Evening Republican, Volume 14, Number 305, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 24 December 1910 — THE TEXAS RANGERS [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

THE TEXAS RANGERS

THE TEXAS RANGERS, who have had a prominent part in trouble along our southwestern border, constitute a force that is more feared by miscreants than any other body of men that civilization has ever organized. They carry law and order to the remote regions along the Rio Grande, where outlaws of two nations take refuge. They carry it into the backwoods, where feuds rage constantly, beside which those of Kentucky’s mountains sink into insignificance. They carry it into populous cities. They carry it into every nook and comer of that great state of Texas, the extent of which is such that they are problems to face such as other states dream not of. The Texas rangerß are the most picturesque set of legalized fighting men in this country. They have no counterpart in the world. Only forty in number, they are equal to almost any emergency that may arise when it comes to putting to a test real fighting qualities. The presence of one ranger upon a scene of disorder and threatened lawlessness is usually sufficient to quickly restore peace and uphold the dignity of the law. The ranger is there to do his duty. * He does it fearlessly. The rangers are picked men, every one of them. They must be proved experts in marksmanship and at*home in the saddle; they must be of good moral character, which means that they do not drink or gamble. When a vacancy in a company occurs the captain selects the man to fill it. “I can look into a man’s eyes and tell whether he has got the right kind of stuff in him to make a good ranger,” Captain W. J. (6ill) McDonald, who saw many years in the service, said the other day. “I never made a mistake in picking my men.” Most of the rangers were former cowboys. When a man leaves the ranger service he usually either goes back to the ranch or takes a position as peace officer in some county or city. The official reports of the adjutant general’s department of Texas show that during the period from 1870 to 1884 Indians and Mexican thieves stole 30,838 head of cattle, 3,781 horses and 2,436 sheep. The marauders killed hundreds of citizens, burned many homes and destroyed a vast amount of property. “Although cattle stealing was the original object of the raids, the lawless bands engaged in them have been necessarily led to the perpetration of other and greater crimes. The lawless spirit engendered by their trade, and their own protection, caused them to murder travelers who happened to meet them on their raids, and those whom they thought might inform against them. In fact, these raids were soon turned into general robbery and murder. The conditions on the lower Rio Grande border region began to improve as soon as Captain L. H. Mc- ! Nelly and his company of rangers ■ were sent down there to run down the outlaws. McNelly adopted the policy of giving no quarter. He asked none. It was a fight to the death when he and his men got within shooting distance of the Mexican thieves. The men who won distinction in the Texas ranger service were the forerunners of the present era of peace, development and prosperity that the state Is enjoying. Most of the many rangers who won distinction for their bravery and notable* exploits in the performance of their duty are dead. Some were killed in the service, others succumbed to natural causes. ▲

few of them are still alive and active. Rangers Carnes, Lawrence, West and Craighead recently rode into a jungle that skirts the Rio Grande near its mouth. Mexican renegades were hidden in the thickets and the rangers knew the deadly peril into which they rode. Despite the disadvantage under which they worked, the rangers rode into the thicket. They could die hut once and their business was to court death. A road had been cut through the jungle and following this the rangers were qjnbushed. The outlaws opened on them at close nange with shotguns and every man went down. Carnes and Lawrence were killed and Craighead and West were wounded. Pablo Trevino was so indiscreet as to peep for a moment from the thicket and Ranger Carnes, whose right arm was broken and who was near death, shifted his six-shooter to his left hand and got his man, then died. Sergeant W. J. L. Sullivan, who has been shot to pieces so many times that he is no longer able to chase outlaws, is doorkeeper for the house side of the Texas legislature. He has the reputation of having been the best ranger sergeant that the force ever knew. If the present movement to abolish the rangers Is not carried into effect by the legislature it is probable that

the service will be completely reofs ganlzed. It is planned to merge the four companies, each of which now consists of only ten men, into on* company of forty fnen, and to place It in charge of an experienced officer, who shall hare full control of all ranger operations.