Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1932-01-17


across the Red River at Durant, Okla readers
of newspapers learned that on the Texas side
was detachment of Rangers
Had they been familiar with the Southwest
section of the United States and its traditions
of men who shoot straight, quickly and the
second and third time if necessary, they would
have gambled that the Rangers would win. In
the Southwest the Texas Ranger is legatee of
the bravery of the Alamo and enough county,
seat feuds to dwarf the exploits of Sergt. York.
If there is a synonym for bravery In the great
North American plains country 1t is Iexas
Ranger or deputy United States marshal Ac-
cording to the many stories in the Southwest,
the man who stood in the boots of either had
to be good, and in plains parlance gooo
means several degrees above proficient.
Go into Austin, Tex, with story OF law
violation Or If you can't make the trip, te!e-
phone the adjutant general he had better send
a few Rangers to quel disturbance. Maybe
the five or six Rangers did not resemble the
A. E. F. but if they tipped in by airplane or
shot over the prairie roads in high-powered
car somebody was arriving some place. 1t
usually requires Ranger 10 minutes to get the
lay of the land-so the story goes down by the
Rio-and if he isn't through in five minutes
more he's ashamed of himself and the tradi-
lions of his calling.
The visitor in Texas who supposes for one
minute that modern methods of expensive
lawyers numerous courts penitude Of United
States marshals, former service men irked by
monotony and desiring a scrap have made the
Texas Ranger obsolete or even started him
down the gravity alley toward the discard
doesn't know his Texas
THE Texas Ranger-seventy of him-is the
most important Acknowledgement group in
the Southwest. 1t is true he isn't the dramatic
Of tba uba lie rid
ponies made plenty of conversation on the
Pecos Neither is he required to drop his As
caliber revolver over his ponys neck and pick
off bandit at 100 yards. He could do it if he
had to today but with airplanes and motor
cars he cover Texas in a week.
The Ranger thinks Texas is the best State
In the Union. A few of them would be willing
to take odds that Texas could lick the rest
of the United States if pressed Not that he
is cocky or boastful He is just reassuring.
He impresses the person who first meets him
as the Rio Grande variety of the Canadian
Mounted He Is stepped in Texas history
imbued with the bravery of Davy Crockett,
who is the patron saint of the Texas Rangers,
and loyal to the last cartridge.
Historians say the Texas Ranger dates from
Texas break with Mexico in 1885, and the
nucleus of this band of armed men were
Texans detailed to patrol the Rio Grande.
They performed so we'll that when Gen. Sam
Houston in 1886 decided that sharpShooters
of the Davy Crockett type could probably lick
any foreign country that wanted to get in, the
1000 riflemen were placed Ranger duty.
At the close of the this large group
was not necessary and the Rangers diSbanded.
With this new State to be protected from
Indians and bandits the United States Army
sent its companies from Forts Dodge, Larned
and other Southwest posts. There were hun
dredS of miles of border to be protected, and.
in spite of experienced plains soldiers, the
Texas assignment was difficult Although 100
soldiers were expected to patrol the same area
a Ranger formerly had been responsible for,
the soldiers Jared badly at the hands of In
dams and renegade whites, who lured them
into impossible positions and then cut them
down. So heavy were casualties along the
border that the settlers who had been at
tracted to the rich soil in Texas called on
Gov. Houston to mobilize the Rangers.