Daily camera., 1899-07-06
THE TEXAS RANGERS
Old Institution to Be Legislated Out
of Existence.
Has Lost Caste of Late Years and
Has DwindIed Down to
Q Mere Handful OF
Old Timers.

''We are going to lose what has al
ways been to me the most character
istic of the men of Texas, if bit of leg
islation now pending manages to pass
said Frank b. Lamar, of Austin, in that
state. The proposition is up to do
away with the Texas state rangers, a
body of rough and ready fellows who
were cross between the gentleman
cowboy, the policeman and the tough
man of the plains. At one time there
was a bunch of these fellows, who liked
the rough and careless lives they had
to lead. They were the most irregu-
lar of regulars, but they were a very eff
fcient police force for the state, and
they have record of very many good
deeds performed in the line of duty,
as well as one of some pretty rough
fun.
"They came into being just after the
war as a sort of mounted police for
our frontier, to guard the then sparse
ly settled country from the 'greasers'
who came over from Mexico to steal
cattle or smuggle goods from one coun-
try to the other. They hated greas-
ers, Indians and squawmen as his Sa-
tanic majesty is said to hate holy wa
ter, and would rather kill one than eat
n square meal or kill rattler. They
had sort of uniform, but the prin-
cipal feature of it was the saddle of
their horses, and whenever one had
made good bit of money it was a
saddle that he first thought of pur-
chasing. Some of these were gorgeous
in the extreme, all covered with silver
ornaments and filigree work of all
sorts. Each Of them carried navy re-
volver, carbine, a lasso and blanket
when he was on duty. Their ponies
were the tough little bronchos of the
plains, and they could ride like the
devil, shoot to kill, riding or standing,
and endure any hardship. They feared
neither God, man nor the devil as has
been well said of them and each had
lot of notches in the butt of either his
carbine or his. revolver, generally in
both, as proof of the individuals they
had killed in the line of duty, each
notch indicating life taken. 1t was
generally the life of a man whom the
community could well spare. They
thus marked the passage to their last
account of horse thieves, smugglers, In
dams or bad men, who were the worst,
as they were the most cowardly and
treacherous, of the whole bunch.
"Of late years the rangers have
rather lost caste and they have dwin-
died down to about 50 in all, drawing
pay from the state. The country has
become so generally settled and the
tough element SO well subdued that
there seems now no longer any place
for them in the police scheme of the
state. l am not the only old Texan
that is sorry to see the rangers go, FOR,
even though they have of late lived
rather in the imagination of the people
than in fact, they were SO thoroughly
feared by thieves and ruffians that their
past reputation has served to keep these
people on their good behavior. We
all fear that with the passing of this
body there may return frontier troubles
and perhaps the oldtime thevery and
smuggling. But l suppose the state
o'iiSCi . anu leRlsldlOTS KNOW DeSt ABOUT
the matter, and we will have to ac-
cept their dispersion whether or no.
But one thing / do know, and that is that
the women who have to live on the
ranches will regret the passing of the
rangers. They rarely had any use for
them, but when there was any trouble
and the rangers were around, the wom-
en- folks knew they were safe. Many
woman owes her life to the timely ar
rival at the ranch of one or more of
these members of our frontier police.
They've been mighty good friends to
the Texans, but as they have outlived
their day in helping along the scheme
of civilization 1 suppose they must go.
They will be nightly missed by the
early settlers of the state, those men
who aided to develop the big ranches,
some of whom are bigger than the
states up east here."-N. Y. Times.