The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1935-06-20

of its centennial That is the organ
ization known as the Texas Rangers,
which shares with a similar body of North
American law-oficers, the Royal Canadian
Mounted Police, reputation and prestige that
is worldwide.
"All honor and praise is due the Royal Cana
dian Mounted and they have received much Of
BOTH" wrote Thomas D. Barton, adjutant-gen-
eral of Texas and commander of the Texas
Rangers, and Walter Prescott Webb Of the de-
partment of history at the University Of Texas
in an article in the Frontier Magazine in 1925.
But the Texas force will not suffer in COM
parison. The Royal force created in 1873,
but at that time the Texas Ranger organization
had been doing service for nearly 40 years. 1t is
the oldest force of the kind on the American
continent.
1T came into existence in time of revolution,
when a detached handful of Anglo-Americans-
the Texans-were fighting to free themselves
from a tyrannical government; It was born TO
Texas in the thrOes Of revolution, and went
grimly about the task of defending young ma
ton whose inhabitants were few and whose
treasury was empty. With these Texans there
was no pomp and no ceremony flag and no
uniform, little food and often no pay. Yet they
held the line during the existence of the Repub-
lie of -1S36-1S45-against two of the
most merciless and relentless foes known to
mankind. Whereas His Majesty's force had to
contend with the foe within-the Indian and the
EsduimO-the Texas Ranger had to contend with
the Indian within and the Mexican without. The
Canadian dealt with subjects and wards the
Texans with an internal enemy and foreign foe.
1.-The tactics and strategy of the Texas Rang
ers were, and today are as informal their
dress, determined in large measure by their
foes. Both the ComanChe Indian and the Next
can were expert horsemen, and they made all
their fOrays and attacks horseback. The
Ranger, therefore, had TO become a hOrseman
and had TO adopt weapons suited to mounted
conditions. Thus he came in time TO show great
preference for the six-shooter, which became his
own sweet weapon 1t was faster than the In
dian arrow and could be managed with effect
from the hurricane deck of a Texas mustang.
Horsemanship and craftsmanship were the IN
mistakabe traits of the Texas Rangers"
In the same year (1925) Chief Justice Fly Of
the Texas civil court of appeals in a decision
unfolding the constitutionality of the ranger
law declared, Before the first gun of the Texas
revolution fired at Gonzales in December,
1885. before the Declaration of Texan indie
pendence was adopted, before the heroes of the
Alamo laid down their lives for freedom, and
before the Mexican army under Santa Anna was
destroyed by San Houston at San Jacinto, a
ranger force was organized in Texas. As
matter of fact the Texas Rangers might claim
an origin even farther back than 1885, so that
they might justifably have been celebrating
their centennial at any time during the last II
years
One of the first problems which arose to
harass the colony which Stephen F. Austin. the
Father of Texas" founded on the Colorado
river in 1922, the hostility of four Indian
tribes-the Karankawas the TOnkawas the
Wacos and the Tahuacanos OF this situation,
Eugene c. Barker in his Life of Stephen f.
Austin" (Cokesbury Press) writes:
when Bastrop (Austins land commissioner
reported the encouragement of the settlers in
the fall of 1922 Governor Trespalacios ordered
the enlistment of sergeant and IA men for their
protection. They entered service in May, 1923,
and were stationed near the mouth Of the Colo
RADIO. They were poorly equipped and unpaid
but gave some relief. Austin begged General
Cara TO pay them and continue them in service,
but their subsequent history is not revealed by
the records.
Zone of Austn's first steps after arriving in
the settlements was to offer employment TO ten
men, to be paid by him, to serve as rangers at
tached to the command of Lieut.. Moses Nor
rison. but again the documents fail. and we do
not know whether the force was organized. :. -.
Bastrop wrote at this time that the people were
so harassed by the continual OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES
der robbery, horse stealing, cattle killing, de-
struction of hogs and crops-that it difficult
TO find anyone TO assist the surveyors. Some
Tonkawas made raid the Brazos. Austin
followed with about thirty men and compelled
the chief to give up the horses and whip the par
ticular braves who had stolen them"
It was not until u years later, however, that
the official history of the Texas Rangers began.
In November, 1885, the council which met at San
Felipe de Austin authorized the formation of a
Frontier Battalion 1t was composed of "men
who could ride like Mexicans, trail like Indians,
shoot like outlaws and who-like the Co
manches themselves-didnt favor the capture of
prisoners" BY this time those wild riders of the
plains the Comanches had become real men,
ace and ii was necessary TO have some sort Of
regular military establishment TO check their
depreda tons. Then, too. the Texans realized
that the impending struggle for independence
from Mexico could not long be delayed and a
Ranger force would form a nucleus for the army
of liberation.
Accordingly the council specified that the
ranger force was to consist of three companies
OF % men each. one company to range east Of
the Trinity river one between the Trinity and
the Brazos and the third between the Brazos and
the Colorado To these IS men fell the task Of
protecting the settlements from one of the will
est and most ruthless enemies this continent has
ever known-the C0manches-and their COM
pensation for dangers which they were called
upon TO face and the hardships which they were
10 endure was the munifcent sum of S1.25 day
But out of that service grew the tradition of de-
votion to duty high courage in the face of over
whelming odds and loyalty to comrade in arms
which has given the Texas Rangers their world
wide fame
After the fall of the Alamo. Gen. Sam Hous-
ton. president OF the new republic recruited the
Rangers up TO a strength of l.6o0 men and these
mounted rihemen formed the nucleus of the
army with which he the decisive battle Of
San Jacinto. When the for independence
was over the army disbanded and the men re-