Alias Frank M Canton

He began his life as Josiah Horner on September 15, 1849, in Harrison Township, Henry County, Indiana, though later it was proven that he was actually born in Virginia, about 15 miles from Richmond. He was the son of John Wesley Horner and Mary Jane Clemmons, and he had two sisters, Minnie Bell Horner and Mary Jane Sams. Eventually he drifted into Texas and started working as a cowboy. Deciding that the cowboy life wasn’t really for him, he started robbing banks and rustling cattle in 1871, which at the time was a capital offense. On October 10, 1874, Horner got into a gunfight with some Buffalo Soldiers, killing one and wounding the other. In 1877, he was arrested for robbing a bank in Comanche, Texas. He escaped from Texas Ranger custody and deciding that he had better get out of Texas, he moved to Ogallala, Nebraska, and took up ranching under the alias Frank M Canton. In the days before social security and driver’s licenses, it was much easier to change your name and simply disappear.

As Frank Canton, he lived his life, an American Old West fugitive, who later began a career as a deputy US marshal under his assumed name. Once a stock detective and ex-sheriff in Wyoming, Canton and his associates were accused of relying more on assassination than on law enforcement. Extrajudicial actions, like the lynching of Ellen Watson, stirred public outrage against the prominent big ranchers Canton worked for. To regain control over grazing, these ranchers financed a full-scale attack on smaller operators they deemed rustlers. Canton led Frank Wolcott’s hired gunmen in the vigilante campaign called the Johnson County War, which was swiftly halted by a local posse. Marked in Wyoming, Canton decided it was best to leave the state and spent much of his remaining career working in law enforcement under the infamous hanging judge, Isaac C Parker.

Frank Canton worked as a stock detective for the Wyoming Stock Growers Association during a period of growing tensions between wealthy cattle ranchers, rustlers. The increasing number of homesteaders was disrupting “free ranging” and altering the political landscape. Elected sheriff of Johnson County, Wyoming, in 1885, he became known as a firm enforcer for the cattle barons. A Pinkerton Agency letter recommending Tom Horn to Canton underscores his strict approach to rustling suspects. Then, after just four years, Canton resigned following the suspicious escape of a major ranch foreman in his custody. Though he still worked part-time as a US Deputy Marshal, the rumors continued to circulate that he had actually acted as a hired assassin and intimidator. The unsolved murder of a homesteader, who alleged that Canton had threatened him due to evidence implicating Canton’s friends in an earlier killing, further fueled mistrust among the homesteaders. After a mob formed, Canton was arrested, and when he was defended by big ranchers, his lawyer was able to secure his release. Canton quickly fled to Illinois, and by the time new evidence emerged later, he was considered unimportant, so the case was ultimately dropped.

Over the years, Canton worked in law enforcement in Illinois and Oklahoma. Then, in 1897, Canton headed to Alaska to join the gold rush, but his role as a Deputy US Marshal ended controversially amid allegations of misusing public funds. He returned to the US in 1907 and became the Adjutant General for the Oklahoma National Guard. Eventually, Canton admitted he was actually Josiah Horner, and the Governor of Texas granted him a pardon.

Canton was showing clear signs of aging by 1925. He was bald, his vision was poor and sensitive to light, and he had nearly lost all his hearing. Canton could no longer work as a cattleman or as a lawman, so he was left unemployed. The Texas Cattlemen’s Association granted him a small pension, and his unmarried daughter, Ruby, supported him and his wife, Annie, who moved into Ruby’s home. On September 1, 1927, Canton couldn’t get out of bed, so Ruby called a doctor. The doctor diagnosed him with terminal cancer and said he had only days left to live. Despite this, the family celebrated his seventy-eighth birthday on September 15 at Ruby’s house. Canton passed away on September 27, 1927, in Edmond, Oklahoma.