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The Texas Rangers played an effective, valiant, and
honorable role throughout the early troubled years of Texas. The Ranger Service
has differed in organization and policy under varying conditions, demands for
service, and state administrations, and it has not been of entirely unbroken
continuity. However, it has existed almost continuously from the year of
colonization to the present.
 In
1821, Stephen F. Austin, known as the "Father of Texas," made a contract to
bring 300 families to the Spanish province, which now is Texas. By 1823,
probably more than 600 to 700 people were in Texas, hardy colonists from the
various portions of the United States at that time, who settled not far from
the Gulf of Mexico. There was no regular army to protect them, so Austin called
the citizens together and organized a group to provide the needed protection.
Austin first referred to this group as the Rangers in 1823, for their duties
compelled them to range over the entire country, thus giving rise to the
service known as the Texas Rangers.
When Austin returned from his imprisonment in Mexico
in 1835, a body was organized called the "Permanent Council." On October 17,
1835, Daniel Parker, a member, offered a resolution creating a corps of Texas
Rangers, 25 men under the command of Silas M. Parker to range and guard the
frontier between the Brazos and the Trinity; 10 men under Garrison Greenwood to
work on the east side of the Trinity; and 25 men under D. B. Frazier to patrol
between the Brazos and the Colorado. These Rangers were assigned to protect the
frontier against the Indians until the end of the Revolution.
On November 1, 1835, the temporary "Permanent
Council" reported the organization of the Rangers to the Consultation, who
approved it, and on November 9, a committee of this body commissioned G. W.
Davis to raise 20 more men for this new service. The Consultation was succeeded
by the General Council, which on November 24, 1835, passed an ordinance
providing for three companies of Rangers, 56 men to the company, each commanded
by a captain, first and second lieutenants, with a major in command. The
privates received $1.25 per day for "pay, rations, clothing, and horse
service," and the enlistment was for one year. The Rangers acted to protect the
settlements against the incursions of Indians while Sam Houston and his army
defeated the troops of Santa Anna in the Battle of San Jacinto on April 21,
1836.
 In
December 1836, the Congress of the Texas Republic (1836-1845) passed a law providing
that President Sam Houston raise a battalion of 280 mounted riflemen to protect
the frontier. The term of service was to be six months. The following January
a law was passed providing for a company of 56 Rangers for the frontier of Gonzales
County, and a few days later other companies were provided for Bastrop, Robertson,
and Milam Counties. A little later, a law was signed for two more companies
for the protection of San Patricio, Goliad, and Refugio Counties. It was during
this period that the Texas Rangers began to make a name for themselves that
spread far beyond the borders of the state.
After the Revolution and up to 1840, the Rangers
were used principally for protection against the Indians, and history shows
that they were very active in this service. In 1840, many battles against the
Indians occurred, such as the Council House Fight in San Antonio, the raid on
Linnville, and the Battle of Plum Creek.
On January 29, 1842, President Houston approved a
law providing for a company of mounted men to "act as Rangers" on the southern
frontier, and on July 23, he was authorized to accept the service of one
company on the Trinity and Navasota. The same act provided for two companies on
the southwestern frontier.
The law of January
23, 1844, authorized John C. Hays to raise a company of mounted men to act as
Rangers from Bexar to Refugio Counties and westward.
Texas seceded from the Union and joined the
Confederacy by action of a convention January 28, 1861, ratified
February 23, 1861. While not much of the War Between the States (1861-1865) was
fought on Texas soil, Texans contributed much to Confederate strength. A
notable organization, Terry's Texas Rangers, was organized in Houston in 1861,
and derived its name from the brilliant leadership of Colonel Benjamin Franklin
Terry. Many of the Texas Rangers and former members enlisted in "Terry's Texas
Rangers," and made an enviable record in the Confederate Army. Texas was
readmitted to the Union on March 30, 1870.
The darkest period in the history of the
organization, the Period of Reconstruction (1865-1873), was the
re-regimentation of the Rangers as the "State Police". Under the administration
of the Reconstructionist Governor E. J. Davis (January 8, 1870 - January 15,
1874), while charged with the enforcement of the unpopular carpetbagger laws,
the State Police fell into disrepute among the war-weary citizens of Texas.
Reconstruction and carpetbag rule was ended in 1873.
In May 1874, under Governor Richard Coke, the
Legislature appropriated $75,000 to organize six companies of Texas Rangers, 75
to a company. They were stationed in districts at strategic points over the
state in order to be on hand when ranches were raided. The service was known as
the Frontier Battalion. Rangers were given the status of peace officers,
whereas before this date the service was a semi-military organization.
During this era, the Ranger Service held a place
somewhere between that of an army and a police force. When a Ranger was going
to meet an outside enemy, for example, the Indians or the Mexicans, he was very
close to being a soldier; however, when he had to turn to the enemies within
his own society - outlaws, train robbers, and highwaymen, he was a detective
and policeman.
The Rangers were organized into companies, but not
regiments or brigades. The company was in the charge of a captain or a
lieutenant and sometimes a sergeant. The headquarters was in Austin where the
captains reported to the headquarters officer. Under the Republic of Texas this
officer was the Secretary of War. Under the state, until 1935, he was the
Adjutant General; since then, the Director of the Texas Department of Public
Safety.
The Rangers' duties were not curbed by city or
county boundaries, but included the whole state. Generally, the Ranger was
called in where a case was considered too great a task for a local agency.
The later years of the 19th Century saw the Rangers
involved in "detective" work, necessitated by a new group of violators known as
fence cutters, and isolated cases of horse and cattle theft.
circa 1938
The Frontier Battalion was abolished in 1901. As the frontier
disappeared, Ranger activities were redirected towards law enforcement among
the citizens. The Ranger Service was reorganized under a new law. Each Ranger
was considered an officer and was given the right to perform all duties exercised
by any other peace officer. There were to be four companies of 20 men each,
commanded by Captains John R. Hughes, J. H. Rogers, J. A. Brooks, and W. H. "Bill" McDonald.
They were stationed either in far West Texas or along the Mexican border.
The activities of the new service were similar to those of the Frontier Battalion
after 1880.
Four events - the Mexican Revolution,
World War I, oil booms, and prohibition - made demands on the Texas Rangers,
which they could not meet. The Mexican Revolution filled the Mexican border
with raiders; the World War brought with it spies, conspirators, and saboteurs;
oil booms made West Texas a gathering place for gamblers and murderers; and
prohibition filled it with smugglers and bootleggers. In January 1919, there
was a cutback in the service to four companies of not more than 15 men. The
Texas Rangers had served officially for more than a hundred years under the
Governor, the Secretary of State, and the Adjutant General of Texas.
On August 10, 1935, when the Texas Legislature
created the Texas Department of Public Safety, the Texas Rangers and the Texas
Highway Patrol became members of this agency, with statewide law enforcement
jurisdiction. The true modern-day Ranger came into being on September 1, 1935.
The
Texas Rangers are the
oldest law enforcement organization on the North American continent with
statewide jurisdiction.
1997 - Sergeants John Allen,
Coy Smith & TDCJ Sergeant
Ralph Hager during
the Republic of Texas
standoff near Fort Davis, TX.
The activities of the Texas Ranger Division
consist primarily of making criminal and special investigations; apprehending
wanted felons; suppressing major disturbances; the protection of life
and property; and rendering assistance to local law enforcement officials
in suppressing crime and violence.
The Texas Ranger Division will, through investigation
and close personal contact with all federal, state, county, and city
law enforcement agencies, be responsible for the gathering and dissemination
of criminal intelligence pertaining to all facets of organized crime.
The Texas Ranger Division joins with all other enforcement agencies
in the suppression of the same;
Under orders of the Director,
suppress all criminal activity in any given area, when it is apparent
that the local officials are unwilling or unable to maintain law and
order;
Upon the request or order of a judge of a court of record, serve
as officers of the court and assist in the maintenance of decorum, the
protection of life, and the preservation of property during any judicial
proceeding;
When called upon, provide protection for elected officials at public
functions and at any other time or place when directed to do so by a
superior officer;
Establish direct personal contact and maintain close liaison with
all agencies, or branches thereof, concerned with the investigation
and suppression of criminal activities. These contacts are not to be
limited to the state but shall be nationwide. Every effort will be exerted
to maintain a full and free flow of information on active offenders
and offenses between all interested agencies;
Participate in educational training programs and provide specialized
instruction to local, state, and federal law enforcement representatives;
With the approval of the Director, conduct investigations of any
alleged misconduct on the part of other Department personnel;
Be the primary Department investigator when a Department member is
killed or suffers serious bodily injury, attributable to an intentional
act;
Provide Forensic Hypnotists for use as an investigative tool in gathering
additional information;
Provide forensic art work for use as an investigative or procedural
tool in major criminal cases;
Assist the Governor's Protective Detail in providing security for the Texas
Governor during his official travel throughout the state, as well as other
dignitaries.
The Texas Rangers
Division consists of 160 members, including 134 commissioned officers, 1 Forensic Artist, 1 Fiscal Analyst and 24 civilian support personnel.
 On
September 1, 2007, the size of the Ranger force was increased from 118 to 134 commissioned members by the Texas Legislature. These Rangers are supervised by a Senior Captain
(Chief), Assistant Chief, a Headquarters Captain and Lieutenant, seven
field captains and fourteen lieutenants. The force is organized into
seven companies, "A" through "G". A
Captain, Lieutenant and from two to four Rangers are located at each
of the seven Company Headquarters. The seven field Headquarters offices
are located in Houston, Company
"A"; Garland, Company "B"; Lubbock, Company "C"; San Antonio,
Company "D"; Midland, Company "E"; Waco, Company "F"; McAllen, Company "G". Other Rangers are stationed in various towns and
cities in the state, with each Ranger having responsibility for a minimum
of two to three counties, some with even larger areas.
The Texas Legislature authorized the creation of the Unsolved Crimes Investigation Team (UCIT) on September 1, 2000. Beginning in January of 2008, one UCIT Sergeant will be stationed within each of the seven Companies. Each UCIT Sergeant is responsible for conducting investigations of unsolved murders, or what appear to be serial or linked criminal episodes, within their respective Company. Since there is no statute of limitation for the offense of murder, the state has a moral and statutory obligation to pursue these cases to a successful resolution.
As of January 1, 2008, the Texas Ranger Division has
an authorized strength of 134 Rangers for the entire state.
*Headquarters, Austin - Chief, Assistant Chief, Captain,
Lieutenant
*Company "A", Houston - Captain, 2 Lieutenants (Houston-Huntsville), 18 Ranger Sergeants
*Company "B", Garland - Captain, 2 Lieutenants (Garland-Tyler), 17
Ranger Sergeants
*Company "C", Lubbock - Captain, 2 Lieutenants (Lubbock-Amarillo), 14
Ranger Sergeants
*Company "D", San Antonio - Captain, 2 Lieutenants (San Antonio-Corpus Christi), 14
Ranger Sergeants
*Company "E", Midland - Captain, 2 Lieutenants (Midland-San Angelo), 15 Ranger
Sergeants
*Company "F", Waco - Captain, 2 Lieutenants (Waco-Austin),
20 Ranger Sergeants
*Company "G", McAllen - Captain, 2 Lieutenants (McAllen-Laredo),
11 Ranger Sergeants
Contact us:
Headquarters
P.O. Box 4087
Austin, TX 78773-0600
512-424-2160
Company "A"
12230 West Road
Houston, TX 77065
281-517-1400
Company "B"
350 W. IH 30
Garland, TX 75043
214-861-2360
Company "C"
1302 Mac Davis
Lubbock, TX 79401
806-472-2882
Company "D"
6502 S. New Braunfels
San Antonio, TX 78223
210-531-4340
Company "E"
2405 S. Loop 250 West
Midland, TX 79703
432-498-2120
Company "F"
102 Texas Ranger Trail
Waco, TX 76706
254-754-2303
Company "G"
1414 N. Bicentennial
McAllen, TX 78501
956-984-5636
In 2006, a total
of 6,281 investigations resulted in 1,675 felony arrests, 176 misdemeanor
arrests. The Texas Rangers executed
433 search warrants and secured 3,542 statements-including 591 confessions
to various crimes. Rangers recovered stolen property valued at $33,616,724 and seized contraband valued at $12,155,731. There were 1,706 convictions for various crimes
investigated that resulted in 3 deaths, 66 life sentences and
a total of 11,920 years in penitentiary time being assessed. Rangers
served 520 subpeonas and 569 warrants. Rangers conducted 34 hypnosis
sessions on criminal investigations. The Texas Rangers made 27 separate
traffic referrals to appropriate authorities for dangerous drivers or driving
conditions.
The Texas Ranger
Division performs a diverse range of criminal investigations including:
·
Murder, robbery, sexual assault, burglary, theft, and fraud;
· bank fraud;
·
theft by credit card and computer generated counterfeit checks;
·
misuse of criminal history information;
·
misconduct and corruption of public
officials;
·
threats against the governor and
other state and federal officials;
and
·
missing persons, parental abductions,
questionable deaths and unidentified bodies
Forensic Artist:
On March 01, 2000, a Forensic Artist
moved into the Ranger Headquarters in Austin. The
Forensic Artist assists law enforcement agencies with multiple forms of investigative-related
artwork, including composite drawings, age progression updates of missing
persons or dangerous fugitives, courtroom displays, computer facial imaging,
postmortem drawings, and skull reconstruction. These images are used
both to aid in the apprehension of criminal offenders and to assist in the
identification of victims of violent crime.
The Forensic Artist is available to
travel throughout the State of Texas in the performance of his/her duties. The
Forensic Artist can be reached by telephone at 512-424-2160 or 512-424-5609.
In addition
to qualifications required for entry employment with the Texas Department of
Public Safety, the following special requirements apply:
Each applicant must be a citizen of the United States of America, in excellent physical condition, and have an outstanding record of at least eight (8) years experience with a bona fide law enforcement agency engaged principally in the investigation of major crimes. The applicant must be currently employed with the Texas Department of Public Safety in the position of a commissioned officer with the rank of at least Trooper II.
Applicant must have a background subject to a thorough investigation, which would reflect good moral character and habits. Applicant must possess a valid Texas driver's license free of any restrictions that would compromise the applicant's ability to perform his duties.
An entrance examination will be given, and selected applicants with the highest scoring grades will appear before an Oral Interview Board before final selection.
At this time the basic requirements for employment as a DPS Trooper, which is the entry level for commissioned officers with DPS, are the applicant must be at least twenty (20) years of age and must have a minimum of ninety (90) semester hours from an accredited college. Thirty-six (36) months or more military or law enforcement experience may be substituted for required semester hours. Military police experience, however, does not count toward the eight (8) years experience required in order to be eligible to compete for the position of Texas Ranger.
Little recruiting has ever been necessary. It is not unusual for more than 200 officers to apply for only a handful of openings.
Rangers are required to attend at least 40 hours of in-service training every two years, but for most Rangers, the training far exceeds the requirement. Some Rangers receive additional training in areas such as investigative hypnosis, which has played an important role in some criminal cases.
In 1987, the average Ranger was about 45 years of age. On average, Rangers had 42 hours of college and twenty-eight Rangers had college degrees (including two with Master's degrees). In 2007 the average age is 47. College had increased to an average of 117 hours, 41 Rangers have Bachelor's degrees, 14 Rangers have Associates degrees, and 3 have Master's degrees.
"They were men who could not be stampeded."
That's the way the late
Colonel Homer Garrison, Jr., longtime director of the Texas Department of Public
Safety, once described the men who have worn the silver or gold star of the
Texas Rangers, the oldest law enforcement agency in North America with statewide
jurisdiction.
Rangers have a heritage
that traces to the earliest days of Anglo settlement in Texas. They often have
been compared to four other world-famous law enforcement agencies, the FBI,
Scotland Yard, Interpol and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.
Scores of books, from
well-researched works of nonfiction to Wild West pulp novels to best-selling
works of fiction, have been written about the Rangers. Over the years numerous
movies, radio shows and television shows have been inspired by the Rangers.
The Rangers are part
of the history of the Old West, and part of its mythology. Over the years, a
distinct Ranger tradition has evolved.
As former Ranger Captain
Bob Crowder once put it, "A Ranger is an officer who is able to handle any given
situation without definite instructions from his commanding officer or higher
authority. This ability must be proven before a man becomes a Ranger."
That definition worked
well more than 150 years ago and still fits today. Yet, unlike years ago, today
Texas Rangers have access to modern communications, which keeps them in touch
with the rest of the world.
But a good horse was
the only fast means of travel, and the best alibi for outlaws, in the early
days of the Rangers.
Despite the long history
of the Rangers, the term "Texas Ranger" did not appear officially in a piece
of legislation until 1874.
For
the Common Defense
The
Ranger story begins many years ago. In 1823, the Father of Texas, Stephen
F. Austin realized the need for a body of men to protect his fledgling colony,
the land settlement effort that marked the beginning of Texas' development.
On August 5, 1823, on
the back of a proclamation issued by Land Commissioner Baron de Bastrop, Austin
wrote that he would "...employ ten men...to act as rangers for the common defense...the
wages I will give said ten men is fifteen dollars a month payable in property..."
These
men, not soldiers, not even militia, "ranged" the area of Austin's colony, protecting
settlers from Indians. When no threat seemed evident, the men returned to their
families and land.
Despite Austin's plan
to pay a group of Rangers, the defense effort continued primarily on a voluntary
basis.
By 1835, as the movement
for Texas independence was about to boil over, a council of local government
representatives created a "Corps of Rangers" to protect the frontier from Indians.
These Rangers would be paid $1.25 a day and could elect their own officers.
They furnished their own arms, mounts, and equipment.
R. M. "Three-Legged"
Williamson (so nicknamed because he had a wooden leg to support a crippled limb)
headed three Ranger companies led by Captains William Arrington, Isaac Burleson
and John J. Tumlinson.
When Texas declared
its independence from Mexico, some Rangers took part in the fighting, though
most served as scouts.
"Bravo
Too Much"
Certainly
one of the most famous early-day Texas Rangers was John Coffee "Jack" Hays.
He came to San Antonio in 1837 and within three years was named a Ranger Captain.
Hays built a reputation fighting marauding Indians and Mexican bandits. An Indian
who switched sides and rode with Hays and his men called the young Ranger Captain
"bravo too much."
Hays' bravado was too
much for many a hostile Indian or outlaw. In dealing with those deemed a threat
to the young Republic, Hays helped establish another Ranger tradition--toughness
mixed with a reliance on the latest in technology.
The Republic of Texas
was one of the earliest customers of a New England gun maker, Samuel Colt. Colt
had invented a five-shot revolver, a weapon Hays and his men used with deadly
effect in defense of the Texas frontier. In fact, one of Hays' men, Samuel H.
Walker, made some suggestions for improving the pistol that Colt carried out.
The new weapon, which against bows and arrows or single-shot weapons was the
frontier equivalent of a nuclear bomb, was called the Walker Colt.
In 1842, Walker and
another former Ranger, Big Foot Wallace, took part in the ill-fated Mier Expedition,
in which a group of Texans invaded Mexico. The Texans were captured and every
tenth man was ordered executed.
The fate of the prisoners was determined in a drawing.
Those who drew white beans lived; a black bean meant death. Walker drew a white
bean. So did Wallace.
War
With Mexico
In 1846, within a year
of Texas' admission as the 28th state of the Union, the United States and Mexico
were at war. Walker joined one of several Ranger companies that were mustered
into federal service to function as scouts.
The
Rangers fought with such ferocity in the war that they came to be called "Los
Diablos Tejanos"--the Texas Devils. The luck Walker had after Mier did not hold.
He was killed in the fighting.
For the next decade
after the Mexican War, the Rangers existed primarily as volunteer companies,
raised when the need arose and disbanded when their work was done.
"Rip"
Ford
One of the best known
Rangers of this period was John S. "Rip" Ford, whose nickname stood for "Rest
in Peace." Ford--medical doctor, newspaper editor, and politician--lived up
to his nickname in 1859, when Juan Nepomuceno Cortina took over the border city
of Brownsville. The bandit had in mind retaking, in the name of Mexico, all
of Texas below the Nueces River.
The Texas government
saw it differently, and dispatched Ford and a company of Rangers to mitigate
the matter. Cortina was defeated in a running fight that cost the lives of 151
of his men and 80 to 90 Texas citizens, including some Rangers.
In his memoirs, Ford
later described the kind of men who served under him as Rangers:
A large proportion...were
unmarried. A few of them drank intoxicating liquors. Still, it was a company
of sober and brave men. They knew their duty and they did it. While in a town
they made no braggadocio demonstration. They did not gallop through the streets,
shoot, and yell. They had a specie of moral discipline which developed moral
courage. They did right because it was right."
Still, the bloody fighting
stirred passions in South Texas that were a long time in cooling.
Civil
War
During the Civil War,
with thousands of Texans off fighting with the Confederate Army, frontier protection
was afforded by a "Regiment of Rangers." Even it eventually became part of the
Confederate Army.
The backbone of home
front security was still the volunteer "ranging" company, whose members operated
on the "legal authority" of the pistols they carried on their hips or the rifle
swinging in their saddle boot.
After the war, the Legislature
passed a bill creating three companies of Texas Rangers, but a bill to provide
funding failed. Financial support for state law enforcement in the early 1870s
was sporadic. For all practical purposes, there were no Texas Rangers for nearly
a decade after the war.
During this time, law
enforcement was handled by a highly political and roundly hated organization
known as the State Police. Texas, like other Southern states, was in the throes
of reconstruction and any authority, civil or military, was distrusted. The
force eventually was disbanded.
Unfortunately, the problems
that had made some kind of statewide police force necessary in the first place
had not disappeared along with the State Police. But Texas was changing. The
military, led by war-seasoned veterans of the Union Army, was methodically ridding
Texas of its Indian problem.
The
Frontier Battalion
By the second half of
the decade, the biggest threat to Texas was lawless Texans. In 1874, the Legislature
created two Ranger forces to cope with the situation--the Frontier Battalion,
led by Major John B. Jones and an organization called the Special Force under
Captain Leander McNelly.
In five years time,
the Rangers were involved in some of the most celebrated cases in the history
of the Old West. Much of the fact that would later be mixed with Ranger legend
occurred during the turbulent period.
Texas' deadliest outlaw,
John Wesley Hardin, a preacher's son reputed to have killed 31 men, was captured
in Florida by Ranger John B. Armstrong. After Armstrong, his long-barreled Colt
.45 in hand, boarded the train Hardin and four companions were on, the outlaw
shouted: "Texas, by God!" and drew his own pistol. When it was over, one of
Hardin's friends was dead. Hardin had been knocked out cold, and his three surviving
friends were staring at Armstrong's pistol. A neat round hole pierced Armstrong's
hat, but he was uninjured.
Hardin served a lengthy
prison sentence, only to die in a shoot-out in El Paso in 1896 shortly after
his release.
Sam
Bass
Another well-known Texas
outlaw who had a run-in with Texas Rangers did not make it to prison.
Train robber Sam Bass,
who had been in Texas since 1870, was confronted by four Rangers in Round Rock
in the summer of 1878. In the shoot-out that followed, one of Bass' gang was
killed outright. Bass was gravely wounded, but managed to escape. He was found,
taken back into town, and later died. One account has the 27-year-old outlaw
saying "Life is but a bubble, trouble wherever you go" shortly before he died.
Bass may or may not
have described life as a bubble, but the Texas Rangers certainly found plenty
of trouble wherever they went. Rangers contended with local disturbances that
amounted to miniature wars, bloody feuds, lynch mobs, cattle thieves, barbed
wire fence cutters, killers and other badmen. The Rangers usually prevailed.
As the turn of the century
approached, the reputation of the Ranger as the person required to take care
of a situation beyond the means of local law enforcement was well established.
Adjutant General W.
H. Mabry wrote of the Rangers in his 1896 report to the Legislature that "This
branch of the service has been very active and has done incalculable good in
policing the sparsely settled sections of the state where the local officers...could
not afford adequate protection."
Preserving
Law and Order
In the 1890s, Rangers
preserved law and order in Big Bend mining towns, tracked down train robbers
and even were called on to prevent an illegal prize-fight from taking place
on Texas soil. The promoters of the storied Fitzsimmons-Maher bout finally had
to settle for staging the boxing match on an island in the Rio Grande.
In 1894-95, the Rangers
scouted 173,381 miles; made 676 arrests; returned 2,856 head of stolen livestock
to the owners, assisted civil authorities 162 times and guarded jails on 13
occasions.
In 1900, the Frontier
Battalion faded along with the frontier; but by July, 1901, the Legislature
passed a new law concerning the Ranger service. The force, to be organized by
the governor, was created "for the purpose of protecting the frontier against
marauding or thieving parties, and for the suppression of lawlessness and crime
throughout the state."
Ranger
Captains picked their own men, who had to furnish their own horses and could
dress as they choose. They did not even have a standard badge.
One
Riot, One Ranger
The
law authorized four Ranger companies of a maximum of 20 men each. The career
of Company "B" Captain W. J. McDonald, and a book written about him,
added much to the Ranger legend, including two of its most famous sayings.
The often cited "One
Riot, One Ranger" appears to be based on several statements attributed to Captain
McDonald by Albert Bigelow Paine in his classic book, Captain Bill McDonald:
Texas Ranger. When sent to Dallas to prevent a scheduled prize-fight, McDonald
supposedly was greeted at the train station by the city's anxious mayor, who
asked: "Where are the others?"
To that, McDonald is
said to have replied, "Hell! ain't I enough? There's only one prize-fight!"
And on the title page
of Paine's 1909 book on McDonald are 19 words labeled as Captain McDonald's
creed: "No man in the wrong can stand up against a fellow that's in the right
and keeps on a-comin." Those words have evolved into the Ranger creed.
During the first two
decades of the Twentieth Century, Rangers found themselves up against men in
the wrong as always, but some of the law enforcement problems these officers
confronted were as new as the century itself.
Since the days of the
Mexican War, Rangers had occasional work to do along the long, meandering Rio
Grande, but the emphasis on the river increased in 1910 with the outbreak of
revolution in Mexico. Generally easy to ford, the Rio Grande had never been
much more than a symbolic boundary. Some of the violence associated with the
political upheaval in Mexico crossed the river into Texas.
Bandit
Raids
On several occasions,
Mexican bandits raided into Texas. And at least twice, Rangers returned the
favor, making punitive strikes into Mexico. In one battle in 1917, as many as
20 Mexicans may have been killed by Rangers who crossed to the south side of
the river.
During this time, the
Ranger force was as large as it ever was in its history, and historians who
have studied the period agree there was some dilution of quality. After one
Ranger raid into Mexico, an entire company was dismissed.
Texas was growing up--the
Rangers were part of the state's civil authority, and had to learn to do their
work within the framework of the law, no matter the necessary liberties some
of their predecessors had taken in earlier years.
Still, the Rangers were
not without backing in their efforts to keep the hostilities in Mexico from
washing across the river into Texas. Governor O. B. Colquitt wrote Ranger Captain
John R. Hughes: "I instruct you and your men to keep them (Mexican raiders)
off of Texas territory if possible, and if they invade the State let them understand
they do so at the risk of their lives."
Bootleggers
and Spies
In 1918, the national
prohibition law was passed. It gave the Rangers, along with federal officers,
another problem to cope with on the border. Many a burro train of bootleg liquor
from Mexico was intercepted, and shoot-outs between Rangers and smugglers were
not infrequent.
During
the first World War, the already large regular Ranger force was supplemented
with another 400 Special Rangers appointed by the governor. After the war, on
the heels of a Legislative inquiry into the Rangers' operations on the border,
the Legislature in 1919 reduced the size of the force to four companies of 15
men, a sergeant and a captain. Additionally, the lawmakers authorized a headquarters
company of six men in Austin under a Senior Ranger Captain.
Texas was in a state
of transition, and so were the Rangers. Rangers still rode the river on horseback,
but they also used cars. The automobile was taking over as the principal mode
of transportation in Texas and the rest of the country. And horseless carriages
needed oil, not oats. The increased national demand for petroleum fueled a new
law enforcement problem for the Rangers.
In addition to their
traditional duties, along with assisting in tick eradication efforts, handling
labor difficulties and the enforcement of prohibition, the Rangers had to deal
with the lawlessness that came with the oil boom in Texas. One of the first
places that happened was in a community that years before had been named in
their honor.
Oil!
The small Eastland County
town of Ranger, so named because it had been settled near the site of an old
frontier Ranger camp, boomed with the discovery of oil in the area. By 1920,
Ranger had a population of 16,000, and a substantial number of those residents
were not particularly interested in abiding by the law.
Texas Rangers sent to
Ranger, Texas raided gaming halls, smashed drinking establishments, and corralled
a wide assortment of miscreants and felons. When Rangers filled the jails, prisoners
sometimes had to be handcuffed to telephone poles.
The same story would
be repeated throughout the '20s and '30s. Only the names of the towns changed.
From Borger to Mexia, Rangers preserved what peace and dignity they could in
the wild oil field boomtowns.
The Rangers had greater
mobility, but so did the outlaws. Robbers could hit a small town bank and quickly
make their getaway. Rangers were given railroad passes, but had to provide their
own cars. In the early 1930's, every third Ranger in a company got an $80-a-month
car allowance.
Frank
Hamer
One
of the best-known Rangers who made the transition from horse to car was Frank
H. Hamer. He first joined the Rangers in 1906. Hamer left the force occasionally
to take other law enforcement jobs. But by 1921, he was Captain of Ranger Company
"C", stationed in Del Rio. At the beginning of 1922, he was transferred
to Austin, where he would spend the next decade as a Ranger Captain.
One of the major problems
facing the Rangers during Hamer's tenure as Senior Ranger Captain was bank robbery.
The situation got so bad, the Texas Bankers Association offered a standing $5,000
reward for bank robbers. There was one catch--the money would be paid for dead
robbers only.
As the Depression took
hold in Texas, unscrupulous types began setting up phony holdups, hiring men
to rob a bank and then killing them in the act so the reward money could be
collected. This was a situation the Rangers could not solve with force. Instead,
Hamer went to the press, exposing what was happening. Hamer's move paid off--the
banking association's reward policy was changed.
As Senior Captain, Hamer
reported to the state's adjutant general, a man appointed by the governor. A
governor also could appoint Rangers, or influence a selection. As governors
changed, Ranger leadership usually changed. Though history shows many good men
wore the Ranger badge in the 1920s and 1930s, the system was rife with politics
and ripe for abuse.
When Governor Miriam
"Ma" Ferguson took office in 1933, Adjutant General W. W. Sterling resigned
his office. Forty Rangers, including Captain Hamer, left with him.
Trailing
Bonnie and Clyde
But
Hamer was not away from law enforcement for long. In February, 1934, Lee Simmons,
superintendent of the Texas prison system, asked Hamer if he would track down
the notorious criminal couple Clyde Barrow and Bonnie Parker. Hamer agreed and
was given a commission as a Texas Highway Patrolman.
Since 1927, when a force
had been created to patrol the expanding Texas roadways, the state in effect
had two police agencies.
The young Highway Patrol
operated as part of the Highway Department.
Hamer trailed Bonnie
and Clyde for 102 days. Finally, Hamer and other officers, including former
Ranger B. M. Gault, caught up with the dangerous duo in Louisiana's Bienville
Parish. The officers had hoped to take the outlaws alive, but when the pair
reached for their weapons, Hamer and the others opened fire. The career of Bonnie
and Clyde was over.
For a time, it looked
like the Texas Rangers were not going to last much longer than Bonnie and Clyde.
Under Governor Ferguson, Ranger commissions were easy to come by, and not all
those handed a silver star were men whose character was worthy of the honor.
Additionally, Ferguson appointed some 2,300 Special Rangers. A few of those
were even ex-convicts.
Beginnings
of the DPS
The problem did not
go unrecognized. The Texas Senate, on September 25, 1934, formed a committee
to investigate crime and law enforcement in the state. The committee produced
a report in early 1935 that was singularly critical of Texas law enforcement.
However, the document also proposed a solution: the creation of a state law
enforcement agency to be known as the Department of Public Safety.
A bill was introduced
that would create such an agency, which would operate under a three-member Public
Safety Commission. The Texas Rangers would be transferred from the Adjutant
General's Department and the Highway Patrol would be moved from the Highway
Department to form a single state police force.
Some modifications in
the law were made by a joint House-Senate conference committee and on August
10, 1935, it became effective.
At about this same time,
historian Walter Prescott Webb's classic history of the Texas Rangers was going
to press. In a hasty postscript tacked on to the end of the book, Webb made
one of the few incorrect predictions of his long career: "It is safe to say
that as time goes on, the functions of the un-uniformed Texas Rangers will gradually
slip away..." Webb went on to say the new law amounted to the "practical abolition
of the (Ranger) force..."
Under the new DPS, the
Ranger force would consist of 36 men. Though smaller than it had been in years,
the Texas Rangers would have for the first time in its history the benefits
of a state-of-the-art crime laboratory, improved communications, and, perhaps
most importantly, political stability. In name, the Rangers were 100 years old.
With the creation of the DPS, the Rangers would have professionalism to match
their tradition.
Tom Hickman, a veteran
Ranger, was named Senior Captain of the Rangers. The force was organized into
five companies, each headed by a captain.
Within
a year of their incorporation into the DPS, the Texas Rangers got national publicity
with the opening of the Texas Centennial Exposition at the State Fair grounds
in Dallas. The headquarters for Company B was set up in a specially-built log
building on the fair grounds. Texas Rangers were seen in newsreel footage in
movie houses around the nation.
Modernization
Depression-era DPS appropriations
were lean, but as the decade of the 1930s ended, the Texas Rangers were on their
way toward modernization. Fingerprint and modus operandi files were available
for Ranger use at the Department's Camp Mabry headquarters in Austin, and Ranger
vehicles were equipped with police radio receivers, though two-way radio would
not be available to Rangers until the 1940s. Former Ranger Manuel T. (Lone Wolf)
Gonzaullas headed the Department's Bureau of Intelligence, which gave Rangers
the benefit of chemical ballistic and microscopic testing in their criminal
investigations.
In their early years
as part of the DPS, Rangers were furnished a Colt .45 and a lever action Winchester
.30 caliber rifle by the state. Rangers had to provide their own car, horse,
and saddle, though the DPS issued horse trailers and paid automobile mileage.
For the first time,
Rangers had the benefits of in-service training. Weekly activity reports of
their activities was required.
The Texas Rangers were
part of another agency, but their duties essentially were the same as they had
been for years. Rangers were called upon to enforce the state's laws, with particular
emphasis on felony crimes, gambling and narcotics. Rangers also were used in
riot suppression and in locating fugitives.
World
War II
During World War II,
Rangers provided vigilant internal security in Texas. Ranger duties varied from
showing air raid warning training films to tracking down escaped German POW's
later in the war.
When U.S. Army Rangers
landed in France, the German press thought those commandos were Texas Rangers.
This apparently caused considerable anxiety among the German people. The Reich's
minister of propaganda eventually had to clarify matters.
By 1945, the authorized
strength of the Texas Rangers had been increased to 45 men. Two years later,
the force was increased again, to 51 men.
Texas was growing in
the post-war economy and so was the parent agency of the Rangers. In 1949, the
Legislature authorized construction of a new headquarters building in North
Austin. The same year, the DPS bought its first airplane. A Ranger became the
Department's first pilot-investigator.
In their first year
under the DPS, the Rangers took part in an estimated 255 cases; two decades
later, in 1955, the Rangers were involved in 16,701 cases.
Keeping
the Peace
Rangers continued to
add to their legend during the 1950s. When inmates in the Rusk State Hospital
for the Criminally Insane rioted and took hostages, Ranger Captain R. A. "Bob"
Crowder walked into the maximum security unit armed only with the .45 on his
hip. Crowder and the leader of the mob had a conversation and the inmates surrendered.
Rangers made national
headlines by their quiet but firm presence at various campuses in the state
as school integration was for the most part peacefully implemented. When violence
seemed possible at the high school in Mansfield, Rangers were sent to the school.
A photograph of Ranger Sergeant Jay Banks, reflectively leaning against a tree
in front of the high school as students walked into the building beneath a dummy
hanging in effigy, was widely published.
Also during the 1950s,
Rangers calmed down a violent steel mill strike in East Texas; shut down illegal
gambling in Galveston and participated in numerous cases, some sensational,
many merely routine investigations.
Ranger
activity in these cases usually was documented as briefly as possible. This
was Ranger Zeno Smith's report for July 3, 1956: "Wilson County Sheriff requested
the assistance of one Ranger in the investigation of twenty-five head of cattle
near Floresville. A lengthy investigation resulted in the filing of five complaints
and indictments in each case against the suspect who is still at large. 115
hours."
Texas Ranger Hall of Fame & Museum - http://www.texasranger.org
Texas Ranger Association Foundation - http://www.thetexasrangers.org
Any requests regarding information on the Texas Rangers
previous to the year 1935 should be directed to:
Archives Division
Texas State Library
P.O. Box 12927
Austin Texas 78711-2927
Phone 512-463-5480
or make a request by e-mail by visiting their site:
http://www.tsl.state.tx.us
If you have questions about the Texas Rangers,
e-mail us at:
rangers@txdps.state.tx.us
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