Articles - Texas Ranger Hall of Fame and Museum

Transcription

The
Issue 20, Summer 2006
Texas Ranger Dispatch
™
Magazine of the Texas Ranger Hall of Fame and Museum
Official museum, hall of fame, and repository of the Texas Rangers Law Enforcement Agency
Issue 20, Summer 2006
Rifle Training with the New M4 Carbine............................................Barry Caver
Will Wright: Rangers and Prohibition................................................Jim Coffey
Tribute to America
................................................................... Glenn Elliott
The Keep Ranch Fight.................................................................Eddie Matney
William Mosby Eastland ................................................................Stephen Moore
Howard "Slick" Alfred.................................................................Robert Nieman
Texas Ranger Reunion 2006......................................................Robert Nieman
Texian Iliad: Military History of the Texas Revolution (book review).....Chuck Parsons
Savage Frontier v. II: Rangers, Rifleman, and Indian Wars (bk..review)....Chuck Parsons
The Mason County “Hoo Doo” War, 1874-1902 (bk..review)................Chuck Parsons
Winnsboro! Wednesday! Thursday! Thirsty!..................................Lewis Rigler
Ask the Dispatch......................................................................................Staff
Rangers in the Field: Co. B Firearms Qualifications ............Texas Rangers Co. B
Dispatch Production Team
This issue of the Texas Ranger Dispatch is
funded in part by a grant from the Texas
Ranger Association Foundation. Their
generosity makes this publication possible.
Robert Nieman - Managing Editor (Volunteer, Museum Board)
Pam S. Baird – Technical Editor, Layout, and Design
Byron A. Johnson - Director, Texas Ranger Hall of Fame
Sharon P. Johnson, Volunteer Web Designer, Baylor University
Christina Stopka, Archivist, Texas Ranger Research Center
Founded in 1964, the Texas Ranger Hall of Fame and Museum is a nonprofit historical center owned by
the people of Texas. It is hosted and professionally operated by the city of Waco, Texas, and sanctioned by
the Texas Rangers, the Texas Department of Public Safety, and the legislature of the State of Texas.
This file contains a complete copy of a back issue of the Texas
Ranger Dispatch. The original issue was posted as a series of
web pages. To simplify archiving them, these issues have been
stored in Adobe Acrobat format.
Links to other parts of the original web site appear but no longer
function.
There may also be some minor appearance and formatting
issues with the individual pages.
Newer issues of the Texas Ranger Dispatch are in magazine
format in Adobe Acrobat.
O
All content ©2009, Texas Ranger Hall of Fame and Museum.
TEXAS RANGER DISPATCH Magazine
Rangers Today
Visitor Info
History
Research Center
Hall of Fame
Student Help
Family History
News
Click Here for
A Complete Index
to All Back Issues
Dispatch Home
Visit our nonprofit
On the firing range at Fort Bliss, (El Paso) Texas.
Museum Store!
Guns of the Texas Rangers:
Contact the Editor
Rifle Training with the New M4 Carbine
by Captain Barry Caver
Company E, Midland, Texas
For more than twenty years, the Department of Public Safety has issued Ruger
Mini-14 rifles to our law enforcement officers. Using funds from drug seizures, a
total of 3,008 M4 rifles have been purchased for use throughout the Texas DPS.
Effective as they are, some age-related problems have begun to surface after
twenty years.
The Ruger Mini-14 .223 served the Rangers for more than 20 years.
Recently Texs DPS adopted the M4-type assault weapon as a replacement for the
Mini-14. The rifle is highly adaptable to emerging technology and can be
modified and upgraded as long as it is in service. The Picatinny rail system, for
example, allows for white light sources, infrared illumination, and both iron and
glass optics, etc.
http://www.texasranger.org/dispatch/20/M-4/M-4.htm (1 of 3) [4/30/2009 11:06:30 PM]
Bushmaster M4 .223 equipped with an EOTech holographic sighting system
and a SureFire tactical flashlight with pressure switch.
The six-position, collapsible stock that comes standard on the M4 allows the
weapon to be used as a long gun and a tactical weapon for close-quarters
combat. The M4 also possesses dual iron sights. These can be changed in an
instant, and they can allow precision accuracy at distances up to 400 meters. The
same is true for their accuracy in the battle position for SWAT-type missions,
where instant target acquisition is a must.
The Ruger Mini-14 weapon performed admirably during its tenure with DPS and
the Rangers. However, the more modern and technologically advanced M4
allows quick functionality, dependability, and instant adaptation to almost any
situation that a Ranger may face.
Click Photo to Enlarge
Top: Brian Burzynski, Company E-Fort Stockton; David Duncan, Company EAlpine; Troy Wilson, UCIT-San Antonio; Chance Collins, Company D-San
Antonio; Lieutenant Bob Bullock, Company E-Midland; Captain Barry Caver,
Company E-Midland; Brooks Long, Company E-Ozona; Matt Cawthon, Company
F-Waco; Rocky Wardlow, Company F-Bastrop; Don Williams, Company EMidland
Bottom: Jeremy Wallace, Company E-Midland; Nick Hanna, Company EBrownwood; Jeff Collins, Company B-Greenville; Jess Malone, Company EMidland; Calvin Cox, Company E-Abilene; Shawn Palmer, Company D-San
Angelo; Martin Hood, Company C-Hereford; David Hullum, Company E-Eastland
Brooks Long, Company E-Ozona; Jeff Collins, Company B-Greenville; Captain
Barry Caver, Company E-Midland; Lieutenant Bob Bullock, Company E-Midland;
Troy Wilson, UCIT-San Antonio; Nick Hanna, Company E-Brownwood; Chance
Collins, Company D-San Antonio; Brian Burzynski, Company E-Fort Stockton
Dispatch
Jr. Rangers
Corporate Club
Museum Store
Exhibits/Artifacts
Benefactors
All rights reserved. © 2003, Texas Ranger Hall of Fame and Museum. Contact Us
The Hall of Fame and Museum complex is located adjacent to Interstate 35 in Waco, Texas
(midway between Dallas/Fort Worth and Austin).
Rangers Today
Visitor Info
Click Here for
A Complete Index
to All Back Issues
Dispatch Home
Visit our nonprofit
History
Research Center
Hall of Fame
Student Help
Family History
News
Texas Ranger Captain Will Wright
Will Wright:
Rangers and Prohibition
by Jim Coffey
Museum Store!
In December 1917, the eyes of the world were
Contact the Editor
focused with a death stare on the muddy fields
of Flanders and France. That December, as in
the previous three years, Great Britain and its
allies faced Germany and the Central Powers.
While the eyes of world focused on France, the
eyes of Texas were centered on the 800-mile stretch of border shared with
Mexico. This area had become the newest battlefield in an expanding world of
conflict.
One Texas man was preparing for that border clash. William Leonidas Wright,
sheriff of Wilson County, had just accepted an appointment as Captain of
Company K, the newest Ranger unit. Wright had been a Ranger before and
had not strayed far from this experience. Two months shy of his fiftieth
birthday, he was five foot ten, wore glasses, and was often compared to a
minister because of his demeanor and dress. He had an engaging personality
and an infectious laugh, and he loved to tell stories and listen to them. Known
as an honest peace officer, he also had a reputation as one of the fastest men
on the border with a pistol. This standing had been created twenty years
before in the rough country around Cotulla and Laredo.
At a time in his life when many men would have been thinking about rocking
chairs and warm fires on cold evenings, Will Wright was going into one of the
most dangerous parts of the state of Texas—the frontera, the border country
of South Texas. The actions that were returning him to the saddle reached
back into history.
The political considerations that caused Governor William Hobby to appoint
six new Ranger companies in 1918 were both local and international in scope.
At home, the banditry spawned by the Mexican Revolution caused unrest in
the Texas Valley. By 1916, the activities of German sympathizers and agents
in Mexico brought the worldwide conflict to the home front of Texas.
The Mexican Revolution of 1910 was far from being over. It slowed from time
to time but seemed to break out again with the emergence of each charismatic
leader who promised land and liberty. As economics brought more Texans
and non-Texans to the border, the original Tejano inhabitants began to suffer
a variety of injustices that produced discontent on both sides of the Rio
Grande. Land that had been in families for generations was traded, legally and
http://www.texasranger.org/dispatch/20/Will%20Wright/Wright.htm (1 of 18) [4/30/2009 11:07:39 PM]
illegally. The Mexican Revolution produced armed bands of insurrectos, who
roamed both sides of the river and fostered fear and unrest between the
Anglos and Mexicans. The cries of “Tierra y Libertad (Land and Liberty)”
quickly extended from the Mexican side of the Rio Grande to the Texas side.
Bandits raided isolated ranches, and the ranchers retaliated. In a matter of
months, beginning in 1915, the Revolution had swept into South Texas. Soon,
the Plan de San Diego surfaced. This was an ambitious and far-fetched effort
to retake Texas and form a buffer state consisting of most of the Southwest.
Governor Jim Ferguson responded by expanding the Rangers with special
and regular commissions and ordered them into the area with instructions
that the depredations must stop. What became known as the Bandit War of
1915 had begun.
Unfortunately, caught up in the spirit of the times, some of the people hired
on as part of an expanded Ranger force to put an end to the disorder actually
created even larger problems. The Rangers, with the support of the
governor’s office, had responded to the troubles on the border with a brutality
that astounded many people. Among them was Captain Harry Ransom, who
used methods that he had seen pioneered in the Philippines against the
Moros. W. W. Sterling later commented that Ransom, because of his previous
experiences, had “place[d] little small value on the life of a law breaker.”[1] To
say that civil rights were violated would be an understatement. Sterling
commented further: “Captain Ransom held the belief that he was an
instrument of justice and that he had a definite mission to perform. He said, ‘A
bad disease calls for bitter medicine.’”[2] While Ransom and his company
resolved some of the lawbreaking in the Valley, their actions exacted a heavy
price on the prestige of the Rangers. Public opinion was strongly influenced
by the acts of a few Rangers who acted without proper leadership. The
reputation of the entire force suffered because of the excesses, which were
ignored and, to some extent, encouraged by the political system in Austin and
in the Valley. Accounts of drinking and abuse of power made the newspapers
all over the state, and the reputation that the Rangers had been earned at
great cost began to tarnish.
A new administration led by Governor William Hobby then took over Austin.
One of the assurances that Hobby gave the electorate, not only on the border
but in the rest of the state as well, was that he would reform the Texas
Rangers. By December 1917, he saw the need to expand rather than reduce
the size of the force. In doing so, he needed to appoint men who had proven
leadership capabilities and a level of integrity that would be recognized by the
citizens. Will Wright was called to Austin and offered a commission as captain
of the new Company K. For Will, it was a homecoming.
Will Wright was not a rookie in the world of law enforcement; his family had
been involved in it for years, to one degree or another. His father, L. B. Wright,
had served as sheriff of Karnes County for an incomplete term before the Civil
War. Mr. Wright had resigned the office to become part of a militia unit that
allowed him to move cattle belonging to his father-in-law, Jo Tumlinson, to a
more protected site in South Texas during the war. He next moved to
Lockhart, where he opened a store.
William Leonidas Wright was born to L. B. and his wife Ann on February 19,
1868, in Lockhart. (The name William Leonidas shortly became Willie Lee or
Bud.) The family moved to Sutherland Springs, near Floresville, to be closer
to Ann’s family, the Tumlinsons. Ann was Texas royalty, being the daughter of
one of the true legends of early Texas, Jo Tumlinson. Known as a man who
settled his own accounts, Tumlinson had killed his first man at fourteen and
had ridden to the Texas Revolution with his comrade Creed Taylor. He had
also played an almost Shakespearean role in manipulating people and
situations during the Sutton-Taylor feud. That bloody misunderstanding was
between the family of his old comrade-in-arms Creed Taylor and the Sutton
family, who were cousins of the Tumlinsons. The feud had expanded from a
series of family killings to a local war that, in scope and ferocity, predated
some of the Mafia disputes of a later time. After killings between the Sutton
and Taylor families had developed into general murder and hooliganism, the
Washington County Militia unit was brought in to restore order. When Leander
McNelly and the militia entered the area, things began to calm down. Order
was restored, perhaps hastened by the death of Old Jo Tumlinson.
The militia camped on local ranches, made friends, married into the society,
and brought stability. In the evenings, they recounted their daily adventures
around the campfires. One of their listeners was Willie Lee Wright. If family
stories are to be believed, he decided to become a Ranger during that time.
He loved stories then, and that passion continued for the rest of his life.
Will Wright entered law enforcement and served his apprenticeship under
some of the best officers in Texas. He became a deputy under John Craighead
in Wilson County in 1892 after serving as a justice of the peace. By 1898, his
reputation was such that he was recommended to join the Rangers and was
accepted into John Rogers’s company. First stationed in Cotulla, La Salle
County, he shot it out with local bad man Jim Davenport, who was killed. Will
was with Rogers during the fabled shootout over smallpox vaccinations in
Laredo, where the Rangers, outnumbered ten to one, fought in the streets.
Again with Rogers, he was involved in the Great South Texas Manhunt in
search of Gregorio Cortez. On that hunt, he sharpened his skills working with
Atascosa County Sheriff A.M. Avant and Emanual Tom, considered the finest
tracker in South Texas. The Avant-Wright posse was only fifteen minutes
behind Cortez when Rogers arrested him in sheep camp near the border.
Will’s actions in that pursuit led to political attention from Wilson County. He
was asked to run for sheriff, and in one of the most active races in years, was
elected in November of 1902. When he took office, he received a telegram
from his old captain, John Rogers, who had a bit of advice for him: “Make the
people a Ranger sheriff, acting impartially without regard to nationality, color
or wealth.”[3] Will kept the telegram in his wallet for years, and retained the
advice for the rest of his life.
Will Wright was a popular sheriff. Besides being related to a large part of the
population in Wilson County, he made friends and moved among the
members of the community with ease. His family, which included his wife
Mollie, five sons, and one daughter, lived in the jail. The sheriff’s living
quarters were separated from the jail itself by a built-in hanging tower. This
meant that the ultimate punishment could be administered just outside the
family dining area. Mollie and the kids took over a variety of jobs around the
jail, including serving as unofficial jailers and cooks for the prisoners. Will
might have been described as a “sporting gent” if he had not been a peace
officer. He kept a pen of fighting roosters beside the back steps and paid a
great deal of attention to the excellent horseflesh found on the ranches in the
county. He loved to talk to people and listen to their stories. If there was a
group of men somewhere on the street in Floresville or Sutherland Springs, it
was an even bet that Sheriff Will “Bud” Wright had collected the assembly
and was talking about one of his own latest adventures or some scrape
involving his tough old grandpa, Jo Tumlinson.
Will and his fellow sheriff, Calloway Seale of Karnes County, became the
unofficial hangmen for South Texas. They journeyed over that part of the state
to assist local officials who may have decided, for moral or political reasons,
that they could not spring the trap on a local member of the electorate. Will
had his own personal rope that he carried with him to the festivities. With his
glasses and receding hairline, he did not look the part of a sheriff, but he was
not afraid to fight with either a pistol or his fists. On at least one occasion, he
faced down a mob of his fellow townspeople (including family, more than
likely) who were intent on lynching a prisoner. He successfully kept his
prisoner safe, only to have the man stab him with a sharpened spoon on the
way to the hanging several months later. It did not delay the sentence. Will
was carted off to the doctor and Will’s brother Milam hanged the man. Will
became a member of the Sheriff’s Association, serving as president for
several years. Throughout the entire period, he was known for his honesty
and integrity.
It was Will Wright’s reputation that was a major factor in bringing him to
Governor Hobby’s office for an interview with Adjutant General William
Harley. The governor appointed Rangers, but the adjutant general made a lot
of the operational decisions. In the conversation, Harley made it plain to Will
that a new time was coming for the Rangers. The state was dealing with the
need to change the image and reality of the organization, and Will was going
to be part of the change. He later recalled that they also discussed drinking
and the necessity of a no-tolerance position on it. What was probably left
unsaid was that the Rangers would not be successful in an area if they could
not fit into the social and cultural landscape of the counties they worked in. A
number of sheriffs had requested that the Rangers in their areas be moved or
at least not sent to their counties because they were not wanted. A major
advantage that Will had was that he knew the people he would be working
with. Most of the sheriffs were old friends or at least familiar enough to him
that they were on good speaking terms. They knew his reputation and, more
importantly, Will knew which sheriffs might be more inclined to nonstandard
interpretations of the law. He knew the ones he could trust and also those
who might be inclined toward political play rather than stricter law
enforcement.
Bringing experience that reflected twenty-six years of law enforcement, Will
Wright became one of six new Ranger captains on January 1, 1918. After
fifteen years away, he rode back into service, and he did it with a certain
amount of style. With him, he brought Jack, his own quarter horse from the
Crawford Sykes ranch, and a saddle that he purchased from a bank robber
that he had in his jail. Hanging from the saddle horn was a morral (pouch) in
which he carried extra cartridges. His spurs were made by Bianci in Victoria
and had Mexican coins as rowels. Will’s rifle was an 1895 Winchester with the
barrel chopped to eighteen inches. His pistol was one given to him by the
citizens of Wilson County in 1910. It was an engraved, Colt single-action .45
with pearl grips on which a steer head was carved.[4] He also carried some
kind of backup gun, perhaps a 1903 Colt similar to the one his brother Milam
carried. One thing was certain: he was always armed. His dress and attitude
might indicate that he was off duty, but Will Wright was never without a gun.
Will ambled around Austin, armed with state warrants and purchasing what he
would need to outfit his new Ranger Company K. The necessary equipment
was varied: cooking utensils, bedrolls, a folding chair, and ammunition.
Handpicking his Rangers as he did his equipment, Will chose men who had
family ties to him or men who had worked with him during his sixteen years
as the sheriff of Wilson County. He wanted officers that he could trust and
those who would follow his orders and not make mistakes. His original
company sergeant was John Edds, who had been Will’s chief deputy in
Wilson County before going to the Customs Service and then to the Rangers.
Edds was scrappy man, a native speaker of Spanish,[5] and he was already
establishing himself as a competent officer, although one who might be a little
over zealous in his actions. At various times, Wright’s Ranger company
included the following: W. S. Peterson, Hubert Brady, Tom Brady, Ben
Tumlinson, Hays Wallis, “Big” Jesse Perez, “Little” Jesse Perez, Sid
Hutchison, Stanley Morton, Robert Sutton, John Hensley, Sam Chessire,
Robert Brown, Roy Hearn, Juan Gonzalez, Don Gilliland, and Charlie Wright,
Will’s son.
Almost immediately, Wright’s Rangers were tested––not by bandits, but by
the legislature. Representative J. T. Canales represented the seventy-seventh
district, which consisted of Cameron and Wallacy Counties, and he had long
been a supporter of the Rangers. He had formed the Canales Scouts, a group
dedicated to the collection of intelligence and scouting against the bandits
who operated against the outlaws during the Bandit Wars of 1915. His brother
had held a Loyalty Ranger commission. Despite that background, Canales
became incensed over the abuses of the Rangers and led an investigation in
the legislature to determine the answers to nineteen charges he had brought
against the law enforcement body on January 31, 1918. The charges centered
on allegations of murder, prisoner abuse, unlawful uses of power, and general
misconduct by a limited number of Rangers. Although Canales stated later
that it was not his intention to do away with the Rangers as an organization
but rather to reform it, questions remain as to the viability of the Rangers had
the original suggestions been legislated.
New Ranger Captain Will Wright became involved in the Canales affair
because of his loyalty to his friend John Edds, who was implicated in three of
the charges in the investigation. Edds had killed a man he had believed to be
a draft evader. It was, unfortunately, the wrong man. He was also involved in
the deaths of two more prisoners who had been killed in Ranger custody or
under his supervision. Edds was called to testify, and Will was also
summoned because he was the serving captain, although he had not been in
the force at the time of the killings. Will’s defense of his ex-deputy was a
powerful statement of his own integrity. In testimony, Canales himself
described Wright as “a prince.” Will emerged from the investigation as
perhaps the only Ranger captain who kept his reputation intact. He was in a
strong position to be one of the officers who would lead the Ranger force into
a new era.
The investigation had turned a spotlight on some of the most disreputable
activities of the Rangers, but it did not result in substantive changes for the
force. There was a reduction of many of the Special Ranger commissions that
had been passed out like party favors and an increase in salaries in an
attempt to draw higher quality individuals into the force. The power to appoint
and relieve captains and men remained with the governor’s office, which
made the Rangers a group particularly vulnerable to political intrigue. The
power to select the men remained with the captains, under the supervision of
the adjutant general. The standing force was to be reduced in 1919, but that
may have been due more to economics than to any desire to lessen the power
of the Rangers. Company K was cut to fifteen men in March of 1919.[6] The
political battles had been fought to a standstill, but the issue of protecting the
state began almost immediately.
Right away, Will began to buck the system. Rangers were always short of
funds. It had been common practice for the Ranger captain to receive
subsistence allowance for his men and the horses. If the men were stationed
on a ranch and the rancher supplied the forage, the captain kept the money.
This had been considered a common practice for years, and there is the
possibility that the use of these funds from this source formed a kind of
contingency for emergency situations. To Will, it was a violation of trust, and
he would not be a part of this practice. “I don’t like the looks of this deal,” he
said.[7] The problem was that when one man refused to follow the custom, it
became difficult for all of the other captains to continue. Also, government
had a way of expecting conformity even if it was a bending of the rules. At the
risk of alienating the other captains, Will refused to be a part of a system he
considered at best irregular, at worst illegal. The reaction from the other
captains is not recorded, but the practice gradually disappeared.
What had not disappeared for the area were the ongoing bandit raids, and Will
and his company turned their attention back to the border. Early on, Will set
up scouting expeditions up and down the river and stationed men at various
locations, usually on ranches that were friendly to the Rangers. Near dusk on
March 7, 1918, a group of about thirty men drifted up to the headquarters of
the Tom East ranch. At first, these men asked W. L. Franklin, the ranch
foreman, if they could buy groceries from the ranch store. The strangers’
intention quickly surfaced, however, and the store was raided, saddles and
tack were stolen, and the car of Sheriff Oscar Thompson was commandeered
for transportation to support a raid on Hebbronville.[8] The bandits added
insult to injury when one of Tom East’s best horses was saddled and ridden
off by the leader of the banditos. Several hostages were also taken, and the
gang moved toward Hebbronville. Somewhere between the ranch and the
town, a distance of about thirty miles, the plan, the automobile, and the
hostages were abandoned, and the gang headed for Mexico.
Wright and a group of five Rangers had been scouting in the area and spent
the night in Hebbronville. Will was awakened about 5:00 a.m. by a telephone
call reporting the robbery at the East ranch, and he immediately decided to
pursue the bandits. He knew he did not have much time to intercept them, so
he turned to the best friend he could have at that time––the automobile.
Feeling fairly certain that he could borrow horses at the East ranch, he found
cars to transport the men, slung the saddles onto a borrowed truck, and
headed south. When the Rangers got to the ranch, they expanded their group
with a few more volunteers and headed into the brasada. Almost immediately,
the brush closed in on them, and they were forced to ride single file. The
bandits, not anticipating any pursuit, were resting their horses when Will’s
posse encountered them. The bandits broke into groups, and the Rangers
pursued. It was a horse race, as much as it could be in the thick underbrush.
Wright and his men called out to the Mexicans to surrender, but firing
continued on both sides. Wright reported the incident: “They were all on the
ground…their horses standing beside them. They commenced shooting at us
and before you could snap a finger they were running and we were after
them.”[9] The pursuit ended with the deaths of a number of the bandits. Exact
numbers were difficult to determine since several of the wounded
disappeared into the underbrush. In the pursuit, many of the outlaws dropped
stolen material they had with them, and much of it was recovered, including
the stolen horse that the leader had been riding.
It is likely that this was the first horseback gunfight for any of the men in their
careers. With this incident, Wright set a standard for his new company, and
the Rangers showed that they had the capability and tenacity to pursue and
deliver a deadly blow as successfully as their predecessors. The persistence
demonstrated by Wright and his men probably led to his being known as “El
Capitan Diablo” (the Devil Captain), the man who wouldn’t quit on a scout.
In June 1919, the Ranger force was reduced in size, and Company K became
Company D. The force settled in for what some thought was an uncertain
future. One more incident in 1919 served notice that the world was still a very
unsettled place for Will Wright. He was a cigar smoker and was seldom
without some of his favorites. On a recent scout, however, he had run out of
cigars, and some of the Rangers had supplied him with a bag of Lobo Negro
smoking tobacco. Will may have loved to smoke, but he was not very good
rolling his own. Frequently, one of the boys helped him.
When the Rangers finally got to Brownsville, Will made his stop for cigars and
then walked down the street to pick up the company mail at the post office,
which shared a facility with the Customs Office. It is doubtful that anyone
would have recognized him as a Ranger. There were no badges worn at that
time and, when in town, Will discouraged his men from wearing the heavy,
three-inch-wide border belts that supported both pistol and rifle ammo. As
Will walked along, he must have looked like a small man in glasses going to
get the mail.
Exactly what happened next is up for question, to some extent. Will came out
of the building and down the stairs to the sidewalk, smoking his cigar. He
noticed a man named Davilla, who had been variously described as drunk,
high on marijuana, or just cross. Davilla may have been throwing rocks at
someone or something because Will, after looking around for a police officer,
told him to “calm down and to behave himself.”[10] Davilla pulled a short
knife and stabbed Will with it. The blade hung up in the bag of Lobo Negro
tobacco, which Will would normally never have carried. Shocked, but still
puffing on his cigar, he pulled his pistol and fired one time, hitting Davilla in
the body. The heavy slug knocked the man down, but he got back up. Will
fired again, striking him in the head and ending the encounter. Will later
stated, “I don’t know why that crazy scoundrel jumped on me? I never saw
him before.”[11] Will was not indicted, but the incident was typical of the
degree of violence found on the border. And this violence was about to
increase.
In 1917, Congress passed the eighteenth amendment to the Constitution, and
it was ratified by the states in 1919. By January 17, 1920, the law was in place
that forbade the manufacture or sale of alcohol in the United States. This was
followed by the Volstead Act, which defined intoxicating liquor and forbade its
consumption. The enforcement of the act proved to be extraordinarily
difficult.
The attempt to legislate morality required that liquor and sin had to go
somewhere else. In Texas, it went to Mexico. Several distilleries and breweries
moved their entire operations south of the border and, almost immediately,
the complexity of crime on the border changed. For the first time in recent
memory, alcohol was being smuggled into the United States.
There was a need to increase the manpower of the various police
organizations that enforced the law. When that happened, a number of men
were recruited into law enforcement who were very good, but there were
others who should not have chosen that line of work. Some of them
considered themselves underpaid, which made them prone to bribery, and
some did not believe that liquor should be banned. Additionally, there was the
issue of public attitude. While the citizens voted “dry,” they frequently lived
“wet.” This led to a general disrespect for the law and the acceptance of
bootleggers as, if not useful members, certainly necessary members of the
community. Whatever the attitudes of individuals were, one thing remained
clear: the Rangers had a law to enforce.
For the Texas Rangers of Company D, the first month of 1920 began a time of
work such as they had never seen before. The company was stationed at
Laredo and had most of the lower border to patrol. At its largest, the
enrollment of the company was sixteen men. The makeup of the group
changed when some members left to serve in other law enforcement bodies
or other assignments were made. The leadership, however, remained stable,
with Will Wright as captain. From 1920 until mid-1922, Will’s sergeant was
John Edds. By February 1922, Edds had been replaced by Jack Webb.
Company D was arguably the most successful of the Ranger companies
employed against the smugglers, who were a vast collection of experienced
criminals. Many of these offenders had plied their trade for years and were
known on both sides of the border through wanted posters and corridos, the
border ballads dedicated to the men who fought against the law. The
Americans called them bootleggers or horsebackers. Depending on the part
of the state you were in, you might hear tequileros or mescaleros, names
originating from the product they hauled. These smugglers could be ten or
seventy-five years old. They could be hiding one or two bottles under their
coats or bringing fifty quarts wrapped in tules (broadleaf grasses) on the back
of a horse.
Smuggling became a major moneymaking operation. For the average worker
in the United States, the per capita income in 1925 was $1,236.00. Whatever
the income was south of the border, it was definitely less. Tequila, mescal, or
a suitable substitute sold for twenty-five to fifty cents a quart in Mexico, and it
would be sold in the United States for four to fifteen dollars a bottle. The profit
from one trip could exceed a year’s income for a Texas farmer. For a Mexican
farmer, the profit was almost unimaginable.
Of course, all of the money made wasn’t profit. Funds had to be spent on
stock, bribery of local law enforcement and ranchers, protection provided by
pistoleros, bribes to ranchers, and ammunition. Initially, smugglers would
rarely fight it out with law enforcement but, as the profits rose, use of
pistoleros to guard the train also began to increase. The profits increased as
the demand in the United States increased. Even with greater costs, one trip
could still provide more money than a person might see in a lifetime, and the
return trip could be equally profitable. On the trail back, supplies from the
States were smuggled into Mexico. When a successful smuggler returned
home, he came back with not only money but also flour, sugar, ammunition,
guns, or anything else that was scarce in Mexico.
The major operators generally followed a pattern. Contact would be made with
bootleggers on the American side, generally as far north as Freer, San Diego,
or Benavides. San Diego was a major distribution point, known as a prime
source for gambling and bootlegging. Much of the distribution occurred
outside of San Diego at a place called El Alto. From there, the liquor would be
transported by car to San Antonio, Dallas, or Fort Worth. The most frequently
used crossings were found in Hidalgo and Starr Counties. The tequileros
utilized low-water crossings near La Grulla and Roma, as well as others near
the village of Zapata in Zapata County. While these were the most commonly
used, any crossing was fair game.
Horses or mules were used in these crossings, and this provided a seldomacknowledged problem for the ranchers. The animals from Mexico had
usually not been dipped for ticks, while the animals on the American side
generally had been. The movement of large groups of animals brought
disease back into pastures that had recently been cleared. In an attempt to
placate ranchers, many of the smugglers would leave a few bottles of booze
at the sites where they had pulled staples to lay down a fence so that they
could cross a pasture. Less willing to make friends, others cut fences, leaving
the stock to wander and mix with that of the neighbors. The reaction from the
ranchers was mixed toward the tequileros who crossed their places, but
cooperation between law enforcement and the ranchers improved after
shootings occurred that involved smugglers and cowboys on some of the
remote ranches.
While liquor was the key element in the smuggling, the other essential was
water. Transporting the illegal booze required horses and mules, and they
needed food and water. The average trips ranged from between 125 and 250
miles, depending on how much circling and backtracking was necessary to
avoid the law enforcement. Therefore, smugglers had to know the locations of
water tanks, creeks, springs, and seeps in order to provide the animals and
men with drink. It was impossible for the law enforcement to station people at
every water source, so it was a constant case of watching and cutting for
sign. Both sides used people who knew the territory. Every band of
horsebackers who crossed the river had a guia, or guide, who knew the
country. Many had cowboyed in the area, and quite a few had been part-time
cattle and horse thieves, so they knew the ins and outs of the pastures. They
could locate the water tanks, windmills, and water troughs that could be used
to sustain life in the brasada (brush country). For the Rangers, an experienced
tracker was a necessity as important as their rifles.
There were a number of police organizations working on the Texas border,
including the Border Patrol, Mounted Customs Service, prohibition officers,
local sheriffs, and police. The Rangers of Company D were assigned to four
counties: Jim Hogg, Starr, Hidalgo, and Zapata. These counties represented
the primary area of smuggling for South Texas, and Company D was the
mainstay as far as state law enforcement was concerned.
The Rangers looked like anyone else in the heavy brush country. They
dressed like cowboys of the area, with jackets of duck and heavy leggings or
chaps. They did not wear badges, but they carried state warrants in folding
leather wallets as their authority. The absence of uniform and badge may have
had a down side since anyone could claim to be a Ranger. This may have lead
to some of the civilian abuses, which have been piled at the door of los
Rinches (Rangers) for generations. Will worked with his men to impress upon
them the importance of avoiding bloodshed as much as possible in the
enforcement of the law. Despite the training, Company D was involved in a lot
of gunfights.
Interdiction of the smugglers would take careful planning, and Will Wright was
professional enough to realize this. He created a system that would allow him
to be successful in a large territory. By keeping his men inland, away from the
border, he was able to pick and choose which trails to follow. Ignoring the
smaller groups and concentrating on the larger smugglers, he would be able
to maximize the impact of his tiny force. Staying on the isolated ranches, he
could limit how much the smugglers’ intelligence network could pick up about
his location. Both Rangers and horsebackers learned the backcountry
between the isolated ranches, oil camps, water tanks, and tiny settlements
with no names.
Headquarters for the company was wherever Will was. It could be the clearing
that the men found themselves in at night or the rented buildings on isolated
ranches.[12] The Rangers in Company D set up a procedure that they followed
with little variation for the first few years of the interdiction process. They set
up camps on ranches in the area: Los Ojuelos in Webb County, the San
Antonio Viejo ranch in Jim Hogg County, and the Agua Dulce southwest of
Hebbronville. From these sites, the Rangers could move with a degree of
confidence because they knew the land, had access to telephones to keep in
contact with each other, and were close to roads that allowed them to be
supplied by the one-ton Ford truck that Will had somehow acquired to act as a
combination chuck wagon and supply vehicle. The men were subject to the
appropriations of the legislature and, as such, seemed constantly running
short of ammunition and supplies. They hunted deer on their scouts to
supplement rations.[13]
Both smugglers and law enforcement used informers. From the information
they received, the Rangers decided that it would be more productive to try to
pick up the smugglers further inland, allowing them to make an entry and
commit themselves to a particular direction and plan of action. Will sent men
in pairs to ride east and west to cut for sign on the smugglers’ tails. (“Cut for
sign” is a commonly used expression describing the process of tracking.)
Trackers watched for brush with broken branches, fresh animal waste,
evidence of a number of shod or unshod hoof prints in column, and
indications at water tanks that a large number of animals had water.
Several men worked as trackers for Company D, but usually it was Frank
Smith,[14] a member of the Customs Service, whose brother Warren was a
Company D Ranger. Smith had an extraordinary ability to read the subtleties
of the land disturbed by the outlaws’ passing, and his skill brought the
Rangers into contact with the tequileros a number of times. When the trail
was located, the Rangers gathered as many of their number as they could.
They then loaded the pack mules and set out in pursuit, not knowing how
long the trail might be or how much food and ammunition it might take before
finding the bandits. It was not unusual for them to run out of both.
Beginning in February 1920, Will and Company D began a rigorous pursuit of
the horsebackers. Despite being unable to count on a constant supply of
ammunition or state warrants to pay for food and lodging, Will pressed hard.
On September 21, 1920, he got into a running fight with twelve tequileros near
Conception, leaving four of the outlaws dead. Following both his training and
his desire that enforcement be carried out to the letter of the law, he left the
dead in the field until a justice of the peace could arrive on the scene and
make a legal pronouncement. As for the captured liquor, the policy adopted in
the field was that the bottles were examined, counted, and then destroyed
where they had been taken. This was generally accomplished by throwing the
bottles on the ground, breaking them against one another, and setting fire to
the tules and packing material.[15]
In addition to working the backcountry, the Rangers began to stop
automobiles, which led to a protest from the district attorney from Alice, S. H.
Woods. He declared that the stops were illegal. Will responded to him, but no
action was taken. However, there are no other records of the men of Company
D having problems of this sort with local law enforcement.
For the remainder of the year, the Rangers scouted the backcountry and had
multiple run-ins with the outlaws. Both the smugglers and the Rangers
continued to sharpen their skills. The opposing sides began to recognize
each other and to comment about what would happen if a chance encounter
might take place. On February 25, 1921, Company D came across a group of
smugglers. Captain Wright reported: “There wasn’t a shot fired by anyone. We
were told they would never give up alive but when they saw us, all that talk
went up in smoke.”[16] The Rangers were getting a reputation, and the
reputation was going to get bigger.
In March 1921, Company D responded to problems in Rio Grande City, moving
almost en masse to shut down a prostitution ring and to arrest twenty
bootleggers. The men then moved on to Weslaco to reduce the levels of sin
and vice in that city. But it was in November 1921 that the company made
what may be the largest interception of bootleggers in Texas history. Perhaps
acting from a tip or from his scouts, Will and a group of his men hit the brush.
Riding with Captain Wright were Rangers Bill Miller, Juan Gonzales, Charlie
Wright, Jack Webb, John Edds, and Hubert Brady, and tracker Frank Smith.
On November 17, 1921, the men were involved in a running fight with
smugglers sixty miles west of Hebbronville at a place called Colorado
Chiquita. After a five-mile chase, they captured three of the horsebackers and
eighteen horses.
On November 18, two Rangers, two customs agents, and Will fought with a
group of smugglers near Brunei, forty miles east of Laredo. Two smugglers,
eight hundred bottles of tequila, and seventeen horses were captured, all
being taken to Laredo. Almost immediately, the Rangers picked up another
trail.
Will moved his men quickly. He traveled light and moved his supplies by
truck, reducing the amount of weight on the horses and allowing the men to
concentrate on the opposition without concern about supplies or surviving in
the rough country. The bandits they were pursuing were moving quickly as
well, leaving a broad trail. Will estimated that there must be twelve to fifteen
smugglers with their horses, meaning the odds favored the smugglers over
the Rangers. Company D cut through the country to the Bernaina Ranch in
Duval County. Years later, Will’s son Dogie recalled how his father described
the time leading up to the fight: “They [the Rangers] had a lot o’ fun, you
know, when they get on a trail that a way and they’ brag a little what they’s
gonna do and they’re gonna ride right among ’em and whip ‘em with a
quirt.”[17]
The men crossed on to the Jim Gibson ranch, and the mood changed quickly
when they realized how close they were to the smugglers. Most of the
ranchers used a float system to control water levels in horse troughs, and the
Rangers found the trough had not filled. They knew then that the end of the
pursuit was near. As with any combat situation, the bravado disappeared, and
the men focused on the business at hand. A constant worry involved being
hurt far from any medical care. Will assured his men that he would take care
of them, and they knew he was a man of his work. Dogie recalled those
moments before a fight: “You begin to think about your families a little bit, but
after the first shot is fired, all that’s gone and those men demonstrated their
ability as real guerilla fighters”.[18]
Those abilities were needed. In the fight that followed, the Rangers moved
into position and found the tequileros resting, not expecting a fight. As was
Will’s custom, he called out for the smugglers to surrender. The fight started
immediately. When it was over, the Rangers had collected 3,700 quarts of
liquor and 37 horses. The bandits all escaped to Mexico. “I am very sorry all
those men escaped, Will reported, “but they will have something to remember
from the Rangers.”[19]
Between November 17 and 22, the Rangers had collected over 5,000 quarts of
alcohol, more than 45 horses, and an unrecorded number of weapons. There
were no Rangers lost. Will and his company were able to head into a New
Year feeling proud of their accomplishments. But more were on the way.
When 1922 dawned, it brought the usual assortment of scouting and
reassignments, so Company D must have been busy throughout the spring.
Will requested rifles from Captain Roy Aldrich in Austin, and he asked some
modifications, which certainly included cutting back the barrels to sixteen
inches or less to make them more manageable in the brush. Acknowledging
the great number of Jo Tumlinson’s descendents in the Ranger organization,
Aldrich later commented, “Have shipped the three guns to Captain Wright and
trust that they will reach you promptly. Petmecky has named them the
‘Tumlinson Carbine’.”[20]
Business continued to pick up for the Rangers. On July 1, 1922, a strike was
called on all railroads in Texas by the Federated Shop Craft Union. Because
the strike reached all across the United States, the railroad ownership
requested help from both the federal and state governments. Due to the
unrest and violence associated with the walkout, martial law was declared on
July 26 in Dennison, and the entire Ranger force was assigned there. The men
of Company D arrived, and their roles changed from those of horseback
warriors in a near guerilla campaign to that of city policemen facing people
who could very well be their neighbors. Despite the change in surroundings,
most of the men enjoyed the trip because they got away from camp cooking
and were exposed to the seductions of clean clothes and regular baths.
Will now had a new sergeant by the name of Jack Webb. Webb was a large
man with little tolerance for people who did not show the proper respect for
the Rangers or his captain. When the company moved to Cleburne to reduce
the strike-related violence there, Webb made an impression on at least one
striker. The Rangers ate at a boarding house near the Pullman car they slept
in. The strikers had established themselves on a corner near the boarding
house with the intent of intimidating the U.S. marshals, who were also
providing security. Will and the company were told to avoid the strikers’
corner in order to avoid trouble, but these were men whose jobs involved
trouble every day. The Rangers walked to the boarding house by a route that
brought them directly by the strikers. Several of the protesters began to taunt
the men, who had Will and Jack Webb as the first pair in the column. Will
never said a word, but Jack pulled his single-action Colt and slammed it
across the head of the man doing most of the talking. There is no record of
any other problem faced by the Rangers from then on as they went back and
forth to eat.
The Rangers and the Texas National Guard initially camped out in Dennison.
Before all the controversy was over, they had set up in twenty different towns.
Literally overnight, the Ranger force increased from 46 men in July to near
500 in August. This number was reduced by the end of September to 386 men.
The politics continued to bother Will, who insisted to anyone who would listen
that the place for his men was on the border.
Events in Mirando City proved him correct. The company moved back to the
border to deal with the lawlessness brought about by the discovery of oil and
the influx of bootleggers, gamblers, prostitutes, and other folk who followed
the money. Will decided quickly that the local law enforcement could handle
the flood of evildoers, and he returned the company to life in the backcountry.
Captain Wright went back to the life of the horseback Ranger and, as usual,
brought some innovation with him. He continued to use his small truck to
provide flexibility for the Rangers, but he also elected to utilize captured
equipment. When the state had provided three pack mules, Will used captured
bootlegger mules. He also bought one at auction and was given another that
had been captured in fights on the border. He was as particular about his
mules as he was about anything else. He oversaw the packing of these
animals, taking great care that they not be abused. The mules carried most of
the foodstuffs and ammunition and, by 1922, they were also packed with a
little extra ordinance: two Thompson submachine guns.[21] The state
government had apparently come to believe the truism that there is no
practical substitute for firepower.
Will, Sam Hensley, and Jesse Perez slipped into Corpus Christi in October to
provide backup for Frank Hamer and Headquarters Captain R.W. Aldrich in
disturbances that threatened to lead to mob violence. In a dispute over
election politics, the county sheriff had shot Fred Roberts, a local
businessman alleged to have Ku Klux Klan connections, and a standoff
ensued between factions supporting each group. Hamer and the other
Rangers were able to effect arrests and put an end to the problems before any
kind of violence exploded.
In November, Company D took part in a joint operation with Customs Service
personnel. They fought against horsebackers forty miles east of Laredo and
then turned south of Corpus Christi for a special assignment. This time, they
did not go against bootleggers; they faced organized gambling and
prostitution interests. The Rangers’ primary interests, however, were the
bootleggers on the border. This was made clear in December.
From December 1 to December 19, seven members of Company D, Frank
Smith of Customs, and Will Wright camped on the Jennings ranch in Zapata
County.[22] They had scouted and cut for sign, and their diligence was
rewarded when a large trail was discovered on December 19. The Rangers
loaded up their pack mules and took to the trail. By two in the afternoon, they
had found their quarry. The bootleggers had camped in order to rest for the
night’s journey, and they had unloaded most of their pack animals, leaving
their saddle horses ready to run. The site was a horseshoe-shaped rise with
the open part of the horseshoe facing the Rio Grande. Will divided his force
so that the underbrush would shelter the two groups of Rangers, and the
smugglers would be driven toward the closed end of the horseshoe. In the
brisk fight that ensued, three of the smugglers were killed, including leader
Severino (Silvano) Garcia, an experienced smuggler. During the conflict, Will
stood up for a better shot, and he and one of the smugglers had it out. “I
missed him,” said the captain, “but he cut down on me and hit a rock right by
me, stinging my face with fine gravel. I said, ‘Good God, I’ve got to shoot,’ and
I went down on them sights.”[23]
When the fight was over, Will and Frank Smith went to search for a telephone
to get in touch with the local justice of the peace. What they found was an oil
rig with a nervous driller. This man had spent the last few minutes on the
ground, trying to figure out what kind of war had started in the oil patch, why
no one had told him about it, and why everyone seemed to be shooting at his
oil rig. Will and Frank calmed the driller, contracted the justice of the peace,
and took stock. The fight resulted in the capture of 650 quarts of liquor, 3
mules, 5 horses, 3 new Winchester rifles, and 3 new Smith and Wesson
pistols. In a short time, the clash also inspired a fairly famous corrido titled
“Los Tequileros,” which maintained, in expected fashion, that not all of the
recently deceased were engaged in smuggling activities at all.[24] This
conflict became known as the Las Animas fight, and it was the last one for the
company in 1922. The long patrols were paying off, and the Rangers remained
a problem for the smugglers, who soon decided to even the score.
Will was in Austin five days after the Las Animas fight. He, all of the Rangers,
captains, and privates were to meet with Governor Pat Neff, who had spent
time moving around the state as an ardent supporter of prohibition. The
closed-door meeting that Neff had with the Rangers may have been an effort
to encourage tighter enforcement of the laws that were already losing some of
their luster. In one of the few reports from the meeting, Neff asked the
captains to tell how much liquor they had captured. With his usual colorful
language, Will responded that he didn’t know exactly how much liquor he had
confiscated, but he “[felt] safe in estimating that the amount [was] sufficient
to fill a deep well and overflow some.”[25] In summary, he pronounced that
his part of the border was quiet. It did not remain so indefinitely.
One of the marks of success in combating crime on the border was having a
bounty placed on your head. Will was very successful, and that brought at
least two attempts on his life. In April 1923, Customs and Immigration officers
pursued a group of horsebackers led by a man referred to as Pato de Palo, or
Wooden Foot. The officers rode through an ambush set up by these bandits,
who were convinced that Will and Company D were the pursuers. The
horsebackers were divided on both side of a low wash with a clear view of
their quarry. The lawmen did not see the bandits, so they did not fire. The
bandits kept quiet and let the Customs men go on their way. Later in the year,
Border Patrol agents captured one of the outlaws, who told the story to his
captors. In a typed letter to Will, the inspector in charge said, “It is probable
that this ambush was for you and your men and I quote this for your
information.” Scrawled across the bottom of the letter was the following
handwritten note: “This is for your information=mucho quidado=but if they
tackle you give them h—l.”[26] Had the bandits been setting up an ambush for
Will and the Rangers back in April? There is no way of knowing at this time,
but the letter bears witness that at least other members of the law
enforcement community recognized the high degree of efficiency that
Rangers were bringing to the fight.
By November, either the bootleggers changed their methods or they became
equally efficient. Rangers Juan Gonzales and Jesse Perez would have
normally been in the brush with the rest of the Rangers, but they were
assigned to work cattle theft cases. This seems to indicate that the booze
business was cooling a bit, at least in that part of South Texas.
January 1924 brought one more story to add to the legend of Company D. The
men received word that horsebackers had crossed the river and were headed
north. At the same time, a norther screamed off of the plains and brought with
it a drizzling rain that turned to sleet. A mixed company of Rangers and
Customs men took to the field. Roy Hearn, Jack Webb, John Salder, D. A.
Barter, Frank Smith, and Will Cotulla trailed the horsebackers through a
desert that had turned to ice. Ahead of them, the smugglers and their leaders,
Celso Garza Vela and Panteleon Villareal, were just as uncomfortable, but the
bandits knew where they were going. The pursuers didn’t. The Rangers
followed the usual procedure of cutting back on their trail and circling every
now and then. However, the time spent on this was reduced when the weather
turned so bad that the Rangers thought few people would be trailing them.
After two days, the bandits stole a calf from one of the outlying ranches,
started fires, and prepared for their first hot meal in a while. On January 5, as
they began to prepare their food, they heard an unexpected voice from the
brush calling, “Rindance! (Surrender!).” The Rangers had caught up. They
opened fire with the Thompson sub-machine guns that they had packed
through the ice storm. When it was over, nine bandits had fallen, several had
escaped, and another liquor cargo had been intercepted.
Successfully dealing with bootleggers was not the only task for the Rangers
of this era; dealing with politicians was equally important. Bandits could kill
you, but politicians could cut your funding. The political issues that were
emerging in Texas at that time involved the charismatic husband-and-wife
team of Jim and Miriam Ferguson. Jim had been elected governor in 1914. The
issue of prohibition was a hot one, and Ferguson ran as an anti-prohibitionist,
among other things. During his time in office, he was involved in several
controversial activities, but the one that got the most attention was vetoing
almost the entire appropriation for the University of Texas in 1916. He was
eventually indicted by the Travis County grand jury on several counts of theft,
and the Texas house brought impeachment charges against him. He was
found guilty. Whether the combined house and senate would have upheld that
finding is still up for discussion because Ferguson resigned the day before
the joint meeting. Although the impeachment findings declared that he could
not run for any public office again, he did attempt several campaigns. Then
Ferguson made a decision that would bring him undying notoriety in Texas
politics: he would let Miriam run for office, and he would be the advisor. It was
the first “two governors for the price of one” package in American history.
The election of 1924 developed as a race between pro- and anti-Ku Klux Klan
factions. The Fergusons came down on the side of the antis, and they were
swept into office by an electorate that was perhaps ready to try new directions
in a number of areas.
It is difficult to tell how much all of this affected Will. During the first Ferguson
administration, the Rangers had been expanded through the commissioning
of a number of Special Rangers, many of whom proved to be incompetent at
best or criminals at worst. It was Ferguson’s rough handling of the problems
on the border that contributed to the Bandit Wars of 1915. To make matters
worse, the Rangers became a political tool under his administration. The
Rangers had certainly been heavily influenced by politics before, but the
impact of Ferguson on the rank and file was tremendous. Instead of
communicating directly with a Ranger captain when help was requested,
sheriffs and mayors found their appeals for aid going to the governor. The
governor’s office became the seat of Ranger power, and this was not a
situation that could be tolerated by some of the older Rangers. It is likely that
their decisions to resign were made long before the actual election of
Ferguson’s wife. When Miriam Ferguson (and Jim, unofficially) won and was
inaugurated in January 20, 1925, there was no question about who was really
in charge. However, there was a question about whom the couple would be in
charge of. Will Wright would not be one of those people.
In his resignation, tendered April 1, 1925, Will made his position very clear: “I
am proud that I have served my beloved state as captain of Company D. I am
proud that I have served with some of the best men in Texas on the
border.”[27] There is no record of how he left the company. It must have been
an emotional time for those men who had faced danger and death together,
but the old devil captain was going home. There were a number of things in
which Will could take pride. In the time he and his men spent in the fight
against tequileros, he had never lost a man in the field, never had a man
wounded, and was never accused of abuse of a prisoner. Also, Company D
had captured more illegal liquor than any other Ranger unit. In the end, it was
not bullets but politics and pride that brought what Will thought was an end to
his career.
Captain Will Wright left Laredo riding a tall sorrel horse given to him by Bob
Sutton, a local rancher. He led his two pack mules, Rat and Lizzie, who had
started out their lives hauling illegal liquor. Will rode to Cotulla, Fowlerton,
Charlotte, Pleasanton, and then to Floresville. He returned to a home that he
had not seen much during the past seven years. When he had left, there were
still children in the house; now it was quiet with only Mollie and him there.
Will had to seek other employment because there was no retirement fund for
heroes. He worked as an officer in Robstown and also ran unsuccessfully for
sheriff. But the state that he loved was not through with him yet. When the
Fergusons left Austin in two years, Will Wright was called back to the
Rangers. And he went.
NOTES
1. W. W. Sterling, Trails and Trials of a Texas Ranger (Privately printed, 1959),
47.
2. Ibid.
3. “Ranger of Old Days is Dead,” Fort Worth Star Telegram (March 8, 1942).
Wright commented that this advice had been his creed, but he admitted that
his “greatest misfortune” was his involvement with prominent people who
had run afoul of the law.
4. Will carried a number of weapons, including at least two single-action .45s
that were engraved. One was given to him by the citizens of Corpus Christi,
and the other was presented at a barbeque in Sutherland Springs in 1907.
Both had pearl grips which, despite the comments of an obscure four-star
general in World War II, many real lawmen carried. Will’s was a 5 ½-inch,
engraved, single-action Colt. One of his rifles was an 1895 Winchester in 3006, which he had cut down. He then switched to a chopped 1894 Winchester.
This weapon had started out as a rifle-length firearm but was cut down to 1516 inches probably about the time Will returned to the Rangers in 1918.
Ammunition problems were simplified if everyone had the same caliber
weapon. The ’94 kicked a little less than the ’95 in 30-06, which was a weapon
reputed to “get meat on both ends.” The ’95 is in a museum in San Antonio,
the .45 and the cut-down ’94 are in the Texas Ranger Hall of Fame.
5. When Will was first sheriff, John Edds had been a supporter. He provided
backup for the sheriff on several occasions despite the fact that he had a
badly injured leg, the result of an accident that occurred while reloading
ammunition. Will’s son Dogie recalled that Edds had had to fight a lot and was
not adverse to it. Edds’ mother was Hispanic, and his ability with the language
provided invaluable to Will. Unfortunately, Edds was involved in several
incidents that resulted in at least one death of a prisoner and a civilian. In the
1920s, Will and he ended their professional and personal relationship. Edds
continued in law enforcement in a number of areas, ending his career as a
guard at Kelly AFB in San Antonio. He died in 1956.
6. Charles H. Harris III and Louis R. Sadler, The Texas Rangers and the
Mexican Revolution (Albuquerque, University of New Mexico Press, 2004),
471.
7. Sterling, 412.
8. “Rangers account for 5 of Robber Gang,” Dallas Morning News( March 9,
1918).
9. Walter Prescott Webb, The Texas Rangers (New York: Houghton Mifflin,
1935), 510.
10. Sterling, 413.
11. Ibid.
12. Maude T. Gilliland, Horsebackers of the Brush Country (Brownsville,
Texas: Springman-King Company, 1968), 46. The memoirs of Don Gilliland,
one of the Wright Rangers, make up a large part of Horsebackers of the Brush
Country. It is perhaps one of the best firsthand accounts of the Rangers and
the tequileros
13. Wright to Captain R. W. Aldrich, Dec.10, 1920. Archives of the Big Bend,
Bryan Wildenthal Memorial Library, Sul Ross State University, Alpine, Texas.
14. Frank Smith had a long career in law enforcement, first in Customs and
later as a game warden. In a conversation with this author in 2003, a friend of
Smith’s related that, in one of the gunfights with the horsebackers, Smith
decided not to shoot. Instead, he roped one of the outlaws and presented him
to Captain Wright. Wright was not amused.
15. Gilliland, 39.
16. Wright to Barton, February 28, 1921. Ranger Records. Texas State
Archives, Austin.
17. E. A. (Dogie) Wright, A Life in Law Enforcement, (University of Texas at
Austin, Center for American History). Tape 7.
18. Ibid.
19. Sadler and Harris, 499. Quotation from letter of Will Wright to Captain R.
W. Aldrich.
20. Captain R. W. Aldrich to Hubert Brady, April 13, 1922. Archives of the Big
Bend, Bryan Wildenthal Memorial Library, Sul Ross State University, Alpine,
Texas. The “Petmecky” mentioned was Jake Petmecky’s Hardware on
Congress Avenue in Austin. It is speculation, but the Tumlinson carbine was
probably a ’94 Winchester with the barrel bobbed to fifteen or sixteen inches.
21. Gilliland, 51.
22. Gilliland, 36. Gilliland lists the Rangers on this scout as Captain Wright,
Ben Tumlinson, Jack Webb, Don Gilliland, Hubert Brady, W. S. Peterson, and
Jesse Perez.
23. Webb, 556.
24. Homero S. Vera, “Los Tequileros,” El Mesteno 3.29 (Feb 2000), 18. Vela
makes the case that, in the corrido, at least one of the men had not been
involved in smuggling.
25. San Antonio Express (December 29, 1922), 1.
26. John R. Peavey, Echoes from the Rio Grande (Brownsville: SpringmanKing, 1963), 226. The meaning of mucho quidado is “(be) very careful.”
Rangers Today
Visitor Info
History
Research Center
Hall of Fame
Student Help
Family History
News
Tribute to America
Click Here for
A Complete Index
to All Back Issues
The American Patriot
Association recently formed a
chapter in Longview, Texas, as
a tribute to America. This July
4, they paid tribute to our
armed services, police, and
firefighters. As their first
keynote speaker, they selected
retired Texas Ranger Glenn
Elliott, who was honored that
he was chosen.
Dispatch Home
Visit our nonprofit
Museum Store!
Contact the Editor
Below are excerpts from
his speech, Happy 230th
Birthday America:
When Paul Gorman invited me to speak, he told me it was for the
American Patriot Association of East Texas. How could any
American refuse? His request: “Say a few words honoring our
public servants––police and sheriff officers and firefighters.
Include working relations with the citizens they represent.”
Maybe after thirty-eight years in the saddle, I qualify.
Being a public servant today, you face more adversities than we
did; sometimes, I think we ask too much. Then I realize you are a
special breed of men and women who hang together to serve
and protect, who know the challenges well, and who are ready to
accept them.
I’m reminded of what Benjamin Franklin said at the signing of the
Declaration of Independence: “We must indeed hang together or
must assuredly hang separate.” We, in our field, have hung
together a long time. The Texas Rangers have been providing
homeland security since 1823. I feel safe in this community, and
safe communities build strong states. Strong states build strong
nations.
Throughout all my career, I was reminded and reminded others:
“Don’t forget who you work for—the citizens of Texas and
America.” We could never get the job done without citizens’
involvement. It’s you, the citizens, who report criminal matters to
us. It’s you who sit on juries to set punishment for those who
break the law. By doing this, you send a message to those who
break the law.
http://www.texasranger.org/dispatch/20/tribute/Tribute.htm (1 of 2) [4/30/2009 11:08:26 PM]
You get the kind of law enforcement you demand. I am pleased
with what I read and hear about church leaders, citizens, elected
officials, and police agencies hanging together in our area to
fight crime.
I must remind you public servants that our job in never done. On
June 23, [2006], I found myself back on the witness stand for
some three and a half hours in twenty-three old capital murder
cases, and I have been retired for eighteen years. [This is the
infamous Kentucky Fried Chicken murder case where five men
and women were kidnapped out of the local KFC in Kilgore,
Texas, taken to an oil well in a remote part of the oil field, and all
shot in the back of their heads.]
Today, we have the best educated, best trained, and best
equipped public servants we have ever had. My hat is off to all of
you.
Dispatch
Jr. Rangers
Corporate Club
Museum Store
Exhibits/Artifacts
Benefactors
http://www.texasranger.org/dispatch/20/tribute/Tribute.htm (2 of 2) [4/30/2009 11:08:26 PM]
Rangers Today
Visitor Info
Click Here for
A Complete Index
to All Back Issues
Dispatch Home
Visit our nonprofit
History
Research Center
Hall of Fame
Student Help
Family History
News
The Keep Ranch Fight
by Eddie Matney
INTRODUCTION
Museum Store!
Contact the Editor
In the year of 1870, as in the past, the state of Texas was in
desperate trouble. There were Mexican bandits and Indian raids
from across the Rio Grande River. All along the northwestern frontier, there were
also raids by Indians coming in from the western plains and from the Indian
Territory across the Red River.
Texas, along with the other secession states, had been under a Reconstructiontype state government since the end of Civil War in 1865. Ever fearful of more
rebellious movements springing up in the Lone Star State, the United States
government ordered all armed organized units or companies to be dissolved and
mustered out of service. This law caused the state and its frontier counties to
lose their Ranger and militia companies, which had provided very good service
in controlling the movements of Indian raiding parties. In return, the U.S. military
began placing cavalry and infantry companies in forts and posts throughout the
state.
In the period from 1866 to 1870, many skirmishes and small-scale fights with
Indian bands were recorded. The military forces suffered from being
undermanned, ill clothed, and inferiorly armed. Since there was not enough
cavalry manpower to put in the field for patrols, the intruding Indians were
usually able to get by the patrols or were able to commit their criminal acts and
escape before troops could get to the scene. Also, the military used single-shot
carbines against the usually superior firepower of the Indians.
On July 30, 1867, Texas Governor James Throckmorton was removed from
office. The state was then placed under military jurisdiction, administrated by
General Phillip Sheridan in command of the Fifth Military District, headquartered
in New Orleans. Texas continued in this situation until 1869, when Edmund J.
Davis won a close election for governor. He was generally considered a poor
leader by Texas citizens of that period, but he had to follow the unpopular
Reconstruction laws dictated by the United States Congress and the Army
commanders.
With the election of Davis, Texas was finally allowed to pass laws to form Ranger
companies and local militia units for protection against Indian raids, which were
once again becoming a severe danger to the citizens of the frontier counties.
The combined Ranger units were known as the Frontier Forces, and separate
groups were placed along the counties extending from the Rio Grande River
north to the Red River.
http://www.texasranger.org/dispatch/20/Keep%20Ranch%20Fight/Keep_Ranch_Fight.htm (1 of 10) [4/30/2009 11:08:41 PM]
One of these Ranger units was designated as Company F, formed in late 1870. It
was composed of young men from the counties of Gonzales, Caldwell,
Guadalupe, and Bexar. Company officers were Captain D. P. Baker and
Lieutenant Asa Hill. After selecting sergeants and corporals, the company was
formed up, totaling fifty-two men.
Although each new recruit was required to supply his own mount, personal gear,
and six-shot sidearm, the state supplied the men with the Winchester model
1866 carbine. This gun was a lever-action, caliber .44, rim-fire, Henry carbine,
which carried thirteen shells when fully loaded.
Given orders to take position near the Red River, the whole company moved out
from its recruitment station just northwest of San Antonio on November 19. The
command traveled northwest, accompanied by two wagons carrying camp
supplies and food. About sixty miles below Fort Griffin, the men were suddenly
caught in a severe norther, the weather turning bitterly cold with a driving sleet.
Suffering from lowering food supplies and little protection from the cold, a few of
them caught colds or pneumonia. Eventually, the company gratefully reached
Fort Griffin for rest and re-supply. The Rangers then moved out, traveling north
over frozen ground, and at times, through blowing snowstorms. Finally, they
passed by old Fort Belknap, located in Young County, and arrived at Fort
Richardson on December 19, 1870. The next day, the command moved into Wise
County to a location on Big Sandy Creek, just west of the present community of
Alvord. Here they set up their permanent campsite and named it Thompsonville
Station.
After settling in, Captain Baker ordered patrols to begin the search for signs of
Indians when weather permitted. For a few weeks, little was discovered. Around
the middle of January, the weather began to clear off and the snow started
melting, which allowed easier patrol duty.
Hearing of Indian depredations in Montague County, Captain Baker ordered
eighteen men under Sergeant E. H. Cobb to ride up into the northern part of
Montague County. Here they set up a new campsite from which to operate, and
they christened it Perryman Station. For several days, the Rangers were
occupied with camp duties and patrols but had very little sight of Indian
problems.
Early in the morning on February 7, a local citizen named Hinson rapidly rode
into camp. He notified the Rangers of an Indian attack on Riddle’s Ranch, about
ten miles away on Clear Creek, during which several saddle horses had been
stolen. Sergeant Cobb ordered the men who had good horses to saddle up, and
a detail of eleven Rangers and Hinson were soon on their way. Arriving at the
ranch, they were informed that approximately twenty Indians had stolen horses
and then departed, heading southeast. Some of the Indians were on foot.
At this point, another local settler joined the little force. His name was John
Harvell, and he was known as a fine tracker. Hoping that the Indians would travel
at a leisurely pace, Sergeant Cobb guessed that, with hard riding, his men might
catch up with the raiding party out on the open range of the prairie. The group
set out at a rapid rate, with Harvell in the lead, and they followed the trail of the
raiding party across the rolling swells of the prairie. Mile after mile they rode,
with no sign of the Indians. Soon, the toil of the pursuit began to show on the
horses, and the men became strung out. Finally, one of the horses gave out,
forcing one Ranger to reluctantly turn back and return to camp. The remaining
ten Rangers and two citizens rode on.
Around noon, the Rangers discovered a butchered cow that the raiding party
had killed and partially eaten. Finding no Indians, the Rangers rode hard and
entered Wise County, where they passed an utterly exhausted horse left by the
warriors. Sensing that they were closing in on the party, the men galloped
forward across the prairie on flagging horses.
Later in the afternoon, the Rangers spied a very unwelcome sign. Another
raiding party of Indians had come from the west and joined the fleeing band that
the Rangers were following. After discussing the situation, it was agreed to keep
on going.
After six or seven miles of following the trail, the Rangers came upon a large
swell. Harvell, in the lead, and Sergeant Cobb suddenly stopped. The men had
ridden about forty miles since leaving camp. It was late in the afternoon, with
about two and a half hours remaining of sunlight. As the strung-out men rode up
and gathered around, they looked southeast. In front of them was the head of
North Hickory Creek. On the other side, approximately 600 yards away in the low
ground between the swells, was the now larger raiding party the Rangers had
been following.
THE KEEP RANCH FIGHT
Unknown to the Rangers, they had ridden up
on a war party of Kiowas and Comanches.
The Kiowas were led by Sittanke, a nephew
of old Sittanke, who was a terror of North
Texas settlers. The Comanches were headed
by Oska Horseback.
As the little band of ten Rangers and two
citizens gazed out at the Indians, they
perhaps felt that little tinge of fear from such
a large number of wildly painted braves.
However, the boys wanted a fight, so they
dismounted, checked their tired horses, and inspected the loads in their firearms.
The Indians had not posted any lookouts, so they were caught by surprise. They
glared up towards the little band of Texans and began shouting loud yells and
whoops. Those with horses begin to mount up.
Sergeant Cobb counted forty-one warriors. About half of them had horses, while
the others were afoot. Many were armed with rifles, and a few even had pistols.
Each brave carried a tough, painted shield of rawhide, which a bullet would not
penetrate at a distance. They also carried bows, arrows, and an occasional
lance. This war party was well armed, and the sergeant perceived that they were
not going to retreat or leave the field.
Shaking their shields or weapons and making terrible yelling noises, individual
braves began to make short advances towards the Rangers. Presently, one of
the warriors rode to the top of the prairie swell behind the party to see if there
were any more of the white men behind the rise. Satisfied that there were not, he
rode back to his fellow Indians and stated his findings: that small group of
Texans was all there was.
Besides the forty rounds of carbine ammunition each of the Rangers carried,
Sergeant Cobb had extra cartridges in his saddlebags, and he handed these out
to his men. The sergeant and Harvell had a hurried discussion as to where there
might be nearby aid. Harvell suggested that there might be two or three men at
the old Keep Ranch house, about three miles to the east. Before the Civil War,
two Keep brothers had built the house for use by their cowmen, but it had been
abandoned for some time. However, it was occasionally used temporarily by
traveling settlers crossing over the prairie. It was agreed that Harvell would ride
for help while the eleven other Rangers tried to keep the raiders in check until
his return. The men mounted their horses and watched as their messenger rode
off. The Indians watched, too, but offered no resistance to Harvell’s passing.
Now prepared and shouting words of defiance, the little band of Rangers began
to ride down the hill, moving a little farther east and nearer to the yelling Indians.
The Rangers moved closer to the north bank of the creek, described as
“resembling a ditch or washed-out road, more than a creek.”
Several of the mounted warriors made mock charges toward the men. As the
Rangers raised their carbines to fire, the braves stopped and returned to the
main force. Realizing that the Texans were going to fight, the Indian band moved
back a few hundred feet to the crest of the next hill, where they formed in a line
of battle. The warriors on foot stood alongside those on horses. Although the
Indians were a frightful and imposing sight, the Rangers knew that, in all
probability, they had not fought anyone having the new repeating rifles. The men
felt that the Winchester carbines would somewhat equalize the fight.
The Indian party now sat quietly and almost motionless. All their painted faces
looked towards the little band of men, watching to see what came next.
In spite of making taunting motions and yells, Sergeant Cobb and his men could
not draw an attack. Someone suggested a charge, so the Rangers crossed the
creek and galloped their horses toward the center of the warrior line. Realizing
that help could not arrive before nightfall, the men knew that there was no hope
of retreat or of taking prisoners by either side. It was to be a fight to the death.
When the Rangers were about eighty yards from the line, they saw that the
Indians were going to fire. The men suddenly reined to a halt, dismounted, and
dropped to the ground. Bullets whistled over their heads and into the ground
but, astonishingly, not a man or horse was hit in this first volley.
As the Ranger force returned the fire, the combined war party suddenly made
their charge down the slope of the swell towards the men. A. J. Sowell, one of
the Rangers in the fight, described the charge:
The Indians evidently were not aware that we were armed with
repeating rifles, and it seemed, were trying to run in on us, before
we could reload; as they generally did the settlers. But we gave
them two more rounds, in quick succession. Some of our balls
cracking loudly, on their dry buffalo hide shields, and they fell back
in some confusion. One horse, having been killed, and evidently,
some of them Indians wounded, from their actions. One of them
went off into the prairie, and remained alone, some distance from
the fight.
After regrouping, the warriors again charged. Those on horseback went around
either side of the Rangers while the braves on foot made a straight-on rush. The
mounted Indians leaned over on the side of their horses, thus presenting very
little target for the Ranger guns but also resulting in inaccurate fire from the
warriors. Spreading out, the little force of Rangers was able to drive back several
charges. There was much noise and gunfire, but beyond a few horses being hit,
little damage was done by either side.
With another determined attack, the Rangers killed one brave and one horse. As
yet, none of the Rangers or their mounts had received any serious wounds. It
would seem that the Indian plan was to wear down the men with repeated
attacks and then finish them off with a determined rush. However, their charges
were not coming in close because of the almost constant fire from the repeating
rifles of the Rangers.
The skirmish had now been raging for almost an hour and a half, and the sun
was getting low in the western sky. The noise of the fighting combatants rose
over the prairie, while the smoke from the guns lay heavy in the air. Sergeant
Cobb then made the decision to move the men back for better protection,
perhaps 400 yards to the hill behind them. Still firing to hold back the Kiowa and
Comanche warriors, the men mounted and began to move to the low ridge.
The Indian braves saw the hated Texans riding off toward the north and thought
they were giving up the fight. Launching another determined attack, the raiders
soon closed in.
Ranger Gus Hasroot was bringing up the rear of the command because his wornout horse was moving very slowly. He looked back and found a warrior
advancing to spear him. Swinging his carbine and firing a lucky shot, Hasroot
thankfully saw the Indian fall from his horse, dead. The men, noticing Gus’
situation, wheeled their horses and returned to give him protection.
As the mounted braves rode around the Rangers, the warriors on foot came up
shooting. Again, there was a lively fight as the Indians now pressed their attack
hard. Several wounds were inflicted on both sides.
Billy Sorrells, only sixteen years of age, was hit in the left side by a pistol shot.
Though seriously wounded and bleeding badly, he dismounted and continued to
shoot from behind his horse. He continued to fight until he was no longer able to
stand and was forced to lie down.
Osca Horseback, the Comanche leader, gathered his men and made another
close charge. Several Rangers fired at him, and he and his horse were instantly
killed. The Indians wheeled away and moved back. Authority now fell on the
young Kiowa leader named Sittanke. He rallied his men and the Comanches for
another, perhaps final, attack.
The sun was now on the western horizon, and nightfall would soon be upon the
field. Sittanke rode among his warriors and formed them up for yet another
charge. Sergeant Cobb moved the Rangers around the wounded Sorrells, in
order to protect him, and prepared his men for the charge that all knew would
come shortly. The Rangers dismounted and observed their sergeant out in front,
ready for the fight.
The combined Indians charged at full speed. Those with
guns fired away, while the remaining braves shot their
arrows. Their strategy seemed to consist of coming
straight toward the little group. Blazing away with his
pistol, Sittanke was within a few yards of the Ranger line
when he received a bullet in the chest. Dropping his
shield and pistol, he hung to his saddle until he rode
through the Ranger line. Dead by then, he fell off his
horse. Another brave was also killed, and several were
wounded in this charge.
Seeing their leaders now dead, the war party no longer wanted to face the
withering fire of the Rangers. They turned away and retreated out of range.
Sensing that they now had the Indians on the run, those Rangers who were not
wounded mounted their horses and charged west after the retiring warriors. The
Indians on foot were running ahead of those on horses. The mounted warriors
turned their horses and shot at the Rangers, trying to keep them from their
comrades.
As the Rangers’ ammunition was now getting low, Sergeant Cobb ordered his
men back to young Sorrells, lying injured on the prairie. After checking his
wound, it was decided to take Sorrells to the nearest help––the old Keep Ranch
house, about three miles east. The men lifted the injured Ranger onto his horse
and then set out at a slow pace, one man on either side to support their
courageous comrade. As they rode along, the men watched and listened in the
growing darkness for any Indian warriors that had not given up the fight.
As the Rangers marched, they were met by Harvell, who had returned with only
one man, a Mr. Ferguson. Harvell had found no one at the Keep Ranch, so he
had ridden about three miles farther to a mill located on Clear Creek in Denton
County. He found a few men working and informed them of the fight taking place
about six miles west on the prairie. Ferguson, a local Indian fighter, agreed to
return with Harvell. The rest of the men set out to spread the warning to the
other settlers along Clear Creek that a band of Indians was in the vicinity.
Arriving at the ranch house after dark, the Rangers carried Sorrells inside and
laid him down. The men believed him to be near death from loss of blood. A
doctor known to be in the community of Bolivar, a few miles east, was sent for.
In the meantime, the men ministered to the boy as best they could.
Billy Sorrells, although badly wounded, would make a full recovery. He was the
only man on the Ranger force to sustain a serious wound in those hours of close
combat with a determined enemy that outnumbered the Rangers four to one. A.
J. Sowell later wrote that there were seven Indian warriors killed and an
unknown number wounded: “The Indians had been worsted on this trip, and
driven beyond the settlements before they did much damage.”
Lieutenant Asa Hill was back at the Ranger station in western Wise County.
When informed of the fight, he wrote a report to Texas Adjutant General
Davidson:
Thompsonville Station Wise Co.
February 9th 1871
Adjutant General
James Davidson
Austin Texas
Dear Sir
I have the honor to report to you a fight with nine of our men, and
forty Indians well armed with Henry rifles, needle guns, six
shooters, bows and arrows.
One of our men severely wounded.
Two Indians killed dead on the ground and quite a number
wounded.
On the morning of the 7th inst., Sergeant Cobb who is commanding
at Perryman Station received word that Indians had gone east to
the settlements, down Clear Creek.
He started immediately and followed the trail about 30 miles and
came in light of the Indians on the high prairie near the corners of
Wise, Cook, Denton and Montague Counties. The Indians were well
armed and half their number was mounted on good horses. So
soon as the Indians discovered our men, they retreated to a drean
of high grass, just over the first rise with infantry concealed and
cavalry formed on right and left.
As our brave boys dashed up, the Indians rose and attempted to
surround them. The chief was instantly killed, but clung to his
horse until his horse dashed through the lines and kicked him
loose just in the rear of our men. This gave them check for a few
moments.
Little Billy Sorrells Son of Mr. F. M. Sorrells was wounded in the hip
with a six shooter ball. The Chief had two six shooters. Billy was
wounded in the first charge but fought bravely to the end. They got
the Chiefs horse, with his very fine silver bridle worth forty five
dollars, his extra fine bow and quiver, and his richly adorn cap with
plumes, and was about to lift his scalp when the enemy dashed up
to rescue the body of their Chief which brought them again in close
combat. Gus Hasroot being a little to one side an Indian dashed up
to him to spear him. The boys all thought Gus was all gone up, but
he made the lucky shot that dropped the Indian dead before him,
but a few steps. A. J. Sowell while contending and exchanging
several deliberate shots with one, was satisfied he had got him
badly hurt, judging the staggering retreat he made.
Sgt Cobb withdrew his men in good order to a better position not
taking time to secure the Lo much desired Scalp.
The Sergeant came out bloody all over, but could not give a
Satisfactory account of it. The Indians pow-woed and yelled
mournfully over the remains of their Chief, and warriors that was
killed and wounded. The Sgt. Took Billy to the nearest house and
secured a good physician to attend him till our Surgen [sic] could
go up and left two of our men with him.------------------Your most obt Ser.
A. C. Hill
Lieut Co F
Frontier Forces
Sgt Cobb, A. J. Wilhoit, Billy Sorrells led the party into the fight. A.
J. Wilhoit was first to open fire on the enemy. Gus Hasroot had his
clothes filled with holes from the balls of the enemy. Should
anyone doubt any part of this lengthy letter, Those two citizens
who witnessed the fight will make affidavit before the proper
authorities.
Our good Surgeon Dr. C Gillespie went up with them last night to
give attention to our young brave soldier Billy. I do assure you
Genl Davidson, that Sgt. Cobb managed nobly as well as his brave
squad who so promptly obeyed every order. Two citizens of that
vicinity stood and witnessed the whole affair. All the citizens say
with one accord, and proudly too, they never saw Rangers like
these, to contend with such great odds. Allow me to give you the
names of the entire squad to hold in remembrance.
Sgt. E.H. Cobb.—Wm Caruthers. George Howell. D. W. Edwards. J.
R. Ewers. A. J. Sowell. Wilhoit. Darkin Cleveland. Wm. R. Sorrells.
Gus Hasroot.
The Indians waved their battle flag defiantly with their death mark
on it, to all Texans. The Chief in his clownish movements tried to
daunt our brave boys but they had not forgotten their brutal work
so recently committed, on the Families in that vicinity. They were
like the boys who remembered the Alamo.
On February 27, 1871, Adjutant General James Davidson issued a general order
to all companies of the Frontier Forces:
Adjutant Generals Office
State of Texas, Austin, Febry. 27, 1871
General Orders
No. 4.
The thanks of the people of Texas, are hereby tendered to Sergt. E.
H. Cobb and the following detachment of Company F Frontier
Forces, for the great gallantry displayed by them in their recent
engagement with (40) forty Indians in Denton County.
Sergeant E. J. Cobb Commanding
Private A. J. Wilhoit
W. Caruthers
George Howell
D. W. Edwards
J. R. Ewers
A. J. Sowell
Darkin Cleveland
W. R. Sorrels
Gus Hasroot
Sergeant Cobbs action in successfully engaging such
overwhelming odds is deserving of the highest praise and should
be emulated by other companies of the Ranger Troops now on the
Frontier of Texas
By order of the Governor & Commander-in-Chief
(Signed) James Davidson
Adjutant General Of Texas
NOTE:
While researching the Keep Ranch fight, this writer became curious as to where
the exact location of the ranch is now to be found. After speaking to several area
folks and finding no one familiar with the location, this writer decided to use the
available information in the stories of the fight for possible direction.
Mr. Ferguson was the local Indian fighter recruited by John Harvell to help in the
Keep Ranch fight, and he related his story in the C. A. Bridges book, History of
Denton Texas. He states that the location where the Rangers first sighted the
Indians is on the rise or swell exactly where the Slidell school was later built.
In his book, History of Slidell, C. A. Bridges writes:
The north fork of Hickory Creek passed between the building and
the town. . . . The college building was located exactly on the
county line with half in of it in Denton County and half of it in Wise
County. The exact line passed diagonally through the north and
south corners of the building. For about forty years, this school
house was locally known as the ‘Slidell College,’ even though the
idea of it becoming a college had long since faded.
A. J. Sowell, one of the Rangers, stated that after stopping and observing the
Indians, the Ranger force rode a short distance along the swell to better observe
the warriors. This would probably place them just north of the head of Hickory
Creek, a few hundred yards east of the present community of Slidell, which is
situated just inside the Wise County line.
This writer believes that the sight of the fight is located in the fields that are still
open on the immediate east side of Slidell. To reach Slidell, travel on FM 455
from either east or west. At the present local school building, located on the
immediate north side of FM 455, drive east one-half mile. An unpaved road will
enter from the northwest at a sharp angle. At this point, a large open field is on
the north side of FM 455. This writer believes that FM 455 sits on the swell or rise
that the Indians retreated to when first sighted by the Ranger detail.
Hickory Creek can be seen approximately 1,800 feet north. Approximately 500 to
600 feet north of Hickory Creek lies the prairie swell from which the Rangers
advanced to begin their charge against the raiding party. On the east side of the
field is a farmhouse. Just to the north, past the house, is a building housing
Steve’s Cycles, a motorcycle business. This writer believes the cycle shop is in
the approximate center area of the fight.
Sources
Books
Bridges, C. A. (Clarence Alan). History of Denton, Texas: From its beginning to
1960. Waco: Texian Press, 1978.
Bridges, C. A. (Clarence Alan). The History of Slidell: From the beginning to
1954. N.p.: n.p., 1985.
Cox, G. W. Pioneer Sketches: A centennial re-print of book. St. Joe, Texas:
Montague County Historical Committee, 1958.
Robinson, Charles M. The Men Who Wear the Star: The story of the Texas
Rangers III. New York: Random House, 2000.
Sowell, A. J. (Andrew Jackson). Rangers and Pioneers of Texas. Austin: State
House Press, 1991.
Utley, Robert M. Lone Star Justice: The first century of the Texas Rangers. New
York: Berkley Publishing Group, 2002.
Archives
General Order # 4 from Adjutant General Office, February 27, 1871. Texas State
Library and Archives Commission, Austin, Texas.
Lieutenant A. C. Hill, Report to Adjutant General James Davidson Camp at
Thompsonville Station, Wise County. February 9, 1871. Texas State Library and
Archives Commission, Austin, Texas.
Dispatch
Jr. Rangers
Corporate Club
Museum Store
Exhibits/Artifacts
Benefactors
Rangers Today
Visitor Info
History
Research Center
Hall of Fame
Student Help
Family History
News
Click Here for
A Complete Index
to All Back Issues
Dispatch Home
Visit our nonprofit
Museum Store!
Contact the Editor
Texas in 1836
William Mosby Eastland
by Steve Moore
William Mosby Eastland rarely passed up on an opportunity to join an
expedition or to sign on with the Texas Rangers. The son of a veteran of the
War of 1812, Eastland fought valiantly in the Texas Revolution and in every
frontier expedition on which he embarked. In the end, two factors led to his
demise: his willingness to defend Texas and an unlucky black bean.
William Eastland was born in 1806 in Woodford County, Kentucky. When still
a child, he moved with his family to Tennessee, where he was educated. He
entered the timber business as a young man but relocated his family to Texas
in 1834 upon the advice of family friend Edward Burleson. Eastland settled in
present Fayette, near what is now La Grange, with his wife; children; two
brothers; and a cousin, Nicholas Mosby Dawson, who also became a Texas
Ranger leader. Eastland opened a sawmill at his home, and he continued to
engage in the lumber business when frontier service did not have him called
away.
Eastland’s first Ranger campaign was with Colonel John Henry Moore in the
summer of 1835. He served as first lieutenant of Captain Michael R. Goheen’s
La Grange Ranger Company. The expedition gathered at Fort Parker and
pursued Indians into the area of present Dallas-Fort Worth.
Once his unit was disbanded on September 13, Eastland quickly became
involved in the Texas Revolution. He joined Captain Thomas Alley’s company,
a part of the Volunteer Army of Texas, on September 28, 1835. He served with
this unit through December 12, when he was discharged at Bexar. During his
time of service, Eastland lost his black mare at the Bexar siege, which was
valued by Captain Alley at sixty dollars.
Once the Alamo had been engaged by Santa Anna’s army in late February
1836, the call again went out for volunteers. Eastland enrolled in the Colorado
River settlement’s volunteer company of Captain Thomas Rabb and was
http://www.texasranger.org/dispatch/20/William%20Eastland/Eastland.htm (1 of 4) [4/30/2009 11:08:58 PM]
initially elected second lieutenant. He later advanced to first lieutenant when
Captain William Heard took command for the departed Rabb. Eastland fought
with Heard’s company on April 21, 1836, at the historic battle of San Jacinto.
After the initial eighteen minutes of fighting, the Texas Army had Santa Anna
and his men on the run, and General Sam Houston passed the word to begin
taking prisoners. One Texas soldier, Robert Hunter Hancock, later reported
Lieutenant Eastland’s version of this order: “Boys, you know how to take
prisoners. Take them with the butt of your guns.” Eastland encouraged his
men to remember the Alamo and La Bahia while using their musket butts to
“knock their brains out.”
Following San Jacinto, William Eastland soon became engaged in the Ranger
business again. He joined Captain John G. McGehee’s Bastrop Rangers as a
private on July 1, 1836. After four months along the Colorado River
settlements without any major battles, McGehee’s Rangers were discharged
by Colonel Edward Burleson on November 20.
On December 14, 1836, Eastland was appointed to take command of a
mounted rifleman company to be organized in Gonzales County. Following
his first year of service, he was also paid from December 14, 1837 to March 2,
1838, as “Capt. Rangers.”
During early 1837, Captain Eastland’s Company D and Captain Micah
Andrews’ Company C were stationed at the Colorado River Fort, also known
as Fort Houston for a time. Andrews had a casual command style, which did
not suit Eastland well. When Andrews departed the service in summer 1837,
Eastland took over. Ranger Noah Smithwick later wrote, “Captain Eastland
was disgusted with the want of military discipline among the men and the
easy familiarity with which they treated their [former] commander.”
William Eastland stated, “If Captain Andrews can’t control his men, I’ll try and
control mine.” He soon found a near mutiny, however, when the Rangers
stacked their arms, turned to him, and said that he might “go to hell and they
would go home.” Eastland reluctantly gave in to the recalcitrant Rangers and
eased up on his command style. According to Smithwick, he “thereafter had
no trouble with his men.”
In October 1837, Eastland led a group of his Rangers out on what was later
called the Eastland Expedition. They departed Fort Smith on the headwaters
of the Little River in pursuit of Indians who had stolen horses. Eastland’s men
penetrated Indian country between the Colorado and Brazos Rivers, living off
the wild game that they killed. He and Lieutenant A. B. Vanbenthuysen had a
disagreement on November 1 and parted ways. Eastland’s Rangers eventually
returned to Fort Houston on the Colorado River after fighting a skirmish with
Indians on Ruan Bayou. Vanbenthuysen’s ill-fated detachment fought the
Battle of Stone Houses on November 10 in present Archer County. Of his
eighteen Rangers, ten were killed and three more were wounded.
Command of the rowdy 1837 Texas Rangers continued to be quite a chore for
Captain Eastland. By December, he was the senior Ranger commander still in
the field. He continued to serve until early March 1838, at which time he
completed his service agreement and returned to his home in La Grange.
Renewed Indian violence among the Colorado River settlements in January
1839 compelled him to return to the Ranger service, however.
On January 21, 1839, Colonel John Henry Moore organized forces in present
Fayette County and William Eastland was elected captain of the La Grange
Company Volunteers. They joined Captain Noah Smithwick’s Bastrop-area
volunteer Rangers and departed the following day under Colonel Moore to
pursue Comanches who had recently raided the settlements and kidnapped
children. The expedition befell bitter cold and snow, and they were forced to
endure a fierce winter storm into early February. Colonel Moore’s Rangers
attacked a Comanche encampment on February 15 in the valley of the San
Saba River. Captain Eastland’s men moved forward, driving the Comanches
from the village toward the prairie. In the early minutes of fighting, Eastland
escaped death but was slightly wounded by an Indian arrow that lacerated his
nose. Moore’s men inflicted at least forty-eight losses upon the Comanches,
but the Texians lost all of their horses and mules during the course of the
conflict. The Rangers turned for home on foot, managing to retrieve some
replacement horses from allied Indian forces operating with Colonel Moore.
During the battle, Moore considered Captain Eastland and his cousin,
Lieutenant Dawson, to have performed admirably in commanding their men.
During 1840, Eastland served as one of three land commissioners for Fayette
County. In 1842, he raised a company of men in response to the raid of Adrian
Woll. His unit arrived too late to take part in the battle of Salado Creek, but
they participated in the pursuit. Eastland’s cousin, Nicholas Dawson, and
nephew, Robert Moore Eastland, had been killed by Woll’s men in the Dawson
Massacre. Eastland and his men thus enrolled in the Somervell Expedition to
seek revenge. When Somervell ultimately ordered his expedition to return,
Captain Eastland remained on the Rio Grande and was elected captain of
Company B of the Mier Expedition.
Led by Colonel William S. Fisher, the Mier Expedition marched into that
Mexican town, located about 100 miles to the southeast of Laredo on the Rio
Grande. The Texians were overwhelmed at Mier, and Captain Eastland and
300 others were forced to surrender. They were marched deeper into Mexico
and imprisoned at the town of Saltillo, where Eastland and others tried in vain
to escape. They managed to kill their guards and flee, but almost all of the
Texians were recaptured as they fled through rough country without food or
water.
President Santa Anna at first ordered all of the recaptured Texians to be
executed. At the pleadings of the local Mexican governor, Santa Anna instead
offered the men a “lottery of death” as their punishment. Each man would be
blindfolded and forced to draw a bean from a jar. A white bean was safe; a
black bean meant death to the unlucky recipient. William Mosby Eastland was
the first man and only officer of the expedition to draw the deadly black bean.
He and sixteen others were led blindfolded into a courtyard, where Mexican
soldiers shot them from behind. Their bodies were thrown into a single trench
and buried.
A loyal supporter of the frontier fights that helped open the settlement of
Texas, William Mosby Eastland had not felt that he was to die in vain. Shortly
before he drew the fatal black bean, he was interviewed by a Texas newspaper
editor who was also being held prisoner. “For my country, I have offered all
my earthly aspiration,” stated Captain Eastland, “and for it, I now lay down my
life.”
In 1848, the remains of Captain Eastland and the other Mier victims were
moved to Monument Hill, near La Grange, for reinterment. Eastland County is
named in his honor.
Sources:
Hunter, Robert Hancock. Narrative of Robert Hancock Hunter. 1936. Reprint.
Austin: Encino Press, 1966.
Smithwick, Noah. The Evolution of a State or Recollections of Old Texas Days.
Reprint. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1983.
William M. Eastland Audited Military Claims. Texas State Library.
“William Mosby Eastland.” The New Handbook of Texas (http://www.tsha.
utexas.edu/handbook/online)
Dispatch
Jr. Rangers
Corporate Club
Museum Store
Exhibits/Artifacts
Benefactors
Rangers Today
Visitor Info
History
Research Center
Hall of Fame
Student Help
Family History
News
Click Here for
A Complete Index
to All Back Issues
Dispatch Home
Visit our nonprofit
Museum Store!
Contact the Editor
Howard “Slick” Alfred
By Robert Nieman
The Dispatch is proud to present Howard “Slick” Alfred as our 20th Century
Shining Star. Besides having a distinguished career as a Texas Ranger, he
also served in the military and was elected sheriff of Henderson County.
But first things first: How did Slick Howard get his nickname? He explains:
Billy Davis, my Highway Patrol partner in Longview, gave me that
name. We had a problem with a fellow we arrested. Back in those
days, we didn’t handcuff very many people [drunks] when we
arrested them. We started to the jail in the courthouse in
Longview to put this guy in a cell. Billy was walking in front when
the subject suddenly jumped him. Billy wasn’t a very large fellow
at the time, and when he felt the guy on his back, he just kind of
spun around. I hit the guy with my fist one time, right in the face,
jarred him loose from Billy. Then I knocked him down, and we
got him subdued. When it was all over, Billy said, “That was the
slickest thing I ever saw.” So “Slick” just kind of emerged from
that.
Howard “Slick” Alfred was born in Tyler, Texas, on November 23, 1933, and
graduated from Tyler (now John Tyler) High School in 1951. Since he had
been a child, he had seen his neighbors come and go everyday, and he
wanted to be in law enforcement just like them. These men were Highway
Patrolman Glen Ray York and Tyler city policeman E. J. Wade.
Before he started law enforcement, Slick joined the Air Force in January 1952.
He served for four years, stationed at bases in Texas and Illinois. When he
was discharged in 1956, he was at Limestone Air Force Base, Maine.
http://www.texasranger.org/dispatch/20/Slick%20Alfred/Slick_Alfred.htm (1 of 6) [4/30/2009 11:09:24 PM]
On January 6, 1956 Slick discharged from the Air Force and applied for
entrance into the Department of Public Safety a few weeks later.Testing would
not be until April, three months after he got out of the service. In the
meantime, he still had to make a living, so he went to work for his uncle, A. J.
Alfred, at Uncle Jake’s Auto Repair. There, he cleaned up and wrote work
orders. April finally rolled around, and he took the DPS test at the American
Legion Building in Tyler. It seemed to him like there were hundreds of people
taking the test for Highway Patrol. (There wasn’t.]
I didn’t hear from [the test] again until some time in May, when I
got a call from Sergeant Frank Feasel in Tyler. He asked if I was
still interested in going with the Highway Patrol. . . . I told him,
yes, I was still interested. . . . Later, I was called [and told I had
been accepted] and went to school in June of 1956 in Austin [the
26th Highway Patrol School at the DPS Academy].
After graduation from Highway Patrol School in September, he was overjoyed to learn that his
duty station was in Longview, thirty-five miles from Tyler.
I can just see him driving up there in that Highway Patrol car,
getting out, and coming to the door. Glenn [Elliott] and I met
right there on my doorstep. . . . [I] got in the car with him, and we
drove off and went to work. We worked together for about five
years. We never had a cross word—not once.
Fifty years have passed since that first meeting and Slick and Glenn are still
the closest of friends. And to this day they have never had a cross word—not
once.
Slick was patrolling alone between Longview and Kilgore when he came as
close to be being shot as a man can be:
I jumped a speeder in Kilgore, ran him back toward Longview,
and stopped him just outside of Kilgore. It was a four-lane
highway, and I pulled up beside of him and motioned him over.
He stopped quicker than I did, and I had to wait for some more
traffic. I was in the inside lane, and he was in the outside lane. He
pulled over on the shoulder and stopped, and I had to wait for a
car to pass. And when I turned, I came in at an angle behind him,
not parallel with him. I’d checked him at 70 miles an hour, and I
don’t remember what the zone was at that time. I reached down
to get my ticket, and when I picked it back up and started to get
out of the car, he put a .30-caliber carbine right beside my head.
And I remember the clip on it was about that long. [It] had a
banana clip on it.
He asked me, “What the hell you want?”
And I said, “Well, I stopped you for speeding.”
And he said, “No, you’re lying.”
And I said, “No.”
I’m sitting there with both hands on the steering wheel, with my clipboard in
my hand, my pistol at my side, strapped into my holster.
He said, “You’re after me for something else.”
And I said, “I don’t know you; don’t know anything about you. I stopped you
because you were speeding.”
We sat there and talked back and forth in that manner for a pretty good while.
[He would say], “You’re lying,” and I’d say, “I don’t know anything about you,”
which was very true. I didn’t know who he was.
He finally told me, “Well, just get the hell out of here.” He stepped back with
his gun, and I just put my clipboard down in the seat, put my car in reverse
and backed up, and turned around. He followed me down the highway [as I
backed up] for a short ways with that rifle, and then he got back in his car,
made a U-turn, and went back the wrong way toward Kilgore.
I picked up my radio, called Kilgore, and told them what had happened. And
that’s when Kilgore informed me: “That’s the guy we’re looking for, for
shooting up his house and shooting at his wife and kids.” Which was the first
I knew of who this man was.
I went on to the first crossover I could get to and turned and headed back
toward Kilgore. In the meantime, a Kilgore unit says, “There he goes by the
Streamliner [a local restaurant] going south on 26 [Highway 259 today].” They
got in pursuit of him, and I was much further behind but trying to get there.
At an intersection at the north end of Kilgore College called Five Points, the
Kilgore Police boxed the suspect in. He bailed out of his car, dropped down
on his knees, and started firing that rifle at the Kilgore car that was coming in
pursuit of him.
Kilgore police officer [Tatum] Brown eased up beside the suspect’s car, raised
up, and shot him through the vehicle. He shot through the passenger
side (the window was down apparently) and shot him through
and through and knocked him over, dislodging him from his gun.
And that was about the time that I got there. We got his gun, and
he went to the hospital and stayed a little while. [When he] came
out, we put him in jail and charged him with aggravated assault
on a police officer. I think he got something like a two-year
sentence. If he went to the pen at all, it was for a very short
period of time. When he got out, we posted his picture at every
highway patrol office in East Texas so that they would know who
he was.
Future Texas Rangers Slick Alfred and Glenn Elliott
Hearing of his narrow escape with death, Slick’s wife Iva insisted that he leave
the Highway Patrol. Following her wishes, Slick resigned from the DPS and
went to work for the Hartford Insurance Company as an adjuster. He was
miserable. This was made especially clear when he attended the funeral of his
first Highway Patrol sergeant, Lloyd Webb:
. . . there all my friends were in uniform and I wasn’t. And then I
said, “I’m in the wrong place,” and immediately after the funeral,
I applied for instatement with DPS. [I was] reinstated [one year
after leaving the Highway Patrol] and moved to Center, Texas. I
stayed in Center until 1969 and then moved back to Longview
when an opening came up there. And then in September of 1970,
I made Ranger.
Why did he want to become a Ranger?
I knew an old Highway Patrolman––he was pretty elderly; his
name was Vineyard––when I moved to Center. I was watching Mr.
Vineyard, who was up in his sixties at that time. I decided, “This
is not the job I want to retire in.” I was getting to an age where I
realized that the Highway Patrol is really for younger-type
people. I said [to myself], “It (the Rangers) sure beats writing
tickets and wrestling drunks.”
Slick’s first Ranger duty station was Dallas, under the command of Captain
Bill Wilson. He worked there five years and loved being a member of
Company B. However, being from a small town, he and his family never got
used to the big city. In 1975, he learned that Dale Brice, the Ranger in Athens,
had cancer. (Athens is the county seat of Henderson County, directly west of
Tyler.) Slick needed to make a decision:
I beat around the bush for a long time, but I finally picked up the
telephone and called Bob Mitchell [captain of Company F in
Waco]. I told him that if I was out of line, to please tell me. I told
him I’d heard that Dale Brice had terminal cancer. I said, “If
anything happens to Dale, I’d like to be considered for that
station.” Captain Mitchell told me, “Dale is terminal. As far as I’m
concerned, you got it.”
Ranger Dale Brice passed away, and on January 1, 1976, Slick became the
Ranger in Athens. His territory consisted of the counties of Henderson
(Athens), Navarro (Corsicana), and Freestone (Fairfield).
Until his retirement on November 30, 1987, Slick set as fine an example as
anyone who has worn the badge of a Texas Ranger. During his seventeen
years, he worked every kind of crime imaginable: murder, armed robbery,
kidnapping, corruption, fraud, etc. However, two cases stand out: those of
Robert Exel White and Amy McNiel.
White committed his crime while Slick was still stationed in Dallas, and it took
twenty-four years for justice to be carried out. White murdered three men in
as cold-blooded a murder as Slick ever witnessed. He remembers that when
he walked in the front door of the Gulf service station in Princeton (Colin
County), he had to walk through about an inch of blood that covered the floor.
The victims had been shot numerous times with a carbine rifle. After his
capture, White never denied that he and two accomplices had murdered the
three men for money and because they “just wanted to kill somebody!” For
more than twenty-four years, the case when through trials, retrials, appeals,
and more appeals. Finally, justice was served, and White kept his
appointment with the death chamber.
On January 11, 1985, thirteen-year-old Amy McNeil from Alvarado, Texas, was
kidnapped for a large ransom. In the ensuing hours, Rangers, local officers,
the FBI, and other law enforcement participated in a pursuit that covered a
large part of East Texas and ended with a wild shootout. Slick, fellow Ranger
John Dendy, and Johnson County Deputy Sheriff D. J. Maulder rescued Amy
from her abductors. As a show of appreciation, Amy’s father, Don, presented
each of the men with a beautifully engraved Colt .45 Combat Commander.
In 1987, Slick retired from the Rangers to run for the office of sheriff of
Henderson County. He won, and he served in that capacity until his final
retirement twelve years later.
Today, Slick and his wife Mary Alice lived quietly at their home in Athens.
Howard’s four children include two daughters, Janet and Julia; a son, Phillip
Wayne, who was stillborn; and a son David, who passed away in 1981. He also
has three stepchildren: Mary Kay, Paul, and Angus.
Howard Alfred with one of three Colt 45 Combat Commanders
presented by Don McNeil to the men who saved his daughter
Amy from kidnappers. The other two were presented to Texas
Ranger John Dendy and Johnson County Deputy D.F. Maulder.
Dispatch
Jr. Rangers
Corporate Club
Museum Store
Exhibits/Artifacts
Benefactors
Rangers Today
Visitor Info
History
Research Center
Hall of Fame
Student Help
Family History
Click Here for
A Complete Index
to All Back Issues
Dispatch Home
Texas Ranger
Reunion 2006
Visit our nonprofit
Museum Store!
Contact the Editor
This year’s Texas Ranger reunion was the usual enormous success. Seeing old friends and making new
ones are always the highlights of the weekend festivities.
The Texas Ranger Association Foundation increased the scholarship fund for Ranger children to $3,500
per year. Texas A & M announced it would match up to $1,500 for any Ranger child attending the main
campus at College Station.
The silent auction was once again a huge accomplishment, raising $48,000 for the foundation!
http://www.texasranger.org/dispatch/20/Reunion/Reunion.htm (1 of 6) [4/30/2009 11:09:42 PM]
News
Captains Randy and Bob Prince, the only father-son Texas Ranger captains
since the reorganization in 1935.
Retired Ranger Chaplains George Frasier and Clayton Smith have the sad duty of leading the services for
six Rangers who passed away since the last reunion: A.Y. Allee Jr., Richard Bennie, Stuart Dowell, B.J.
Green, Buddy Hendricks, and Max Westerman.
Former Texas Governor Mark White, the keynote speaker
at the Saturday night banquet.
Author/historian Ray Sadler (The Texas Rangers and the Mexican Revolution), retired Captain Bob Prince,
and Museum Director Byron Johnson enjoy fellowship at the annual Texas Ranger golf tournament.
Author/historian Robert Utley (Lone Star Justice: The First Century of the Texas Rangers), and Senior
Ranger Captain Ray Coffman.
www.texasranger.org/store/ProductPages/Books.htm
Everyone enjoys the friendship and great food at the Friday night fish fry.
Retired Rangers Don Anderson, Ralph Wadsworth, Lloyd Johnson, and Danny Rhea agree that renewed
friendship is one of the greatest features of the annual Texas Ranger Reunion.
Sergeants A.P. Davidson and Tony Bennie, members of Company B, demonstrate tracking techniques
used by modern Rangers.
The executive board of the Texas Ranger Association Foundation: Joel Jackson, Jack Dean, Benny
Vanecek (chairman), Bubba Hudson, and Kerry Sosa (secretary).
Dispatch
Jr. Rangers
Corporate Club
Museum Store
Exhibits/Artifacts
Benefactors
Rangers Today
Visitor Info
History
Research Center
Hall of Fame
Student Help
Family History
News
I
Click Here for
A Complete Index
to All Back Issues
Dispatch Home
Visit our nonprofit
Book Review
Texian Iliad:
A Military History of the Texas Revolution,
1835-1836
By Stephen L. Hardin
Museum Store!
Contact the Editor
Review by Chuck Parsons
Austin: University of Texas Press, 1996 6" x 9", 373 pp, 24 halftones, 10 line
drawings, 7 maps, and diagrams ISBN 0-292-73086-1 (cloth, $29.95), ISBN 0292-73102-7 (paper, $19.95)
This highly acclaimed study of the Texas Revolution was first published in
1996 and is now available in a new edition as part of the Texas Classics series
available from the University of Texas Press. It remains the best overall study
of this important period of Texas history.
In American history, not to mention Texas history, no single event has caused
more controversy than the Battle of the Alamo. This struggle includes the
storming of the Alamo; the victory of the army of Santa Anna; and his
subsequent defeat at the Battle of San Jacinto, one of the ten most decisive
battles of history. Professor Hardin, a teacher of history at the Victoria
College in Victoria, Texas, presents the background of the conflict that
resulted in the revolution.
With Comanche, Kiowa, and Apache raiding parties keeping the land north of
the Rio Grande in constant turmoil, Mexico needed a solution. They decided
to allow settlers from the Southern states to inhabit the wild land. Three
hundred settlers were welcomed, with the gift of twenty thousand acres of
land to be divided among them. Stephen F. Austin, son of Moses, continued
the settlement plan after his father's early death.
But not all went according to plan. So many more settlers rushed in that, by
1830, Mexico passed a law forbidding further immigration. Then Santa Anna
overthrew the Federal Constitution of 1824. He ordered all illegal settlers to be
expelled and all Texians (as they preferred to be called) to give up their arms.
By early 1836, San Antonio was preparing for the advance of Santa Anna's
army, and some one hundred eighty fighting men were in the Alamo, ready to
die.
http://www.texasranger.org/dispatch/20/Texian%20Illiad/Texian_illiad.htm (1 of 2) [4/30/2009 11:09:59 PM]
We all know the popular story of these events from a variety of motion
pictures. What is revealed here is a clear presentation of what happened, why
it happened, and what immediate and long-reaching effects resulted.
From engagements against mounted Mexicans, the Texians improved their
fighting abilities. They adopted the Spanish saddle, the riata, and the
bandana, and their skills on horseback improved. Riding hard, shooting fast
and accurately, and living off the land became trademarks, and shooting like a
Tennessean, riding like a Mexican, and fighting like the devil developed into
proverbs. These stereotypes evolved from the brutal and tragic experiences
while fighting Mexicans and Indians in the 1820s and 1830s. It is also from
this period that the importance of the Texas Rangers emerged.
The literature on the Alamo, San Jacinto, and other events of this period is
voluminous, but Hardin's history is superior to what has previously appeared.
Texian Iliad is not only a good read but, for the purist, it has extensive
endnotes and selected bibliography. The ten line drawings by popular artist
Gary Zaboly are presented with a page or more of explanation for the details
of each drawing.
The only difference in this new edition and the first is that the cover is now
illustrated with a photograph rather than with the Zaboly drawing. Other titles
in the Texas Classics series, composed of twelve volumes, include Walter
Prescott Webb's The Texas Rangers: A Century of Frontier Defense, John
Salmon Ford's Rip Ford's Texas, and Paredes Americo’s With His Pistol In His
Hand: A Border Ballad.
Dispatch
Jr. Rangers
Corporate Club
Museum Store
Exhibits/Artifacts
Benefactors
http://www.texasranger.org/dispatch/20/Texian%20Illiad/Texian_illiad.htm (2 of 2) [4/30/2009 11:09:59 PM]
Rangers Today
Visitor Info
History
Research Center
Hall of Fame
Student Help
Family History
News
Book Review
Click Here for
A Complete Index
to All Back Issues
Dispatch Home
Visit our nonprofit
Museum Store!
Savage Frontier Volume II:
Rangers, Rifleman,
and Indian Wars in Texas 1838-1839.
by Stephen Moore
Review by Chuck Parsons
Contact the Editor
Denton, Texas: University of North Texas Press xiv + 426 pages, appendix,
endnotes, bibliography, index, illustrations and maps. ISBN 1-57441-206-X $19.95 (paper). ISBN 1-57441-205-1 - $34.95 (cloth). www.unt.edu/untpress
Savage Frontier, volume I, which covered the years 1835-1837, appeared in
2002. We have patiently waited for the second volume of this study of the
Rangers, riflemen, and Indian Wars in Texas during the 1835-1839 years, and
now it is here. The two volumes not only provide a detailed history of those
pre-statehood conflicts but also present considerable genealogical material in
the numerous muster rolls provided.
Moore, a sixth-generation Texan, begins this study by discussing Colonel
Henry Karnes’s efforts to establish peace with a number of hostile Indian
tribes in Texas. The forces available were in a dismal condition: the Texas
cavalry had dwindled to forty-seven men by the end of 1837, and most of them
were without a horse! Through the leadership efforts of Texas Ranger
commander Captain William Eastland, some success was accomplished. In
January 1838, a treaty was made with the Lipans, the tribe with members who
later became respected scouts against the Comanche.
During 1837, the presence of government Rangers had kept hostile Indians in
check. When the Rangers’ enlistment period expired, however, many settlers
faced hostiles and Mexican rebels virtually alone. Several notable
engagements occurred at this point, and they are described by Moore. In early
April 1838, a surveying party was attacked in the area of present-day Dallas. In
spite of treaties between white settlers and the strong Cherokees, hostilities
continued. The Killough Massacre of October 5, 1838, reinforced the need for
stronger defense. In Navarro County, the Battle Creek engagement occurred
three days later in which sixteen surveyors were killed and four wounded.
At times, the companies of Texans defending their homes were small and
loosely organized. Militia groups were identified by various names: George
http://www.texasranger.org/dispatch/20/Savage%20Frontier/Savage_Frontier_II.htm (1 of 2) [4/30/2009 11:10:19 PM]
Hooper’s Mounted Volunteers, Robert K. Goodloe’s Mounted Gunmen, W. W.
Hanks’s Mounted Riflemen, and David Laird’s San Augustine Gunmen.
Whatever names they were given, their purposes were the same: defend
settlers and settlements against adversaries, be they Indians, Mexicans, or
rogue whites.
Besides providing, in great detail, the major engagements between whites and
others during this period of savagery on the frontier of Texas, hundreds of
names are included in the numerous muster rolls created from a variety of
official records. In addition, there is an appendix listing casualties of the
Frontier Indian War period of 1835-1839 and also Texas Rangers and
militiamen actually killed in the line of duty during hostile encounters with
Indian forces. The list includes the wounded as well.
The two volumes of Savage Frontier provide exciting action and accurate
history. In addition, important genealogical material if given for anyone
seeking the role of his or her ancestors in early Texas history.
Dispatch
Jr. Rangers
Corporate Club
Museum Store
Exhibits/Artifacts
Benefactors
http://www.texasranger.org/dispatch/20/Savage%20Frontier/Savage_Frontier_II.htm (2 of 2) [4/30/2009 11:10:19 PM]
Rangers Today
Visitor Info
Click Here for
A Complete Index
to All Back Issues
Dispatch Home
History
Research Center
Hall of Fame
Student Help
Family History
News
Book Review by Chuck Parsons
The Mason County
"Hoo Doo" War,
1874-1902
Visit our nonprofit
Museum Store!
Contact the Editor
by David Johnson
Foreword by Rick Miller
Denton, Texas: University of North Texas Press, 2006 xiv + 332 pages,
appendices, endnotes, selected bibliography, index, 24 photographs, 2 maps.
ISBN 1-57441-204-3. ($27.95 hard cover only)
David Johnson's history of late nineteenth-century Mason County, Texas,
and its violent trouble, commonly known as the Hoo Doo War, is the first
comprehensive study of that series of violent acts. Prior to this work, the war
had been merely a chapter in other books such as Famous Texas Feuds by C.
L. Douglas (1936) and Ten Texas Feuds by C. L. Sonnichsen (1957). Both
authors had the advantage of interviewing feudists or children of feudists, but
neither went to the depth that David Johnson has.
The troubles in Mason County began in the early 1870s. Whereas previous
writers have oversimplified the causes, Johnson identifies them more clearly.
He states that there was no one single cause but rather a combination of
several factors: cattle theft, ethnic animosities between German settlers and
Anglo cattlemen, hatred simmering from the Civil War, personal vendettas,
corrupt authority figures, and the pursuit of money and power. All these
contributed to a reign of terror that gripped not only Mason County but the
surrounding areas as well. Men from the neighboring counties of Llano,
Burnet, Gillespie, Kimble, and Menard became either directly involved or
drastically affected by the fighting. Of those men, only a few are remembered
today. Most notable among them are John Ringo, later of Tombstone, Arizona,
Territory fame, and Mason County Sheriff John E. Clark.
The Texas Rangers did their best to quell the violence that formed the Mason
County War. In this case, however, their work was not as effective as in
several other feuds, such as the Lampasas County troubles in which the
Horrell and Higgins factions were pressured to sign and keep a peace treaty.
The Rangers were less than truly successful for a variety of reasons. Perhaps
http://www.texasranger.org/dispatch/20/Mason%20County%20War/Mason_County_War.htm (1 of 2) [4/30/2009 11:11:41 PM]
if one or two of the factors that caused the Hoo Doo War to continue had been
absent, such as the ineffective county law officers, the work of the Rangers
would have proved exemplary.
The Frontier Battalion had been organized in May 1874, with the primary
purpose of defending the line of settlements from invading Indian war parties.
One of the young men who signed up for service in Company D was William
Scott Cooley. After his resignation, he became one of the feudists fighting
against the mob, led primarily by Sheriff John E. Clark. When Adjutant
General William Steele sent Rangers to Mason County to enforce peace and
pursue Cooley and other wanted men, he discovered that many members of
Company D sympathized with the fugitives. Three members of the company
resigned rather than pursue Cooley. Other Ranger companies, commanded by
Ira Long and Dan Roberts, spent time in Mason County but had no real
significance in quieting the violence. It was not until 1877 that Major John B.
Jones and his Kimble County Round Up really had an effect.
The troubles reduced economic growth, and many good citizens left the area
as a result. Although the flames of the Mason County Hoo Doo War had
waned by the turn of the century, Johnson's research proves that the final act
was the killing of Robert F. Rountree in July of 1893. The man charged with
the crime was A. K. Scott, who had been shot by Rountree in 1877, sixteen
years before. Scott was indicted for first-degree murder in 1902, but the case
was dismissed in May of 1903.
What is perhaps most remarkable about this study is that Johnson has
followed the feud to its final act of violence, which lasted considerably longer
than previous writers had chronicled. Johnson has also solved the mystery of
just who John Clark was as he is traced to his ignominious finale.
Although the narrative is lucid enough for the average reader and it is fastpaced, one must not ignore the appendices! These contain information found
nowhere else. Johnson has identified the various factions in Appendix I: the
Baird-Cooley Faction, the Hoo Doos, and the Citizenry. In the latter list are the
various Texas Rangers who were involved in attempting to settle the violence.
Appendix II is the complete, lengthy article from the San Antonio Daily
Express of August 29, 1874, which was composed in response to a now lost
letter from correspondent David Doole. Appendix III is a lengthy card that
appeared in the Burnet Bulletin on September 5, 1874, in which various
stockmen/feudists defended their honor and their actions. Appendix IV is a
list of the various factions involved and their relationships.
Dispatch
Jr. Rangers
Corporate Club
Museum Store
Exhibits/Artifacts
Benefactors
http://www.texasranger.org/dispatch/20/Mason%20County%20War/Mason_County_War.htm (2 of 2) [4/30/2009 11:11:41 PM]
Rangers Today
Visitor Info
History
Research Center
Hall of Fame
Student Help
Family History
News
Texas Ranger Lewis Rigler
Click Here for
A Complete Index
to All Back Issues
Dispatch Home
Winnsboro! Wednesday!
Thursday! Thirsty!
by Lewis Rigler—Texas Ranger, Retired
Visit our nonprofit
Museum Store!
The Lone Star Steel Strike of 1968-1969 has been
Contact the Editor
described as a strike gone mad. There were
beatings, bombings, and even a murder. But even
under these most trying of circumstances, there
was room for a little humor.
At one time or another, almost every Texas Ranger
in the state worked the Lone Star strike, and it had
come my
turn. Special Ranger J.D. Franklin, who lived in
Nacoma, drove to Gainesville to accompany me to
the scene. (I spent my entire Ranger career
stationed in Gainesville, and I still live here.) We
swung through Dallas to pick up Ranger Ernest
Daniel.
In those years, nearly all Rangers stayed on active
duty to an older age than do most Rangers of
today. Ernest and J.D. were in their sixties, and
their hearing was not what it had once been.
Special Ranger J.D. Franklin
Texas Ranger Ernest Daniel
As we were entering
Winnsboro, Ernest, who was sitting in the front seat, read the street
sign aloud, saying, “Winnsboro.”
J.D., who was in the back, remarked, “It’s not Wednesday, it’s
Thursday!”
To which Ernest quickly answered, “I’m thirsty, too. Let’s pull in here
and get a Coke!”
http://www.texasranger.org/dispatch/20/Wednesday/Wednesday.htm (1 of 2) [4/30/2009 11:11:57 PM]
27. Bob McCracken, “Captain Wright, who won Battlers with Desperadoes by
Beat’em to the Draw, Loses Fight to Heart Ailment,” Corpus Christi CallerNews, March 7, 1942.
Dispatch
Jr. Rangers
Corporate Club
Museum Store
Exhibits/Artifacts
Benefactors
Rangers Today
Visitor Info
History
Research Center
Hall of Fame
Student Help
Family History
News
Click Here for
A Complete Index
to All Back Issues
I
Dispatch Home
Visit our nonprofit
Museum Store!
Contact the Editor
Ask the Dispatch
For this issue, the regular question-and-answer segment of “Ask the
Dispatch” is found immediately following this special section of readers’
comments about our new feature of this web site:
Texas Ranger Hall of Fame E-Books
What a tremendous resource you and your associates have created, and what
a tremendous service. I marvel at how much you make available through the
Dispatch and now this, which cannot have been easy. Congratulations. Wish
it had been online when I was working on Lone Star Lawmen. - Bob Utley
[Dr. Utley is the author of the upcoming book, Lone Star Lawmen, which
covers Ranger history from 1910 to 2000. His earlier book, Frontier Justice
encompasses the Rangers from their inception in 1823 up to 1910.]
It's a privilege seeing my thesis posted on the Texas Ranger Dispatch. Thanks
very much. - Bill O’Neal
[It is our honor to post Bill’s master thesis, Texas 1791-1835: A Study in
Manifest Destiny, as one of our available e-books.]
I appreciate the very informative articles provided in the Dispatch. I’m sure the
other retirees will enjoy it as much as I have. Thank you for sending it to us;
it’s a great idea. - Bruce Casteel, Senior Texas Ranger Captain, retired.
http://www.texasranger.org/dispatch/20/Ask%20The%20Dispatch/Ask.htm (1 of 5) [4/30/2009 11:12:13 PM]
I'm proud of the museum’s continuing historical contributions. - David Stroud
[Author of the Dispatch regular feature, “Guns of the Texas Rangers.”]
The more old books that are digitized, the better it is for preservation's sake
and for easier research! - Steve Moore
Congratulations! With this excellent project, the Texas Ranger Dispatch
moves into the front rank of online Texas history resource depositories. Well
done! - Paul Cool
Making out-of-print, out-of-copyright materials available on the internet is an
excellent idea. - Dan Davidson, Panola County Texas District Attorney
Bill Callicott’s letters
are absolutely the most fascinating stories of
the true life of the early Texas Rangers I have ever read. - Russell W. Leavens
Questions and comments to the Dispatch from our readers:
When I was in college in Mississippi in 1965, I purchased a Model 97
Winchester, two-barrel set with matching serial numbers. One barrel is 26inch cylinder b; the other is 32-inch full. The manuscript date is 1927. At some
time, I believe the longer barrel has been re-blued; the colors match very well.
This gun is about 90% to 95%. It was still in the original Winchester box when
I paid $50 for it in the ’60s. You can guess what a 20-year-old did with the
"worthless box." Would you be able to tell me what this gun may be worth
now? - David Brady
Sounds as if you bought a nice '97. Unfortunately, I am unable to appraise it
for you. The best way to get the '97 appraised is to have an antique gun dealer
do it. Although you will be charged a token amount, the appraisal will be more
accurate than mine. If the professional appraisal is not that important, take a
look at either the latest Blue Book of Gun Values and/or Flayderman's Guide
to Antique American Firearms. Good luck and enjoy your '97. - David V. Stroud
[I] have just acquired a Colt Walker pistol and was wondering how to find out
what it is worth. It appears to be genuine, but one can never be sure. I would
like to talk to you or someone that knows about these things. - Robbie Allen
From David Stroud - Guns of the Texas Rangers columnist - If the weapon is
genuine, you can get a ballpark idea of values by consulting the Blue Book of
Gun Values and/or Flayderman's Guide to Antique American Firearms. If it’s
real, you're very lucky to have Mr. Walker as a family member. - David V.
Stroud
From Byron Johnson, Director, Texas Ranger Hall of Fame - Authentication
and appraisal of high-value firearms is a professional undertaking that should
be done by qualified appraisers who will charge fees. Such appraisals are not
complicated, but require specialized knowledge and experience with the
specific category of item (such as Walkers).
If you contact the Texas Gun Collectors Association (www.tgca.net), they can
recommend appraisers they feel are specifically qualified to render an opinion
on Colt Walkers. If your Walker is genuine, and not a "den decoration" or one
of the many reproductions, it is well worth getting one or more written
insurance appraisals.
If you have an easily identifiable fake or reproduction a qualified appraiser will
spot it immediately and tell you that its not worth the time. You might want to
get this opinion from at least two appraisers to be sure.
If it is real, consider commissioning is a "replacement value insurance
appraisal." This is what an insurance carrier would pay if the firearm is
genuine and is lost or stolen.
Professional appraisers will present you with a high-quality written report that
(1) describes the firearm, its condition and modifications in detail
(usually with photographs), and
(2) bases its value on the sale of Walkers similar in condition,
which are specifically cited, (we call it comparable recent sales
or just "comparables").
A verbal appraisal—or a written appraisal lacking this detail —is pure
Kentucky windage. Unfortunately, we see these "gun show appraisals" and
"gun buddy" appraisals all the time. Quality appraisals are not done on a
"while you wait" or "over the table" basis at gun shows. Appraisers who
attend shows will make arrangements to do the appraisal away from the show
environment.
In selecting appraisers, do your homework. You will be paying a moderate fee,
and it should be done right. Be sure to examine samples of their previous
appraisals for completeness and professionalism. Seek another appraiser if
they provide none, or you are handed xeroxes of a hand-scribbled notes with
no comparable sales information. All qualified appraisers keep examples of
their work at hand. You will also want to ask for references.
During the appraisal, make sure that you maintain the client/appraiser
relationship. Don't let it turn into a seller/buyer relationship. Most appraisers
are dealers which can lead to conflicts of interest. If you get the feeling the
appraiser is more interested in buying your firearm, or in reselling it, walk
away. A good rule is never to sell a firearm to the person doing the appraisal
unless you obtain at least two estimates from appraisers who you are sure are
not working together.
Finally, never leave a high-value firearm with an appraiser unless you receive
a receipt and proof that the firearm will be fully insured. It is often preferable
to remain with the firearm while the appraiser examines and documents it.
Does an early- to mid-1800s list of Rangers exist? My second grandfather
worked with the Rangers at one time in those days. His name was Edward
Wallace East, and he was born in 1824 in Georgia. Would appreciate any
suggestions.
- Don Lund
Please cut and paste or click this ink for information about tracing Texas
Ranger ancestors. http://www.texasranger.org/famHistory/famHistory.htm
My maiden name was Debbie Ann Anderson. I am the daughter of Jewell and
Tommy Anderson. My mother’s name was Alma Jewell Dancer. Her mother's
name was Mary Alma Roberts, and she married Achel Barkley Dancer. Mary
Alma’s mother and father were Jacob Garland "Tobe" Roberts and Ellen
Hilliard Roberts. Tobe's second wife was Etta McConnell. My greatgrandmother was Illen Hiliard Roberts. I am trying to get everything on the
history of my family that I can for my children to have, know, and appreciate. I
have gathered info from family reunions for the Roberts family and still am
hungry for more.
I am proud of the history that our ancestors brought to Texas and want to
share this with my family and mom. My mother is 83 years old and is in pretty
good health. She lives in Pasadena, Texas, and I live two small towns or cities
from her in La Porte, Texas, a 30-minute drive.
I want help in receiving the books Rangers and Sovereignty, Six Years in
Camp with the Texas Rangers, and any more that are available that mention
Daniel Webster Roberts and family. I also want the books or movies on the
Dancer side of my family that were made with Randolph Scott and were called
Fighting Man of the Plains and Outlaw within the Law. Mommoth Magazine
wrote a story under the title, "Dancer, the Fighting Man of the West. Someone
else who gave info on the death of his father around 1914 or 1915 was James
Sidney Dancer, "Dancer the Hatter," of San Antonio. If you can give me any
heads up on this, I would greatly appreciate it. My Mother is 83, and I would
love for her to know the history and importance of her family. She is the only
surviving child in the line of Achel Dancer and Mary Alma Roberts Dancer.
- Debbie Anderson Sodaro, La Porte, Texas
Thanks for the inquiry. It is easy to see why you are proud of your ancestors.
To further research your Ranger heritage, we suggest you check our web site:
For Family History Research: www.texasranger.org/ReCenter/resource1.htm
For books: www.texasranger.org/store/ProductPages/Books.htm
A complete copy of A Woman’s Reminiscences of Six Years in Camp with the
Texas Rangers is available on our e-books page at:
www.texasranger.org/E-Books/Main_Page.htm
Texas Ranger Hall of Fame & Museum Exhibits & Artifacts
Rangers Today
•
Visitor Info
History
• Beware: Fakes !
Texas Ranger Badges
Hall of Fame
Student Help
Family History
News
Rangers in the Field
Home Page
Virtual Exhibits
Research Center
T
his past April, Company "B" met at the Kilgore College’s Police Academy for firearms
training. After completion, they met some of their many friends at Lloyd Bolton’s farm for a
cookout.
• About Buying
Texas Ranger Antiques
• Women and the
Rangers:
»Part 1
»Part 2
»Part 3
• Interagency
Cooperation
Recent Donations
• Donation in Memory
of
Dr. John R. Palmer,
Jr.
• Donation in Memory
of
Michael Eakin III
• Donation of James
Hale • Ranger
Artifacts from Lew
& Janice Skelton
• Donation of Chief L.
G.
Phares Artifacts
Retired Rangers Lee Young and Brantley Foster.
Information on
Firearms
• Walker Colt
Revolver
• Model 1911
Automatic
• Model 1851 Navy
• Model 1860 Army
Revolver
• Survery of
FBI Special Agents Blaise Mikulewicz and Ron Watson join in the friendship and fellowship
that was enjoyed by everyone.
http://www.texasranger.org/dispatch/20/Rangers%20In%20The%20Field/Rangers_in_Field.htm (1 of 5) [4/30/2009 11:12:26 PM]
Winchesters
• Remington New
Model
Army
Badges
• Before you Buy:
Fake,
Forged and
Fantasy Texas
Ranger Badges
• How the Modern
Badge
was Adopted
• Historic Badges
Other
Company B’s Lieutenant Jerry Byrne and Captain Richard Sweaney stand on each side of
host Lloyd Bolton, owner of the Danville Farm, where the cookout was held.
• Standard Issue
Field
Equipment of
the Texas
Rangers
Gregg County Sheriff Maxey Cerliano and Captain Richard Sweaney.
Retired Rangers Glenn Elliott, Max Womack, and Tommy Walker.
Retired Rangers Charlie Fleming, Don Anderson (white shirt), Max Womack (arms crossed),
Glenn Elliott (wearing nail apron), and Bobby Poynter enjoy sharing stories.
Texas Ranger Association Foundation Director (emeritus) Ray Hargrove and Assistant Chief
Jim Miller.
Assistant Chief Jim Miller and Captain Richard Sweaney.
Retired Rangers Bobby Poynter and Charlie Fleming.
Retired Rangers Ralph Wadsworth and Lane Akin.
Rangers Jay Womack (Texarkana) and Terry Welch (Dallas).
Dispatch
Jr. Rangers
Corporate Club
Museum Store
Exhibits/Artifacts
Benefactors

Articles - Texas Ranger Hall of Fame and Museum

Transcription

Similar documents

hutan lipur sungai congkak, hulu langat | 21-23

USS Ranger CVA-61 FACEBOOK MEMORIES. Departure fro

How it works… Get moving….hop a bus and see Waco!

Seminar schedule - Southwest RV Super Show

Private Drinking Water Well Basics

2010 ford ranger - The Ranger Station

Friday the 13th! June 13th-14th, 2014

Rush Hour Rewards can save you money Join us for CoServ

Picture - Texas Rangers Heritage Center

District Administration - West Texas District AG