The Portland daily press., 1898-05-17
The TEXAN RANGER.
ne Has Suddenly Assumed Fresh Prom
mence on Account of MI. I,oose welt.
washington Star,)

oupa, together with the activity evinced
by Adjt-Gen Mabry of Texas in recruiting
TO their full strength the ha'f-dozen COM
paniess of Texas rangers for service in
guarding the Mexican frontier from the
threatened ravages of Mexican and
| Spanish bandits during the present
difficulty with Spain, is reviying interest
in no small degree in that unique depart
ment in Texas constabulary the Texas
rangers. In no other section Of the
United States has there ever been success
fully organized and maintained any
officially recognized body of despeador
hunters that have approached in equal of
the remarkable singularity and efficiency
of those border tigers.
Their only possible parallels found in
the Canadian mounted police and the
mounted eOiistabulary of South Africa.
Inc Texas rangers originally were born
u necessity, and We're organized in 1886
by, Sam Houston. Then T4gas was the
retreaG OF all the worst characters in the
western country; the Indians. ind Next
| cans We're daily committing heinous
uspfeeiatlons and the necessity of some
o1lcl&l arm of undisputed discrimination
was the crying need of the hour. Under
f1ouston's able and daring direction the
rangers were not long in gaining the
universal respect of each of these menao-
Ing elements, and throughout the score of
years Immediately following their organ
lzaelon their work was fast and furious
ana marked with decis1veness little
short of appalling.
In those days, as at present tha sarvica
was thoroughly organized and furnished
military equipment by the state, the
| rangers being competent not only to serve
as defenders OF state and national in
terests, but to act as we'll in other more
local official capacities as a sort of posse
comitatus. Throughout the earlier years
of their existence but little attention was
given to the trouble of making formal
arrests. The rangers acted very largely
upon the principle that the sooner the evil
was eternally removed the better for the
state so killings We're startlingly frequent
in the ranks of the law breakers The
result of this long continued policy is
that the Texas border is perhaps freer of
desperadoes and professional bad men
and bandits than any other frontier Sec
tion of all the broad West.
Thirty years ago the entire Texas bor-
der from Ell Paso to Brownville on the
gulf WAS infested with an incompatible
collection of outlaws, while inhabited
with two peoples most belligerently in.
| clined. Here is one instance of the
methods employed in the wedding out of
the desperate population:
When Co. B was stationed at Browns
vile, Sergeant ParrotJ, who was an anna
teur photographer was sent up the Rio
Grande valley upon a secret mission.
throughout the entire distance of several
hundred miles covered on this trip he was
overwhelmed with business. Photo
| graphers were innovations in that wild
country, and the fever for photos ran
| rampant Even the most desperate
characters, the msn most wantedEbya the
| rangers, caught the infection and faced
| the camera. Whenever man was as.
commodated his name was asked and
| memoranda made on the back of the
extra photo retained.
| Parrott used fictitious name through
| out, and when he returned to Browns
vile, four months later he had the
choicest gallery of outlaws ever collected
in all the Southwest. After he had re-
ported a detachm ant of rangers were sent
out led by Lieut.. Armstrong under sealed
orders from Gov. Coke. With them they
carried the collection of photographs Par
rott had secured. They had Instructions,
as it later proved, to spare no one on the
list furnished; nor did they. When they
encountered one of the men wanted he
was asked his name. He usually lied
with equal promptness. Then recourse
was had to the photographs. If they
Tailed there was a pistol shot, few
struggles from the dying man and the
band rode away for other game. If his
relatives or friends CHANGED to find him
there was a burial; if not, the bronze
tinged Mexican buzzards Toasted upon
the carcass.
This raid, which extended from
Brownsville to Iona Vista, is yet re-
ferred to by the older residents of the
Ia Rio lrov,do va 11ov fha rod riIo -
and it is claimed that there were in the
neighborhood of one hundred outlaws
removed" upon that occasion.
During recent years the force of rangers
has been persistently decreased until at
present there is but handful of the old
guard in active service. Up to the date
of the recent call for a return to the ranks
of ali the old rangers capable Of rough
work there were perhaps less than rs on
the official roll. This Is due entirely to
their early efficiency in drawing the lines
that have resulted Of late in the general
establishment of wholesale regard for
law and order all along the border. For
more than 20 years the every day force
was held at six companies OF 100 men
each, and lettered A, B, G, d, E, and f
companies. In those early days the COM
position of the band revealed the makeup
Of tho French forces in the Arab country
of North Africa
Mingled with representatives OF some of
the foremost families of America were
also men whose desperate natures
prompted an acceptance of the dangers of
a rangers life simply from the pure love
of perilous and stirring excitement. The
blood of the mobiles OF England, France
and Germany was registered in the lists
of the rangers, and some Of the most
respected and eminent residents Of the
Lone Star state to-day are graduates Of
this memorable of frontier refor-
nation. During the earlier period of
their existence The principal campaigns
were directed against the. Mexican bandits.
marauders and cattle thieves, the hostile
Comanohe. and other Indian tribes, to-
gether with their brilliant participation
In the Mexican war. hst
Then, as now, the Texas rangers were
eouipped with little regard to military
laws and customs beyond the feature of
organization. Discipline was necessarily
foreign to their natures as we'll as their
unusual duties.
The prime necessities for ranger were
personal courage, tenacity of purpose,
decision, self-reliance and necessarily
cultivated absolute stoioism. Skill with
weapons and experiences in craftsmanship
o<>f irad lick