The Gallows That Hanged Tom Horn

Lain Prior
Kylie Louise McCormick
Friday, April 11, 2025
Tom Horn seated holding a rope
Tom Horn, second person to be executed on the Julian Gallows, poses with his horsehair ropes in the office of the Cheyenne jail. Horn braided ropes while waiting for his execution date. Photo courtesy of the Wyoming State Archives.

Deputy Sheriff Richard Proctor bound Tom Horn’s wrists, thighs, knees and ankles before placing the noose around his neck and a black cap over his head. Proctor asked, “are you ready, Tom?” When he answered yes, two men lifted him onto the trap door and everyone there heard a soft click. For the next 35 seconds, the crowd listened to water pouring out from a balance tank into a shallow pan. When the balance became light enough, it pulled the bolt out of the trap door with a thud, plunging Horn to his death. His neck snapped, and death was instantaneous.

While Tom Horn’s execution has captured the memories and imaginations of nearly all interested in the West’s history, the inventor of the gallows has remained obscure. James Julian’s invention of the hydraulic gallows impacted the way capital punishment was meted out in Wyoming for more than five decades.

James Julian

Julian was born in Scott, Indiana, in 1844, and humble beginnings molded his life. The former included military service and a drastic solo move to the American West. His life was far from ordinary—he fought in some of the most brutal battles of the Civil War, designed many of the buildings in Cheyenne and changed the way the death penalty was executed in Wyoming.

James Julian was born into a smaller family consisting of his father, 27-year-old Alexander Julian; his mother, 22-year-old Martha Julian; and two older siblings. His father was a carpenter. When James was 16, he was listed on the census as a laborer, perhaps learning his father’s trade.

On Sept. 7, 1861, Julian enlisted in the 40th Regiment Indiana Infantry. On Dec. 30, he was officially mustered into the bloodiest war in U.S. history—the Civil War. Fighting for the Union, Julian survived the battle of Shiloh, although 13,047 of his comrades didn’t. For Julian, this was the first of many close encounters with death.

After nearly five long years of grueling service, Julian finally returned home just in time for the holidays in December 1865. But the 40th Regiment Indiana Infantry had suffered greatly—five officers and 143 enlisted men had been killed or mortally wounded, while another 211 men fell to disease brought on by the war’s horrible conditions. These men were likely Julian’s friends and acquaintances. Having fought in some of the bloodiest battles of the Civil War, Julian not only lost friends but also understood the pain and guilt that came with killing.

It is perhaps this experience that helped him to invent the hydraulic gallows. He likely saw its invention as a duty to society, much like his military service was a duty to his country. By having the hanging mechanism triggered by the condemned, it removed the executioner from the burden of being the one to pull the trap door. No longer directly responsible for killing another man, the executioner would be relieved of that feeling of guilt. Julian’s design removed some of that trauma from the act, perhaps a reflection of his own psychological scars.

When Julian moved to Cheyenne around 1876, he established himself as an architect. He worked under Moses P. Keefe to build the state capitol building. The two men became friends and worked together on many more projects around Cheyenne, including the First Methodist Church made of Laramie red sandstone. Julian designed several homes and business blocks in Cheyenne to much praise in the papers.

During the statehood celebrations in 1890, Julian took charge of the fireworks. He established a reputation in Cheyenne as a charitable man by being active in his church and a member of the Ancient Order of United Workmen. He read scientific treatises and kept a curious mind into his 80s.

Julian was probably diabetic. He suffered from generalized atherosclerosis and gangrene in both feet. Diabetes can cause serious complications such as poor circulation, which can result in infections and, in Julian’s case, death. James P. Julian died Jan. 7, 1932.

The First Hanging

One myth surrounding the Julian Gallows is that they were built because no one wanted to hang the notorious Tom Horn, legend of the Wild West. But that’s not true. The Julian Gallows were invented in 1892 because no one wanted to be the one to hang a 17-year-old boy.

Charles Miller, sometimes called Kansas Charlie, was convicted of the murder of two young men and sentenced to hang on April 22, 1892.

Miller’s life was hard. He was orphaned at the age of 6. He was abused in many foster families, and suffered other attacks and abuses after escaping the foster home system. By the age of 14, Miller escaped his latest foster home and began jumping trains and working odd jobs. While riding the rails and struggling to find his next meal, Miller also experienced abuse and gang rape at the hands of other tramps. After his attack, Miller purchased a secondhand .32 caliber revolver for $1.25 in Kansas City.

newspaper clipping with the words, "Last of Charles Miller: Boy Double Murderer Executed at Courthouse Yesterday Forenoon. A Successful Hanging. His Own Weight Spring the Trap Quickly and His Neck Was Broken by the Fall. He Became a Convert. Accepted Catholic Faith -- Bore Up Bravely
Splashed across the front page of The Cheyenne Daily Sun, this pencil drawing depicts the first man to be executed on the Julian Gallows. Photo courtesy of the Wyoming Newspaper Project.

On his way to Cheyenne to pursue his dime store novel dreams of being a cowboy, Miller met two young men a few years older than him. It seemed to casual observers that the boys were friends at first, but in Sidney, Neb., his new companions attempted to shake him off. The young men were well off, riding the rails as a lark on their way to Denver, Colo., for work opportunities. Back on the train, the three youths ended up bunking down in the same cattle car. While they slept, Miller shot both men in the head, then stole their money, a pocket watch and a pistol. Until the day he died, Miller claimed that he didn’t know why he did it. We can only speculate that perhaps it was because he was hungry, drunk, and desperate with feelings of rejection. Guilt eventually drove Miller to confess his crime and turn himself over to authorities.

After his first conviction, Miller attempted to escape prison twice to avoid his fate. Authorities easily caught him both times. The escape attempts lost him any sympathy he might have had for turning himself in during his appeal attempts. After he lost his appeals, he wrote mournfully about the date set for his execution: April 22, 1892.

Even though his trial seemed a formality with how quickly the jury decided his fate, many individuals all over the country thought the hanging of a 17-year-old was immoral. Miller’s story reached the farthest corners of the country, with the debate centered on ethics and morals. Strong pleas from senators, congressmen and attorneys poured into acting Gov. Amos Barber’s office. Prominent Wyoming citizens likewise urged the governor to commute Miller’s sentence—including E.A. Slack, the son of the nation’s first woman judge, Esther Hobart Morris. As the editor of The Sun, Slack helped publicize a petition that received more than 600 signatures from Wyoming citizens asking for clemency.

When their petitions reached Gov. Barber’s desk, he was dealing with another crisis: the Johnson County War. Historian Joan Jacobs Brumberg argued that without the invasion to deal with, Barber might have considered commuting Miller’s sentence. However, the scandal of his involvement loomed over Barber, and he found himself desperate to appear law-abiding and tough on crime. He printed his reasoning out in newspapers around the state, publicizing his decision to go through with the execution of Charles Miller.

Later newspapers reported that the decision to hang Miller weighed heavily on his would-be executioner, Sheriff Kelley: “Kelley had compunctions about executing the boy and one day told his troubles to Jim Julien [sic].” Julian cited several inventions of his own and promised to come up with a scaffold that would make Miller his own executioner, “thus relieving Kelley of the disagreeable task…”

image of gallows: wood platform with steps to a surface with a trap door and a post for attaching the noose
The Julian Gallows were eventually installed permanently at the Wyoming State Penitentiary. The mechanism of the gallows pictured here shows a wooden post holding the trap door closed, a rope connects the post to a balance to the right. Photo courtesy of the Wyoming State Archives.

A crowd of 1,500 gathered to watch Miller’s execution. When Kelley asked if he had anything to say, Miller responded, “Nothing, except God have mercy on my soul.” Miller sighed heavily and Kelley placed the noose around his neck and led him onto the trap. The Sun reported, “From that instant the death machine began to operate. Kelley placed the ankle straps with lightning speed. The black bag was drawn down over the boy’s head and Kelley stepped back.” While the water trickled out of the balance weight, Miller complained that the rope was choking him, prompting Kelley to readjust it. Then, 58.5 seconds after stepping onto the trap, the water buckets emptied and Miller dropped down 5.5  feet, snapping his neck. It took another 13 minutes for doctors to pronounce him dead. At 17, this made him one of the youngest individuals to be hanged in the U.S.

Capital punishment in the U.S.

Hanging was the primary method of execution in the U.S. after the hanging of Daniel Frank in 1623 when he was charged with cattle theft. It continued as the primary method of execution throughout the Salem Witch Trials. Hangings in history, especially in the Salem Witch Trials, tended to be public in order to deter crime. Even after the Bill of Rights and the Eighth Amendment were signed into law, hanging continued, as it wasn’t deemed “cruel or unusual punishment.” Some, however, like founding father Benjamin Rush, began to speak out against the death penalty.

States began to crack down on the death penalty after this. Pennsylvania became the first state to outlaw public executions in 1834. By the 1830s the country was split: Many thought public hangings were unnecessarily cruel, while others likened them to their major sporting events. By 1835, four states declared that all hangings would be private, and by 1849 15 states joined them.

In 1862 President Abraham Lincoln sanctioned the hangings of 39 Santee Sioux for the murder and rape of settlers in Minnesota. It was the largest mass execution in U.S. history with 4,000 spectators who gathered to watch 38 of the men hang (one received a last-minute reprieve). Later, four people were hanged for their participation in the assassination of President Lincoln. As the U.S. grew, most new states favored the death penalty because of the lawlessness of the Wild West. Judges were strict, hanging people for more crimes than in the Eastern states. Missouri Judge Issac C. Parker sentenced 160 men to hang, of whom only 79 were actually executed. And in 1871, John Boyer became the first man to be legally hanged in Wyoming.

In 1890, the electric chair took over as the primary form of execution in the U.S. The first to die in this way was New York’s William Kemmler; his death took two whole electrifying minutes. Wyoming decided against the electric chair and instead stuck to the gallows until 1936 when, finally, the gas chambers replaced it.

The hanging of Tom Horn

Tom HOrn standing by cell bars, looking at the camera, while another person looks out from another cell
This eerie image of Tom Horn in his jail cell was taken while he awaited his execution. Photo courtesy of the Wyoming State Archives.

The next man to be hanged on Julian’s Gallows was Tom Horn. Horn’s life has been fictionalized in dozens of books and movies. Some argue that the first person to fictionalize the story of his life was Horn himself in the journals he kept.

The notorious hired gun met his end when he was convicted for the 1901 murder of 14-year-old Willie Nickell, the son of a sheep rancher in Wyoming. The evidence for this case was thin, hanging almost entirely on a confession by Horn when he was drunk. Many believe Horn was just a scapegoat that the ranchers in the area wanted to finally be rid of. Despite his and the public’s protests for his innocence, Horn was convicted and sentenced to hang.

The day before his execution, Julian and a few carpenters brought the timbers for the gallows into the jail yard. From his cell, Horn could hear the construction.

Rumors spread that Horn’s friends would help him escape before his hanging on Nov. 20, 1903. Responding to the threat, soldiers surrounded the Laramie County jailhouse. To prevent a last-minute escape, Horn’s execution was kept private. Only 35 witnesses were admitted to the jail yard to watch Horn’s last moments. Another 300 waited outside the jail to catch a glimpse of Horn’s coffin, which was to be transported to Colorado.

Men in dark clothing move a shrouded body into a horse-drawn carriage as a third man looks on.
Tom Horn’s brother, Charles Horn, watches as Tom’s casket is loaded into a hearse. Photo courtesy of the Wyoming State Archives.

The Laramie Republican reported, “There was nothing sensational about the execution. […] No one hanged the man. By the arrangement of the machinery he had been simply compelled to commit suicide.”

Horn’s execution was so successful that the sheriff of Sheridan County placed an order for similar gallows to be built for the execution of James Hanley, who had recently been convicted of murder and sentenced to hang. Fortunately for Hanley, he secured a second trial and received a lesser sentence of life in prison. And with that, Julian’s gruesome invention went into storage for nearly a decade.

Executing “Babe Ruthless”

The fear of Horn’s escape that gripped Cheyenne in November 1903 prompted the Wyoming Legislature to act. During the next session in 1905, the legislature passed a law declaring that all executions must take place within the walls of the state penitentiary. Julian had built the gallows in sections so that it could be collapsed and stored for future executions, which allowed it to be easily shipped to Rawlins. The gallows wouldn’t be used again until 1912.

Eleven men in baseball uniforms labeled "WSP" pose; handwritten text says "Copyright 1911 by M.F. Jukes; Wyoming State Prison Base Ball Team 1911."
A photo of the Wyoming State Penetentiary’s All Stars and Warden Alston’s 4-year old son. Players from top left to bottom right: Inmate 1477, Sidney Potter; Inmate 1532, James Powell; Inmate 1508, Ora Carmen; Inmate 1441, George Saban; Inmate 1459, Eugene Rowan; Inmate 1589, H A Pendergraft; Inmate 1341, Joe Gizzardo; Inmate 1612, Joseph Seng; Inmate 1481, Frank Fitzagerald; Inmate 1569, John Crottie; Inmate 1596, Thomas Cameron; Inmate 1480, Earl Stone.  Photo courtesy of the Wyoming State Archives.

Joseph Seng, born in 1882, was the first person killed at the Wyoming State Penitentiary (WSP) in Rawlins. He was an amazing baseball player, and during his stay at the pen, he played on its team, the WSP All-Stars.

In 1908, Seng had migrated west and began working as a night watchman for the Union Pacific Railroad in Evanston, Wyo. Two years later, he shot his supervisor, William Lloyd, twice in the head and once in the back of the neck with a Colt .41. He then fired the rest of his bullets into the ground and called for an officer. He immediately surrendered himself to special city officer James Downs. Seng claimed self-defense and pled not guilty during his April 1911 trial. He took the stand to defend himself, stating plainly, “I beat him to it.” Unconvinced, the jury found him guilty and sentenced him to hang on Aug. 22, 1912.

As one of the best players of the WSP All-Stars, Seng received a stay of execution to play in the fourth and final game against the Rawlins Juniors on Aug. 27. Even though Gov. Joseph M. Carey disbanded the team after that game, Seng was convinced he would have his sentence commuted. After all, Carey had pardoned 15 others that year and promised to look into Seng’s case after receiving several letters on his behalf.

Side-by-side head shots of man in profile, and from the front, with the number 1617 displayed on each image.
Joseph Seng’s mugshot and inmate number at the Wyoming State Penitentiary. Photo courtesy of the Wyoming State Archives.

Seng’s pardon never came. He spent his last day writing letters home and even wrote a letter to the people of Rawlins, published after his execution in the Carbon County Journal, speaking kindly of the people of Rawlins and Warden Alston. 

James P. Julian made the trip from Cheyenne to set up the gallows, test them and ensure that they worked. Finally, on May 24, 1912, at 2:35 a.m., “Babe Ruthless,” as he was called by some, made his way to the gallows.

Ten witnesses watched as his hands and feet were bound and a black cap placed over his head before he was lifted onto the trap door. The sound of trickling water filled Seng’s final 30 seconds before the thud of the sandbags, rattle of the empty water pail and crash of the trap door came. Newspapers reported that Seng “fell about five feet before he was jerked into eternity at the end of the rope.” He was an athletic man, so his neck did not break from the impact of his fall. He was pronounced dead after 10 minutes.

The Burden of the Executioner

Through the late 19th and early 20th centuries, execution evolved. With its evolution came a growing awareness of the psychological toll placed on the executioners. Traditionally, execution by hanging required a physical action from the hangman to drop the condemned through the trap door. Because the executioner played a direct hand in the killing of the condemned, this understandably caused significant emotional distress. Over time, societies struggled over the ethics of capital punishment, and inventors came up with solutions to lessen the emotional burden. One such invention was the Julian Gallows.

Julian must have also felt responsible for his invention. He personally set the trap before the executions of Miller, Horn, Seng and at least three other men. Wyoming paid him $50 each time he went to adjust the gallows, and $25 for each of the executions he did not attend. He told the Worland Grit in 1916, “The state never has purchased this gallows from me, and the essential machinery [...] still is my property.  I never took a patent on the device but my right to revenue from the idea is recognized by the state.”

Initially, he set the trap for a full minute for the execution of “Kansas Charley.” He cut this time in half for the next several executions and eventually, it was cut down to two seconds. The wait for the drop must have been excruciating for everyone: the condemned, the witnesses and even the inventor. He took pride in his work and he wanted other states to adopt his invention. In 1914, Julian read about 11 men sentenced to die in Arizona and offered to build hydraulic gallows that would hang all 11 at the same time. He publicly expressed disappointment that the Arizona Board of Control turned down his offer. In Wyoming, Julian’s invention had hanged 11 men since Julian put the gallows together in 1892, with the last being hanged in 1933—one year after Julian’s own death in 1932.     

Although James Julian is likely not a household name for many, his invention intertwines with some of the biggest names in Wild West legends. As society's opinions changed on state-sanctioned death, Julian’s invention proposed a solution to the growing discomfort surrounding capital punishment.

Editor's note: Special thanks to the Wyoming Cultural Trust Fund, whose support helped make the publication of this article possible.

 

Resources

Photos courtesy of the Wyoming State Archives and the Wyoming Newspaper Project.

Primary Sources

Ancestry. Ancestry Library, 2021, accessed on Jan. 25, 2025 at https://www.ancestrylibrary.com/search/?searchOrigin=navigation_header.

  • M.E. Grenander. Department of Special Collections & Archives. “Summary of the Execution of Warren Jenkins.” Nov. 14, 1913. Accessed on Jan. 17, 2025, at https://archives.albany.edu/concern/daos/kd17db52c?locale=en.
  • Newspapers by Ancestry. “Sept 6, 1913 J, Warren Jenkins Cheyenne Wy,” Sept. 6, 1913. Accessed on Jan. 17, 2025, at https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-chatham-press-sept-6-1913-j-warr….
  • Session Laws, CH0011 (Execution of Death Penalty). Session Number 008, accessed Jan. 17, 2025 at http://wyomingdigitalcollections.ptfs.com/aw-server/rest/product/purl/W…
  • 1850 United States Federal Census Ancestry.com, accessed Jan. 3, 2025, at  https://www.ancestrylibrary.com <
  • Wyoming Newspapers, accessed via wyomingnewspapers.org between December 1889 and January 2025:
  • Carbon County Journal  34, no. 42. May 24, 1912 “Seng Hanged This Morning.”
  • Cheyenne Daily Leader  23, Dec. 14, 1889. “Keefe Remembered.”
  • Cheyenne Daily Leader  23. July 2, 1890“Methodist Church.”
  • Cheyenne Daily Leader  23, July 11, 1890, “Town Talk.”
  • Cheyenne Daily Leader  23, July 23, 1890“Celebration.”
  • Cheyenne Daily Leader  24, Oct. 17, 1890“A Thrilling Story: Charles Miller’s Confession of Double Murder.” <
  • Cheyenne Daily Leader 25, March 24, 1892 “Miller Must Hang.”
  • Cheyenne Daily Leader  25, April 20, 1892“Sheriff Kelley’s Invitations.”
  • Cheyenne Daily Leader, no. 48, Oct. 4, 1903, “Horn’s Gallows.”
  • Cheyenne Daily Leader, no. 88, Nov. 20, 1903, “Hung by the Neck Till Dead.”
  • Cheyenne Daily Leader 37, no. 89, Nov. 21, 1903, “Tom Horn Meets Death with a Smile on His Lips.”
  • Cheyenne Daily Leader, no. 96, Nov. 29, 1903, “Held for Murder.”
  • Cheyenne State Leader 45, no. 167, May 24, 1912, “Seng Swings for Murder of Wm. Lloyd Before Daybreak.”
  • Cheyenne State Leader 50, no. 123, June 17, 1916, “Flanders Lived for 15 Minutes Asserts Julien.”
  • The Casper Herald 10, no 134, Dec. 21, 1928, “Aragon and Morris Will Hang on Gallows Used to Take Life of Tom Horn.”
  • The Cheyenne Daily Sun, March 31, 1891, “A Petition for Miller.”
  • The Cheyenne Daily Sun, Sept. 27, 1891. “Charles Miller and Parkison Are Gone.”
  • The Cheyenne Daily Sun, Feb. 19, 1892. “Notice.”
  • The Cheyenne Daily Sun, April 23, 1892. “Last of Charles Miller.”
  • The Laramie Boomerang  23, no. 218. Nov. 20, 1903, “Many Soldiers at the Jail.”
  • The Laramie Republican 14, no. 88. Nov. 20, 1903, “Tom Horn Hanged at Cheyenne at 11:08 A.M.”
  • The Laramie Republican 14, no. 88. Nov. 20, 1903, “Compelled to Commit Suicide.”
  • The Laramie Republican 20, no. 305. Aug. 6, 1910, “Will Claim Self Defense.”
  • The Rocky Mountain News 53, no. 208. July 26, 1912, “Jekins Goes on the Stand; Tells of Fateful Night.”
  • The Worland Grit, Volume 11, Number 45, October 27, 1916, “New Death Machine.”
  • The Wyoming Press 14, no. 52. Aug. 6, 1910, “Cold-Blooded, Shocking Murder.”
  • The Wyoming Press 16, no. 37. May 11, 1912. “Condemned Man Will Spring Trap to Hang Himself.”
  • The Wyoming Press 18, no. 5. Aug. 2, 1913. “To Die on Famous Gallows.”
  • The Wyoming Times 4, no.. April 13, 1911. “Seng Must Hang.”
  • Wyoming Semi-Weekly Tribune 9, no. 42. June 17, 1904. “Life Sentence.”
  • Wyoming Semi-Weekly Tribune  15, no. 63. Aug. 9, 1910. “‘I Beat Him to it’ Is Reason Given.”
  • Wyoming Semi-Weekly Tribune  18, no. 82. Nov. 18, 1913. “Jenkins Executed for Murdering His Wife; Claims Innocence.”
  • Wyoming State Tribune, Cheyenne State Leader 33-59, no.. Sept. 14, 1927. “How Old Am I, I Am Eighty Years.”
  • Wyoming Tribune (Cheyenne) 18, np. 125. May 24, 1912, “Joseph Seng Hanged for Murder of Lloyd.”
  • Wyoming Tribune (Cheyenne) 19, no. 274. Nov. 15, 1913. “Julian was on the Job at Hanging.”
  • Wyoming Tribune (Cheyenne) 20, Dec. 3, 1914. “Eleven-Man Gallows is Julian’s Idea.”
  • Wyoming Derrick  14, no. 38. Nov. 26, 1903. “Horn Executed.”
  •  

Secondary Sources