Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters So...how bout Charles Askins, Jr.?

Reading some of these posts does make one examine one�s first impression. Mine was, yes, this guy is just a flat out psycho a�hole, a bushwhacker and a backshooter.

But if truth be known, he was probably just a man out of time. Had his career been in the 1860-1900 era, we�d probably be reading about him alongside Wild Bill Hickock, Wyatt Earp and a few other gunfighters whose exploits outshone their somewhat questionable (or downright criminal) activity that often gets ignored.

Nah, I'm pretty sure that your first impression was more accurate. :-)

Didn't really say that right with my comparison.

What I should have said was that, if truth be known, a lot of celebrated gunfighters from the Old West, while certainly very skilled with guns and possessing steely nerves, were probably flat out psycho a--holes, bushwhackers and backshooters as well.

Very likely. The Col. was cut from a cloth few today are prepared to handle.

Audie Murphy died in a plane crash. He was a teetotler, liked to gamble (IIRC) and from his audobiography, had issues, but guilt wasn't apparent from what he wrote.

I read that Murphy contemplated suicide and toward the end slept alone in his locked garage, for weeks at a time,with a .45 under his pillow. Sure sounds like post dramatic stress syndrome.

I love to see all the guys who talk a good fight about how to handle situations have to face what they are asking for.

For so many the "solution" to the border problem????.....Shoot, shovel,shut up! What they'd do if someone threatened them of their family?????.....Meet Mr. Smith & Wesson!

Yes, Johnny Badass rides well on the internet. "Killing is my business, and business is GOOD!" Everyone wants to act tough and talk about how things "should" be done......until they actually meet an individual who embodies those ideas. Then they piss down their leg and tremble.....because those rare individuals ARE scary.

The impression I get is that Askins Jr. was one of those rare birds who made no excuses and gave no quarter. He did whatever it took to stay alive and accomplish the goals he had set for himself. He was honest and never tried to make excuses for what he did and how he did it.....and that honesty likely carried over to all parts of his life. I'm sure he could be your best friend or your worst nightmare......your choice.

Did he "play fair"??? Of course not and anyone who does "play fair" during a shooting situation deserves to die. Did he "bushwhack" and "backshoot"??? Sometimes, but I don't see that as a fault. He was in a life-or-death situation.

If you have decided to kill a man, you should do so in the most effecient way possible with the least chance of getting yourself hurt. Dead is dead.....they die just as well when shot in the back and don't present near as much danger to the shooter. Tha classic stand-up, face-to-face gun battles seen on the movies work for Matt Dillon because he has read the script and already knows he won't be hurt.....in real life things aren't so certain.

So what if he seemed to enjoy what he did. He never pretended to seek the approval of others and didn't believe what he did was in any way wrong. If a man believes in what he is doing, and is VERY good at it......why shouldn't he be proud and enjoy his work.

I believe if I had known Askins, I would have liked the man and gotten along well because I treasure honesty and lack of pretense in a man. I believe he would have been a great friend.....and a terrible enemy if wronged. I have to say I like that attitude.

"He never pretended to seek the approval of others and didn't believe what he did was in any way wrong. If a man believes in what he is doing, and is VERY good at it......why shouldn't he be proud and enjoy his work."

Bundy, Dahmer, Night Stalker,etc. all probably thought the same thing.

He was hyper-sensitive to sounds, which is why he slept alone in his garage, which was soundproofed. He's not the only one to have a pistol nearby when he sleeps, however. Undoubtedly he had PTSD, and probably at least gave suicide a passing though. Almost everyone has.

He died in 1971 at 47 years of age. I remember it, but until I checked, thought it was later than that.

As for Askins, I never read much of him, only his articles which I thought I thought the language was precious. (He alwasy referred to England as "the tight little Isle, if I'm thinking about the same man.) I'm convinced he was a psycho from what everyone says here (including those who knew him.) Can't say I am deflated by all this negative information, as I never had much of an opinion of him in the first place.

What we certainly do NOT need is a platoon of psychos like Askins, who feel killing babies is a matter of convenience.

In the immortal words of Col. Chivington....."Nits make lice".

They were not taking the side of the law against lawlessness now were they

What gives you the idea that he killed babies???

Charlie's favorite PH in Africa was also at times a mercenary. Charlie liked the occasional opportunity to quit hunting four-legged critters with him, to go hunting two-legged critters (ivory-poachers, rebels, etc) instead.

Once, they wiped-out a party of poachers, and it was alleged that they found a live baby among the men's and women's bodies and killed it rather than take it back to a village.

True?

Untrue?

I have no reason to believe or to doubt the allegation. But the story has made the rounds, and some have eagerly welcomed it as another insight into Charlie.

It wasn't mentioned in his book but I did read an article he wrote once where him & his dad rode horseback across west Texas when he was quite young. Along the way they bumped into some bad guys that had just robbed a bank & they told the elder Askins that they wanted their horses. Daddy Askins had a shotgun across the front of his saddle & told them they couldn't have the horses, when one of them started to pull a gun he got a face full of lead shot for his trouble.
The younger Charlie (maybe 13-14) thought it was great fun...maybe thats where he got the killer instinct so young
I remember Charlie Jr. saying he got off his horse & took the dead man's gun & still had it after many years.

Dick

Idaho1945 I have read the same story but I thought charlie jr got in on part of the shooting (I could be wrong about that). I think the border patrol at time was a very different place and those guys had to be mean to survive. I have no doubt that Jordan, Skeeter and a few other guys may have shot guys that in this day and time it would have been a crime. Didn't Jordan have a accident in a border patrol office? I also read somewhere that Jordan shot the cowboy hat off a mexican floating down the river. I don't know if any of that is true.

Charlie Jr found not only something he was good at but found out he could make a lot money from it. I had never heard about killing the baby until this thread and I hope its not true.

Dink

I don't think the border has changed, but the Border Patrol certainly has.

I know a WWII POW who upon his liberation told me of killing a German at the top of a tree, begging for his life and not getting it. He is a keeper in my book, albiet not one without scars....

Revenge and retribution follow most men in their lives, even the very best ones, when a crosshair is upon them. When that crosshair rules your life do you become a willing target or do you fight it, and do you close your eyes knowing it is gone forever, or do you believe the contrary?

I personally cannot answer that, but many I know find that crosshair is perpetually placed upon them, to a certain degree.

What about Askins best friend George Parker? I read somewhere that Askins said he was the bad one. I've never been able to find much info on him.

Allways like these 20/20 hindsight threads where people evaluate someones behavior from 50-100+ years ago by today's poor values and liberal ideas.Tells you what people think and what their lack of values are. More people packing guns today than ever,because they have learned the truth. That they alone are responsible for their own safety and security.The border is a far rougher place today than in either Askin's time.It is just that our liberal politicians are in denial of it and their lackey's the media, hide it.
I don't like the horse that I have very much,but he is mine and woe unto the misdirected who forcibly tries to change that. The judicial system in this country would rather give a murderer a life sentence than do what needs to be done by executing them that need it. So who is punished then? The taxpayers that's who. You and me.I've enjoyed reading about the Askins and probably don't agree on everything they did either. I wasn't in their shoes when all these events happened though. "Only those not in the Arena find it oh so necessary to critisize those that are".There is still snake stomping going on in this country without the stompers immediately calling the law at all because citizens have learned that it doesn't bother our liberal courts to finacially ruin you, to exonerate you of wrongdoing. Way I see it . Magnum_Man

The problem with folks who like to kill others is that "others" extends beyond "bad guys." I have a problem with people killing other people unless it's in self defense, or in time of war. Retribution killing may have its place, but that place should be VERY narrowly defined.

Psychos who like to kill people simply like to kill people, and the type of people they chose to kill are usually those over whom they have a tremendous advantage. It's one thing to kill an enemy soldier from ambush, it's another to kill an enemy civilian from ambush. Those who don't recognize the difference are a menace to society.

If Charlie was such then why did he not kill anyone after 1957?