Freestone County, Texas
Biographies


Jim Smalley (abt 1846-January 22, 1871)

Jim Smalley was a 24 year old African American born about 1846 in Mississippi 
and was living in Harrison County, Texas in 1870. Jim joined the Texas State 
Police as a private. The Texas State Police were formed during the administration 
of Texas Governor Edmund J. Davis on July 22, 1870, to combat crime statewide in 
Texas during the Reconstruction Era. It was dissolved on April 22, 1873. The Texas 
Adjutant General Service Records indicate that Jim Smalley was paid as a private 
in the State Police, 2nd District, from October 1, 1870 until January 22, 1871 
for a period of 3 months and 22 days. His place of burial is unknown at this time.  

The connection that Jim Smalley has with Freestone County, Texas is through an
outlaw - John Wesley Hardin - that he was transporting through Freestone County, 
Texas when he was killed. John Wesley Hardin (May 26, 1853 – August 19, 1895) 
was an American Old West outlaw, gunfighter, and controversial folk icon.  

John Wesley Hardin was arrested in Longview charged with stealing a horse and 
the murder of Waco City Marshal Laben J. Hoffman on January 6, 1871. Texas State 
Police Lieutenant E.T. Stakes, Private Jim Smalley and a volunteer, L.B. Anderson, 
were transporting Hardin to McLennan County to stand trial when they camped for 
the night in Freestone County. Hardin was searched but he had hidden a pistol 
under his arm on a string. While accounts as to what happen vary on that Sunday, 
January 22, 1871, Hardin shot and killed Private Smalley while Lt. Stakes and 
Anderson were gathering wood. Hardin escaped. The Governor offered a $1,100 reward, 
but Hardin was never tried for the killing of Private Smalley.

Later on October 6, 1871 Hardin killed State Policeman Green Paramore; on August 1, 
1873, he was involved in the Taylor-Sutton feud and killed former State Police 
Captain and sheriff of Dewitt County, Jack M. Helms; and on May 26, 1874, he 
killed Brown County deputy sheriff Charles M. Webb. Hardin fled to Florida and 
Alabama where Texas Rangers arrested him on July 23, 1877. He was convicted for 
the murder of Deputy Webb on September 28, 1878 and sentenced to 25 years in 
prison. He was pardoned on March 16, 1894, and was admitted to the state bar as 
an attorney. He moved to El Paso where he was shot to death by Constable John 
Selman, Sr., on August 19, 1895.