The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1889-08-29
THE RANGERS.
SERIOUS CHARGE AGAINST A COM
PANY BY A PANHANDLE
JUDGE.
Miami, Roberts County, the Scene Of the
understanding Demanding
Prompt Attention.

County Judge ]. X. Little, of Roberts
county, has written an open letter to Gov.
Ross making some very serious charges
against company of rangers. The origin
of the affair is strife over the organization
of the county, in which an effort is being
made to GUST some of the officers elect by
contesting their election. The feeling has
been and is very bitter. On the morning
of the 18th of this month one of the "outs, "
it is alleged, undertook, without law or
anything else save force, TO Gust one of the
Gins" Judge Titles letter, after fully set
ting out the origin of the trouble, alludes
to this forcible attempt and says:
The day prior to the date, August u,
captain and posse of rangers got off the
eastward bound train and pitched camp in
Miami. Early the next morning consta-
BILE and more numerous posse, composed of
the most frenzied, indiscreet and irrational
adherents of the faction who are backing
contested election cases, also turned up in
Miami, all carrying weapons upon their
persons, and backed by'an arsenal of Win
chesters, shotguns and pistols, which they
had brought in their vehicles. On the ar
rival of the clerk of the county court in his
Office, and after he had opened his safe, the
constable and his posse stepped in. Their
appearance exciting the apprehension of
the clerk, he undertook to close the SAFE
and was held up at the point of a revolver
with threat that if he did so he would
be shot down in his tracks. Possession of
the office was then taken in the manner of
robbers holding up travellers upon the high
way or on board train of cars, and reign
of terror was kept up in the vicinity of the
court house and throughout the town all
the rest of the day and most of the follow
ing night. A recital of all the incidents of
this affair would be tedious and unimport-
ant but it should be stated that it was par
ticipated in, and in its most outrageous
features was prompted and directed by the
attorney for the plaintiff in the writ of
custer, who became grossly inebriated, and
surrounded by his armed clients, and con-
fronted only by deputy sheriff, who was
present to protect the records, displayed the
bravery of a Falstatf by directing the con-
stable to "clear the office, if had to kill and
drag out" This occurred in the presence
and hearing of the captain of the rangers
who being appealed to by the deputy for
protection replied: Your instructions
from the sheriff do not amount to any
thing, and you had better be quiet and get
out"
As to the part taken by the rangers in
this outrage, while they were ostensibly
here in the interests of peace, it was OBJ
vious they were in reality the hackers of
the constable and his posse. If they were
here to keep the peace and in the interest
of law and order merely, why did they per-
I1llU Une ADMINISTRATIONS VnuJ was lndue Z II
they made the slightest effort to disarm or
in any way control the lawlessness of the
invaders no one in Miami is aware of IT,
The kind of peace they were here to en-
force was the subordination of an unotfend-
ing community to the terrorism of ruffians
And, what brought them here at allP
There had been no disturbance ofthe peace,
no acts of lawlessness in Roberts county
and nothing of the kind was threatened.
They and their allies were the only dis
turbers of the peace. No one else had at
tempted violence or intimidation. Their
very presence under the circum-
stances above detailed was menace
to the community, and far more calculated
to provoke disorder than to allay it. If
they are here to ferret out crime and bring
criminals to justice, there are offenders
among the very men they are backing,
whose lawlessness has never been made the
subject of complaint or arrest or legal ac-
ton of any kind.
No one here pretends to believe that they
acted upon the order of your excellency,
or with your sanction or approval; or If
they did it is supposed 1t must have been
, upon some grossly. false representation OF
| the condition of affairs in Roberts county"
| Now, so far as Governor Ross is con-
cerned, he never knew the Rangers were H.
Roberts county, much less sanctioned or
approved of their being there. In truth,
/ the letter of Judge Little to. him, which he
will read to-day if, he gets home from
Richmond, will be the first intimation he
has,had &,troubles iIf Robertsscounty. and
of theNpart taken In them by the Rangers,
and it can be set down as dead certainty
that all parties concerned will be held to a
strict accountability.