Charlie Webb and John Wesley Hardin
Brownwood, Brown County, Texas
Marker Inscription
John Wesley Hardin was one of the most notorious outlaws of the Old West and Charlie Webb was a Brown County Sheriff’s Deputy who was shot and killed by Hardin. Charlie Webb was a Texas Ranger and served Brown and San Saba Counties. In 1874 Webb had been appointed deputy sheriff in Brown County with instructions to go after the Hardin-Taylor Gang who operated in the southern portions of Comanche and Brown Counties. John Wesley Hardin was an outlaw who was aligned with Jim Taylor and his anti-reconstruction faction. Hardin fled De Witt and Gonzales counties after killing Sheriff Jack Helm. Taylor and Hardin went on a cattle drive to Brown and Comanche Counties where the Hardin Gang had a reputation for lawlessness. On May 26, 1874, Charlie Webb and John Wesley Hardin were both in Comanche. Having a good day and winning money, cattle, wagons and horses, Hardin was celebrating in local saloons. Outside of Jack Wright’s saloon, Hardin shot and killed Webb. Witnesses stated that Hardin was the first to draw. Hardin fled Texas with his wife and child and was on the run for three years. Texas Rangers and the Pinkerton men captured Hardin in Florida and he was extradited back to Texas to stand trial. Hardin was found guilty of second degree murder and sentenced to twenty-five years in the state penitentiary in Huntsville. While in prison Hardin studied law and when released after fifteen years began a law practice in El Paso. Hardin was killed on August 19, 1895 in the El Paso Acme Saloon and is buried in Concordia Cemetery. Charlie webb is buried in Brownwood’s Greenleaf Cemetery in the Masonic section.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
John Wesley Hardin was among the most notorious gunmen of the Old West, and Charlie Webb a Texas Ranger turned Brown County deputy sent to pursue the Hardin-Taylor faction. On May 26, 1874, in Comanche, Hardin shot and killed Webb outside a saloon; Hardin fled Texas for three years before Rangers captured him in Florida, and after fifteen years in prison he studied law and practiced in El Paso until he was killed there in 1895.
Why it matters
The deadly encounter distills the lawlessness of Reconstruction-era Texas, where feuds, cattle drives, and gunfighters tested the reach of frontier justice.
Own a business near here? Add it to the map.
Related people
- · John Wesley Hardin
- · Charlie Webb
- · Jim Taylor
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Greenleaf Cemetery
Brownwood, TX
Greenleaf Fisk, remembered as the 'Father of Brownwood,' gave the city five acres for a public burial ground in 1868, with the first known burial in 1873. Now the city's main cemetery of more than 22,000 graves, it holds pioneers and notables—from Noah T. Byars, whose shop hosted the signing of the Texas Declaration of Independence, to pulp author Robert E. Howard—alongside veterans of every war, including Buffalo Soldiers.
Henry Ford
Brownwood, TX
A Virginia native, Henry Ford (c. 1845–1910) came to Texas in 1869 and worked as a cowboy on central Texas ranches before settling in Brownwood in 1876. There he served as county clerk and city councilman and, as a banker and businessman, became a leading force in the town's growth—most notably in bringing the Santa Fe Railroad to Brownwood. A supporter of local education and father of ten, he helped shape the young city's institutions.
Adams-Shaw House
Brownwood, TX
Around 1876, rancher and former Texas Ranger George H. Adams—who had his cattle brand carved into the front step—built this sandstone house from local Willis Creek stone, laid up by English-born mason William Frederick Morton. The Shaw family bought it in 1908, and their descendants restored and enlarged it after 1945.
The Rev. Noah Turner Byars
Brownwood, TX
Noah T. Byars, a South Carolina–born blacksmith and gunsmith, set up shop at Washington-on-the-Brazos, where Texas delegates adopted their Declaration of Independence in 1836—after which he was named armorer of the Texas army. Ordained a Baptist preacher in 1841 and appointed the state convention's first missionary in 1848, he is credited with founding more than 60 churches across the Texas frontier. He helped organize Brownwood's First Baptist Church and championed the Baptist college that opened as Howard Payne in 1889, a year after his death.