Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1915-10-13
BORDER MAN HUNT
Correspondent Describes Ride
With Texas Rangers.
Pursuit of Mexican Bandits Who
Raided American Ranch Conducted
in Businesslike Manner-"Got
Five" Is Quiet Report.
BY JOHN w. ROBERTS.
international News Service.)

| qualifications to be a Texas ranger
| than to be a soldier in the United
States army. For one thing, you must
be able to shoot 80 per cent average
very few soldiers can do that. And
then, you have to be more than five
| feet ten inches tall. You must know
| how to ride like a cowpuncher and be
| skillful in handling the lariat. You
must be a man of unqualified nerve,
and be ready at all times to face dan
| ger without finch.
1t was my good fortune to be one of
party of ten rangers who left
| Brownsville early one evening in pur-
suit of some Mexican bandits who had
recently raided an American ranch in
the vicinity.
rode beside tall, quiet, handsome
boy of about twenty-five years OF
age. His face was as tanned as a
Mexican's, but his steel-blue eyes be-
trayed his Anglo-Saxon nationality.
We had entered that part of the
country which is covered with net
work of mesquite brush, ten feet III
height, as thick as any African jungle
ever could be.
l started to whistle an old familiar
tune.
Shut up" said my partner quietly.
We came to a small clearing and
halted The waters of the Rio Grande
were dotted with reflections of the
stars in the bright sky. Across the
river was Mexico, and her vast, 81
lent prairies cleaned like silver in
the starlight. One of the rangers dis
mounted and examined the ground
| closely.
They have gone that way he point
ed northward.
How does he know that it is the
men we are after?" l asked of my COM
| panion.
by the footprints" he replied.
"Greasers never take the trouble to
shoe their horses. An Americans
horse is always shod-that's the diff
ference, and the hoof prints point
northward"
Here we left the road and took up
trail through the chaparral, single
| file. The thud, thud of our horses
hoofs in the soft earth, and the occa-
sional squeak of a saddle were the
only sounds which broke the stiffness
of the night.
Suddenly, without warning, the
crash of body dashing through the
| dry mesquite to our eft was heard.
In almost the same instant ten sad
dies were emptied and ten big, strap
| ~ s,,&@ In
brush like so many rabbits. The horses,
but for turning curious eyes toward
| the brush in which their masters had
| disappeared, remained absolutely still.
A minute later, however, the ten men
returned and remounted.
Coyote" explained my partner,
with a smile. "The damn critters are
always fooling us, because they sound
just like a greaser trying to get away"
We had ridden out mile farther
along this trail, when the shrill
whinny of a pony broke through the
Stiffness 1t halted our small band
like magic Although no one said
word, each man knew what the other
thought, and they acted together.
Each ranger dismounted and took his
rifle from the scabbard.
Its them, l guess" my partner in
formed me. "You had better stay
with the horses and keep your head
under cover in case there is any shoot
ing. We will be back in a little
| while"
Although every one of the ten
rangers who took into the brush were
big fellows, each wearing heavy boots,
yet when they had gone but ten PAGES
from where l stood l could not hear a
sound-not even the breaking of
dry twig.
Five minutes later the sound of a
shot cracked through the air. was
in a state of feverish excitement.
Never before had / been in a man
hunt, and this one, staged in still
night on the prairies bordering the
| waters of the Rio Grande, made me
doubt, even then, that it was taking
place on American soil. The shot
was followed by another one, then a
third, then many, all at once, and in
few seconds more the air rang with
the cracks OF TluSS. uodTu an OaLQ
screamed in Spanish; sharp-voiced
command to halt, in English. Heard
the pink of a body jumping into the
Rio Grande, then another and another
one. Someone was crashing madly
through the mesquite brush to my
right, then all was silence again. A
few minutes later, the ten rangers
returned unhurt. While | was trem-
bling in my excitement, the men quiz
city put their guns back into their
scabbards, mounted their horses,
turned around, and started back to
Brownsville again. Not word was
spoken and each mans face was as
immobile as though nothing had hap
| pened.
'Did-did-did you get any of
them?" l whispered to my partner.
Five he said quietly. without look
| ing up