The Florence tribune., 1899-07-15
THE TEXAS RANGERS
old Institution to Be Legislated Out
 of Existence.
Has Lost Caste of Late Years ana Has Dyvindied Down sa 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 E. Lamar, of Austin, in that state. ''The proposition is up to do away with the Texas state rangers, body of rough and ready fellows who were a 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 very ef- ficient police force for the state, and they have a 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 sort of mounted police for our frontier, to guard the then sparse ly settled country from the 'grcasers' 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- tanic majesty is said to hate holy wa ter, and would rather kill one than eat square meal or kill rattler. They had a sort of uniform, but the prin- eipal 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- 1 volver, carbine, . 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 sAe devil, sls has. been we'll 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. It was | generally the life of a man whom the community could we'll spare. They thus marked the passage to their last account of horse thieves, smugglers, In- dians 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- 1 died down to about 50 in all, drawing l 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. I 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 I suppose the state
 officers and legislators know best about
 the matter, and we will have to ac-, eept their dispersion whether or nos ! But one thing do know, and thatis 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
 8 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 I 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.