In early 1898, Tom Horn's life in Arizona was not going as planned.

He had spent three years up in Wyoming earning the reputation as one of the state's most

feared and most prolific hired guns.

When he returned to Arizona in 1896, range detectives were no longer needed in the territory.

He went to work on the ranch of an old friend, but he quickly grew bored with the typical

duties of a cowboy.

He spent three months helping the army track the outlaw the Apache kid through the deserts

and mountains of southern Arizona, New Mexico, and Mexico.

The campaign yielded few results, just like his next venture.

He tried one last time to get rich as a minor.

He did some prospecting again at Deer Creek, but gold and silver remained elusive.

Tom was bored and frustrated.

He missed the excitement of riding the high plains, and presumably terrorizing suspected

cattle rustlers.

So he was thrilled when he was suddenly summoned back to Wyoming by his old friends and former

bosses, John Cobal and John Clay.

The uproar over the murders of William Lewis and Frederick Powell in 1895 had died down.

Tom horn remained the primary suspect in the murders, but after three years there was

very little chance he would ever be prosecuted.

By the spring of 1898, Tom was living at John Cobal's Iron Mountain Ranch and working

for Iron Mountain and the Swanland and Cattle Company.

Some believe he went right back to his old job of hunting down cattle rustlers.

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