The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1898-05-25
THE TEXAS RANGERS.
They Arc Most Formidable BODY Of Men
Who Know How to Fight.

AhOy niU mum 1bouy Va nAou
Who Know How to Fight.
The Texas Rangers believed they
could settled the little Controversy with
Spain without any aidfrom the rest Of
the country, and really, Uncle Sam
could get together no more formidable
body Of men than the sun-browned,
danger-tried heroes of the southwest.
One bugle blast from the national cap
ital could assemble In twinkling TO-
900 armed men. who would truthfully
term themselves Texas Rangers and
not one of them but whose revolver
shot would be effective from the back
Of galloping mustang at fifty yards,
while all would resent with heated in
dignation question of their ability to
hit the bull's-eye" with Winchester
as far as it could be distinguished. Ac-
customed to sleep in the open air, with
their saddles for pillows and earth s gar
niture for their mattresses, no harder
class OF men can be found anywhere.
tin cup of hastily boiled coffee and
hunk of half-roasted beef have formed
for months at a time their midday
"banquets." They have thrived on
such fare and could endure unflinch-
ingly on much less. Exposure is COM
monplace for them. 1t is, indeed, their
mode of living.
At San Antonio is Captain ]. s. Nc
Neil. as hardy ranger as ever wore
buckskin Captain Mcneil Is inclined
to taciturnity, but recently he was per-
suaded to discuss the possibility of Or
ganizing brigade of rangers.
Il presume that European disciplin-
arians would laugh at my views of
what our 'undrilled' rangers could do.
But let them think a bit The tried
courage of our boys should show that
there Is no danger of them turning tail
under any circumstances. Now, then,
what is most demoralizing to an army
II two forces meet and one sees tre-
mendous havoc wrought on its side,
while the foe continues to advance
relatively as strong as before, what is
the result? Suppose brigade of Eu-
ropean cavalry were to be engaged by
an equal number of rangers. In the
collision the Europeans might seek to
use their sabers. l warrant you that
before the two forces got together for
every European cavalryman's bullet
that found its mark at least two of
the rangers guns would have dropped
their men. So long as they remained
away from hand-to-hand scrimmage
the Texans would continue to increase
the enemy's minority. Then when they
got together, the boys who could use
Bowie knives and guns successfully
against the lances and tomahawks OF
the Indians could certainly whip the
cavalry of any European nation with
ordinary sabcrs and side arms.
There are various things that favor
the ranger In the first place, his
horse, the ordinary mustang, is much |
more serviCeable for modern fighting
purposes than the ordinary cavalry
horse. It's thin, wiry legs aid it on the
plains where sharp turn frequently
saves its rider from an onrushing steer
or enables the cowboy to stop a STAN
pede. l know of no occupation that
requires more GOODNESS and endurance
and the exercise Of more quick, good
judgment than does that of the cow
boy. And there is certainly no indus
try that makes better horsemen or
breeds class of horses better for their
use All the world knows that down
here, where hunting is as popular a
juvenile sport as playing tops, we have
reared generations of marksmen. 1t
seems to me that even those unfamiliar
with the resources and capacities of our
cowboys can understand that 10000 of
them, fitted out as rangers, would show
the world a good deal in the way of
doings.
Taught to fire across the neck Of
a galloping mustang, with scarcely
anything but one leg and thigh ex-
posed, they would p1azle the Spaniards
sorely, while their own craftsmanship
and courage would certainly gain them
as many victories against European
arms as they have already won against
American foes equally as dangerous as
the foreigners in the passage at arms"