The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1907-02-08
MCDONALD CAPTAIN
OF TEXAS RANGERS
"A That He Would Charge Hell With Bucket
Water" Is the Way in Which Major Bockson,
u. s. A, Described Him

trimmings. But one Of the prisoners
said:
when Mcdonald came along the
game was up. Suppose we had tried
| to shoot. Why he would have killed
| the whole blamed roomful Of us before
you could say scat. I'm willing to take
| shot at sheriff or constable may
| be, but when old 'Bilp Mcdonald comes
! around it's time to be good"
Not a Shot Fired.
And after that, night after night,
Mcdonald, singly or accompanied by
| Olds, rode through the woods hunting
up testimony and not shot was fired.
Again, there was trouble upon the
Canadian. Steers and horses were dis
| appearing with astonishing regularity.
The Ranger force was, sent to hunt
| down the thieves. Now, some sheriffs
| do not like the presence Of the Rang
ers. It cuts down their fees, and be-
| sides the Rangers have an unpleasant
| habit Of arresting all offenders, wheth-
\ err they happen to be friends of the
sheriff or not. The sheriff Of Childress
county sent Mcdonald word to keep
| his men out Of that county. The Rang
| ers went about their business as US
( ual. The sheriff sent Mcdonald word
| that If any more Rangers came into his
| bailiwick there would be something
|
have q chance to make some money.
Mcdonald went to town that time him.
self. The sheriff was on hand and
| fired the first shot. When the shoot
| Ing was over both men were on the
| ground and both had five bullets in
| their bodies. But the sheriff was dead.
| Weeks after Mcdonald rejoined his
company.
THAT fellow was all right, but he
had mistaken ideas about some
things" he remarked to Sergeant Nc
Auley. That was all.
Fences were being cut in the quad
rangle formed by Howard, Mitchell,
Scurry and Dickens counties. McDon-
aid and McAuley went out to look
after 1t. They rode fence for five days
and then bagged six men and landed
them in jail. Some shots were fired
two or three times" he said, 'but as
1t was night and couldn't see the fell
lows, and as nobody was hit, it don't
amount to much" McAuley was equal
| ly -committal.
There had been a feud of years
standing in Fort Bend county. The
Yellowhammers' and the Jayhawkers'
was is history down there. Every man,
! woman and child in the county was
on one side or the other. Assassination
| was frequent. Mcdonald and his men
stayed a short time in the county and
| helped fill the Jail and there has been
peace ever since.
The same thing happened in Bee
county.
And so on, and SO on, and so on, to
the end Of things. A thousand such
stories would not exhaust the score.
Individual scraps along the Rio Grande,
| chasing embezzlers, chasing horse
| thieves. chasing any and every kind
| of lawbreaker in the country God has
| apparently forgot, this constitutes the
! daily life Of the Ranger force and it's
captain.
No Promotions.
The rewards? One hundred dollars
month and feed for the horse. You
must furnish the horse. The state gen.
| erously furnishes the feed. No promo
lions. No jumping from colonelcies to
| brigadier or from captaincies to the
command Of a regiment. No epaulettes,
no gold braid. No rockies to curry
your horse or shine your shoes, be-
cause, in the Ranger service, every
| body, enlisted men and company COM
| mander, are considered socially equal,
| and treat each other so. No "allow-
| ances, perquisites and emoluments."
Finally and emphatically, no graft. A
man who is brave enough to walk up
| W WIG AaAA6ZAS Va a PaolOt SOShC0 anu
| aimed at his heart is above any form
of graft.
Why does such a man as Mcdonald
| spend his days in such a service? I
| asked him once when he was in rare
| mood for speech. well, 1t kind Of
grows on you." he said with a smile,
'and the longer you are in 1t the bet
| ter you like 1t, and the harder 1t is to
get out. It's healthy. open, free life
You do not have to stay long in any
one place, and that's an advantage.
The state pays enough to keep me go
Ing all right, and that ends the salary
question. I can live on the salary and
have something left over besides"
They do say on the plains that Nc
Donald knows al sorts Of things. That
he can tell from a footprint how long
it has been made, and the kind Of man
| who made it. He can tell who shod the
| horse the fugitive is riding from look
| ing at the horses tracks. Knows all
kinds Of things like that. Anyway, no
| inducement can divorce him from the
Texas Ranger service. He considers
1t the finest and most competent body
| of mounted police in the world, not
even excepting the Northwest mount
| ed police. Nor does he think the USE
| fulness of this arm of the service will
ever be impaired as long as there are
1,600 miles Of the Rio Grande to watch.
n