The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1899-09-18
THE RANGERS OF TEXAS
Al FAMOUS BODY OF MEN NOIY
PASSING AWAY.

yates Among its Members-The Fa-
nous Red Ride When 100 Desperadoes
Died.
Inc news that some Mexican prisoners
confined in Jail at Hidalgo, a little
town on the American side of the low
er Rio Grande, had been ill-treated by
the Sheriff of Hidalgo county and that
GOV. SayerS had ordered company of
State Rangers from Brownsville to go
to the rescue, brings to mind the decay
of one of the most remarkable constab-
ularies in the history of the world. This
company of Rangers now at Hidalgo,
numbers not more than fifteen men,
That is the average size of the Texas
Ranger company at present. 1t Includes
a captain, lieutenant, a sergeant, two
corporals and ten privates. The cap
i tain gets $100 a month and legitimate
expenses. The lieutenant gets SIS a
month and rations. The sergeants get
$780, the two corporals $35 each, and the
privates so each. The men are fed by
the State, and have an allowance of
four quarts of corn day, or the equiv
aaent as horse feed. Each private
must furnish his own clothing, bedding
and horse. If the horse is killed while
,the rider is on duty the State buys an
other. If the horse dies of CHAMBERS or
starvation, the private must make good
the loss. The term of enlistment is one
year, but there is no recorded case of an
attempt to hold man to his full term
if he wished to quit. 1t is an axiom in
the Ranger service that a man who
wants to get out is better out than in.
The work and the dangers to be faced
are such that a captain with his heart
only half in the service is a pretty poor
private. He is likely to cost the COM
lnand a good deal more than his keep.
For this reason it not infrequently hap
pens that if a mans work displays
evidence of sloth or weakness, he is
asked to resign. If he refuses, he is
dishonorably discharged with loss of
back pay.
No uniform is worn. Officers are not
distinguished from the men save by the
air of authority which come from exer-
else Of it. The clothing ordinarily worn
is made up of dark wooden coat and
trousers, broad brimmed hat, wooden
shirt high-heeled boots and crimson
handkerchief knotted about the neck.
No Ranger owns an overcoat, because
there is seldom need of one. When
.norther is struck they simply shiver
through it and wait for a chance to get
warm again. Except in northwestern
Texas, a norther does not commonly last
more than tWenty-four hours. Each of
the men has a slicker, a long, yellow
oiled coat, supposed to be waterproof,
which he carries rolled up and tied UNI
der the cantle of his saddle. The weap-
ons are the Colts revolver of .45 calibre
and the Winchester carbine of "A cali
bre. The carbine is used not because 1t
is a better weapon than the rifle, for it
isn't, but because it is shorter, and more
easily carried 1t hangs in a scabbard
which lies along the side of the horse
and is under the riders right knee, the
butt of the stock projecting six inches
in front of the saddle and within easy
reach of the right hand. In order to
keep the six-shooter and carbine cart
ridges separate, they being of different
calibres, it is the custom of the Ranger
to- white the lead of one cartridge to
neadle-like fineness. This he inserts in
the middle interstice of his cartridge
belt. On one side of it he puts the pistol
cartridges and on the other side the
carbRne cartridges. Thus when running
his hand around his belt in hurry for
fresh ammunition the sharp point of the
whitfield bullet will show where the two
classes ,of projectiles begin.
The consequences of getting the car
tridges mixed are apt to be serious.
This was exemplified some pears ago in
a fight between a detachment of Capt
20 Do, ND Of p,-;,,
Comanches. The Indians had come
across the Rio Grande just below Ell
Paso and done some raiding. The
Rangers had surprised their camp just
at daylight, charged in with a yell as
was their custom, and did lot of shoot
ing in three minutes. Most of the Indi-
ans got away, but there were four or five
dead One of these was an enormous
buck who lay fiat on his back, staring
up at the sky with an exceedingly ludi-
crous and puzzled cast of countenance.
His features, set in the mask of death,
seemed to say, "Well, blank my war
bonnet" and to ask simultaneously
"Where am I at?" Examination showed
that, leaping out of his blankets in the
early gray, he had damned AS calibre
cartridge into his IA calibre |
CarD1QG, thereby HduSlIlS LIE lleCid-.
nism and had fired one IA calibre car
bine cartridge from his As calibre Colts. |
THE brass shell had split in the chamb-
er and locked the cylinder. That ended
him He went dead the next second.
There is no constabulary akin to the |
Ranger service of Texas, unless it be !
the mounted police of South Africa. In
brief. a Ranger is a member of a COM |
pany of mounted deputy sheriffs COM
manded by the Adjutant General of the
State and exercising the power of arrest |
sometimes with and sometimes without |
warrant in every county of the COM
There is little discipline
other than an understanding that
private must obey the orders Of his
officer. The men have no such thing as
Each company has a few
A tents. Generally these are pitched in
some locality near the most troubled
mart of the country and this camp is
known as the home camp. From it men
are sent out singly or in attachments
of two or three to make arrests, to get
on the trail of noted criminals to guard
tails. lust as they are now doing at Hi
dalgo or to attend the sessions of dis !
trict courts on the frontier, when they
act as bailiffs, serving summons and
often guarding witnesses of the State