Two of the Nickell children reported seeing two men leaving the scene on horses owned by Jim Miller. Miller and his sons, Victor and Gus, were arrested on August 6 for the shooting of Kels Nickell and released on bond a few days later.

In January 1902, Deputy Marshall Joe Lefors met with Tom Horn under the pretense of possibly employing him. Horn, still inebriated from the night before, allegedly confessed to Lefors that he was Willie Nickell's murderer and he was arrested. While several cattle barons paid for Horn's defense, they also saw his arrest as a way to silence him in regards to their activities, so they wanted that defense to be the bare minimum.

On October 10, 1902, Tom Horn's trial commenced in the city of Cheyanne, Wyoming. The presiding judge, Richard H. Scott, just happened to be up for re-election. The prosecution's only evidence was Horn's drunken confession. The defense presented witnesses who placed Horn at least thirty miles away from the scene of the crime at the time it took place. Nevertheless, a jury found him guilty and he was sentenced to death by hanging. His lawyers filed a motion for a new trial with the Wyoming Supreme Court. While sitting in jail and awaiting news of his appeal, Tom Horn wrote his autobiography, Life of Tom Horn, Government Scout and Interpreter, Written by Himself.

The Wyoming Supreme Court upheld Tom Horn's conviction. Glendolene Kimmell, a teacher who had been boarding with the Millers at the time of Willie Nickell's murder, sent an affidavit to Governor Fenimore Chatterton stating that Victor Miller was the real perpetrator. The governor refused to intervene and Horn was executed by a water-powered gallows. His body was laid to rest in Columbia Cemetery in Boulder, Colorado on December 3, 1903.

To this day, Tom Horn's involvement in the crimes committed against the Nickell family are still up for debate. Some historians believe that Horn intended to murder Kels Nickell and that Willie's death was the result of mistaken identity. Others believe that Horn had no involvement at all and that his conviction was a result of a judge up for re-election and a jury composed of homesteaders who were at odds with Horn's cattle baron employers. In 1993, a mock trial held in Cheyanne found him not guilty. Horn has been the subject of several books and movies, including 1980's Tom Horn, in which Steve McQueen portrayed the title character.

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