The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-05-14
RISK TAKEN BY RANGERS
PERILOUS WORK OF THE LONE STAR
STATES MOUNTED POLICE.
Battles with Border Outlaws and Cat
tie Thieves Almost D~aily-Head-
less HOrseman in Real Life.
cotulla CTex.) Letter in St. Louis Globe
Democrat.

The Texas rangers form a military organ
ization peculiar to the Lone Star State.
Never was there a more appropriate name
for the fighting portion of a frontier peo-
pie. From the beginning it has been their
business to range over the frontier and
hunt thieves and outlaws, and fight bands
OF hostile Indians. They were organized
soon after Texas had defeated the armies
OF Mexico and published to the world a
state paper declaring the independence of
the republic and asking to be admitted into
the family of nations. Long before the war
of the rebellion the rangers had distin-
guished themselves in many battles with
the Comanche and other wild Indians, and
won the appreciation of the government for
their courage and vigilance in defending
the frontier settlements. The State main
tanned and kept in the field a large body
of these mounte fighting men until long
after The close of the civil war. Being
familiar with the country and the habits
of the Indians and their methods of war
fare they were valuable auXiliaries to the
United States trops in the many campaigns
against the savages on the Western plains.
After the terrible Comanches and other
wild tribes had been conquered and forced
to settle on reservations allotted to them
by the government, the service of large
bOOACS VI 6llSCI was LO lOli60l ltNQAl0 "
by the State. OF the officers of the old
rangers none were more distinguished than
General Ben Mccullough, who was Killed
at the battle of Pea Ridge, while in COM
mand of the Confederate army defeated in
that great battle. Henry Mccullough, who
died only recently, was another famous
captain who served many years with the
rangers. Col. Robert Hall, of Cotulla, who
is still alive, in his eighty-third year, is
another officer of the old service whom the
people of Texas delight to honor. The his
tory of the State cannot be written with
out mentioning the name of the coura-
geous Captain Jack Hayes, and scores of
others who led the old warriors against
their mercilesS and treacherous red enemies
on the prairies and in the mountains.
At this time there are only a few COM
panies of rangers in the field. Doubtless
Captain Brooks's company, with headquar-
spicuous organization in the service, but
one from which the most is expected. This
guarding the Rio Grande border. They are
all young men, selected for their physical
strength, courage and proficiency in horse
manship. They furnish their own horses and
part of their equipment and receive for
their dangerous work and constant vigi-
lance $50 per month. Every man is mounted
upon a superior horse anu armed with Il
Winchester and the best revolver that can
be procured from the arsenals of the coun-
try. Their best horses are of the mustang
breed, and said 10 be descendants of the
beautiful ponies of the Comanches. These
magnificent animals are regarded with
great favor by all Western horsemen. 1t is
said that no breed of horses on earth pos
sesses such speed, combined with such re-
markable endurance, as these admirable lit
tie animals. A ranger carries a Winchester
in a scabbord attached to his saddle under
his left leg. With a revolver at his belt. the
inevitable lariat at the horn of his saddle, a
blanket and a little wallet containing a
morsel of food, the ranger is accoutered for
galloping over a hundred or more miles of
the Rio Grande plains without ever dis
mounting. This company lives In camp, and
their presence on the border is accounted
for by the fact that the country for a con-
Grande is the hiding place for desperadoes,
outlaws and cattle thieves. Scarcely d day
passes that the service of these armed men
is not sought by cattlemen, ranchers or
some traveller who has suffered the loss of
property at the hands of the desperate
characters who infest the mesquite thick
cts and cacti-covered hills of the plains.
THE CATTLE THIEVES.
Cattle thieves are in evidence all the time.
They cross the Rio Grande at light, fire.
quently smuggling various kinds of goods
and always mule loads of mescal. This hot
liquor is d favorite drink with the descend
ants of the Spaniards and Aztecs. Snug
glers bring it into Texas bottled in the
skins of goats and cattle. They have friends
who meet them at some rendezvous and
furnish them with such information as they
have been able TO gather concerning the
movements of the rangers. These desperate
characters generally spend a night or more
in drinking, carousing and dancing with
the QarK-eyeQ, Sun-DrOWned maldenS OF the
border, and then they roundup a bunch of
horses or cattle and drive at the top of
their speed across the Rio Grande. The
rangers frequently strike the trail of these
daring land pirates, and will follow it at a
gallop through thickets and over hills and
prairies, always absolutely certain of the
overtake the thieves. OF such common oc-
currence are these conflicts between the
thieves that a battle in which one or two
men have been killed or wounded excites
little mme and often escapes being re-
ported to the newspapers. TIL border is
not a pleasant place for a man to live who
has made enemies of the people who live
in the brush. One of these lawless char
acters can shoot an enemy from ambush
and. if mounted on a good horse and he
gets a few hours the start of the rangers,
nine times out of ten the assassin will es-
cape into Old Mexico. For more than one
hundred miles on this side of the Rio
Grande the whole country is devoted to
raising cattle. and never did the frontier
people hate the merciless Comanches with
more earnestness than these cattle men
hate the prowling nomads and thieves of
the border. Rangers sometimes bring in
prisoners; cattle men never do. The thieves
know that the people are not liable to deal
with them gently. either on the road to
| Jail or in the courthouse. and as q cOnse-
quence they generally fight as long as they
have got a cartridge.
A stout ranger tells a story of a recent
battle with a desperate outlaw that pre-
sents features of such a startling and hor-
rible character that the bare recital of the
cold facts taxes the credulity of one not ia
miliar with scenes upon the field of carnage
Those who remember the headless rider
that dashed about over the battlefield of
Woerth during the FrancO-German war.
will doubtless read the rangers strange
story with more interest than others. This
ranger suddenly rode within earshot of the
man he wanted. and he called to him to
surrender. The outlaw replied with a rifle
shot, accompanying the echo of the fire.
arm with a laugh and the words. THE
guard dies: it never Surrenders." All. YOU
have been reading Victor Hugo while hid
ing in the brush. muttered the ranger to
himself. The ranger opened fire with his
Winchester, but his horse was almost fly
ing over the rough ground. and he failed to
! put a bullet either in the body OF the thief
or his horse. He drew his revolver, but to
his chagrin there was something wrong
with the mechanism of the weapon. and it
J failed to fire. A dozen bullets whistled
about the rangers head. but fortunately
not one struck him. 1t soon became evil
dent to both parties that each one had
emptied his weapons.
A GOOD SWORD STROKE.
The ranger, by the merest accident, had
at his belt an old Mexican sword. 1t was
a long, straight blade. as sharp as a razor
and resembling a monster Bowie knife more
| than anything else. The ranger had been
asked to carry it to Rio Grande city and
deliver it to a friend from whom it had
been borrowed. He was almost at the heels
of the outlaws horse. and happening to
think of the old sword he drew ii from the
| scabbard, and, swinging it over his head,
once more he called to the outlaw to sur
render. but the desperate man replied by
driving the steel into the TANKS of his
horse. The bright blade flashed through
the air and struck the outlaw on the back
of the neck. 1t was a master stroke, the
result of which astonished the ranger. The
H. aAaA