On January 30, 1872, a Commissioner's Court order instructed county treasurer Jo G Hardin to pay David Carnes $15.00 per month for use of his two story stone house as a temporary jail. The house stood east of the courthouse on lot 3, block 4, original addition, Comanche. After the murder of Sheriff Webb on May 26, 1874, Jo G Hardin and his cousins Bud and Tom Dixon were confined there for protection. On Sunday afternoon, May 31, Jo G wanted to see his wife and babies, and Mart Fleming walked him down the street to the Hardin cabin to see his wife, daughter, and baby Joe Jr., who had been born May 24. That night, while Ranger guards were on watch, 10 or 12 men from an adjoining county quietly rode up, overpowered the guards, gagged the three prisoners, and took them away. The next morning, June 1, they were found hung from a tree about 2 1/2 miles southwest of Comanche. "Parson" Peter Gravis, a Methodist circuit rider and presiding J.P., conducted funeral services, and the bodies were buried on James G Hardin property 1 mile north of Comanche.