I, Tom Horn

By Will Henry

Book Overview

In "I, Tom Horn," originally published in 1975, Will Henry presents a fictional autobiography of Tom Horn that answers decisively the question-- did Tom Horn kill fourteen-year-old Willie Kickell, or was he framed? Horn was a cavalry scout in Arizona Territory during the last Apache campaigns, a champion rodeo rider, a Pinkerton, and finally a stock detective in Wyoming. Known and feared as el hombre de sombra (the shadow man), Horn' s lifetime (1860- 1903) spans one of the most colorful and tumultuous periods of the Old West. In this novel Will Henry provides a multidimensional portrait of Tom Horn as a man capable of humor, compassion, and love, and also one who could kill without the least remorse. This figure is set against equally compelling portraits of Al Sieber, chief of scouts under General Crook, and apache leaders in the Four Families of the Chiricahuas, names now fabled in American frontier history Nana, Chato, and Geronimo.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0553120131
• ISBN13: 9780553120134
• Release Date: March 1980
• Publisher: Bantam Books
• Weight: 0.40 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Tom Horn

I became interested in the life of Tom Horn because he is buried in the old cemetery in Boulder, Colorado where I lived. I wanted to know the connection that Horn had with Boulder. I researched the archives at the Boulder library. I read letters that were written to him from his relatives while he was in jail awaiting trial. These letters were never published. I discovered that Horn had a brother Charles who owned a freighting business in Boulder. After Tom was hanged Charles had the body shipped to Boulder to be buried there. Next to Tom's gravestone is the stone of Charles and his wife. Even though Tom has been gone for over 100 years someone places flowers at his graveside. I wanted to learn as much as I could about Tom Horn. I bought all of Chip Carlson's books. I bought one by Dean Krakel, Joe Lefors, and the work of fiction by Will Henry. I drove up to the Iron Mountain country in Wyoming to get the feel of the land where Tom Horn once patrolled. I acquired the posthumous trial of Tom Horn in which he was acquitted based on today's methods of trial. I want to believe that although Tom had killed rustlers for the big cattle companies, he did not kill Willie Nickel. It was his drunken bragging that incriminated himself. Henry's book is very entertaining and recommended.

For History & Legend Buffs. You will not put this book down!

Once Tom Horn leaves the Horn farm and heads west, the story quickens and never lets you go. We follow Tom Horn through his early years, just after the civil wars, through his formative years (14-16 yrs old) and his involvement with the 10 year long Apache Wars, all the way up to Chief of Scouts, U.S.Army and the capturing of Geronimo. Next we follow Tom Horn through the Cattle Wars and his evolution from a rustler chaser, to manhunter to a gunslinger for hire to a killer. And finally to his Hanging (righteous or not). The legend is here. I couldn't lay the book down wondering what would happen next, and I knew the history. You won't either.