Of Arms and the Law

Navigation
About Me
Contact Me
Archives
XML Feed
Home


Law Review Articles
Firearm Owner's Protection Act
Armed Citizens, Citizen Armies
2nd Amendment & Historiography
The Lecture Notes of St. George Tucker
Original Popular Understanding of the 14th Amendment
Originalism and its Tools


2nd Amendment Discussions

1982 Senate Judiciary Comm. Report
2004 Dept of Justice Report
US v. Emerson (5th Cir. 2001)

Click here to join the NRA (or renew your membership) online! Special discount: annual membership $25 (reg. $35) for a great magazine and benefits.

Recommended Websites
Ammo.com, deals on ammunition
Scopesfield: rifle scope guide
Ohioans for Concealed Carry
Clean Up ATF (heartburn for headquarters)
Concealed Carry Today
Knives Infinity, blades of all types
Buckeye Firearms Association
NFA Owners' Association
Leatherman Multi-tools And Knives
The Nuge Board
Dave Kopel
Steve Halbrook
Gunblog community
Dave Hardy
Bardwell's NFA Page
2nd Amendment Documentary
Clayton Cramer
Constitutional Classics
Law Reviews
NRA news online
Sporting Outdoors blog
Blogroll
Instapundit
Upland Feathers
Instapunk
Volokh Conspiracy
Alphecca
Gun Rights
Gun Trust Lawyer NFA blog
The Big Bore Chronicles
Good for the Country
Knife Rights.org
Geeks with Guns
Hugh Hewitt
How Appealing
Moorewatch
Moorelies
The Price of Liberty
Search
Email Subscription
Enter your email address:

Delivered by FeedBurner

 

Credits
Powered by Movable Type 6.8.7
Site Design by Sekimori

« Camp Perry results online | Main | More on how hard it could be on the frontier »

Introducing the family

Posted by David Hardy · 22 July 2007 08:09 PM

My great-grandather, Judge Charles Hardy, first Justice of the Peace of Cave Creek, Arizona Territory. He was also a gunman name Nat Hickman, who fled the law after shooting a guy in Colorado, and took Charles W. Hardy as his alias. He 'fessed up when he applied for a Civil War pension many years later. I've always wondered if he left a clue in this photo. His left hand looks like it has a glove with the fingertips cut away. Elmer Keith wrote that the old gunmen always did that, to make sure they have a feel for the trigger. I suspect it amused him to leave clues. For example, his cattle brand was N/H -- his real initials, plus a slash, and in the civil pension application he mentions as a distinguishing mark a knife slash on his cheek.

I know he was a gunman because a turn of the century doctor wrote of his experience in the Arizona Territory, and of knowing a "rancher Hardy" in Cave Creek, who was incredibly fast with a gun and terrified him with tales of how outlaws were just killed out of hand.

At his side is Sarah, an Indian who was widow of the first JP of Phoenix (who got relieved after he shot a man in a street fight and fled the law). The taller boy is Jesse Hardy, whose headstone I posted earlier, and the shorter my grandfather Mark Hardy.

· Personal

1 Comment | Leave a comment

Sebastian | July 22, 2007 10:37 PM | Reply

You have quite the interesting family history. For my family, as best we can tell, they came over during the potato famine. But they pretty much all stayed in Philadelphia, up until the end of WWII. And even then we only ventured into the suburbs.

There are no real gunman in my family, at least of the wild west variety. Though, My grandfather had an 8mm Mauser bullet travel down part of his left arm, enter his chest, exit his chest, and deposit itself somewhere in Belgium. Think of what your left arm would be doing if you were aiming your M1 Garand at a sniper, but the sniper decided to take a shot before you did. Fortunately for me, the sniper didn't land an effective head shot, but that was the end of my grandfather's military career. Having his arm shredded was a ticket home.

Leave a comment