By Nancy Tabb

When I first began researching the life of Frank Canton (aka Joe Horner), former sheriff of Johnson County, Wyoming Territory, I did not like the man who was guilty of many bad and tragic decisions in our local history. I did not want to delve into his dark places and remain there for months. However, the thing I discovered that I was not expecting to find, was the fact that this man, this Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde real life character, led a very human life full of love, hate, grief and fear with only short glimpses of true happiness.

The facts that I uncovered, mostly in weekly Buffalo Bulletin Newspapers and other manuscripts archived at the Johnson County Library, showed me that Frank Canton was a human being after all. I read of him arriving here in Buffalo and quickly becoming Sheriff, his interactions with the townsfolk, his trials and successes as sheriff of such a huge area, his courtship and marriage to Annie Wilkerson a local beauty, life on their ranch and the births of their baby girls. I also read of his trial for murder and his profound involvement in the Invasion of Johnson County.

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I noticed in the span of one year Canton almost lost everything. His wife and daughters were in a runaway horse and wagon accident at their ranch, July 1891. Canton was told by the doctor that his unconscious Annie would not survive being dragged behind the wagon. Miraculously she and the girls survived, but just six months later they lost 3-year-old Helen to diphtheria while in Chicago. Canton sent his family there for safety during the cattle rustling disturbances. Annie and Ruby barely pulled through this dreaded disease, but their baby girl died. Surely even the hardest of hearts are affected by the death of their young child.

Next, Canton got news that his own mother died in Texas. Years ago, Canton had to leave his family when he settled in Wyoming and changed his name. Truly this man lived with always knowing that his past, as an escaped Texas felon, might catch up with his current success.

After the Invasion in April 1892, Canton was no longer welcome in Johnson County even though he had served two successful terms as sheriff. His loyalty was without a doubt now because of his huge part in the Invasion. He signed his ranch over to his father-in-law. His faithful horse, Ole Fred, went missing from the ranch after the troubles. He moved his wife and child to Oklahoma far away from their beloved Buffalo family. His daughter, Ruby, stated that he never slept soundly, and they moved houses often because of his thinking that people from Texas, Montana, Wyoming, Alaska, Oklahoma, outlaws he arrested or other enemies he made along the way would have a vendetta. 

The events leading up to that fateful Invasion would be among the experiences that would haunt Canton through life and even in death. In December 1891, he was arrested at his own urging, for the murder of John Tisdale. Within days the case was dismissed after many witnesses (upstanding citizens) came forward to testify on the stand that they had seen and/or interacted with Canton the morning of Tisdale’s murder.  There is no denying it, Canton was accounted for every hour of that Monday morning in Buffalo at different businesses. This was clearly a well-thought-out plan. There is no way those witnesses would have lied for Canton; by then their favor toward him had swayed. No one will argue that Canton was not responsible for the murders of Tisdale and “Ranger” Jones—but he was not at the scene to pull the trigger.

Canton was grieving in his human heart, but he seemingly never showed his pain. He wrote about his anger that these “rustlers” were getting the better handle on things. Canton was never a good person, but he was a person of much influence. He manipulated the facts of life; he could do that. He even got a pardon from Texas Governor Hogg.

The more I read, the more I believe that Frank Canton hired Tom Horn to do away with these “rustlers.” I found one paragraph eye-opening in the May 1892 Buffalo Bulletin that declared Tom Horn was in these parts as a range detective following the murder of George Wellman. This time Tom was going by the name of Tom Hale. Lawmen found it difficult to pinpoint a murder on Tom Horn because he did not want to be caught and he had friends in high places.

Horn was almost ghost like in his wanderings. Canton was intentional in his every move and very public, even braggy about most of his doings. The two made a successful bad guy team. No one has ever been convicted for either of the well-planned murders of John Tisdale and “Ranger” Jones. These men’s ambushes and murders are still cold cases. The murderers walked away on their very human feet with their cowardly, troubled hearts.

Read Outlaw Turned Lawman: Frank Canton in Wyoming 1880-1894