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To the average person, the name Tom Horn isn't the most recognizable in Old West history. Though in his 44 years on earth, he achieved living legend status in many parts of the West.

But there are legendary good guys and legendary bad guys. By the end of the story, you'll have to decide which category to put him in.

Throughout his life, Tom wore many hats. He worked as a cowhand, a packer, a scout, a rancher, a prospector, a lawman, a soldier, a Pinkerton agent, and even a rodeo performer.

But the occupation that made Tom Horn famous and feared throughout the West was a hired gun for rich and powerful cattle ranchers.

Oftentimes, his job was to do the things they talked about but never showed in the old John Wayne movies when the powerful rancher hired a bunch of gunmen.

Tom Horn was supposed to kill the competition. He seemed to take pride in his work, and by his own admission, he enjoyed it.

Like most of the other notorious killers in the Old West, no one will ever know for sure how many people Tom Horn killed.

But the most common number is 17. In some cases, the victims were genuine cattle rustlers and very few people had a problem with killing rustlers.

But many times, the victims were just accused of rustling and the accusations were thin at best.

The cattle barons in the West, specifically in Wyoming, hated homesteaders who moved onto the land and started stringing barbed wire fences across the open range.

Tom Horn became their deadly instrument of frontier justice. He did his job quickly and efficiently, but not always quietly.

Tom talked far more than he should have for a man who made a living with a gun.

But one of the things that helped save him all those years and makes his life hard to understand now is that he never told a story the same way twice.

When he talked about his exploits and adventures, he told outright lies, or sometimes he wrapped a kernel of truth in a whole bunch of lies.

And sometimes, as you'll hear, he told so many versions of the same story that it's impossible to tell fact from fiction.

But one thing was certain, if you were a cattle rustler in Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, or Wyoming in the late 1800s, or if you were even suspected of rustling,

Tom Horn was the last person you wanted on your trail. If he caught you, he was probably the last person you'd see.

Or, more often, you wouldn't see him at all. You'd be dead before you knew you were in danger.

From BlackBerro Media, this is Legends of the Old West. I'm your host, Chris Wimmer, and this season we're telling the complex and controversial story of Tom Horn, range detective, Pinkerton agent, and hired gun.

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