1883 - Commercial Building - Cheyenne, WY - Dated Buildings and Cornerstones on Waymarking.com

The plaque reads:

TOM HORN
"Killing men is my specialty"

At this site on January 12. 1902, Cattle Detective Tom Horn was tricked into making a series of incriminating statements that were used as a "confession" to the July 18, 1901, murder of 14-year-old Willie Nickell at Iron Mountain, west of Chugwater and northwest of Cheyenne. Tom Horn had been carousing all night, and was intoxicated at the time. The conversation took place in the room behind the bay window above this plaque, which was the US Marshal's office. Deputy U.S. Marshal Joe Lefors had hidden two witneses, one a stenographer, behind a door adjacent to this room. The stenographer took down only parts of Tom Horn's remarks. This so-called confession was the primary evidence in Tom Horn's conviction in October 1902. He was hanged at the historic county courthouse at 19th and Carey Avenues on November 29, 1903, the day before his forty-third birthday. He was the last person legally hanged in a Wyoming county seat. Erected by the Tom Horn Kick and Growl Historical Association

"Tried, convicted and hanged in 1903 in Cheyenne for a murder he almost certainly did not commit, Tom Horn was an enigmatic range detective in the employ of ranchers who controlled large tracts of land in southeastern Wyoming and northwestern Colorado.

Even today, he has a reputation as a killer hired to exterminate cattle rustlers, but in his own words his work was “that of a detective”—to patrol the range and look for cattle that were out of place—that is, away from the customary ranges of their owners.

Horn remains controversial for two reasons: first, because of doubts that he actually killed 14-year-old Willie Nickell at Iron Mountain, northwest of Cheyenne, on July 18, 1901, and second, because of the questionable nature of his trial. By then, he already had led an eventful life in a West that was evolving from frontier territory to a place more settled and economically developed." (excerpt from (visit link) )

(visit link) or (visit link) for more information about the "confession," trial and hanging of Tom Horn.

(visit link) for a Waymark of the location of Horn's hanging and a small exhibit inside explaining the Horn story. Free to the public; weekdays only.

Year of construction: 1883 Full inscription: 1883 Commercial Building Cross-listed waymark: Not listed

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