Description

Judge Holden is a purported historical person who partnered with John Joel Glanton as a professional scalp-hunter in Mexico and the American Southwest during the mid-19th century.[1] To date the only source for Holden's existence is Samuel Chamberlain's My Confession: Recollections of a Rogue an autobiographical account of Chamberlain's life as a soldier during the Mexican–American War. Chamberlain described Holden as the most ruthless of the roving band of mercenaries led by Glanton with whom Chamberlain had traveled briefly after the war: '[he] had a fleshy frame [and] a dull tallow colored face destitute of hair and all expression;'[2] 'a man of gigantic size'; 'by far the best educated man in northern Mexico'; 'in short another Admirable Crichton and with all an arrant coward'.