The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-10-29
ERIE MEDICAL CO.,
Sc NIAGARA ST., BUFFALO, N, Y,

Mexico. and fought them there. They
outnumbered us more than ten TO one,
and they fought their best but we killed
twenty-seven of them and finally brought
the others to terms and made them return
the cattle they had stolen. Al another
time seventeen of the Rangers met four
teen of the Mexican raiders on an open
prairie, and attacked them under a hot
fire. They killed one of our number, but
we killed the whole fourteen of them
Twcnty-Fivc Against Hundreds.
With twenty-five men we went to the
stronghold of King Fishers great band
of desperadoes, numbering hundreds OF
the most desperate outlaws in Texas, and
fought them to a standstill, scattering the
band and killing a number Of the worst
men in 1t when they resisted arrest. With
seventeen men, under Lieut.. Jesse Lee
Hall, we succeeded In putting an end to
feud of forty years standing in De witt
county, although both sides, numbering
hundreds OF men, were arrayed against
us. We made one hundred and twenty ar
rests in that county I'm one month-most
of them for murder We pursued and cap
tured stage robbers, train robbers, bank
robbers and any number of lesser crimi-
nails who had successfully defed the efforts
of the sheriffs and other peace officers, and
once we put down a serious railroad riot
by simply riding on the scene, giving
few yels and firing our six-shooters In
the air. The rioters disappeared so quick
ly that we laughed.
A number of as were encamped at one
time in one of the suburbs of San An
tonic, Tex. We were resting after months
OF hard riding on the plains. A message
came TO Capt. McNelly saying that many
desperadoes had banded together for the
purpose of massacreing ten of our men,
who. under Sergt r. z. Orrell, were In
camp on the Nueces river, about 100 miles
distant. McNelly called for two men to
ride to Orrells camp and warn him of his
danger. We were all eager to go ana
we drew lots for the privilege. George
Boyd, a Ranger from California and !
were the lucky ones and in ten minutes
we were in the saddle and on our way II
was late in the afternoon when we start
ed, and we rode all night at as rapid a
pace as we could keep up without killing
out horses. We stopped TO make a cup
of coffee 4 the morning and to let our
horses Craze for awhile. Then we rode
on. We reached the Nueces river on the
afternoon OF the third day only to find It
so swollen by recent rains as to be in-
passable. and OrrelI and his men were on
the other bank. We rode up the river
for miles trying to find a place where we
could cross.
Finally we reached place where Il
seemed practicable. although even there
the stream was fully half mile wide and
very rapid. But we took off our boots
and tied them to our saddles and urged our
horses into the water, We managed all
right until we reached about mid-stream.
Then the horses had to swim. The cur
rent was very swift and the poor animals,
tired as they were, could not make any
Roadway. We let them go and by tre-
mendous exertions managed to reach the
opposite bank more dead than alive. In
our bare feet we walked five miles before
we reached the Rangers camp, and by
that time It wes long after dark, and they
were all asleep. They didn't even have a
man standing guard We woke them up
and explained why we had come. Orrel
looked us over and laughed
Didn't Need the warning.
you boys are dunn fools" he said.
why didn't you stay the other side of the
river till 1t went down a bit so you could
CROSSE"
1--WE were told to hurry and warn you
about the desperadoes." said Boyd.
Il thought you and the captain had bet
ter sense" said Orrell. "You ought to
know that there are not enough despera-
does I'm Texas to tackle ten of McNellys
Rangers. even when we're asleep. The
best thing you can do is to turn in and
get some rest after you've had something
to eat"
We knew that he was right about the
deSpGfddOeH ana we leit Itt-e aSnane1
of ourselves, although we had only obeVed
orders. There was no guard set that night
and the Rangers were never a Tackled we
found our horses the next day, Tor they
had reached land af ler al
Never were men more obedient TO their
superior officers IN times Of action than the
Rangers, and probably In no like organi-
zation was there ever such a lack OF
military discipline" when there was no
work to do. The officers treated the tnon IS
their social equals, as they we're. We were
not SOLDIERS" and hardly Of the material
of which soldiers are made
remember one incident of our camp
fife which will illustrate our Jack Of So
called discipline In times OF peace, al
though, as / said. we would cheerfally and
unquestionably obey any order when dan
ger was afoot.
We were encamDed at the upper onl OF
the long, struggling village Of Las Rucias,
on the bank Of the Rio Grande some forty
mics above Brownsville The hoys were
restless, for they had not been on a scout
for two weeks and time hung heavy on
their hands. At the lower end of the IL
lage, about three-quariers of a mile from
our camp a protracted fandanZo was in
progress and we knew It. 1t so happened
that at this time nearly all the hcYs were
In bad standing wiki capt. McNcify a.,d
Lieut.. Robinson fer going across the Flo
Grande a few nights before and shoe ing
out he lights at a fandango there, and we
were under strict orders not 10 leave cemp
without permission. We didn't ike mis- a