Did Hosea Pollard Know One of the Deadlest Gunfighters in the Old West?

John Westly Harding remains one of the most most famous old west gunfighters. John Harding has been mostly known as a psycopath that seemed overly willing to draw his gun and shoot someone without remorse. Before he became a famous killer, he was a little boy from Trinity county Texas whose father worked as a methodist preacher in Sumpter. The Pollards moved to Trinity county a little before the Hardins and John Harding was only about five years younger than Hosea Pollard. Since Sumpter was the largest city in Trinity county, the Pollards most likely went there for administrative tasks and supplies. In fact, the Pollards filled out their 1860 census report in Sumpter. Finally, in addition to being a preacher, John Harding's father was the main school teacher in Sumpter. Of course, I don't know for sure where the Pollard farm was, but its very possible that Sumpter would have been the closest school to them. I know Hosea attended school until after the 6th grade, so he might have actually learned to read and write from John Harding’s father!

If they did know each other, Hosea didn’t make much of impression on John Harding. John Harding never mentions him in his autobiography and I am not aware of any direct connections. Also, they were five years age difference between the two and John Harding didn’t start getting in trouble until after the Civil War. In fact the Pollards might have already moved to Falls county by the time John Harding started to make the papers, but it’s interesting to think what Hosea might have thought when he read about them later.

One little side note, no John Harding didn’t shoot a man for snoring to loud, that’s a myth.