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Concordia Cemetery, El Paso Texas
The Concordian cemetery k officially dates bacto 1881, with some burials taking place as far back as the 1850s. It is estimated that about 60,000 bodies are interned within the 54 acre cemetery, which was once part of the Hugh and Juana Stevenson Hacienda. Stevenson, who came from Missouri, married Dona Juana ASCARATE, a local who subsequently died in 1856 and became the first person buried in the cemetery.
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A Bit About Concordia
During the latter part of the 1800s, the city became a stomping ground for gunfighters, gamblers, cattlemen, famous marshals and the Texas Rangers, who tried to keep peace in a town filled with brothels and bars. In 1916,, General Blackjack Pershing began his legendary hunt for the famed outlaw Pancho Villa from this city. Today, the past sometimes bleeds through into the present landscape. One place in particular, the L and J cafe, also known locally as the Old place by the graveyard., seems to bring out the dead more than most.
The Texas Historical Marker at the cemetry reads:
Historic Concordia Cemetery is a resting place for over 60,000 members of the El Paso community. Some are well known, some are unknown, while others are unmarked but each contributing to the story of El Paso and Historic Concordia Cemetery.
Known as Concordia during the 1840s, this area was the home of Chihuahua trader Hugh & Juana Stephenson. In 1856 his wife, Juana (Ascarate), was buried in what is now part of Concordia Cemetery. The graveyard gained widespread use in the 1880’s when El Pasoans drove three miles to Concordia to bury their dead.
By 1890, various sections had been purchased by different groups and were designated Catholic, Masonic, Jewish, Black, Chinese, Military, Jesuit, city, and county.
Come visit Concordia residents such as gunfighter John Wesley Hardin, Buffalo Soldiers, Texas Rangers, Civil War Veterans, early Mormon pioneers, Florida (Lady Flo) Wolf, Lawman John Selman, and numerous other civic leaders, pioneers, and war veterans. Concordia was formerly the first burial site for Mexican Revolution President Victoriano Huerta.
El Paso was in the 1800’s a Lawless Border City
John Wesley Hardin (May 26th, 1853 – August 19th 1895) And many other nameless men and women who made their own laws are buried here.
John Wesley Hardin (1853–1895) was one of the most notorious and deadly quick-draw gunslingers of the Old West. A Texas outlaw, he claimed to have killed over 40 men (documented at 20-30), beginning at age 15. He was known for his extreme violence against Union soldiers and Freedmen during Reconstruction, later becoming a lawyer before being killed in El Paso.
John Wesley Hardin, one of the American Old West’s most notorious gunslingers, was born on May 26, 1853, near Bonham, Texas. He was the son of James Gibson “Gip” Hardin, a Methodist preacher and circuit rider, and Mary Elizabeth Dixson. He was named after the founder of the Methodist denomination.
And then his first Murder
John Wesley Hardin killed his first man, Major “Maje” Holshousen, in November 1868 at age 15. Following a wrestling match he won, Hardin claimed Maje—a former slave of his uncle—ambushed him with a stick; Hardin shot him five times. Maje died three days later, causing Hardin to go into hiding.
A fugitive from age 15, his target were Union soldiers and minorities during the lawless years of the Reconstruction era. He was regarded as one of the deadliest, most feared gunfighters in Texas history, often killing in cold blood with no conscience. He was sentenced to 24 years in 1877 for murder, during which time he studied law and used good behavior to be released but returned to a life of gambling and conflict upon release.
To learn more, check out his biography here.
John Selman (November 16th, 1839 – April 6th, 1896)
According to the Texas State Historicla Society:
John Henry (Old John, Uncle John) Selman, outlaw cum lawman, was born in Madison County, Arkansas, on November 16, 1839, the son of Jeremiah Selman, an Englishman. In 1858 the Selmans moved to Grayson County, Texas, where Jeremiah died, and on December 15, 1861, John joined the Twenty-second Texas Cavalry as a private. He deserted from Fort Washita, Choctaw Nation (Indian Territory), in April 1863 and joined his family at Fort Davis, a Stephens County settlement at the fort on the Clear Fork of the Brazos. On August 17, 1865, John married Edna DeGraffenreid. They had four children. In the mid-1870s the Selmans moved to Fort Griffin, Texas, where John became a deputy for Shackelford County sheriff John M. Larn. The two controlled the vigilantes, rustled cattle, and at times terrorized the county, until the vigilantes locked Larn in his own jail and shot him to death. After Selman’s wife died in 1879, he fled to Lincoln County, New Mexico, and organized the “Selman Scouts,” a band of desperados accused of murder and rape during the late 1870s. In 1880 strong law enforcement drove Selman to Fort Davis in Jeff Davis County, Texas, where the Texas Rangers captured him; they took him to Shackelford County for trial. He escaped, however, and fled to Chihuahua, where he lived until 1888, when Texas charges were dropped. That year Selman moved to El Paso, where he married Romula Granadine on August 23, 1893. He lived mostly as a gambler and city constable. On April 5, 1894, he killed former Texas Ranger Baz (Bass) Outlaw during a wild brawl in Tillie Howard’s brothel.
Selman killed the famous gunman John Wesley Hardin on August 19, 1895,
by putting three bullets in him as he rolled dice in the Acme Saloon. Selman went on trial for murder, but because of a hung jury he was released on bond. After leaving the Wigwam Saloon late one night, he met United States deputy marshal George Scarborough, and the two fought. Scarborough shot Selman four times, and he died on the operating table on April 6, 1896. Scarborough was acquitted of murder. Selman was buried in El Paso’s Concordia Cemetery in the Catholic section, but his grave was unmarked, and all attempts to locate it have been unsuccessful.
Notable Internments
Benjamin Shacklett Dowell
Jacob Reuben “Jack Earle” Erlich
Hauntings at Concordia Cemetery
Over the years, staff and guests at L & J have reported hearing wailing sounds and seeing spectral lights come from the cemetery.
Some say that as a woman who died in childbirth and was unintentionally interred while still alive. Her desperate cries ignore, ignored in life, now continue from beyond the grave
Many swear the restless spirits of gunfighter John Wesley Hardin, called the Dark Angel of Texas, roams the ghostly graveyard. With other lesser known spirits, Hardin was buried in the cemetery on August 19th, 1895. He is gone, but certainly not forgotten.
Current owner of J&L across the street and 3rd generation family member Leo Duran, recalled being awakened in the night by the sound of a woman wailing from across the street. Fearing that a girl was being raped, he called the police, grabbed his gun, and ran across the street to the cemetery. The horrible moaning sounds continued as the police arrived. The second they opened the gate to enter, the moaning ceased. A thorough search of the area yielded nothing.
