Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1922-01-24
SAFETY OF The BORDER
The Texas Rangers Unique Body OF
~: IL Fighters.
TERROR TO ALL KINDS OF OUTLAWS

Captain Lee Hall Was a Brave and
Dashine Leader Who Was Equal to
Every Emereency--Oriein Of OrganI-
zation Goes Back to Early History OF
Texas Country.
Dearborn independent
Canada has it's Royal Northwest
Mounted Police, whose fame is secure
in En- .ish- speaking countries and
most o. the other civilized lands where
stories of grit and daring and coolness
in the face of great dangers are ap-
preciated. There is another body OF
picturesque men, whose organization Is
older and whose history teens with
bl illiant exploits and daring achieve
ments in the discharge of their duties,
but whose fame is not so wei! known.
The organization referred to is the
Texas Rangers. The exact date of the
origin of the rangers is lost in the OBJ
security of early Texas history, but it
was at least as early as 1885. When
Texas revolted from Mexico, in 1885, Il
general council met, and, as part of
its work, authorized the first ranger
force. This organization was to con-
sist of three companies Of rs men each.
one to range east of the Trinity river,
one between the Trinity and BraZos
rivers, and the third between the Bra
EOS and the Colorado. The men were
to serve solely as protection against
the Indians, the remuneration being
s1.25 a day. These early rangers were
semi military in character varied in
formation, ununiformed, and irregular
in operations. They were, in sense,
indigenous to Texas, having sprung
from the soil on which their kinsmen
shed their blood, and they soon became
the frontier fighting force par exec
lence Of the world. They were the fore
runners Of such organizations as the
Northwest Mounted Police. Of Canada;
the Cape, of South Africa, and the
Pennsylvania state, though unlike any
OF them. They were the Anglo-Ameri-
can solution of the problem of the
frontier. The true character Of the
rangers becomes clear only in the light
of that knowledge which comes from
an acquaintanceship with the nature
and disposition of their foes, the Mexi
cans on the one hand and the Indians
on the other.
From long experience with the Mexi-
cans, the Texans had come to distrust
every word and deed of the race. They
doubted their honor, feared their mercy
and despised their valor-lessons dear
ly learned at the Alamo, Golidada and
San Jacinto. From the Indians whose
position extended along the edge of
the great prairie from the Rio Grande
to the Red river, a distance Of 500
miles, they also took hard lessons. The
Comanche warrior was Il terrible foe,
courageous, cunning and cruel, an
adept in all the practices and suhter-
fuges OF partisan warfare, and to meet
him the ranger had to adopt his tao
tics. For example, the Comanches. al
ways came suddenly, mounted on the
1eet prairie mustangs, which they
managed with consummate SKILL and
of the wind. Again, the Comanches
never permitted themselves to be
made captive, and to become their
prisoner meant torture and death.
Here were the ready made rules by
which the rangers had to fight. They
were Of necessity superb horSemen,
using their legs mostly for mounting
and sticking OIL. They were sure
marksmcn, showing great preference
for the revolving siX-shOoter. They
were vcrsed in woodcraft and possess
ed an uncanny sense Of direction and
they knew the lore Of the forest as well
as that Of the plain. Colonel John S.
Ford, himself a ranger soldier and
newspaper man, summed up their
qualities in these words: The Texas
Ranger can ride like Il Mexican, trail
like an Indian, shoot like Tenncsseean
and fight like very devil"
Above al, these frontierSmen were
the embodiment Of individualiSm. 1t
was their outstanding trait, their chief
characteristic. They were salf-reliant
and resourceful, frequently eXtricating
themselves ION difficulties, not by
fighting but by quick thinking. Only
one thing in warfare they had forgot
ten in their long struggle with q dual
foe, and that was to surrender. They
gave quarters -SometimCs-but never
asked and never expected it. Their
leaders were natural leaders, men who
possessed in high degree the qualities
they admired in others and found es-
sential to themselves. The ranks were
filed with those courageous ones who
loved action and adventure better than
ease and gain.
In 1915, Texas joined the Union. The
Mexican War followed Immediately,
during which the rangers performed
such valiant service as scouts and
guerilla fighters with the armies of
Taylor and Scott that they were her.
aided as heroes throughout the nation.
| In 1874 the rangers were rCOrpa riZcd