The Daily Ardmoreite. [volume] (Ardmore, Okla.) 1893-current, 1907-01-20

lhargc hell with a bucket of water
that's the way that Major Blossom
If the United states army described
William J. Mcdonald, captain Of the
texas rangers That's what Senator
tulberson reiterated on the floor of
he United States senate. That's what
Everybody in Texas has known for
hese twenty-five years. And half OF
texas would 20 broke on the proposi.
lion that II Mcdonald started hell.
kards he would come back with the
keyil handcuffed and tied across the
tommel Of his saddle.
For nearly a quarter of n century
Mcdonald has been in the ranger ser
tce. Most of the time he has been on
kn the plains. He knows the great
Empire between the Cimmaron and
Rio Grande and the Sabine and Pecos
Ike home-staying man knows his
'front.' hall. Drop him out Of a balloon
IN the darkest night anywhere in Tex
Is and he will tell you the number
" the particular quarter section where
BE- alights. For he knows the woods of
East Texas, too.
The service required of this sol
bier of peace is as various as It is ar
Iuous. Is it a riot in a lumber camp?
Mcdonald ana his men are hurried
therce. Is It case for horse thieves
br a band of lynchers? Mcdonald and
lis men are on the scene. ITS spec
hi train for Atkins then. Is It n pa
tol of range fences-the lonellest Job
bn parth-McDonald is in It. Where
liver and whenever the civil authori-
h is paralyzed, when anarchy usurps
he the orderly procedure of gov
Eminent, the rangers have the job of
tubduing the lawbreaking and res
loring order. It Is to the credit OF the
hangers, force which has so many
Shite marks to its credit, that It has
tever failed
Throughout the state, among all
.lasses of lawbreakers, there is a SUI
berstitous dread of Mcdonald. He and
bis twenty band of mdn move with
he precision Of trip hammer and the
,elerity of the wind Here today, yon-
ler tomorrow, and the next day some
bther place. Naturally there are sto-
lies, some wholly true. some half true,
tome wholly imaginative. Some men
Win tell you there Is no such person.
others who have felt the reach of his
krms say there are two or three OF
him, and the utterly ignorant say he
Is but an ordinary mortal after all,
Ind would not amount to much with
but the twenty brave boys behind him.
btill II you are so inclined You can dig
Into the official records of the adju-
Into the officia records of the adju-
liant generals office at Austin and
find twenty instances of reckless bra
sery where the presence of the TWEEN
ty was a mere incident.
| If YOU were looking for heroes Nc
tunald is about the last man you
MOULD pick out. He looks remarkably
like you,." Just an ordinary man OF
six feet, of slender statute, with
breeches which bag at the knees, a
coat not any too new, and a brown
slouclr hat No guady, red shirt, or big
dangling spurs or trappings OF ro-
nance. But there is big fighting nose
hnd a steel gray eye which seems to
book at you and through you at some
thing beyond. Add a bashfulness
(which make him studiously avoid as
semblages, where he Is likely to fall
lon strangers or meet women. He new
Ter obtrudes unless he has a warrant
land in that event there is no place
on earth where he would not go. He
lis a spendthrift In valor and possesses
Ia wonderful mercllessness of speech.
lThe silence of the great reaches OF
sage and sand are not conducive OF
lgaruility. so this overgrown child of
the plains is of few words. Yet not un-
companionable. When the days work
Is over he can sit by campfire and
tell wonderful stories II you are ad-
riot enough to draw him out, stories
OF adventure which have never been
hold before, with the personal equation
always minimized.
And in spite of the fact that his bra
lvery has been so widely advertised
Mcdonald will tell you that there have
been times when he was positively ter
ror-stricken, when his knees knocked
together and his breath came short.
All because a tourist aimed a camera
at him. He despises cameras. Likewise
he detests interviews and interView'
ers who are too persistent. He says
that the first time that he ever got in
to a full dress suit. to attend some
Shrine blowout, he felt like hugging a
lamppost and yelling for a policeman.
The matter of restoring order at