Arizona weekly journal-miner., 1899-07-05
THE TEXAS RANGERS
ols Iastitutiea to Be Lsgislatsd Out
 Os Existence.
aas Lest C~sts ss EAts yssss sss Ras DvstadIea Down e c Mere HaAafai os
 ofa TaEaeFa.

We are eoinf Co tope pkat has sl- WayS been to me the most character istie of the men os Texas. if bit of ieg- islAiion now pending manages so Psss. 2 said Frank K. Lamar. of Austin. in that ttste. The proposition is up to do
 sway with the Texas state rangers. a cody of rough and ready fellows who were . cross between the gentleman s0Yboy. the policeman and the tough
 nAR' of the plainb 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 ef- aeient police force fer the state. and they have record of very many good deeds performed in the line of duty. ss well as one of some pretty rough fun.
 They came into being just after the war as . 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- CTS, Indians and squawmen as his SA- tanie majesty is said to hate holy wa ter, and would rather kill one than eat 6 square meal or kill a raitler. They had sort of uniform. but the prin- eipal feature of it was tbe 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 tn the extreme, all covered with silver ornaments and hlgree work of all sorts Each of them carried navy re- vOiver. . earbine. lasso and a 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 a lot of notehes 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 . afe taken. IL 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. h. diana or bad men. who were the worst. as they were the most cowardly and treacherous. of the whole bunch.
 ''0f late years the rangers have rather lost caste and they have dwin- died down to about so in all, drawing pay from the state. The country has become so generally settled and the tough element So well snbdned that 11lngR ssnems now no longer any place for them in She police scheme oS the state 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 old-time thievery and smuggling. But suppose the state officers and Legislators know best about the matter, and we will have to Ae- cspt their dispersion whether or no. But one thing I do know, and thstis 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 a 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 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 hsre."-N. |. Times.