Autobiography written while Hardin was in Huntsville State Prison, studing law. After his pardon by the governor and subsequent release, he migrated to El Paso where he set up a law practice but soon resumed his old ways and was shot from behind by "lawman" John Selman while throwing dice at the Acme Saloon. This is a fascinating book by Texas' most notorious gunman (40 notches)in his own biased words, who grew up in occupied, post-civil war carpetbagger Texas. Hardin faced Wild Bill Hickok, was involved in range wars, and was ultimately subdued by the Texas Rangers in Florida.

I've always been meaning to get around to that one.

HAS to be facinating!

Have a hard time reading or caring about fiction...but the real stuff...THAT'S a different matter entirely. Some years back read the journal of Mountain Man Oz Russell. You learn stuff in books like that.

I think you can order it off amazon.com, inexpensive paperback, still in print.

Actually, I DID order it, a bit ago. After reading this thread.

They haven't gotten it to me yet, though.

I wonder why it is taking so long to get it? Let us know what you think of the book!

I recently watched a show on A&E about him and his book. JWH was definately a real bad ass. I think I will have to order the book as well. Hopefully they deliver a little quicker for me though!

"Hopefully they deliver a little quicker for me though! "

I hope so too, Canuck. I'm still waiting.

I finally got My J.W.Hardin book last week and am nearly thru with it. Hope to have some observations when I'm thru.

Autobiography observations:

(1) Wine: In the Wild West of Matt Dillon and Clint Eastwood....there's plenty of Whiskey. Perhaps I should say; "Whusky!". Do not remember this word popping up in the original account once. Lotsa wine! Frequently drinking plenty of wine. The only mention of beer I recall was when a barkeep sent Hardins table beer instead of wine. At which point Hardin gets mad, kicks over the table and a fight ensues.

(2)Misfires: In the real world of today, in what few experiances I have with people using cap&ball revolvers, there are a lot of misfires. Always thought, "that must be because modern men don't specialize in C&B. We don't know the tricks the old timers use. They probably had these guns shooting surefire". NO. There's lots of "snapping" in this book. Sounds like it was as common then as now. Only then, your life could depend on it.

(3) Elmer Keith: Ever read Keith? There was a way of writting that I thought was distictly his own. Discover that his way of talking was about the same as Hardins. The lack of contractions where you would expect them to be...the obscure slang that I have seldom or never heard in real life....the cadence of the words. Reading Hardin is much like reading Keith.

"Listen,...I'll go and get a gun and when I meet you I'll meet you smoking and make you pull like a wolf around the block."

(4)Fame: I always thought Hardin was a semi-obscure figure in his own time. A traveling gunman who's full danger was not understood when he was loose. By this account, I wonder if Hardin did not have more renoun in his own time than Hickok or Billy the Kid?

(5)Fights beget Fights: The old cycle of violence seems, to me, pretty well layed out in this tome, and confirmed. One is more likely to have to kill a man, if he has killed a man before. If he has then killed 2 men, is twice as likely to need to kill another. And it goes on, ad nausum.

(6)Dead like Wild Bill: Strikes me as interesting that both these old accomplished gunfighters would die the same way....shot in the back of the head - at close range - by men they didn't know were there. Looks like this is about the only effective way to kill a truely fine gunhand. (Even Jesse James got it this way...except that he knew Ford was in the room - but he trusted him)

(7) Mark Manning: The most telling part of this book is also it's most embarrassing. The intro to The Autobiography of John Wesley Hardin was written by some weasle named Mark Manning. This is a contemporary blurb, or screed, if you will - by a degenerate modern man. Small minded, Vulgar, and Pathetic - his excrement of an intro writes a truely shaming account of our own 21st Century mindset. Reading the words of a 19th Century mass murderer....we find most uplifting after exposure to Manning. That someone like this can even get printed is an indictment against our times. This is glaringly obvious when layed next to the words of Hardin.

[ 06-07-2003, 02:29: Message edited by: badgerrr ]

fla3006,

Being something of a history buff, I have this book and have read it several times over the years. It seems that if I read it about every three years, I have changed enough that I notice things I missed before. I also get a slightly different take on the book. I've read Trinty about seven times. The only constant is that it is still depressing.

Hardin's book, I don't think, can be taken on face value. Above all else, the book serves to justify Hardin's actions. The killings from ambush are glossed over very quickly, as are a few murders during the Taylor-Sutton feud and the murder of deputy Webb. Articles and books I've read, that were written by someone without a axe to grind, tell some of the same stories in Hardin's book in a somewhat different light.

A man I found very interesting is Jefferson Davis Milton. Jeff's father was the govenor of the state of Florida during the civil war, hence the name. Jeff was a lawman in several of the Texas wild places, including El Paso.One night Jeff and a Texas Ranger named Frank McMahon, tried to arrest a fugitive, named Martin Marose, on the railroad bridge to Juarez. The badman thought he was badder than he was and used a Colt to resist arrest. At the inquest both Jeff and McMahon were found to have been acting in enforcement of the law and no charges were file. Here comes the part where this fits in with Hardin. It seems that Mrs. Marose was shacking up with Hardin and that is why he was coming across the river. Hardin gabbed it around the saloons that he had paid Jeff to kill the outlaw to get him out of Hardin's hair. When this got back to Jeff he went hunting Hardin. Hardin was found in a saloon and Milton called for all to hear, that Hardin was a damn liar from across the room. When it was over Milton and Hardin were nose to nose. Milton had slapped Hardin's face and forced Hardin to admit he was a liar to one and all. Hardin backed down and lived another day or two. Later, reportedly the woman had a fling with a young town constable. Perhaps still smarting from Milton's slap, Hardin, acosted the young constable and threatened to kill him if he didn't leave the lady alone. The constable's name was Selman. The son of old John Selman. This is why "Old John" is supposed to have shot Hardin through the back of the head. Have a good weekend all.

[ 06-07-2003, 10:19: Message edited by: BigBob ]

Now we have the "Rest of the Story". All those historical figures were just as degenerate as any 20th century liberal.
Hardin's landlady said he dry fired by the hour- So did Lee Harvey Oswald.