The
Issue 13, Spring 2004
Texas Ranger Dispatch
™
Magazine of the Texas Ranger Hall of Fame and Museum
Official museum, hall of fame, and repository of the Texas Rangers Law Enforcement Agency
Issue 13, Spring 2004
Get The H**l Out of Texas......................Glenn Elliott & Robert Nieman
The Capture of David Myers, pt. 3/3.................................Bob Favors
Texas Rangers at the Battle of the Alamo......................Stephen Moore
The Alamo (movie review)..........................................Stephen Moore
Jay Banks.................................................................Robert Nieman
Visiting Historic Texas Ranger Graves: Marshall, Texas.......Robert Nieman
On the Trail of Bonnie & Clyde:
Why Frank Hamer Wasn’t Serving as a Texas Ranger....Robert Nieman
Joe Haralson.............................................................Robert Nieman
Train Robbers & Tragedies: The Complete Story of Christopher Evans,
California Outlaw (book review)................................Chuck Parsons
Daniel Webster Roberts.............................................Chuck Parsons
Ask the Dispatch.......................................................................Staff
Ranger Chapman’s 1907 Winchester..............................David Stroud
Dispatch Production Team
This issue of the Texas Ranger Dispatch is
funded in part by a grant from the Texas
Ranger Association Foundation. Their
generosity makes this publication possible.
Robert Nieman - Managing Editor (Volunteer, Museum Board)
Pam S. Baird – Technical Editor, Layout, and Design
Byron A. Johnson - Director, Texas Ranger Hall of Fame
Sharon P. Johnson, Volunteer Web Designer, Baylor University
Christina Stopka, Archivist, Texas Ranger Research Center
Founded in 1964, the Texas Ranger Hall of Fame and Museum is a nonprofit historical center owned by
the people of Texas. It is hosted and professionally operated by the city of Waco, Texas, and sanctioned by
the Texas Rangers, the Texas Department of Public Safety, and the legislature of the State of Texas.
This file contains a complete copy of a back issue of the Texas
Ranger Dispatch.The original issue was posted as a series of
web pages. To simplify archiving them, these issues have been
stored in Adobe Acrobat format.
Links to other parts of the original web site appear but no longer
function.
There may also be some minor appearance and formatting
issues with the individual pages.
Newer issues of the Texas Ranger Dispatch are in magazine
format in Adobe Acrobat.
O
All content ©2009, Texas Ranger Hall of Fame and Museum.
TEXAS RANGER DISPATCH Magazine
Rangers Today
Visitor Info
History
Research Center
Hall of Fame
Student Help
Family History
News
Get The H**l Out Of Texas!
Click Here for
A Complete Index
to All Back Issues
By Glenn Elliott
In 1976, Panola County Sheriff
Johnnie Spradley and I flew from
Shreveport, Louisiana, to Reno,
Nevada, to return a suspected killer
to Texas. We flew from Shreveport
to the Dallas-Fort Worth Airport to
connect to Las Vegas, and then we
caught another flight to Reno.
[Shreveport is only fifty miles from
Carthage, Texas, which was part of
Glenn’s area of responsibility and
the county seat of Panola County.]
Dispatch Home
Visit our nonprofit
Museum Store!
Contact the Editor
When we arrived in Las Vegas, we
had several hours of layover. I
jokingly said to Sheriff Spradley,
“Let’s go to the bar and get a drink. We’ll probably run into
someone we know.”
We had hardly sat down when a man walked up to us and asked
me, “Aren’t you a Texas Ranger?”
When I replied that I indeed was a Texas Ranger, he said that he
was an FBI agent stationed in Las Vegas. Several years earlier,
he had been stationed in Monroe, Louisiana, his first duty station.
He said that I might not remember him, but we had met there
during that time. He recalled that on a July 4, we (several
Louisiana law enforcement officers and I) had recovered several
million dollars in stolen equipment. The FBI had gotten involved
in the case, and he had handled the paperwork for the federal
trial in Monroe. I told him I certainly did remember him and the
recovery. It would be hard not to remember the sweltering July
heat in Monroe, Louisiana. (Unfortunately, too many years have
passed, and I don’t remember that FBI agent’s name today.)
The agent asked what we were doing in Las Vegas and how long
we would be there. When we told him that we had several hours
before our flight to Reno, he asked if we would let him take us
downtown and show us the sights. Johnnie and I readily agreed,
and our host was most gracious.
Once downtown, we stopped at the Horseshoe Casino and went
inside. We had no more than entered one of the lounges when a
waiter walked up to us and asked me, “Are you a Texas Ranger?”
When I replied that I was, the waiter said, “There’s a man over
there (pointing to a corner table) that wants to see you.”
http://www.texasranger.org/dispatch/13/pages/HoutofTexas.htm (1 of 2) [4/30/2009 11:37:04 PM]
TEXAS RANGER DISPATCH Magazine
At the table was a man wearing very expensive clothes: the
buttons on his coat were twenty-dollar gold pieces. Looking
straight at me, he asked, “Do you remember back in the early
’60s, you and your captain, Bob Crowder, came to my apartment
in Fort Worth and Captain Crowder told me to get the hell out of
Texas and never come back?”
“I sure do remember that visit. As I recall, Captain Crowder did
all the talking.”
“Well that was me. I’m Benny Binion and I own this place!”
He asked how long we were going to be there. We told him we
were only passing through on our way to Reno. He invited us to
stay at the Horseshoe on our return stay. The visit would be
totally on him--we wouldn’t need a penny. Unfortunately, we
were unable to take him up on his invitation due to
circumstances beyond our control.
__________
In our next issue, Glenn tells another humorous incident in
“He Was Taller Than That.”
__________
You can read the entire story of the case presented here in the
chapter, “Headless In The Sabine,” from the book, Glenn Elliott:
A Ranger’s Ranger by Robert Nieman.
Dispatch
Jr. Rangers
Corporate Club
Museum Store
Exhibits/Artifacts
Benefactors
All rights reserved. © 2003, Texas Ranger Hall of Fame and Museum. Contact Us
The Hall of Fame and Museum complex is located adjacent to Interstate 35 in Waco, Texas
(midway between Dallas/Fort Worth and Austin).
http://www.texasranger.org/dispatch/13/pages/HoutofTexas.htm (2 of 2) [4/30/2009 11:37:04 PM]
TEXAS RANGER DISPATCH Magazine
Rangers Today
Visitor Info
History
Research Center
Hall of Fame
Student Help
Family History
Lt. Robert Favor, Ret.
Click Here for
A Complete Index
to All Back Issues
Part 3 of 3:
The Capture of David Myers
Dispatch Home
Lieutenant Robert Favor
Texas Rangers, Retired
Visit our nonprofit
Museum Store!
Contact the Editor
Click below for
Part 1
Part 2
©2003, the Author &
Texas Ranger Hall of Fame and Museum
All Rights Reserved
Lt. Robert Favor spent many years chasing David
Myers, a criminal who continuously escaped from
prisons and evaded authorities. In Parts 1 and 2,
Myers leads lawmen on many chases after numerous
escapes. In 1973, he and his two cohorts, wife Sandra
and cousin Regian, were sentenced to lengthy prison
terms.
During the next 18 months, Ranger Troy Porterfield
and I would transport Myers from Huntsville to Brady
for various court hearings some three or four times. It
was on one of these trips that Sandra wrote me from
Goree Prison, requesting I come by to see her. She
told me that while they were in Houston on one of
their trips, Myers had pulled two armed robberies. She
gave me some of the details and requested that I
question Myers about them.
On one trip en route back to Brady with Myers, I
brought up these robberies. One thing I learned about
Myers was that if you bragged on how good a
particular job was, he could not resist telling all about
it. Such was the case in this instance.
The first robbery was on June 15, 1972, at a Dairy
Queen. Myers got $600 from the store manager, who
was forced to open the safe. This occurred right at
opening time. As the employees came to work, Myers
tied them up with adhesive tape.
http://www.texasranger.org/dispatch/13/pages/Meyers3.htm (1 of 11) [4/30/2009 11:37:18 PM]
News
TEXAS RANGER DISPATCH Magazine
The next robbery was on July 8, 1972, at the Coffee
Cup Restaurant in Houston. This job only netted Myers
$317. He had worn a ski mask during these two thefts.
Due to the accurate account Myers gave Ranger
Porterfield and myself, the Houston Police Department
was able to clear those two robberies.
_____
As I stated before, Myers
needed little encouragement
to talk about his exploits. He
also liked to tell about his
future plans for criminal
behavior.
On one trip, Myers told me that he was going to rob a
supermarket because he knew he could get several thousand
dollars from one. He would go to Mexico to some small village,
donate money to the priest, give the poor peasants money, and
buy several of the men 30-30 rifles. He would then write me a
note telling me where he was. He knew I could not resist the
temptation to come for him. When I arrived, his hired guns
would shoot me down.
On one of the times Myers was arrested, he had a long, electrical
extension cord with the female end cut off and the naked ends
tied together. He also had some molding clay, an electric drill,
and a small bottle of butane. He intended to drill a hole in the
safe, charge it with butane, insert the electrical cord, seal it off
with clay, plug it in, and blow the face off the safe. He had
experimented with a fireproof cabinet, and it had proved
successful.
I also recall him saying on one of our many trips to and from the
prison that “it was too bad” we were not on the same team. He
thought that he was good at pulling jobs, breaking out, and
running from the law, but no matter what he did, every time he
looked up, there I was. He thought we would have made a “hell
of a team.”
_____
The date was finally set for Myers’ trial for the burglary of
Campbell Motor Company, the place where he stole the red and
white, Pontiac Grand Prix. Ranger Porterfield and I went to
Huntsville to pick up both Sandra and Myers. She had been
subpoenaed by the defense. Once again, Sandra had written me
http://www.texasranger.org/dispatch/13/pages/Meyers3.htm (2 of 11) [4/30/2009 11:37:18 PM]
TEXAS RANGER DISPATCH Magazine
requesting I pick her up first because she wanted to talk with me.
Sandra had been allowed to visit Myers a short time prior to my
arrival. He told her he had a plan that would affect his escape
and would also allow him to free her. She assured me she did not
know what it was he had on his mind, but she was certain he was
going to try something. Sandra told me this because she loved
Myers and did not want him killed trying to escape. She said she
knew I could best handle Myers without getting him hurt. I
thanked Sandra for this information.
When we arrived at the Ellis Prison Farm to get Myers, I
discussed this conversation with Warden Bob Cousins to see if he
had any ideas. The warden stated that Myers had been nervous
and restless lately, but he could add little else.
Myers was brought to the warden’s office. He was stripped naked
and issued another set of clothes. We went through his personal
belongings he was taking with him, but nothing out of the
ordinary was found. We proceeded to Brady, and the trip was
uneventful.
Due to the publicity the trio of Myers, Sandra, and Regian had
gathered over the past year or so, San Saba was selected as the
trial site on a change of venue. Jury selection began on the
morning of January 6, 1975. Testimony began that afternoon,
and the following afternoon, Myers was given a life sentence as a
habitual criminal. He was just two months short of his twentyseventh birthday.
Security had been very tight in the courtroom. Officers had been
stationed at strategic locations to discourage any ideas of escape
that Myers might have had. No incident occurred.
On this trip back, Myers went to sleep--at least he pretended to
go to sleep. I turned my mirror down where I could see him
when we would meet a car. All seemed okay, but what Myers was
actually doing was unlocking his leg irons and handcuffs.
As we entered Huntsville, the first traffic light caught us. When I
stopped, Myers opened the door and fled. My first thought was
how in the devil did he do that with all that iron on him? It didn’t
take long before I was on the ground in hot pursuit. I left the car
sitting where it was.
Myers was running down the center stripe of the road. I knew I
could not get a clean shot at him for fear of hitting someone else.
After about one block, Myers elected to leave the road and run in
behind a service station. I fired two times at him--or rather the
sound of him. We were both mired down in the deepest mud I
ever got into.
I ran up to a small creek bank and could hear Myers down in the
water. I fired once more at the noise. I then saw a faint outline
of a person in the creek about thirty-five yards away. I yelled at
him, but got no response. I took a good steady aim, or as steady
as I could, as I was completely winded from my run through the
deep mud. At any rate, I put one more shot in his direction and
was relieved to hear a resounding thud that a bullet makes when
it makes contact. Myers squalled and hit the water face down. My
first thought was, “Well, old boy, we’ve been through a lot, but I
http://www.texasranger.org/dispatch/13/pages/Meyers3.htm (3 of 11) [4/30/2009 11:37:18 PM]
TEXAS RANGER DISPATCH Magazine
guess this is where it ends.”
I stood there on the bank waiting for him to sink, but he started
thrashing around and begging me not to shoot him again. I
ordered him out of the muddy creek waters and was surprised to
see that he was not punctured. What had happened was that my
bullet had gone through the side panel of his coat. Myers and I
both thought he had been hit.
We once again chained Myers down and went the last five miles
to the Diagnostic Center where all convicts are received. It was
at this time we discovered two homemade keys in Myers’ mouth.
When we had driven up to the rear gate of the Diagnostic Unit, a
flood light had come on and a guard with a shotgun stepped out.
He asked, “Who is it?”
I replied, “Texas Rangers with a convict that has rabbit blood. Is
your shotgun loaded?”
He replied, “Well, unload him. We’ll see how far he gets.”
Naturally, Myers made no further effort to flee. It was at this
time, while the prison guard was searching him, that Myers
started to dry vomit, and Sheriff Barker saw the homemade keys
on his tongue. Sandra had been right.
I guess we were lucky in more ways than one. Both Sheriff
Brantley Barker and myself were wearing business suits, and our
coats covered our revolvers. I think this alone had kept Myers
from reaching over the seat and trying to grab a weapon while
we were in the car.
The prison personnel received Myers and gave us a receipt for
him. As we drove away, I could not help but reflect over the
events of the past five years. In a way, it was sad. Mostly, it
seemed such a waste of talent. Myers possessed so much to have
squandered it away.
Sandra was the first to be released. She was paroled on March 9,
1977. Regian followed her on January 17, 1978.
_____
Myers served time in the Texas prison system from January 1975
until he was paroled on his life sentence as a habitual criminal in
the early summer of 1983. During this time, I had promoted to
sergeant and was assigned to Company E in Midland. I had pretty
well put Myers out of my mind.
I don’t recall how I learned of Myers’ release from prison. It
might have been through a conversation with Ranger Gene Kea
of Eastland. I recall Kea telling me that an old convict had been
captured inside a building in Eastland during the act of burglary.
He had been identified as Elton David Myers.
Knowing Myers as I did, I knew this was not the only crime he
had committed after being released from TDC. With this in mind,
I drove the 220 miles to Eastland where Myers was in custody in
http://www.texasranger.org/dispatch/13/pages/Meyers3.htm (4 of 11) [4/30/2009 11:37:18 PM]
TEXAS RANGER DISPATCH Magazine
the county jail.
At my request, the sheriff unlocked Myers’ cell, allowing me to
enter. The door was locked behind me so I could be alone with
the prisoner. The cell was a rather large one, and I could see
Myers lying on a bunk, reading a book. He gave me a rather
annoyed look, thinking I was a new cellmate he would be living
with. I just stood there for a few moments watching him. Myers
looked my way again and recognized me. He jumped up from his
cell, ran over to me, and gave me a big, hearty handshake.
We visited about the old days for a little while, and I asked him
what he was doing in Eastland County. Myers grinned and told
me all the years in the pen had slowed him down. This was the
first time he had ever been caught inside a place he was
burglarizing. I reminded him he had been out of circulation for
eight years, and a lot of things had changed during that time. We
both had a good laugh over it. He settled down to a cordial
conversation with me. He asked how his Grandmother Myers was
doing, and we also talked about his eight years in prison.
Eventually, our conversation turned to Myers’ more recent
activities. Since his parole, he had tried his hand at selling cars in
Abilene. We had a few laughs over some of the scraps he had
gotten into while repossessing some of the cars.
Myers got quiet for a moment and then said, “Bob, I need to tell
you about some things I have done since I was paroled.”
I remarked, “I knew you had something on your mind, but I have
to leave for now. I will be back in a little while.”
The sheriff let me out. I returned about an hour later, bringing
with me two Coca Colas for Myers and me. I also had a tablet to
take some notes on.
Myers told me of several burglaries he had committed. He also
told me he had some guns and other items stashed. Myers knew
he was heading back to prison, and he wanted the victims and
their property reunited. Myers told me where his car was in
storage and said that all the items he had stolen were in there.
He advised me to remove the back seat, and I would locate
everything hidden in the springs.
Myers asked me to contact his stepmother in Abilene and advise
her he was on his way back to prison. I told him I would, and I
also thanked him for the information on the stolen property.
Ranger Kea and I went to the storage location and, as directed,
we found all the stolen items. I then proceeded to Abilene and
passed the information on to Myers’ stepmother that he had
requested.
Myers was given a ten-year sentence in Eastland and was
returned to prison. He was paroled again in 1987. I was not
aware of his parole until some time later.
_____
During the summer of 1988, all of West Texas was experiencing
http://www.texasranger.org/dispatch/13/pages/Meyers3.htm (5 of 11) [4/30/2009 11:37:18 PM]
TEXAS RANGER DISPATCH Magazine
a rash of safe burglaries. Studying the reports, it was obvious all
the jobs were being committed by the same person--someone
who was skilled in this art. Myers immediately came to mind.
Upon contacting the records section of TDC, I learned Myers had
been on the ground for nearly a year. Through sources, I learned
that he had a girlfriend, Ella Mae Sisco, who lived in Odessa. I
visited with her and learned that she and Myers had recently
visited with his Grandmother Myers in Rochelle. During this visit,
Myers had become very angry with Ella Mae and had beaten her
with a TV cable. This beating somewhat diminished her
admiration for him, and she agreed to help me locate Myers. He
was arrested a short time later and placed in the Ward County
Jail in Monahans, Texas.
Little to no evidence existed that would link Myers to the safe
burglaries. I learned that a number of officers were going to the
Ward County Jail to interview him. I drove over to Monahans and
met with these officers to advise them of Myers’ disposition. I
felt I could be of some benefit to them in talking with him.
Several of the officers were already in the process of questioning
Myers and were not getting anywhere in their efforts. I went
alone into the cell and visited with Myers for a few minutes
Basically, I told him I thought he was good for these burglaries.
The manner in which they were done indicated it was his work
because I knew of no other safecracker that had the expertise
that he had.
This type of conversation went on for a few minutes. Then Myers
smiled that smile I had seen so many times. He entertained the
officers the rest of the day giving them detailed statements of his
handiwork.
During this cleanup, Myers admitted to Ranger George Frasier of
San Angelo that he had committed a burglary in San Angelo of a
place that sold money orders. Myers later traveled to San Angelo
with Frasier and dug up the money orders, the writing machine,
and $15,000 of money orders that were ready to be passed.
While he was confessing, Myers implicated his half brother, who
resided in San Angelo. During the next few days, as these
interviews wore on, we learned the half brother and his girl
friend were to deliver a car to Monahan and park it near the jail.
We also learned there would be a stash of money hidden under
the dash of the car.
Surveillance was maintained on the San Angelo couple as they
drove to Monahans. After the car was parked near the jail and
the couple departed back to San Angelo, a search revealed $350.
The car was disabled and left where it was sitting,
After Myers had cleaned up all of business with the officers, his
cell was searched. A fifteen-foot, braided rope made from strips
of his blanket was extracted from the drain in his lavatory. Myers
was removed to another cell. No other attempts to escape from
the Ward County jail were made.
Myers pled to all the safe burglaries and was given thirty-five
years in each of the thirty-five offenses, with the sentences
running concurrently.
http://www.texasranger.org/dispatch/13/pages/Meyers3.htm (6 of 11) [4/30/2009 11:37:18 PM]
TEXAS RANGER DISPATCH Magazine
_____
Myers had told me that when he was paroled in 1987, he had a
boot-making job in El Paso. However, due to what he claimed
was heart attack, he retired from that work. Apparently, his
safecracking work was less strenuous than making boots.
After completing all of his court appearances, Myers was
transferred to the Tom Green County Jail in San Angelo to receive
his last sentence before being returned to prison. Ranger Fraiser
had acquired a good, working knowledge of Myers, and he
attempted to tell the Tom Greene County authorities about his
escape record. It fell on deaf ears. They had a new jail, and no
one could escape from it.
The Tom Greene County Jail was built in the same manner as the
McCulloch County Jail in Brady. Myers had given Sheriff Vogel
and me a walk through, pointing out the weaknesses and where
he thought he could escape. He told us he did not want to break
out of the Brady jail because he was tired. Myers later escaped
from the Tom Green County Jail exactly in the exact manner he
had showed Sheriff Luke Vogel and I on our visit in Brady.
This proved to be Myers’ last escape. He made the mistake of
taking two other prisoners with him: Harold Nicholas Coplin, in
custody for aggravated armed robbery; and Michael Ray Penny,
in custody for forgery, unlawful possession of a weapon, and
burglary.
Once the trio was out of jail, they broke into a local business and
stole a 1979 Chevrolet pickup. After breaking into one other
business, the three men drove to Eden, in Concho County. Myers
wanted to deal the officers in that town a little misery as he had
been arrested there a few months earlier.
Myers, Copelin, and Penny burglarized the Ford Motor Company
but were unsuccessful in getting into the safe. They did take a
1987 Ford Aerostar. Myers had had to move several vehicles in
order to get this car out. Fifteen years earlier, he had done the
same thing in order to get the new Pontiac Booneville in Brady.
All three men were identified by fingerprints left at the scene.
The ’79 Chevrolet pickup was recovered a few miles from this
location.
Officers checked the residence of Myers’ grandmother. She
denied having seen him and went to stay with relatives. Mrs.
Myers was afraid of her grandson after having witnessed the
beating he had given Ella Mae.
I contacted the DeBaca County Sheriff’s Office in Fort Sumner,
New Mexico, in order for the Yeso Hotel to be checked. I also
contacted Sandra Marie Rider’s mother in Oklahoma and advised
her of the escape. I was told that Sandra had married and was
raising a family, living in another state.
Eight days after the Aerostar was stolen in Eden, it was found
abandoned near Baird. There, the local Chevrolet dealership was
broken into and a 1989 Pontiac was stolen. The following day, it
was recovered, abandoned near Big Spring. No vehicles were
http://www.texasranger.org/dispatch/13/pages/Meyers3.htm (7 of 11) [4/30/2009 11:37:18 PM]
TEXAS RANGER DISPATCH Magazine
reported stolen in Big Spring, so the method of travel for Myers
and his associates was unknown. We were to learn later that
they had a stolen vehicle stashed near Wichita Falls. They had
picked it up prior to dumping the Baird Pontiac.
The trio returned to San Angelo, where Copelin and Penny picked
up their girl friends: Cecilia Walker, age 23; and a fifteen- yearold female. After Penny, Copelin, Walker, and the juvenile female
were apprehended in Carbondale, Illinois, it was learned that the
five subjects had crisscrossed all over Texas, committing
burglaries to sustain themselves.
Myers had told the other four in his little group that he wanted to
give “Old Bob” as much trouble as he could before they were
caught. Penny said that Myers wanted to get me good before
going back to prison. One night while driving through Midland,
Myers had showed them where my office was located and said
that he wanted to set off an explosive and watch it burn.
Ranger Fraiser and Tom Green County Deputy Captain McCarty
flew to Carbondale, Illinois, and on November 16, 1988, they
returned the four fugitives to Texas. On the way back, Penny and
Copelin joked about the offenses they had committed while they
were running.
These offenses included killing David Myers! Penny claimed
responsibility for this, remarking that “Old Bob” had made a
career out of chasing Myers and, now that he himself had killed
Myers, “Old Bob” could go ahead and retire.
Copelin and Penny claimed Myers had bragged to them about
having pulled so many jobs. They also said that Myers laughed
about how I was always chasing him, but he managed to elude
me. They thought he was just blowing smoke because he seemed
to have spent a hell of a lot of his life behind bars.
We learned that after Myers and his companions thought they
had done enough in Texas, they went to Mid West City,
Oklahoma, where Myers knew of an available “safe house.” This
is a place convicts learn about while in prison where they can go
to stay low for a while.
Meanwhile, Myers had become attracted to the fifteen-year-old
girl, but she spurned his sexual advances. Cecila, however,
agreed to go to bed with him if he would stop pestering the
young girl. This suited Myers to a tee. The only problem was that
the young girl snitched them off to Copelin and Penny. The two
men were infuriated with Myers over this, but they were afraid to
confront him about it. They decided it was time to go their
separate ways and leave Myers at the safe house. After loading
everything in the car, the four conspirators left the house. Myers
was lying on the living room floor with his chin resting on the
back of his hands, watching TV.
Penny went in the house to
shoot Myers, but he
chickened out. Upon
returning to the car, he was
admonished for his failure,
as it was his girlfriend that
Myers had bedded. Penny
http://www.texasranger.org/dispatch/13/pages/Meyers3.htm (8 of 11) [4/30/2009 11:37:18 PM]
TEXAS RANGER DISPATCH Magazine
therefore returned to the
house and shot Myers twice
through the back of the
head. The four then fled
Oklahoma and were arrested
six days later in Illinois. The
juvenile told of the killing and gave the address to the officer.
Mid West City officers went to the address and discovered Myers
in the same position: on the floor, resting his chin on the back of
his hands, his very dead eyes staring at the television, and his
body in a goodly state of decomposition. Immediate
identification was not possible.
I furnished the Oklahoma authorities with Myers’ fingerprint
records as well as scars, marks, and tattoos. Positive
identification was then made, and all agencies were advised of
the arrest of the four fugitives and of the killing of Myers.
Myers’ body was returned to McCulloch County, Texas, at the
request of his grandmother, Cora Myers. He was buried in the
Cowboy Cemetery beside the body of the infant son that was
born to Sandra and him. This was the child that had been
conceived some fifteen years earlier while Myers and Sandra
were spreading havoc over Texas and New Mexico.
Reflecting back over the years, I feel that Myers had the ability
to have been a productive citizen and could have accomplished
about anything he wanted to do. His mechanical mind knew no
limits. But he chose the type of life he lived; no one forced him
into it. I think it was the thrill of performing, the excitement of
the chase, and the possibility of beating the “Ranger” that
spurred him on and ultimately led to his death.
Oh, yes. I did retire, but it was not until 1992.
This story is told as accurately as I can tell it from all of my old
reports.
Robert C. Favor, Lieutenant (Retired)
Texas Rangers, Company "E"
Midland, Texas
Notes
Michael Penny pled guilty in Oklahoma to a lesser charge of firstdegree manslaughter on November 2, 1989, and was sentenced
to ten years.
Harold Copelin’s murder charge in Oklahoma was dismissed on
October 6, 1980.
Copelin and Penny were each sentenced to TDC for a term of five
years for their escape in Tom Green County, Texas.
Following Myers’ parole from prison in 1987 and prior to his last
escape, he committed the following offenses:
http://www.texasranger.org/dispatch/13/pages/Meyers3.htm (9 of 11) [4/30/2009 11:37:18 PM]
TEXAS RANGER DISPATCH Magazine
1. Burglary Mason 12-06-87
2. Burglary San Angelo 03-27-88
3. Burglary San Angelo 03-3188
4. Burglary Anthony 00-00-88
5. Burglary El Paso 00-00-88
6. Burglary El Paso 00-00-88
7. Burglary Monahans 01-06-88
8. Burglary Monahans 02-15-88
9. Burglary Post 12-08-87
10. Burglary Sweetwater 11-23-87
11. Burglary Anson 12-01-87
12. Burglary Breckenridge 12-07-87
13. Burglary Breckenridge 12-07-87
14. Burglary Fredricksburg 12-05-87
15. Burglary Van Horn 01-24-88
16. Burglary Baird 12-16-87
17. Burglary Baird 04-03-88
18. Burglary Baird 12-24-87
19. Burglary Andrews 12-16-87
20. Burglary Odessa 02-26-88
21. Burglary Odessa 02-05-88
22. Burglary Midland 02-11-88
23. Burglary Abilene 03-15-88
24. Burglary Abilene 12-18-87
25. Burglary Abilene 12-18-87
26. Burglary Abilene 12-31-87
27. Burglary Llano 03-19-88
This is a fairly accurate list of the burglaries committed by Myers
prior to his final escape.
Myers, Copelin, and Penny escaped in the early morning hours of
October 2, 1988, and committed at least four burglaries and
thefts that night. The following is a list of offenses that can be
linked to this trio:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Burglary San Angelo 10-20-88
Theft San Angelo 10-20-88
Burglary Eden 10-20-88
Theft Eden 10-20-88
Burglary Baird 10-23-88
Theft Haskell 11-04-88
This is as accurate list of offenses I can come up with prior to the
escapees leaving Texas. I have no idea as to what crimes they
might have committed after that.
The following poem was penned by a Mills County Courthouse
employee who got a big kick kidding me about my ordeal with
the Myers bunch.
Ranger Bob
There was a Ranger named Bob
Who thoroughly enjoyed his job,
Until Myers escaped from the pen.
It brought all enjoyment to an end.
Bob hunted Myers until his feet were sore,
And when he rested, Myers robbed a store.
The paper called them a modern Bonnie and Clyde,
Finally they were caught, so Bob took a ride.
http://www.texasranger.org/dispatch/13/pages/Meyers3.htm (10 of 11) [4/30/2009 11:37:18 PM]
TEXAS RANGER DISPATCH Magazine
Clear to Montana, to bring them in—
He wanted to get Myers back in the pen.
But he locked them up in the Brady jail
Where they were held without bail.
But alas, Myers made a key,
The cells he unlocked were three.
They stole a car and again they fled.
This made ole’ Bob see red.
Once again a manhunt was begun,
And Bob can tell you it was no fun.
Roadblocks were set up, but Myers went through,
And all around the air turned blue.
After days and nights with no sleep or rest,
And much advice given in jest,
Finally Myers was caught and wouldn’t you know,
It wasn’t by Bob, but a friendly GMO!!! *
B.H.J
* GMO – Game Management Officer or Game Warden. These men
were a great help during the manhunts for the Myers gang.
Dispatch
Jr. Rangers
Corporate Club
Museum Store
Exhibits/Artifacts
Benefactors
All rights reserved. © 2003, Texas Ranger Hall of Fame and Museum. Contact Us
The Hall of Fame and Museum complex is located adjacent to Interstate 35 in Waco, Texas
(midway between Dallas/Fort Worth and Austin).
http://www.texasranger.org/dispatch/13/pages/Meyers3.htm (11 of 11) [4/30/2009 11:37:18 PM]
TEXAS RANGER DISPATCH Magazine
Rangers Today
Visitor Info
History
Research Center
Hall of Fame
Student Help
Family History
News
Click Here for
A Complete Index
to All Back Issues
Dispatch Home
Visit our nonprofit
Museum Store!
Contact the Editor
Texas Rangers at the Battle of the Alamo
by Stephen L. Moore
In Texas, there are few historical icons more legendary than the
Alamo and the Texas Rangers. After 167 years, the Alamo
continues to garner attention and the Texas Rangers continue to
serve.
In the Alamo’s darkest hour, the last full company to fight their
way past Mexican soldiers into the fortress was a group of thirtytwo men from Gonzales. Led by returning Alamo defender
Captain Albert Martin and his Texas scout John W. Smith, this
group included a small, separate company of Texas Rangers
under Second Lieutenant George C. Kimbell.
Lieutenant Colonel William Barrett Travis, commanding the
Alamo forces, acknowledged that the Gonzales men did reinforce
him. In a letter written on March 3, he says, “A company of thirtytwo men from Gonzales made their way into us on the morning
of the first inst. at three o’clock.”
In his new book, Alamo Traces: New Evidence and New
Conclusions, author Thomas Ricks Lindley writes that these
thirty-two Gonzales riders were only half of the force that
attempted to enter the Alamo. He asserts that another group of
Rangers and volunteers entered the stronghold several days
later, eluding both the Mexican Army and most Texas historians.
Further review of available documentary evidence does show
that at least sixty men were organized for the ride into San
Antonio. Lindley’s new account claims that the other Texas
Ranger company, under Captain John Tumlinson Jr., reached
Gonzales on February 28 and operated near San Antonio with
Captain Martin’s volunteers and Lieutenant Kimbell’s Rangers.
Finally, he claims that some of Tumlinson’s men actually entered
the Alamo during the morning of March 4, 1836.
Two mornings later, on March 6, the Alamo and its gallant
http://www.texasranger.org/dispatch/13/pages/Alamo_Rangers.htm (1 of 11) [4/30/2009 11:37:25 PM]
TEXAS RANGER DISPATCH Magazine
defenders fell to Santa Anna’s Mexican Army. Any Texian
defenders who entered the fortress after March 3 are not clearly
identified, leaving this question open.
Based on Lindley’s new assertions, it is worthy to debate several
points concerning the Texas Rangers and their involvement at
the time of the Alamo’s fall in 1836:
1) Who commanded the Gonzales Mounted Rangers?
2) Did Albert Martin organize a second group of
volunteers for the Alamo?
3) Did Captain Tumlinson’s Rangers also enter the
Alamo?
The Gonzales Mounted Rangers
Of the thirty-two Gonzales men who entered the Alamo on March
1, author Lindley writes that Albert Martin seems to have been
the unit’s captain and that First Lieutenant Thomas Jackson was
second in command. Before exploring Martin and Jackson’s
company, it is important to first establish that Second Lieutenant
George C. Kimbell was properly in command of his own Ranger
company.
During early February 1836, the General Council of Texas (the
acting government body) took steps to help develop frontier
forces. A regional, three-company regiment of Rangers had been
authorized in November 1835. The commander was designated
as Major Robert McAlpin Williamson, better known in Texas
history as “Three-Legged Willie.”
On February 4, the council’s special advisory committee found
that Williamson’s Ranger corps had failed in fully raising its three
companies: only two companies had been partially organized.
The council thus proposed that two new Ranger companies
should be raised, one in the Gonzales municipality and one in
Milam. The commissioners appointed to that task were Byrd
Lockhart, Mathew Caldwell, and William A. Mathews.
The council’s advisory committee decided that a full Ranger
company would consist of fifty-six men and would be
commanded by a captain, two lieutenants, and other subordinate
officers. However, as soon as twenty-eight men were raised in
either the Gonzales or Milam municipalities, the men there could
elect a lieutenant to take command of the unit. The
commissioners would continue to recruit men until another
twenty-eight could be mustered into service. The volunteers of
the company would then elect their own captain, first lieutenant,
and other officers.
By February 23, Byrd Lockhart had mustered in a twenty-twoman unit that called itself the Gonzales Mounted Ranger
Company. Although the unit was a little shy of its twenty-eightman requirement, Lockhart and his fellow commissioners
allowed the men to elect Second Lieutenant George Kimbell as
their leader. Some historical accounts have referred to him as
Captain Kimbell, although he was properly in command as a
http://www.texasranger.org/dispatch/13/pages/Alamo_Rangers.htm (2 of 11) [4/30/2009 11:37:25 PM]
TEXAS RANGER DISPATCH Magazine
lieutenant.
Kimbell’s original twenty-two-man company was certainly a
mixed bag. The ages of the men ranged from sixteen-year-old
Galba Fuqua to fifty-year-old Prospect McCoy. John McCoy, thirtytwo, had served as the sheriff of Gonzales. Jacob C. Darst, a fortytwo-year-old farmer, was one of the “Old Eighteen” who had
started the revolution.
The copy of the muster roll that survives was written out by
former Ranger Commissioner Byrd Lockhart in Gonzales on June
20, 1838. He certified that this “is a true copy of the original list
officially made by myself.”
Prudence Kimbell, widow of the late George, was issued a
certificate that her husband had served as Second Lieutenant of
Rangers. On the certificate for the company’s commanding
officer’s name, no superior officer is given. Instead, the
certificate shows that Lieutenant Kimbell’s Rangers were
commanded by Major R. M. Williamson.
John Sutherland, an Alamo courier, arrived in Gonzales on
Wednesday, February 24, with word of the Alamo defenders’
plight. “By Saturday we succeeded in getting twenty-five men
who were placed under the command of Ensign Kimble,” wrote
Sutherland years later. While he does not mention the other
group of men under Captain Martin and Lieutenant Jackson, it is
important to note that he claims that Kimbell was in command.
In another version of his Alamo recollections, Sutherland wrote:
John W. Smith started back with 25 men for the Alamo, the men
under command of Ensign Kimble of the Ranger[s]. They added
to their number on the Cibolo [River] seven more, in all thirtytwo.
Benjamin Highsmith, another courier from the Alamo, also
encountered the Gonzales Rangers. In an 1897 interview with A.
J. Sowell, Highsmith said that thirty-two men from Gonzales
entered the Alamo and were led by Captain Kimbell.
Dolphin Floyd, another Gonzales Ranger killed at the Alamo, was
issued a posthumous certificate of service that verified that his
service in Lieutenant George C. Kimbell’s company which had
entered the Alamo. It is important to note that Floyd is not on
the February 23 muster roll for Lieutenant Kimbell’s Rangers.
This indicates that he was recruited after February 23 and that
Kimbell was still considered to be in command of his own men
after February 23.
Lieutenant Kimbell’s men and other volunteers rode out from
Gonzales on February 27 for San Antonio. Kimbell and thirteen
other Rangers from his original February 23 muster roll are
known to have entered the Alamo on March 1 and to have
subsequently perished. One other man, William Philip King, was
allowed to trade places with his elder father John G. King, the
latter one of Kimbell’s original enrollees.
We therefore know that fourteen Rangers of Kimbell’s command
made it into the Alamo. Therefore, at least eight of his original
men were either replaced by other men, deserted command, or
did not make it to the fort. The service papers of Dolphin Floyd
http://www.texasranger.org/dispatch/13/pages/Alamo_Rangers.htm (3 of 11) [4/30/2009 11:37:25 PM]
TEXAS RANGER DISPATCH Magazine
show that Lieutenant Kimbell did recruit at least some additional
men into his company after February 23, either as additional
recruits or as replacements for men who opted to stay behind.
This would bear out Sutherland’s recollections that Kimbell had
twenty-five men total, versus the original twenty-two who were
mustered. We also know from extant military papers that at least
two of Lieutenant Kimbell’s men tried to make it into the Alamo
on March 1 and did not succeed. In a sworn service affidavit of
May 24, 1836, Colonel Edwin Morehouse verified that one of
Kimbell’s original Rangers had been unable to make it into the
Alamo on March 1.
John T. Ballard enrolled himself in the company of Captain
Kimbell (who was killed in the Alamo) on February 24, 1836. . .
and having been cut off by the enemies [sic] spies from the fort
Alamo, was the cause of his being separated from his [illegible]
officer. Then he joined the command of Tumlinson on the 1st of
March for some days. When Tumlinson left, he joined Capt.
[Thomas] Rabb’s company and was in the battle of San Jacinto.
This Ballard affidavit thus shows that he was cut off and could
not enter the Alamo. He thereafter joined Captain John
Tumlinson’s Rangers on March 1. (More on the location of
Tumlinson’s company in a moment.)
Another of Lieutenant Kimbell’s Rangers was Prospect C. McCoy.
His 1840 pension papers also show that his service was cut short
at the same time that Ballard was terminated: “McCoy served
until the 1st day of March AD 1836 in Captain Kimbell’s
company.”
Another interesting point is that Kimbell’s name is crossed out on
McCoy’s pension papers in two places and replaced with Captain
Albert Martin’s name. McCoy’s pension application also covered
his 1835 service in the fall through March 1836. He had originally
served under Captain Martin in 1835 but was enrolled under
Lieutenant Kimbell in February 1836. McCoy’s choice on the
application was Kimbell. Someone else apparently thought that
Captain Martin was more appropriate because the larger amount
of McCoy’s service period in 1835 was under Martin.
What is also possible is that McCoy failed to enter the Alamo on
March 1 and continued to serve for a short period of time with
the remnants of Captain Martin’s other men who also did not
enter the doomed fort. McCoy remained in service until March 10,
when he was compelled to flee with his family for their safety.
Service papers filed by two different attorneys make it a point to
clearly show that Lieutenant Kimbell was in command of his
Rangers. Dolphin Floyd’s service papers were filed on May 24,
1839, by attorney John Clark. On this service certificate, the preprinted word Captain is crossed out. In its place is written Lt.
Geo. C. Kimbell. Less than a year later, attorney Joseph Clements
filed papers for several other Kimbell Rangers: Andrew Kent,
Jesse McCoy, and William Fisbaugh. An audited claim filed in
February 1840 for John Gaston shows that he had also served as
a private in Lieutenant Kimbell’s company of Rangers from
February 24, 1836, until the fall of the Alamo.
Captain Martin and Lieutenant Jackson’s Company
While there is little controversy that a Gonzales Mounted Ranger
http://www.texasranger.org/dispatch/13/pages/Alamo_Rangers.htm (4 of 11) [4/30/2009 11:37:25 PM]
TEXAS RANGER DISPATCH Magazine
Company rode into the Alamo, there is some difference of opinion
on the accompanying volunteers. Some sources have indicated
that Captain Albert Martin commanded this group who returned
to the Alamo.
Albert Martin was a twenty-eight-year-old storeowner, originally
from Rhode Island. He was one of the “Old Eighteen” who had
helped defend the Gonzales cannon at the start of the Texas
Revolution. Martin had entered the service of Texas on
September 26, 1835, as captain of the Gonzales Volunteers. By
October 1, his company was under the direction of Colonel John
Henry Moore and later fought at the battle of Concepcion in
November.
Martin rode into Gonzales from the Alamo late on February 24 or
during the early morning hours of February 25. At that time,
another volunteer company was in the process of organizing
itself there. First Lieutenant Thomas Jackson was the senior
officer present at the original mustering. Again, per revolutionary
government regulations that the Gonzales commissioners must
have been enforcing, the company could not have a true captain
until fifty-six men were mustered in.
What is evident is that Lieutenant Kimbell’s company and
Lieutenant Jackson’s company were not considered one and the
same. Kimbell’s men were mustered into service on February 23
(some pension papers cite February 24). Jackson’s company was
mustered into service the following day, February 24.
During March 1836, Joseph Clements had been in charge of
procuring food to supply the Texas Army. Four years after the fall
of the Alamo, he filed papers for the widows of some of the
Gonzales men who had fallen. He filed a number of claims on
March 4, 1840. In these, he made it clear that some men had
served under Lieutenant Jackson and some had served under
Lieutenant Kimbell. Other than the Clements claims, there are no
other military documents or credible sources which show a
Lieutenant Jackson as having been an officer at this time.
Clements filed papers attesting to the service of First Lieutenant
Jackson, George Washington Cottle, and John E. Garvin. He
claims that Garvin and Cottle served in Lieutenant Jackson’s
company from February 24 to March 6, 1836. It is important to
notice that these three men were not on the Gonzales Mounted
Ranging Company muster roll of the previous date, indicating
that they were part of a separate company that was formed.
Clements is clear in indicating that various men served under
either Lieutenant Kimbell or Lieutenant Jackson, and in no case
did he confuse one of Kimbell’s original Rangers to have been
among Jackson’s command. Although mustered in on February
23, Kimbell’s Rangers are also shown by attorney Clements to
have entered Texas service one day later, on February 24.
From all indications, Albert Martin rode out of Gonzales with
about sixty men for the Alamo. Not all of them made it there, of
course. Two sources point toward Martin having departed
Gonzales with more than just Kimbell’s Gonzales Mounted
Rangers. First, Martin’s obituary, printed in July 1836 in the
Manufacturers and Farmers Journal and the New Orleans True
American, makes an interesting claim:
He had left the fortress and returned to his residence,
where he was apprized of the perilous situation in
http://www.texasranger.org/dispatch/13/pages/Alamo_Rangers.htm (5 of 11) [4/30/2009 11:37:25 PM]
TEXAS RANGER DISPATCH Magazine
which in his late comrades were placed. His
determination was instantly taken. In reply to the
passionate entreaties of his father, who besought him
not to rush into certain destruction, he said, “This is
no time for such considerations. I have passed my
word to Colonel Trav[is] that I would return, nor can I
forfeit a pledge thus given.
In pursuance of this high resolve he raised a company of sixtytwo men and started on his way back. During the route, the
company, apprized of the desperate situation of affairs, became
diminished by desertion, to thirty-two. With this gallant band he
gained the fort and the reinforcement, small as it was, revived
the drooping spirits of the garrison.
From this, one can pick up two important points. First, Martin
reached Gonzales with a pledge from Travis that he would raise
help. He immediately recruited more men, despite pleas from his
father. Second, he left Gonzales with sixty-two men, but only
made it into the Alamo with thirty-two. Some apparently dropped
out along the way; others were cut off and unable to make it
through the gates.
In support of Martin riding out with a large number of men is a
Major Robert Williamson letter to Travis written from Gonzales
on March 1, 1836. He wrote: “From this municipality 60 men
have now set out, who in all human probability are found, at this
date, with you.”
The sixty men Captain Martin left with included twenty-five of
Lieutenant Kimbell’s Gonzales Mounted Rangers. It also included
Lieutenant Jackson’s new company that was recruited on
February 24, the day after Kimbell’s men were mustered into
service.
Throughout the San Jacinto campaign, companies of Texas
Rangers blended into the army. Following the Battle of San
Jacinto, these companies then resumed their ranging duties.
Oftentimes, the captains held rank as a private in the cavalry
before resuming command. It is possible, therefore, that
Lieutenant Kimbell’s command attached themselves to that of
Captain Martin for the immediate crisis. Following the fight at the
Alamo, they likely hoped to carry out their pledged ranging
commitments in the Gonzales municipality.
Captain Tumlinson’s Company
On the very date that Captain Martin and Lieutenant Kimbell
made their historic rides through the Alamo’s gate, another
Ranger company was north of Gonzales at Bastrop. In Alamo
Traces, Lindley suggests that this unit joined the Gonzales
companies and that at least some of its members entered the
Alamo during the early morning hours of March 4. A closer look
at the movements of this company, commanded by Captain John
Jackson Tumlinson Jr., shows that it did not join the Alamo
defenders.
Captain Tumlinson was already well known in Texas for his
fighting abilities. Before being killed by Indians in 1823, his
father had been instrumental in laying the groundwork for the
creation of the Texas Rangers.
http://www.texasranger.org/dispatch/13/pages/Alamo_Rangers.htm (6 of 11) [4/30/2009 11:37:25 PM]
TEXAS RANGER DISPATCH Magazine
Commissioned on November 28, 1835, to organize a Ranger
company under Major Willie Williamson’s supervision, John
Tumlinson Jr. was briefly delayed in doing so by the December
siege of Bexar. Returning back to the Colorado River settlements,
he did organize a Ranger company on January 17 at Hornsby’s
Station, thirty miles north of present Austin. Three days later, his
men fought a battle with a band of Comanche Indians, killing
four and rescuing a captive Texas boy. Following this battle,
Tumlinson’s company recruited more men and then spent the
better part of the month of February building a cedar blockhouse
on the headwaters of Brushy Creek, north of Austin in present
Leander.
At the time of Lieutenant Colonel Travis’ calls for men to come
defend the Alamo in late February 1836, Captain Tumlinson’s
Rangers were at their new blockhouse. In response to Travis’
pleas, Major Williamson sent orders from Gonzales on February
25 to Captain Tumlinson to fall down to Bastrop and await
further orders from him.
Williamson sent a copy of these orders to the General Council in
San Felipe, which in turn recommended on February 27 that
Captain Tumlinson’s Rangers should proceed immediately to
Bexar to aid the army there. From all indications, these
recommendations either did not reach Tumlinson’s hands or
were countermanded.
According to one of Tumlinson’s Rangers, Noah Smithwick, “The
invasion of Santa Anna necessitated our recall from the frontiers.
Somewhere about the first of March we were called in to
Bastrop.” This actually coincides well with Williamson’s orders of
February 25. According to Smithwick, Captain Tumlinson’s
company was ordered to operate from Bastrop, conducting spy
patrols toward San Antonio. Once word of the Alamo’s fall
spread, the fleeing citizens of the Runaway Scrape needed
protection. “We were ordered to cover their retreat, and
afterwards join General Houston,” says Smithwick.
Although everything in Smithwick’s recollections seems to have
documentary support, Lindley discounts it completely, claiming
that Smithwick was not even serving with Tumlinson’s company
at this time. Before dealing with Smithwick, an examination of
facts showing the location of Tumlinson’s company is in order.
There are no direct sources claiming that Tumlinson’s Rangers
rode to Gonzales or that some of his men actually entered into
the Alamo. This belief by Lindley is based loosely on the
previously cited John Ballard affidavit that says that he joined
Tumlinson on March 1. Lindley believes that Tumlinson’s men
were left camped at the Cibolo River near San Antonio on March
1 as Martin’s Gonzales volunteers entered the Alamo. What is
also possible is that Ballard, when cut off by the enemy spies
from the fort, was forced down the Old San Antonio Road toward
Bastrop, where he must have found and joined some of
Tumlinson’s scouts.
The fact that Captain Tumlinson’s Rangers were stationed at
Bastrop during early March is supported by sources other than
Noah Smithwick. When Tumlinson reached Bastrop, his men
found a volunteer company there under the direction of Captain
Jesse Billingsley. This group was preparing to march out for
Gonzales. Among Billingsley’s volunteers was Lyman W.
http://www.texasranger.org/dispatch/13/pages/Alamo_Rangers.htm (7 of 11) [4/30/2009 11:37:25 PM]
TEXAS RANGER DISPATCH Magazine
Alexander, who later served as a witness to another man’s
service. In 1858, Alexander swore to the fact that J. G. Dunn
belonged to the company of Rangers left or stationed at Bastrop
under R. M. Williamson in 1836 at the time that Billingsley’s
company marched out for Gonzales on March 3.
On the same date, Captain Tumlinson donated one of his oxen to
the Mina Volunteers for use in hauling their supplies to Gonzales.
Two of Billingsley’s men, Edward Burleson and John McGehee,
signed an appraisal note that they had received from J. J.
Tumlinson one ox for the use of their men. Signed at Mina on
March 3, 1836, this note valued Tumlinson’s ox at twenty-seven
dollars, as appraised by Edward J. Blakey and Reuben Hornsby.
Hornsby was a man who was serving with Tumlinson’s Rangers.
Another man, Harrison Owen, claims that Tumlinson’s Rangers
were still at Bastrop as of March 10. On that day, Owen and
several young men left the settlement of Tenoxtitlan for the
purpose of giving assistance to the brave boys with Colonel
Travis. When they reached Bastrop, the people of the town were
beginning to pack up and leave. “We met them two miles east of
Bastrop,” relates Owen. R. M. Williamson was there under the
order of General Sam Houston to cover the retreat of the families.
Major Williamson and the Tumlinson Rangers remained at
Bastrop until March 18. From the Texas Army camp on the
Colorado River, Colonel Edward Burleson sent scout David
Halderman back to Bastrop with a dispatch. Williamson wrote, “I
received an additional order from Colonel Burleson, on the 18th
of March.”
General Sam Houston did get this letter from Williamson, which
he still had in his possession in 1855. While mentioning the
correspondence, Houston clearly shows that the Tumlinson
Rangers had remained stationed at Bastrop after the Alamo’s fall.
I have a letter from Major R. M. Williamson of the
battalion of Rangers, who was stationed at Bastrop to
defend that portion of the frontier, as well as to watch
the upper division of the Mexican Army under Gen. G
[a]ona, on its advance to the Trinity.
Captain Jesse Billingsley agreed that Houston called on Colonel
Burleson to furnish him a man from his regiment of volunteers.
The purpose of this soldier was to bear dispatches to Major R. M.
Williamson, commander of Rangers at Bastrop.
In addition to Captain Tumlinson’s Rangers, another small
scouting company was operating between the Alamo and Bastrop
during late February and early March. Prior to Captain
Billingsley’s Mina volunteer company being organized, former
army commander Edward Burleson ordered out a small group of
scouts on February 24, 1836. Captain Thomas G. McGehee was
placed in command of the unit, which included David F. Owen,
Martin Walker, David Halderman, and Michael Sessum. Sessum
was an interpreter of Spanish and Indian languages.
Concerning the service of Captain McGehee’s spies, the pension
papers of Halderman state:
. . . the company was on duty in the country between
http://www.texasranger.org/dispatch/13/pages/Alamo_Rangers.htm (8 of 11) [4/30/2009 11:37:25 PM]
TEXAS RANGER DISPATCH Magazine
San Marcos and San Antonio and continued in said
service until about the 1st of March 1836. At this time,
applicant joined Captain Jesse Billingsley’s company
of volunteers then at Gonzales and was with said
company as a soldier until about the 1st of April 1836,
that being crippled with rheumatism in the retreat of
the army near the Brazos River, applicant received a
20-day furlough from Captain Jesse Billingsley.
Captain Billingsley clarifies in another service document for
Halderman that these men were in Bastrop later than March 1.
The service papers of David Owen shows that Captain McGehee’s
scouts continued to operate near San Antonio until joining Sam
Houston’s Texas Army on March 16.
The Trouble With Smithwick
The trouble with throwing out the memoirs of Noah Smithwick—
which place Tumlinson’s company at Bastrop during the Alamo’s
final days—is that the basic facts he asserts in his recollections
can be verified. In my years of detailed research of the Texas
Rangers from 1835 to 1841, I have found that extant archival
documents and muster rolls generally bear out his writings.
Aided by his daughter in the late 1890s, Smithwick wrote a book
of recollections of his early Texas days, which was published in
1900. Obviously written from little more than his own memory,
these reminiscences have few exact dates for events. His
recollection of names is quite good, however.
During his service in the Texas Rangers in 1836 and 1837,
Smithwick served under the commands of Captains John
Tumlinson, Isaac Watts Burton, Dickinson Putnam, and Micah
Andrews. In Alamo Traces, Lindley claims that Smithwick was
confused about his Ranger service. Instead of fighting
Comanches on January 20 with Tumlinson’s company near
Austin, Lindley believes that Smithwick had gone to the Sabine
River and joined Captain Burton’s Ranger unit, which was newly
formed. This was another company under Major Williamson’s
direction. Based on this belief, Lindley says that Smithwick could
not have been anywhere near Bastrop.
In reality, Smithwick did serve under Captain Burton, but it was
not until late April 1836, after the battle of San Jacinto.
Smithwick’s memoirs are clear on his having served under
Captain Tumlinson during January to March at the height of the
Alamo crisis. Two men who were in Tumlinson’s company,
Reuben Hornsby and William Johnson, later swore that
Smithwick was a member of John J. Tumlinson’s ranging
company in the year 1836.
Smithwick served his term of twelve months and finally, after
spending time in different companies, finished his tour under
Colonel R. M. Coleman. Smithwick’s public debt papers and
pension claims support this fact. John Tumlinson’s Rangers
signed on for a twelve-month service period. Noah Smithwick
served from January 1836 through January 1837, originally
enlisting under Captain Tumlinson. On November 2, 1836,
Smithwick received payment for his services thus far, including
three months’ payment for service under Captain Tumlinson. The
http://www.texasranger.org/dispatch/13/pages/Alamo_Rangers.htm (9 of 11) [4/30/2009 11:37:25 PM]
TEXAS RANGER DISPATCH Magazine
same November 2 payment also covered Smithwick’s service
under Captain Burton and finally Captain Dickinson Putnam.
John Tumlinson left the system in August 1836, but discharged a
number of his Rangers just days after San Jacinto. Remaining
men such as Smithwick were moved into other Ranger
commands as the Texas Army moved down toward Victoria. By
June 24, Captain Burton was promoted to major, and Putnam
was promoted to captain of his company. Thus, Smithwick served
first under Tumlinson, then Burton, then Putnam, and finally in
Colonel Robert Coleman’s Ranger battalion during his first year
of Ranger service.
Smithwick’s memoirs also list and describe a number of the men
he claims to have served with in Captain Tumlinson’s company
between January and April in 1836. They include: George M.
Petty, Jim Edmundson, Ganey Crosby, James Curtis, Andy Dunn,
and Felix Goff, all of whose service with Tumlinson is verified by
audited military claims and pension papers. The service periods
for these men begin as early as January 17, 1836, and end as
early as April 17, 1836, prior to the battle of San Jacinto. George
M. Petty, first lieutenant and acting commander of Tumlinson’s
company during the Runaway Scrape, resigned from the
company on May 13, 1836. Taking these dates into consideration,
Noah Smithwick had to have served his verified three months of
service with Tumlinson’s company somewhere between January
17 and May 13, 1836.
Smithwick’s payment voucher of November 2, 1836, states that
he was due all pay for nine months as a Ranger. Soon after San
Jacinto, he then transferred into Captain Burton’s company.
Burton was promoted to major on September 24, passing his
command to Captain Putnam, whose company just happens to
have been disbanded on November 1, one day prior to
Smithwick’s receiving his final payment.
Revolutionary Rangers
In short, Lindley’s new research is good for showing that more
men than the Gonzales Thirty-Two attempted to enter the Alamo
during its final days. It is possible, as he suggests, that another
group of men did make it in on March 4. While Captain
Tumlinson’s Rangers were not among those reaching the Alamo,
there is no discounting the fact that the Texas Rangers played a
role in the Texas Revolution. More than eighty revolutionary
Rangers were present at the historic battle of San Jacinto, six
weeks after the Alamo fell. These men were either guarding the
army’s baggage at Camp Harrisburg or defeating the Mexican
Army on the battlefield.
Sources
The DeWitt Colony Alamo Defenders: Sons of DeWitt Colony,
Texas.
http://www.tamu.edu/ccbn/dewitt/alamocouriers.htm
Hansen, Todd (editor). The Alamo Reader: A Study in History.
Mechanicsville, Pennsylvania: Stackpole Books, 2003.
Lindley, Thomas Ricks. Alamo Traces: New Evidence and New
http://www.texasranger.org/dispatch/13/pages/Alamo_Rangers.htm (10 of 11) [4/30/2009 11:37:25 PM]
TEXAS RANGER DISPATCH Magazine
Conclusions. Republic of Texas Press, 2003.
Louis Wiltz Kemp Papers (Paul Samuel Houston biographical
sketch), The San Jacinto Museum of History.
Muster Rolls of the Texas Revolution: Daughters of the Republic
of Texas. Austin, 1986. p. 25.
Texas State Library:
George W. Cottle Audited Military Claims, Reel 20, F 676.
Gany Crosby Audited Military Claims, Reel 21, F 744.
James Curtis Sr. Audited Military Claims, Reel 23, F 357.
Andrew Dunn Audited Military Claims, Reel 124, F 231.
James Edmundson Pension Claim, Reel 213, F 568-72.
Dolphin Floyd Audited Military Claims, Reel 32, F 122.
John Gaston AC, R 34, F597. John E. Garvin AU, R 34, F 504-506.
Felix W. Goff Audited Military Claims, R 36, F 231-237.
David Halderman Pension Claim, R 218, F 376.
Thomas Jackson AU, R 51, F 291.
George C. Kimbell Audited Military Claims, Reel 57, F 63.
Alexander W. Lyman Unpaid Claims Collection, Reel 248, F 46-47.
Prospect C. McCoy Pension Claim, R 228, F 176-180.
Harrison Owen Pension Claim, R 232, F 123.
Henry P. Redfield Audited Military Claims, Reel 87, F 54.
Elizabeth S. Sessom Pension Claims, R 238, F 19-31.
Noah Smithwick Public Debt Claim, Reel 187, F 105-111.
Noah Smithwick Pension Claims, Reel 239, F 470.
Dispatch
Jr. Rangers
Corporate Club
Museum Store
Exhibits/Artifacts
Benefactors
All rights reserved. © 2003, Texas Ranger Hall of Fame and Museum. Contact Us
The Hall of Fame and Museum complex is located adjacent to Interstate 35 in Waco, Texas
(midway between Dallas/Fort Worth and Austin).
http://www.texasranger.org/dispatch/13/pages/Alamo_Rangers.htm (11 of 11) [4/30/2009 11:37:25 PM]
TEXAS RANGER DISPATCH Magazine
Rangers Today
Visitor Info
History
Research Center
Hall of Fame
Student Help
Family History
Click Here for
A Complete Index
to All Back Issues
Dispatch Home
Visit our nonprofit
Museum Store!
Contact the Editor
Movie Review
by Stephen L. Moore
The Alamo
Starring Dennis Quaid, Billy Bob Thornton, Jason Patric, Patrick
Wilson, Emilio Echevarria.
After four months of re-editing, Disney finally released its new
Texas Revolution film, The Alamo. Sticking much more to the
actual facts than John Wayne's 1960 epic of the same name, this
rendition is directed by Texas native John Lee Hancock.
The early part of the film lingers on a bit as Hancock sets the
stage for the 200-odd defenders' hopeless plight. After early
reviewers complained of the film's length, Disney pulled The
Alamo from its original December release and reportedly
chopped about one third of the footage.
What's left is a film that takes too long to build up to the final,
deadly Mexican assault on March 6, 1836. The actual battle
sequences are quite good, however. Hancock would have done
well to trim a few more minutes of the inconsequential drama
during the first hour of the film.
http://www.texasranger.org/dispatch/13/pages/Alamo.htm (1 of 4) [4/30/2009 11:37:31 PM]
News
TEXAS RANGER DISPATCH Magazine
As for the Alamo commanders, the Texians are in turmoil over
whom they want to lead them. Patrick Wilson plays William
Barett Travis, the cavalry leader with little leadership experience
who becomes commander of the Alamo post. He and another
legendary frontiersman, Jim Bowie (played by Jason Patric),
challenge each other for command of the volunteers and regulars
at the Alamo. The troubled pasts of both Travis and Bowie are
brought to life in order to help the viewers understand that
Texas was more than just a place to acquire cheap land—it was a
place to escape one's former life. Both Wilson and Patric handle
their roles admirably, with Patric's Bowie being forced to a cot
with a chronic ailment.
Director Hancock shies away from having his Travis actually
draw a line in the sand with his sword. As Travis, Wilson gives a
moving speech in which he allows his fellow Alamo defenders the
choice of whether or not to remain with him and fight to their
deaths for Texas.
The highlight of the film is Billy Bob Thornton as former
Tennessee Congressman David Crockett, who had told his former
statesmen that they could "Go to hell! I'm going to Texas!"
Thornton portrays Crockett as a man who must live in the
shadows of his own legend. From all the tall tales spun about
him, Crockett is certainly larger than life, and those holed up in
the Alamo look to old Davy for inspiration.
Once inside the Alamo, Thornton's Crockett is a breath of
humanity as he relates one of his past Indian battles to an eager,
young crowd. Whether he is entertaining
with his fiddle, taking a potshot at Santa
Anna, or leading an offensive outside the
Alamo walls to burn buildings, Crockett is
the unofficial leader of the volunteers. His
final demise is a highlight, albeit played
up a bit too much for my taste, with oneliners obviously written to give Thornton
some funny dialogue. I did not come in
expecting a comedy.
After the fall of the Alamo, the film moves
full speed through the Runaway Scrape,
when Texas settlers flee before the
advancing Mexican Army. It concludes
with General Sam Houston's stunning defeat of Santa Anna's
troops at the Battle of San Jacinto on April 21, 1836.
Hancock does not shy away from showing how the Texians
http://www.texasranger.org/dispatch/13/pages/Alamo.htm (2 of 4) [4/30/2009 11:37:31 PM]
TEXAS RANGER DISPATCH Magazine
brutally massacre Mexican troops in the forests and swamps at
San Jacinto. General Sam Houston, portrayed by Dennis Quaid,
must put aside his bottle and fight to keep control of the unruly
Texian volunteers he commands. The film is portrayed out of
sequence in terms of historical accuracy, showing Houston in
command of his army at Gonzales before the Alamo's fall. The
scene of Houston’s describing for some of his officers his
strategy for bringing Santa Anna's army to battle did not actually
occur. That is one of the troubles with the film: at times, the
director seems to be trying too hard for characters to explain
situations that the viewer might not otherwise understand. Only
the future director’s-cut DVD might show how much good
footage was lost between the Alamo and San Jacinto for the sake
of shortening this movie.
Hancock takes great pains to play up the Tejano involvement in
the campaign, making Captain Juan Seguin a trusted sidekick of
General Houston's. Contrary to what the movie shows, Sam
Houston never issued orders in person to Seguin nor to Colonel J.
C. Neill forbidding their return to the Alamo.
Emilio Echevarria as Santa Anna appears
a few years too old for the part, but
otherwise manages to portray the
arrogant dictator that he was. One
important element completely
overlooked (and possibly lost in editing)
is how Santa Anna orders the execution
of hundreds of Texians at Goliad.
The edited movie is a little choppy at times and overly dramatic
at others. Concerning the actual battle scenes, there is
surprisingly little gore for what was such a bloody battle. This is
something that may have played out differently had Ron Howard
remained to have his way. These points aside, The Alamo is an
entertaining film that helps the viewer to see the besieged
fortress as it was in 1836.
http://www.texasranger.org/dispatch/13/pages/Alamo.htm (3 of 4) [4/30/2009 11:37:31 PM]
TEXAS RANGER DISPATCH Magazine
Rangers Today
Visitor Info
History
Research Center
Hall of Fame
Student Help
Family History
News
21st Century Shining Star:
Click Here for
A Complete Index
to All Back Issues
Capt. Jay Banks
by Robert Nieman
Dispatch Home
Born near Munday, Texas, on
April 22, 1912, Jay Banks was the
fourth child of tenant farmers
John and Julia Banks. By the time
he was three years old, his
parents had left Knox County and
were living a short distance from
Perrin in Jack County. Jay was
still in school when the pull of
family drew the family back to
Knox County. Jay graduated from
Girard (Kent County) High School
in 1930.
Visit our nonprofit
Museum Store!
Contact the Editor
In his autobiography, Cast A Long
Shadow, Jay said that he had
fond memories of his childhood
days along the Brazos River. He
added that, according to standards of the time, the Banks family
lived well.
Jay’s first job away from home began when he and his older
brother Young jumped a freight train and rode it to Bay City,
Texas. Young had heard that they could get work building a
bridge in the Gulf Coast city. He was correct, and the brothers
soon found themselves shoveling sand and gravel ten hours a
day for the princely sum of twenty-five cents an hour.
After leaving Bay City, the brothers returned to Perrin. Jay didn’t
stay long. Joined by his Uncle Homer, he was soon on another
freight train, this time headed west. Jay and his uncle rode the
rails to California and back to Texas.
He was back home in Perrin when he got his first taste of law
enforcement. Guy Morgan was the sheriff of Jack County and
used Jay from time to time as a special deputy. By 1936, oil had
been discovered in Jack County. As in all boom areas, the lawless
element swarmed into the county. Jay decided to run for
constable against a well-liked incumbent. To his great surprise,
he won the election. On January 1, 1937, Jay Banks started down
the path that would lead him to the Texas Rangers.
It was while Jay was a constable that he met Beluah Anderson.
The two fell in love, married, and had two daughters, Linda and
Julia Ann. It was a marriage that would only to broken by death.
http://www.texasranger.org/dispatch/13/pages/Banks.htm (1 of 5) [4/30/2009 11:37:37 PM]
TEXAS RANGER DISPATCH Magazine
In 1938, the opportunity came to join the Texas Highway Patrol.
On April 18, Jay became a student patrolman with a salary of
$125 per month. After graduation on June 1, he was assigned as
a Highway Patrolman in the South Texas city of Alice. In the
ensuing years, he was stationed in Fort Worth and Denton.
On September 1, 1947, Jay Banks fulfilled a longtime dream
when he became a Texas Ranger. His first duty station was in
Graham. He continued there until January 1, 1949, when he
transferred to Dallas. There he spent the rest of his career as a
field Ranger, then sergeant, and finally as the captain of
Company B. He left the Rangers on March 10, 1960. By then, his
pay had increased to the dizzying height of $516.66 per month.
In the eleven years that he wore the badge of a Texas Ranger,
Jay worked just about every kind of crime imaginable. Several
stand out.
Mickey Cohen Case
In 1950, California mobster Mickey Cohen tried to move his
gambling operation into Texas. He ran into some major obstacles
—Jay Banks and the Texas Rangers! Cohen arrived in Wichita
Falls to a less than hospitable reception. The director of the
Department of Public Safety, Colonel Homer Garrison, ordered
the Rangers to arrest the gangster on sight and escort him right
back out of Texas.
Cohen managed to get from the airport to the Kemp Hotel before
the Rangers caught up with him. He was sleeping peacefully
when he was abruptly awakened by Jay and his fellow Rangers
standing over his bed. Not only did the Rangers escort Cohen to
the airport, but Jay also personally walked him onto the plane.
On the plane, Jay, in no uncertain words, warned the Mafia chief
to get out of Texas—and stay out. Cohen complained bitterly to
the press about the lack of Texas hospitality he had been shown,
but he followed Jay’s advice and never came back to the Lone
Star State.
Mansfield, Texas, Integration Case
Integration created many explosive situations throughout the
United States in 1956. Mansfield, Texas, was no exception.
Feeling ran high throughout the community. In an effort to
defuse the ticking time bomb, Governor Allen Shivers ordered the
Rangers onto the town’s school campus. Sergeant Banks and his
fellow Rangers kept things quite and peaceful. The Rangers let it
be known to all involved that they were not on anyone’s side:
their only job was to keep the peace. And keep the peace they
did, all without having to use any excessive force. With their
evenhanded display of impartiality, Jay and the Rangers gained
not only the respect of the locals, but also the public gratitude of
state and federal authorities.
Gene Paul Norris
Throughout his career, Jay was involved in many deadly
encounters. None was more lethal than the one with Gene Paul
http://www.texasranger.org/dispatch/13/pages/Banks.htm (2 of 5) [4/30/2009 11:37:37 PM]
TEXAS RANGER DISPATCH Magazine
Norris and his partner, “Silent” Bill Humphrey.
Gene Paul Norris was probably the most evil killer that ever
disgraced Texas. He was even worse than the infamous John
Wesley Hardin, who reigned terror eighty years earlier.
Looks can be deceiving, and Norris certainly filled that bill. He
dressed neatly, was soft-spoken, and had a good vocabulary. But
his flip side was darker than black. When Jay put an end to
Norris’ murderous career, it was believed that Norris had killed
forty to fifty people. He took a particular joy in not just killing,
but killing in as brutal a way as possible. It did not matter to him
who he murdered; he would slaughter a woman as quickly as he
would a man. As more than one Ranger said, half the abandoned
wells in rural Texas had a body put in it by Gene Paul Norris.
The Norris brothers, Pete and Gene Paul, were from Cement,
Oklahoma. Pete made quite a name for himself first in Oklahoma
and then later in Houston. He became the FBI’s Public Enemy
Number One in Texas and Oklahoma before being captured and
sentenced to several hundred years’ of stacked sentences in the
Texas prison system.
Gene Paul idolized his older brother and followed him in crime
from Oklahoma to Texas. Although still a teenager, Gene Paul
soon devised a successful plan to break Pete out of prison. Then
the brothers started robbing grocery stores, but were soon
captured in Conroe, Texas. Gene Paul quickly broke out, but was
just as quickly recaptured and sentenced for aiding his brother’s
prison escape. He had already served two years in an Oklahoma
reform school and had another sentence awaiting him, but
Oklahoma decided to let him serve his reform-school time in
Texas.
In the following years, Norris murdered and robbed his way
through Texas and Oklahoma. Every time the law thought they
had the killer, the witnesses ended up being either terrorized or
dead. Either way, no one testified against Norris. But by 1957,
his time was running out.
An informant told law officers that Norris and his partner Bill
Humphrey, who was just as deadly a killer, planned to rob the
Carswell Air Force Base bank. The base was located just outside
Fort Worth, and that put the killer on a collision course with Jay
Banks.
In the following days, the informant kept the Rangers up to date
with all of Norris’ plans except for the day of the robbery. That,
Norris kept to himself.
Norris and Humphrey had recently committed an unusually brutal
murder of an elderly couple in Houston. The couple had
committed the unpardonable sin of testifying against his brother
Pete. In Gene Paul’s mind, no one could do that and live.
The Ranger captain in Houston, Johnny Klevenhagen http://
www.texasranger.org/dispatch/10/Pages/Klevenhagen.htm had
been able to secure a warrant for the arrest of the murdering
duo. Unfortunately, Norris was an expert at eluding the law, and
this time was no exception.
http://www.texasranger.org/dispatch/13/pages/Banks.htm (3 of 5) [4/30/2009 11:37:37 PM]
TEXAS RANGER DISPATCH Magazine
Klevenhagen wanted more than anything to bring down the
psychopathic killer. Jay Banks knew his fellow captain’s feelings,
so he called him and told him about the upcoming planned bank
robbery. More importantly, he asked Klevenhagen if he wanted to
come to Fort Worth. The commander of Company A almost
burned up the highway between Houston and Fort Worth.
Knowing what but not when, Jay and fellow lawmen started
looking for the outlaws. Their time paid off, and Norris and
Humphrey were seen traveling at a high rate of speed on
Meandering Road near Carswell Air Force Base.
Heading toward the area, the Rangers soon spotted the pair, and
the race was on. Humphrey was driving the outlaw car. Jay in
pursuit, Ranger Jim Ray http://www.texasranger.org/
dispatch/2/Ray.htm and http://www.texasranger.org/
memorials/Ray_Jim.htm was in a second car right behind his
captain.
Hitting speeds of 115 mph, the chase continued. Finally,
Humphrey made a fatal mistake: he turned onto a country road
that was covered with caliche (crushed rock). It had rained
shortly before, and the road surface was very slick. When
Humphrey turned onto the road, he fishtailed several times
before straightening out. Jays did two complete spins himself,
but ended up heading in the right direction.
The race continued along the road that ran beside the swollen
Walnut Creek. All the while, Norris and Klevenhagen were
hanging out their respective car windows, firing away at one
another. Just outside the tiny community of Springtown, the
chase came to an end. Humphrey tried to make a left turn when
his ‘57 Chevy slid off the road and slammed into a tree.
Jay tried to stop behind the killers’ car, but instead slid right up
beside it. He said later that this really worried him. He was
concerned that Norris would be able to level his deadly shotgun—
Norris’ weapon of choice—at the Rangers. He need not have
worried; Norris and Humphrey hit the ground running.
Jay rolled out of his Dodge and gave chase. In a desperate effort
to escape, Humphrey and Norris jumped into the flooded Walnut
Creek and made for the far shore. Humphrey headed north and
made it to a small island in the creek. He died on that island in a
hail of Jay’s gunfire.
Meanwhile, Norris was trying to go straight across the creek. He
made it to the water’s edge. As Jay said, the most heartless of
killers, Gene Paul Norris, “died screaming like a baby.”
Braniff Airlines
With all the high-profile cases that he worked, it is little wonder
that Jay Banks was well known to the public. In 1956, Braniff
Airlines had just been awarded a Dallas-to-New York City route.
The company successfully planned a high-publicity, inaugural
flight. Among the celebrities on board were June Pritchard, Miss
Texas of 1955, and “the famous Texas Ranger” Jay Banks.
http://www.texasranger.org/dispatch/13/pages/Banks.htm (4 of 5) [4/30/2009 11:37:37 PM]
TEXAS RANGER DISPATCH Magazine
As for Jay Banks, he did the Rangers and the state of Texas
proud. Dressed in boots, cowboy hat, and two six-shooters, he
looked the way a Ranger should look. He was the hit of the town.
Jay appeared on three major television shows: Name That Tune,
What’s My Line, and The Today Show. On Name That Tune, he
proved that, as great a lawman as he was, he was quite the
opposite when it naming music. He identified The Eyes of Texas
as I’ve Been Working on the Railroad. He fared better on What’s
My Line. He was dressed in a business suit and stumped the
panel. On The Today Show he learned the hard way what most
actors have always known: don’t appear with a baby or a pet.
The chimpanzee, J. Fred Muggs, stole the show.
Ending a great career, Jay Banks left the Rangers in 1960. After
his Ranger years, he served as the chief of police in the Texas
cities of Big Springs, Palestine, and Gladewater. He died August
2, 1987.
In the main lobby at Dallas’ Love Field is a statue of Texas
Ranger entitled Legend In Bronze. Captain Jay Banks, Captain of
Company "B", Texas Rangers, was the model used by sculptor
Clint Grant.
Statue of Jay Banks Legend in Bronze (right of center)
at the Love Field Airport in Dallas, Texas
©2004 James C. Kruggel - Used by Permission
http://www.myaviation.net/
Dispatch
Jr. Rangers
Corporate Club
Museum Store
Exhibits/Artifacts
Benefactors
All rights reserved. © 2003, Texas Ranger Hall of Fame and Museum. Contact Us
The Hall of Fame and Museum complex is located adjacent to Interstate 35 in Waco, Texas
(midway between Dallas/Fort Worth and Austin).
http://www.texasranger.org/dispatch/13/pages/Banks.htm (5 of 5) [4/30/2009 11:37:37 PM]
TEXAS RANGER DISPATCH Magazine
Rangers Today
Visitor Info
History
Research Center
Hall of Fame
Student Help
Family History
News
Click Here for
A Complete Index
to All Back Issues
Dispatch Home
Visit our nonprofit
Museum Store!
Contact the Editor
Visiting Historic
Texas Ranger Graves:
Dispatch Managing Editor Robert Nieman and regular contributor
Chuck Parsons beside the grave of Texas Ranger Thalis Cook at
Nesbit Cemetery, just west of Marshall, Texas. Click here for
information on Thalis Cook.
Though not well known, Thalis Cook was as fine a Texas Ranger
as ever rode for the Border Boss, Captain John Hughes. Ranger
Cook was our 19th Century Shining Star.
http://www.texasranger.org/dispatch/13/pages/Graves.htm (1 of 2) [4/30/2009 11:37:42 PM]
TEXAS RANGER DISPATCH Magazine
Local historian Bill Utsman at the grave of famed Texas Ranger
and Confederate General Walter P. Lane in the Old Marshall
Cemetery at Marshall, Texas.
Better known as a Confederate Civil War general, Walter Lane
was a truly outstanding Texas Ranger. He showed his courage
and leadership abilities in numerous Indian engagements and on
the battlefield at San Jacinto.
Walter Lane will be featured as the 19th Century Shining Star in
the Summer 2004 issue of the Dispatch.
Dispatch
Jr. Rangers
Corporate Club
Museum Store
Exhibits/Artifacts
Benefactors
All rights reserved. © 2003, Texas Ranger Hall of Fame and Museum. Contact Us
The Hall of Fame and Museum complex is located adjacent to Interstate 35 in Waco, Texas
(midway between Dallas/Fort Worth and Austin).
http://www.texasranger.org/dispatch/13/pages/Graves.htm (2 of 2) [4/30/2009 11:37:42 PM]
TEXAS RANGER DISPATCH Magazine
Rangers Today
Visitor Info
History
Research Center
Hall of Fame
Student Help
Family History
News
Historic Marker at Bonnie &
Clyde
ambush site.
Click Here for
A Complete Index
to All Back Issues
On the Trail of
Bonnie & Clyde:
Dispatch Home
Visit our nonprofit
Why Frank Hamer Wasn't
Serving as a Texas Ranger
A New Theory
Museum Store!
Contact the Editor
By Robert Nieman
It was an email from
my good friend
Harrison "Sonny"
Hamer III that started me down the road to reaching this theory.
Any student of Frank Hamer or Bonnie and Clyde knows that
Hamer was not a Texas Ranger when he led a team that ended
the careers of the murderous duo– he was then a special
investigator of the Texas prison system. The team consisted of
former and future Texas Ranger Manny Gault, Dallas County
Deputies Ted Hinton and Bob Alcorn, and Bienville Parish
[Louisiana] Sheriff Henderson Jordan and his deputy Bryan
Oakley.
It is well known that Hamer and all the other Rangers had either
resigned or been fired when Miriam “Ma” Ferguson was elected
governor in 1932. It was only at the request of his close friend
Colonel Lee Simmons, head of the Texas prison system, that
Hamer tracked down Bonnie and Clyde. Hamer was appointed as
a special investigator, a position created specifically to track
down and end the careers of the killers. He would work for and
answer only to Colonel Simmons.
That’s where the story stood until I got that email from Sonny.
He asked if I knew who the Senior Ranger Captain was in May
1934 when his uncle led the team that killed Bonnie and Clyde. I
have to admit that I didn’t remember, but I checked with our
library and found out it was Estill Hamer, Frank’s older brother!
As soon as I read this, alarm bells immediately started going off.
There were five Hamer brothers: Estill, Frank, Harrison, Clint
[Sant], and Flavus. All but Sant were Texas Rangers at one time
or another. Estill and Frank were both Senior Ranger Captains.
In September of 2000, I was privileged to visit with Harrison
http://www.texasranger.org/dispatch/13/pages/Hamer.htm (1 of 3) [4/30/2009 11:37:53 PM]
TEXAS RANGER DISPATCH Magazine
Hamer III and Bobbie Hamer Smith, grandchildren of Harrison
Hamer, and Bud Hamer, son of Flavus. Needless to say, this was
a very interesting time.
Frank and Flavus were close, but because of Flavus’ extensive
travels outside Texas, he did not see his brothers that often.
When it came to Frank and Harrison, however, they “were
always very close–very, very close,” according to Bobbie Hamer
Smith. The same cannot be said about Frank and Estill.
In 1932, Frank was the Senior Ranger Captain but when Ma
Ferguson was elected governor, he quit the Rangers on
November 1. Perhaps in spite, Ferguson named Frank’s brother
Estill as his replacement.
In the words of Harrison Hamer III, “Frank and Estill nearly
came to a fist fight over that . . . I think he [Frank] felt like Uncle
Estill stabbed him in the back. I don’t think they would talk to
each other after that at all.”
As Paul Harvey, everyone’s favorite radio commentator, would
say, “Now the rest of the story.”
There is absolutely no reason to doubt the truthfulness of Frank
Hamer only agreeing to pursue the desperadoes under the prison
system, but what if . . .
What if Frank refused, under any condition, to serve under his
brother? What if Estill refused, under any condition, to allow his
brother to serve under him? Considering their feelings toward
one another, that may be a well-founded theory—and theory is
all this is.
You will not find anything written on the subject by either of the
Hamer brothers. Of course this is not unusual. Frank was one of
the greatest Texas Ranger. Indeed, there are those who would
say he was THE greatest ever. But there was one thing he was
not great at—report writing. Estill was not a writer either, but for
a different reason. According to Bud Hamer, Estill “told my dad
[Flavus] something one time. I’ll never forget it. He said, ‘Words
spoken are as free as air, but words written are always there,’
and he said he wouldn’t put anything down on paper.”
Estill continued as Senior Ranger Captain until 1935, when Ma
Ferguson was defeated in the general election. Frank never again
served as a Texas Ranger.
Until their deaths, brothers Frank and Estill neither forgave nor
forgot.
The road leading to the
ambush site today.
http://www.texasranger.org/dispatch/13/pages/Hamer.htm (2 of 3) [4/30/2009 11:37:53 PM]
TEXAS RANGER DISPATCH Magazine
Rangers Today
Visitor Info
History
Research Center
Hall of Fame
Contact the Editor
News
Sgt. Joe Haralson
by Robert Nieman
Dispatch Home
Museum Store!
Family History
21st Century Shining Star:
Click Here for
A Complete Index
to All Back Issues
Visit our nonprofit
Student Help
Joe Haralson has been a Ranger since
1981. This makes him one of the force’s
most senior Rangers, and he is one of the
best.
Joe was born on August 19, 1950, in
Woodville, Tyler County, Texas. He and his
younger brothers, Jerry and James, are the sons of Joe and
Margaret Haralson. The family moved to nearby Spurger when
Joe was still a youngster, and he graduated from Spurger High
School in 1968.
In April of 1969, Joe entered the Army. After completing basic
training at Fort Bliss in El Paso, Texas, and Advanced Infantry
Training at Fort Ord, California, he was shipped to Vietnam,
arriving in that war-torn country in October 1969. Joe has always
served with the best, and this was true during his tour in
Vietnam. He was a member of the Big Red One, the First Infantry
Division [1/26—1st Battalion of the 26th Infantry]. It didn’t take
long before Joe was commanding an infantry squad as a sergeant.
Many of the First Division redeployed to Fort Riley, Kansas. Joe
remained and was reassigned to the Americal Division’s 4th
Battalion of the 21st Infantry of the 11th Light Infantry Brigade
as a reconnaissance soldier until he rotated out of Vietnam.
It has been reported that only around ten percent of the troops
in Vietnam saw actual combat. Joe was one of that small
number, but the amount of combat was not small. He was
awarded the Bronze Star and Air Medal, with oak leaf clusters for
both. [Retiring Senior Ranger Captain, C. J. Havrda, was also
awarded the Bronze Star for heroism under fire in Vietnam.]
http://www.texasranger.org/dispatch/13/pages/Haralson.htm (1 of 5) [4/30/2009 11:38:02 PM]
TEXAS RANGER DISPATCH Magazine
Joe left Vietnam and arrived back in the United States on
November 10, 1970. This was also the day of his parents’ 22nd
anniversary. Joe says he never has any trouble remembering that
date!
Back in the states, Joe’s life took a fortunate turn. On May 8,
1971, he married his high school sweetheart, Alice Dale. Today,
they have four sons. Joseph, a sergeant, first class, in the Green
Berets has seen action in Afghanistan and Iraq. The second son,
Jason, followed in his father’s footsteps and is a Highway
Patrolman stationed in Corsicana. Jack is a project manager for a
construction company in Houston. The youngest, John, works for
the Halliburton Company.
On October 6, 1971, less than a year after Vietnam, Joe was a
member of Class A-71 in the Department of Public Safety’s
eighteen-week training academy in Austin. After graduation, the
new patrolman was assigned to Brenham.
Joe says he was lucky to have had Roy Moody as his first partner.
Roy had graduated from the academy the same year that Joe was
born. He was one of the great mischief-makers in the Highway
Patrol, but he took his job deadly serious—and he made sure that
his trainee did likewise.
When the opportunity came to transfer to Silsbee in Hardin
County, Joe jumped at the chance. Silsbee is only twenty miles
from the house where he grew up and in which his mother still
lives. (His father passed away in 1988.) Looking back, Joe says
that because of his desire to get closer to his hometown, he
didn’t mind leaving Brenham. It was only after he was gone that
he realized how much he had enjoyed living and working there
and enjoying his friends.
But Silsbee was home. Fortune smiled on Joe again when he was
assigned Truman Dougherty as his new partner. Truman is
currently the Newton County judge. Joe realizes that he was
truly blessed to have had such great partners on the Highway
Patrol.
Joe knew he wanted to eventually become a Texas Ranger, but
when an opportunity was presented to promote to the
Department of Public Safety’s Motor Vehicle Theft Service, he
took it. He really had no other choice because he couldn’t even
apply for the Rangers yet: you had to be at least thirty years old,
and he was only twenty-nine. Joe felt that the knowledge he
http://www.texasranger.org/dispatch/13/pages/Haralson.htm (2 of 5) [4/30/2009 11:38:02 PM]
TEXAS RANGER DISPATCH Magazine
would gain in the Motor Theft division could only help him when
he applied for the Rangers.
On September 1, 1979, Joe assumed his duties in Corpus Christi.
In those days, there were only twenty-five men in the Motor
Vehicle Theft Service. Joe’s nearest co-agents were Ed Sanders in
McAllen and Victor Odiorne in Laredo, both more than 200 miles
from Corpus Christi. These two officers were more than willing to
give all the advice they could—via the telephone. They expected
Joe to follow in their footsteps and take care of his own business.
And he did.
Henry Lipe of the National Automobile Theft Bureau (NATB) in
Corpus Christi was Joe’s teacher. Lipe knew quality when he saw
it and took the rookie investigator under his wing. Joe, the evermodest Ranger, says that Henry “is the most knowledgeable
automobile- and equipment- theft investigator I (ever) knew. He
took me under his wing, taught me what I needed to know, and
helped me make it. Any success I had in any theft investigation
involving motor vehicles or equipment, I owe to Henry.”
Joe’s hard work and attentiveness to lessons paid off. On July 1,
1981, the cinco peso badge of a Texas Ranger was pinned on his
shirt by the director of the Department of Public Safety, Colonel
Jim Adams. He was assigned to Texas City as a member of
Company A. Today, he is still in Texas City.
During his twenty-three years as a Texas Ranger, Joe has served
under Captains Grady Sessions, Dan North, Bob Prince, W. D.
Vickers, Earl Pearson, and Clete Buckaloo. “They all treated me
better than I deserved.” (These men would no doubt heartily
disagree with that statement.)
Just as he was blessed with great partners on the Highway
Patrol, Joe says he also had wonderful sheriffs, district
attorneys, city police officers, and federal agents to assist him.
There is a reason why these people work so well with Joe: they
know they can count on him to always be there to assist them.
__________
The inter-agency cooperation was not restricted to males. One
particular case involved a female FBI agent, Flo Logan. Joe says
Logan was a “good partner and good friend.”
A two-day-old baby boy had been stolen out of a Galveston
hospital by a woman posing as a hospital employee. She had
entered the room of the mother under the pretense of returning
the infant to the nursery, but she had taken the child and fled.
For several days, Joe and Agent Logan searched frantically for
the child, all to no avail. Thankfully, the baby was returned to his
mother by a relative of the abductor, who was unfortunately still
on the loose.
The relative had given the police the name of the kidnapper, a
woman. Her family said she had been pregnant and suddenly
dropped out of sight. After a lengthy absence, she had
reappeared, was no longer pregnant, and had a newborn baby
boy.
http://www.texasranger.org/dispatch/13/pages/Haralson.htm (3 of 5) [4/30/2009 11:38:02 PM]
TEXAS RANGER DISPATCH Magazine
Knowing this did not put the abductor in custody, however. With
only a name for identification, Joe and Agent Logan were unable
to make a positive identification. When the records were
checked, they showed that three different women had at one
time or another been arrested using not only the same name, but
also the same social security number, driver’s license number,
and alias.
Among the evidence that Joe and Logan found in the house
where the baby had been hidden were several soiled, disposable
diapers. They carried these to Olan Malaer of the Houston Police
Department, and he was able to lift a latent print. (Olan jokingly
said that was “above and beyond” the call of duty!) With this
evidence, Joe and Agent Logan were able to identify the
defendant.
It took another year and a half to wrap the case up. The elusive
child-stealer was finally located in Rome, Georgia. Galveston
County Deputy Sheriff Wayne Kessler arrived there and assisted
local officers in arresting the fugitive. Once the proper
paperwork was completed, he returned with the woman to Texas.
Over the years, Joe has worked just about ever kind of case
imaginable: murder, robbery, rape, kidnapping, and on and on.
Three times he has been on one side of the door when the
suspect on the other side chose to commit suicide rather than
submit to arrest. Joe says that sometimes you have to be lucky:
lucky that they shot themselves instead of you and lucky they
didn’t fire through the door.
Like all Rangers, not all of Joe’s cases involved violence. He
fondly remembers the case of an elderly gentleman and his
stolen Dalmatian puppy. The dog had been a birthday gift from
his daughter, and it was obvious that the man and his wife
adored their pet. They had even named the dog after the man.
Next door to this couple were a man and woman who skipped
town in the middle of the night. The dog disappeared at the same
time. Joe says that he didn’t get the first call, but he was
probably the first officer to listen to the heartbroken couple’s
story. He made a few inquiries and located the neighbors and the
Dalmatian in San Antonio. Joe called fellow Ranger Rudy
Rodriguez and asked him to pick up the dog and hold it until the
elderly couple could drive to San Antonio and reclaim their pet.
“They were the most appreciative victims I ever dealt with,” Joe
says. “They gave me a dozen eggs every week until another dog
killed all of their chickens.”
Is there is any wonder why Joe Haralson is our 21st Century
Shining Star?
Dispatch
Jr. Rangers
Corporate Club
Museum Store
http://www.texasranger.org/dispatch/13/pages/Haralson.htm (4 of 5) [4/30/2009 11:38:02 PM]
Exhibits/Artifacts
Benefactors
TEXAS RANGER DISPATCH Magazine
Rangers Today
Visitor Info
Click Here for
A Complete Index
to All Back Issues
History
Research Center
Hall of Fame
Museum Store!
Contact the Editor
Family History
News
Train Robbers & Tragedies:
The Complete Story of Christopher Evans,
California Outlaw
By Harold L. Edwards
Dispatch Home
Visit our nonprofit
Student Help
Train Robbers & Tragedies: The Complete
Story of Christopher Evans, California
Outlaw.
By Harold L. Edwards. Published by the
Tulare County Historical Society, P.O. Box
295, Visalia, California 93279. Profusely
illustrated, end notes, selected
bibliography. Hard cover only. $25.99 +
$5.00 s/h. 240 pages. ISBN 0-9722837-3-0.
California outlaw? But this is the Texas Ranger Dispatch! Wait;
there is a method here. The Texas connection in this highly
researched biography by longtime historian Harold L. Edwards of
Bakersfield, California, is Ranger Vernon Coke Wilson, commonly
known as "Vic."
Wilson was born May 1, 1858, in Surry County, Virginia. He
received an above-average education for the time, being the son
of a wealthy doctor. Due to his father's early death, Wilson
relocated to Texas in 1875. There he joined the Frontier Battalion
on September 25, 1876, a private in Company A under the
command of Lieutenant J. M. Denton. In December, Denton
resigned and was replaced by Captain Neal Coldwell.
Wilson participated in various scouts and at least one gunfight,
in which a fugitive was killed while resisting arrest. His most
noted exploit, however, was the desperate ride from Austin to
San Saba to alert Lieutenant N. O. Reynolds to hasten to Round
Rock. Since Reynolds’ command was the closest one to the town,
he was needed to stop the Sam Bass Gang from raiding the bank
there. Wilson killed a horse in the hard ride, but Reynolds,
Wilson, and a handful of Rangers did get to their destination.
They arrived only a few hours after the street fight was over in
which gang member Seaborn Barnes was killed and Sam Bass
was wounded. Bass was captured the next day and died on July
21, 1878.
Following his Ranger service, Wilson worked as a clerk for the
Houston & Texas Central Railway. He lived for a while with his
uncle, Richard Coke, former Governor of Texas.
A decade later, Wilson was a special officer with the Southern
Pacific Railroad. Due to the rash of train robberies in California,
http://www.texasranger.org/dispatch/13/pages/TrainRobber.htm (1 of 2) [4/30/2009 11:38:07 PM]
TEXAS RANGER DISPATCH Magazine
he was sent there to investigate. This brought him into contact
with George and John Sontag. John’s partner in crime was Chris
Evans, the subject of Edwards' book.
For the first time, Edwards has researched Evans' full life and
criminal career. Evans and the Sontags were responsible for
several train robberies. As rewards for their capture increased,
the number of detectives to track them down became more
numerous. Several men were killed during the robberies or in the
searches. Former Texas Ranger Wilson and several others
formed a posse in September 1892 and tracked the robbers to a
cabin in the California mountains. The outlaws were ambushed,
but Wilson was killed by a shotgun blast from Chris Evans, and
another posse member was also slain.
Edwards provides a detailed examination of the manhunt for the
train robbers after this double killing. Ultimately, the robbers
were captured and spent years in prison.
Evans was an enigmatic figure. Married in November 1874, he
and Mrs. Evans gave seven children to the world; two others died
prematurely. He proved to be a faithful husband, and a loving
father. Yet at the same time, Evans neglected the upbringing of
his children by spending years as a fugitive and opting to steal
from the Southern Pacific Railroad. Certainly he knew that by
doing so he not only put his own life in jeopardy but also
sacrificed the happiness of his family.
Edwards naturally keeps his focus on Chris Evans, but we Texas
Ranger buffs can't help but wish he had been able to work more
of Wilson's life into this biography. It is a finely researched
biography, nevertheless, and the first, nearly definitive study of
the most noted of California's outlaws.
- Chuck Parsons
Dispatch
Jr. Rangers
Corporate Club
Museum Store
Exhibits/Artifacts
Benefactors
All rights reserved. © 2003, Texas Ranger Hall of Fame and Museum. Contact Us
The Hall of Fame and Museum complex is located adjacent to Interstate 35 in Waco, Texas
(midway between Dallas/Fort Worth and Austin).
http://www.texasranger.org/dispatch/13/pages/TrainRobber.htm (2 of 2) [4/30/2009 11:38:07 PM]
TEXAS RANGER DISPATCH Magazine
Rangers Today
Visitor Info
History
Research Center
Hall of Fame
Student Help
Family History
News
Captain Daniel W. Roberts in the prime of life. From
Six Years With the Texas Rangers by James B.
Gillett.
Click Here for
A Complete Index
to All Back Issues
Dispatch Home
19th Century Shining Star:
Visit our nonprofit
Museum Store!
Captain Daniel Webster Roberts
Contact the Editor
by Chuck Parsons
Captain D. W. Roberts probably enjoyed
battling Indians more than any other frontier
experience, but he also worked against Anglo
lawbreakers. Roberts fought during the Civil
War before he served on the frontier, earning the respect of honest settlers
and outlaws alike. He survived the dangerous years, living (almost) to the ripe
old age of ninety-four.
Roberts was born in Winston County, Mississippi, on October 10, 1841, the
son of Alexander (“Buck”) and Sabra Roberts. Mr. Roberts moved the family
to Texas in the year of the Alamo, 1836, but due to his wife’s concerns over
safety, he sent the family to Mississippi in 1839. The father remained in Texas,
along with his brother Jeremiah, and they fought at the battle of Plum Creek
under Mathew Caldwell in 1840. Alexander shortly thereafter returned to
Mississippi.
In 1843, the family again relocated to Texas and settled in Blanco County.
When the Mexican War broke out, the family went back to Mississippi, but
later returned to Blanco County in 1855. Mrs. Roberts died in that year, but the
widower Roberts married again and had six more children. [1]
Now settled permanently in Texas, young Dan Roberts could look forward to
an exciting career filled with adventures fighting Indians. When the Civil War
broke out, he joined Captain W. H. Perry’s company of mounted rifles in the
26th Brigade of the Texas militia. He served as a scout against Indian raiders.
On February 26, 1862, Roberts enlisted as a private in Colonel Peter Woods’
36th Texas cavalry regiment, Company K. On February 2, 1864, Roberts and
many others deserted when they were dismounted.
Dan did not come up against any Indians until August 1873, when a band
raided near the home of Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Phelps in Blanco County. The
bodies of the couple were mutilated. By the time the massacre was
discovered, it was too late to pursue the raiders. Following this incident, the
men in the general area met at Roberts’ home and made the following
http://www.texasranger.org/dispatch/13/pages/Roberts.htm (1 of 7) [4/30/2009 11:38:12 PM]
TEXAS RANGER DISPATCH Magazine
resolution: the next time Indians raided, they would be followed and wiped
out, no matter what. The next time was not long in coming.
Dan and his brother George T., Thomas Joseph Bird, John O. Biggs, and
Stanton Jolly pursued a group of Comanches. They were soon joined by
Captain James Ingram, William Ingram, Frank Waldrip, and “Cam” Davidson.
George Roberts was severely wounded in this fight, and Dan received a
wound in the thigh that was not so serious. Coming to their rescue was a
group under the command of Cicero R. “Rufe” Perry. Although the
Comanches escaped, all was not lost. When Senator H. C. King learned of the
skirmish, he dubbed it the “Deer Creek Fight” and introduced a bill in the
legislature to award each of the warriors. This bill passed, and each man
received a model 1873 Winchester. Roberts carried his throughout his career
and was extremely proud of it. (The present location of the gun is unknown.)
Roberts later wrote his autobiography, and said this of the fight:
The oftener I think of the Deer Creek fight, the greater is my
wonder that all of us were not killed. We were outnumbered by
more than three to one, had arms that were inferior to the
enemy’s and were compelled to fight in the open, at close range,
while the Indians had shelter. I can account for the miracle of our
escape only by believing that it was an act of Providence. [2]
In May 1874, Governor Richard Coke created a battalion from six companies
of seventy-five Texas Rangers each. The primary responsibility was to patrol
the frontier from Jacksboro to the Rio Grande. The force was commanded by
Major John B. Jones, a veteran of the Civil War and a successful
businessman. Dan Roberts did not intend to join the Frontier Battalion initially
because he meant to move to New Mexico Territory. On May 10, however, he
met close friend Captain Perry, who convinced him to reconsider. Roberts
acquiesced to Perry’s entreaties and was issued a commission as 2nd
Lieutenant in Company D under command of C. R. “Rufe” Perry. [3] The Perry
and Roberts families had been friends for years, and as Perry knew the quality
of man Roberts was, he knew he had a dependable man.
The first fight with Indians was not until August, and it was the first of many
while the company was camped on the banks of the San Saba River, twenty
miles south of Fort McKavett, During one fight, Roberts ran down an Indian
brave who surrendered, begging for his life. Although many a Texan would
have killed him on the spot simply because he was an Indian, Roberts could
not slay a man surrendering to him. He took him prisoner instead, and the
Indian was taken to Austin and sentenced to serve time in Huntsville State
Prison. His name, as determined by white officials, was Little Bull. While
there, he became friends with the Kiowa chieftain, Santana, incarcerated for
atrocities committed against the white man. In prison, Little Bull developed
tuberculosis and died.
Besides fighting Indians, Roberts was also responsible for assisting officers
of the court and protecting settlers from white renegades. These were not the
only activities of this young man on the frontier, however. On September 13,
1875, he and Miss Luvenia Conway, the daughter of John and Henrietta
(Renfro) Conway, were married in her hometown of Columbus in Colorado
County. [4]
Prior to his marriage, Roberts considered resigning from the Rangers and
relocating in New Mexico Territory. To demonstrate the confidence he had in
Roberts, Major Jones told him he could get married and also remain with the
http://www.texasranger.org/dispatch/13/pages/Roberts.htm (2 of 7) [4/30/2009 11:38:12 PM]
TEXAS RANGER DISPATCH Magazine
Rangers because he gave him permission to keep his new bride in the Ranger
camps. Fortunately for history, Mrs. Roberts spent six years in camps,
recording her memoirs in A Woman’s Reminiscences of Six Years in Camp
With the Texas Rangers, first published in 1928 and reprinted by State House
Press of Austin in 1987.
One of the most perplexing problems Major Jones experienced was the
feuding between the Germans and the Americans in Mason County. This feud,
popularly known as the Mason County War or the “Hoo Doo War,” involved
the stealing of cattle, the killing of prisoners, the waylaying of men on the
public road, a jail delivery, and the lynching of prisoners. Trying to subdue the
conflicts were such notables as William Scott Cooley; John Ringo, later of
Tombstone fame; Sheriff John Clark, and Roberts.
On February 18, 1875, Roberts left camp and rode to Mason to obtain grain. At
the local jail, five men accused of cattle theft were currently incarcerated.
Suddenly, a mob of some forty or more men appeared, intending to break
open the jail to lynch the prisoners. Sheriff Clark, a man named James
Trainer, and Roberts initially attempted to discourage the mob from carrying
out its intention, but to no avail. They were badly outnumbered, so they had to
back off and let the mob do its work.
The angry mob marched the prisoners down the Mason-Fredericksburg road.
About a half mile from town, they strung the men up and began shooting at
them. Thinking the mob was shooting at them, Roberts and the men with him
returned fire. They rushed to the lynching site and managed to get to the
prisoners before all of them were dead. One ran as soon as the noose was off
from his neck. Roberts got to another in time to save his life, providing him
with water from a nearby creek.
I ran to a branch nearby, dipped water in my hat, ran back to
Turley, poured it on him, rubbed him, and he soon showed signs
of returning to life. He gradually came to life, with a glassy stare
in his eyes. He could not talk until next morning. [5]
The Mason County grand jury attempted to learn the identity of the mob
members, but even Roberts was reluctant to speak before them. He justified
his reticence by saying:
I was summoned before the grand jury, and they fired into me,
and crossfired, until I began to think they were prying into state
secrets. I knew nothing, at the time, that I thought the grand jury
ought to have, and I parried them with the semi-truth, and we
made a drawn battle.” [6]
No one was ever indicted for participating in the mob’s action of breaking
open the jail and executing prisoners. During the entire feud, even though
fifteen or more people were murdered, only George Gladden was tried and
sentenced for murder. Roberts explained why the law was so ineffectual in
Mason County:
The Rangers could only support the civil authority in cases of
actual bloodshed, as Mason County was not under martial law.
The Rangers could arrest criminals, indicted by the courts, and
even more, they could arrest on information, or actual
observances of crime, but Mason County had never brought a
man to trial, during this feud. Sheriff Clark, seeing that it would
take ‘eternal vigilance’ for him to live in Mason County, resigned
http://www.texasranger.org/dispatch/13/pages/Roberts.htm (3 of 7) [4/30/2009 11:38:12 PM]
TEXAS RANGER DISPATCH Magazine
the office of sheriff, and left for parts best known to himself.
Other principal actors, against him, went to Arizona, then
considered a far off land from Texas. The war died out and
Mason County is now prosperous and happy. [7]
Roberts resigned his commission in 1878 and moved to Houston, but not for
long. Due to troubles on the Mexican border, Major Jones convinced him to
return to his command, which he did. He went back to Company D, then
stationed in Laredo on the border.
Roberts found success on the border, managing to cooperate with Mexican
authorities in fighting the banditti. In concert with an unidentified Mexican
major, Roberts was able to cross into Mexico in pursuit of bandits with no fear
of repercussion from his superiors.
The most notable exploit of Company D occurred in the area of Fort Davis.
Roberts recalled that about June 25, 1880, he received a telegram from Judge
G. M. Frazer of Fort Stockton, asking for help. Numerous stores and other
business firms had been robbed in recent months, and local authorities were
unsuccessful in dealing with them. The military from nearby Fort Davis would
not assist in civil matters, so Frazer called for help from Captain Roberts.
Census of the
Company
On June 14,
1880, U.S.
census
enumerator N.
Q. Patterson
visited the
Texas Ranger
camp in
Menard
County. He
found Captain
D. W. Roberts
of the “State
military”
shown as
“head of
household.”
The thirteen
men in camp
were Charles
Boyce, “hired
Laborer,” and
twelve
soldiers: L. P.
Sieker, H. T.
Ashburn,
William
Clements, J. H.
Renick, N. J.
Brown, L. H.
Rogers, L. H.
Cook, D. W.
Gourley, R. G.
From his Menard County camp, Roberts sent Sergeant E. A.
Sieker and Privates J. W. Miller, E. J. Pound, Nick K. Brown,
Henry Thomas, R. R. Russell, D. T. Carson, S. A. Henry and
George Bingham. Sergeant L. B. Caruthers of Company E
also arrived on orders from Major Jones. The men scouted
into the Davis Mountains and, on July 3, they finally caught
up with a band, which resisted arrest. As Roberts later
wrote:
They were about a mile ahead of the Rangers and the boys
being eager to get to them struck a little faster gait, which
move caused the robbers to leave the road they were on and
strike for a canon some distance from the road.
The Rangers started straight for them at full speed, but the
bandits reached cover first, dismounted, and took shelter
behind the large rocks that fringed the area of the gulch. As
horses are not all created equal, only four Rangers managed
to get within close range. Sieker, Russell, Carson, and
Bingham made up the quartet.
As the Rangers approached, firing commenced from behind
those rocks, two bullets striking Carson’s horse and one
through the brim of his hat, and Bingham was shot dead.
Carson, Sieker and Russell dismounted, and as [robber]
George Davis showed up from behind a rock to shoot,
Sergeant Sieker and Carson fired at him almost
simultaneously, Sieker’s bullet striking him in the breast
and as he fell Carson’s bullet went through his head. [8]
Seeing this deadly work of the Rangers, the three surviving
robbers broke and ran. Finally realizing they could not
escape, they chose to surrender upon the promise they
would not be harmed. In the excitement of the gunfight, the
Rangers had not realized that Bingham was dead. When
http://www.texasranger.org/dispatch/13/pages/Roberts.htm (4 of 7) [4/30/2009 11:38:12 PM]
TEXAS RANGER DISPATCH Magazine
Kimble, S. D.
Coalson, E. H.
Wallace, and
A. McDonald.
Instead of
listing them as
Rangers,
Patterson
chose the term
“State
military” for
their
“Profession,
Occupation or
Trade.”
The group
represented
numerous
states. Roberts
was from
Mississippi,
and his wife
hailed from
Illinois. Other
states
represented
were
Kentucky,
Indiana,
Alabama,
Virginia,
Tennessee,
and Texas.
Stereotypically,
Texas Rangers
were
considered
young men
with no family.
Roberts was
thirty-eight,
not
surprisingly
the “oldest” of
the group. The
average age of
the other men
was a little
more than
twenty-four
years.
they did find out, they almost killed the surviving robbers.
Sergeant Sieker, in charge of the scout, reported to Captain
Roberts:
We charged the party and took their
stronghold. Then we had the advantage, for the
first time, and then they surrendered. Had I
known Bingham was killed, at that time, I
should have killed them all. But we had
disarmed them before we knew it. They then
prayed for mercy. [9]
The citizens of Fort Davis gave $500 in cash to the
Rangers, and the citizens of Fort Stockton gave them
$600. This scout was no doubt the most important
one these Rangers ever performed. Jesse Evans, one
of the robbers captured, had formerly been a pal of
Billy the Kid. He was tried and found guilty of murder
(for the death of Bingham) and sent to Huntsville
State Prison. He managed to escape, however, and
was never heard of again. [10]
Roberts resigned from the Rangers for the last time in
1882. With his wife’s health at risk, he decided that
they should move to Nogales, New Mexico, then a
gold mining community. Mrs. Roberts, who had lived
with Rangers for nearly six years, had this to say in
her book, written circa 1928:
It was with regret I parted from the Ranger
camp where I had spent so many happy
days. . . . [T]he whole time I was with the
rangers, not one time did I hear an oath or an
ungentlemanly word spoken. The Rangers
were always ready and eager to do us a
service, and we are indebted to their kindness
for many of the conveniences we had. Many of
them have answered their last call, and in a
short time Texas Ranger will be only a name,
but they have given a meaning to that name
that will cause it to live forever.
http://www.texasranger.org/dispatch/13/pages/Roberts.htm (5 of 7) [4/30/2009 11:38:12 PM]
In Nogales,
Roberts
earned his
living by
mining and
raising
stock.
Since he
and his
loving wife
were
childless,
they
adopted
Lillie
Roberts
TEXAS RANGER DISPATCH Magazine
and her
brother
Fred, both
the
children of
George T.
Roberts.
(Lillie later
became
the wife of
Governor J. F. Hinkle of New Mexico.) The Roberts family moved to Austin,
where they spent the rest of their days. At the age of ninety-three, Roberts
was stricken with pneumonia. He died in his home on February 6, 1935.
Luvenia Conway Roberts survived her husband by only five years, passing in
Austin on July 14, 1949. [11] Both are buried in the State Cemetery in Austin.
At the Menard Ranger Reunion in Menard, 1927. Top left: Captain Ben F.
Gholsen and Frontier Times editor J. Marvin Hunter. Seated: Captain D. W.
Roberts. Courtesy the Western History Collection, University of Oklahoma
Library.
This well-known photo
shows four Ranger
captains and an adjutant
general. Standing:
Captain J. A. Brooks,
Adjutant General W. W.
Sterling (formerly a
captain), Captain Frank A.
Hamer (of Bonnie and
Clyde fame) and Captain
John R. Hughes.
Dan Roberts, the oldest
of the group is shown
seated with his cane. How
was this picture made?
When Sterling was
adjutant general, his
office became a popular
place for Rangers of an
older generation. On a
summer day in July 1931, Captains Brooks and Hughes were visiting, by
chance in town on the same day. As Roberts lived in Austin, Sterling saw a
once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for history. He called a photographer, and
Sterling, Hamer, Brooks, and Hughes went to Roberts’ house. “
The old Indian fighter was very feeble in body, but his mind was clear and
alert. He gave us a cordial welcome, and seemed delighted to appear in what
he knew would be his last picture.” (William Warren Sterling, Trails and Trials
of a Texas Ranger. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1959, 212-13.)
These four captains had served the state of Texas from 1874 to 1933. It is truly
a memorable photograph. Courtesy The Texas Ranger Hall of Fame and
Museum, Waco.
Notes
http://www.texasranger.org/dispatch/13/pages/Roberts.htm (6 of 7) [4/30/2009 11:38:12 PM]
TEXAS RANGER DISPATCH Magazine
(1) “Daniel Webster Roberts” by Thomas W. Cutrer in The New Handbook of
Texas, Vol. 5, 608-09. (Austin: The Texas State Historical Association, 1996).
(2) Captain Dan W. Roberts, Rangers and Sovereignty (originally published in
1914, reprint by State House Press of Austin, 1987). p. 26.
(3) Ibid., pp. 33-34.
(4) Ibid., p. 81.
(5) Ibid., p . 89.
(6) Ibid., p. 90.
(7) Ibid., p. 93.
(8) Ibid., pp. 112-13.
(9) Sieker’s report appears in Ed Bartholomew’s Jesse Evans: A Texas HideBurner (Houston, Frontier Press of Texas, 1955), p. 52. Curiously, Sieker’s
report was published in the Mason County News sometime in July 1880.
Famed Ranger James B. Gillett clipped the item from that newspaper and
preserved it in his scrapbook. He then sent it to J. Marvin Hunter’s magazine,
Frontier Times, to be the feature of a short article, “Texas Rangers Battle With
Outlaws in 1880.” This appeared in the August 1927 issue, Vol. 4, No. 11, pp. 13.
(10) Although other historians assert that Evans escaped and was never
heard from again, Gillett, in his Frontier Times article, states: “Evans in trying
to escape was shot and killed.” He identified the robbers as Evans, two
brothers named Davis and the man killed, unknown.
(11) “Luvenia Conway Roberts” by Debbie Mauldin Cottrell in The New
Handbook of Texas, Vol. V, 610. (Austin: The Texas State Historical
Association, 1996).
Dispatch
Jr. Rangers
Corporate Club
Museum Store
Exhibits/Artifacts
Benefactors
All rights reserved. © 2003, Texas Ranger Hall of Fame and Museum. Contact Us
The Hall of Fame and Museum complex is located adjacent to Interstate 35 in Waco, Texas
(midway between Dallas/Fort Worth and Austin).
http://www.texasranger.org/dispatch/13/pages/Roberts.htm (7 of 7) [4/30/2009 11:38:12 PM]
TEXAS RANGER DISPATCH Magazine
Rangers Today
Visitor Info
History
Research Center
Family History
News
When we started the Dispatch in 2000, we never
in our wildest dreams thought that it would be
the success it has become—50,000 plus readers
per month! One of our major goals was not only
to create an interest in the Rangers, but also to
stir new research.
Dispatch Home
Visit our nonprofit
Contact the Editor
Student Help
Ask the Dispatch
Click Here for
A Complete Index
to All Back Issues
Museum Store!
Hall of Fame
In that vein, we have received many questions
from all over the world. Because of the
overwhelming number of requests, we have decided to start a new
column, “Ask the Dispatch.” In it, we will attempt to share as many
questions and answers as possible.
Before any question or request will be considered, the following
MUST be furnished: name, mailing address, and email address.
We do ask that any of your questions that concern ancestral
research be directed to www.texasranger.org. Go to the heading on
the top navigation bar marked Family History.
Dear Robert,
Big thanks for your interest to our re-enactment group,
and so sorry for the delay with an answer. Your interest
and recognition are very important for us.
The history of Texas and Texas Rangers always was
interesting to my friends and me. Due to this, we found
each other and have created our military-historical
association. Our interest is in military history of the USA,
19th-20th centuries. Our basic themes are the history of
the Old West (my favorite), Civil War 1861-1865, and
the war in Vietnam.
Many are surprised at our interest since we are so far
from all of it. We shall answer that first of all we are
interested not so much with the history as the politics or
statistics. The main thing for us is to understand and feel
the spirit of the real soldier, the trailblazers, the people
of honor, and the real heroes. This is true no matter
where - Texas, Vietnam or Europe.
We have many of our colleagues with this hobby in the
different countries. Many study the Napoleonic War or
the history of the Ukrainian Cossacks. By the way, the
Ukrainian Cossacks in spirit and in their roles are similar
to Texas Rangers: they protected the southern borders
http://www.texasranger.org/dispatch/13/pages/Ask_Dispatch.htm (1 of 8) [4/30/2009 11:38:17 PM]
TEXAS RANGER DISPATCH Magazine
of Ukraine in the 17th century from the attacks of the
Tatars.
For us, the American military history is interesting. It is
important in East Europe that we know the American
military history a little, and we yearn to tell about it to
the public. For this purpose, we create web sites, give
lectures, and have interviews for press and for TV. It is
interesting to our public.
Certainly our main purpose is the reconstruction of
former battles. We meet with our colleagues in field
camps that are organized precisely as in the records. The
latest meetings were in Czechoslovakia and Germany.
We have many friends all over Europe.
In additional, I am adding a few photos from our events.
We hope these will be interesting for you. These photos
are from shootings of music videos where we were guest
stars - assistants, advisers, actors and stuntmen.
Sincerely
Serge V. Ponomarenko
(Bill "Tex" McNelly is my nickname)
Visit his site here
http://www.geocities.com/rangerbill.geo
http://www.texasranger.org/dispatch/13/pages/Ask_Dispatch.htm (2 of 8) [4/30/2009 11:38:17 PM]
TEXAS RANGER DISPATCH Magazine
Dear Editor,
I am editor of the Newhaven Times, a small magazine
published by the Newhaven (Sussex, England) Local
History Society. We run and maintain a small museum
which deals with the history of the town. Of course, as
you are probably aware, many of the armed forces which
took part in that infamous raid in 1942 left from here
(Newhaven) and we have a great deal of information,
books and photos about the raid in the museum.
Among the information we have are accounts which
state that some Texas Rangers took part in the raid.
However, having found the article published in your
magazine by Robert Nieman, which categorically denies
this, I would like your permission to reproduce the
article in our own magazine in order to put the matter
right. Of course, if you do allow me to print it, due credit
will be printed with the article naming both the author
and the fact that I found it in your magazine.
Richard Beckett
Of course we were honored that Mr. Beckett considered
us, and we gladly give our permission.
Click here for more about the Dieppe Raid. http://www.
texasranger.org/dispatch/2/NowuKnow.htm
Hello,
I found your article online about the Colts and it told me
ALMOST what I needed to know! I just inherited a few
http://www.texasranger.org/dispatch/13/pages/Ask_Dispatch.htm (3 of 8) [4/30/2009 11:38:17 PM]
TEXAS RANGER DISPATCH Magazine
guns and have no clue as to what I've got here. I've
found pictures and done a lot of research and I'm fairly
certain that what I have is the Colt London Army 4 screw
revolver. It has the inscription “engaged 16 May 1843”
on the cylinder. It only has the serial number on it in one
place and it’s 7723. On the cylinder is printed “Patent
No,” but no number is printed. I'm listing these pieces
I've inherited on an auction and just want to be right
and fair on a price. I'm sending you a couple of digital
prints I took. If you can help without too much trouble,
I'd sincerely appreciate it. You seem to have already
invested a lot of time in your article.
Thank you.
Judy Sericolo
Judy,
You are correct that the old Colt is the 1860 Army and
would have the London barrel address. The serial
number would place its manufacture in 1861. However,
the number should appear on several parts, not just one.
Since the revolver appears to be in fairly rough shape,
see if the numbers have been worn off. Look just ahead
of the trigger guard and on the butt strap. The London
Colts are somewhat more desirable than the U.S. ones.
On your request for an evaluation, I regret that the
Texas Ranger Hall of Fame, a nonprofit educational
institution, doesn't appraise or evaluate. For such
information we recommend that you consult
Flayderman's Guide to Antique American Firearms and
Their Values 8th Ed., look at recent firearms auction
results from auction houses such as Sotheby's or
Butterfield's and consult qualified firearms appraisers.
The serial numbers are one of the most important
factors and should not only be present, but match. The
back strap will be iron if it is a London Colt.
If you need any more help, let me know.
Sincerely,
David Stroud
http://www.texasranger.org/dispatch/13/pages/Ask_Dispatch.htm (4 of 8) [4/30/2009 11:38:17 PM]
TEXAS RANGER DISPATCH Magazine
Hi there,
We have a .31 caliber model ‘49 that has been in the
family for years and was in a trunk that we opened after
my aunt died.
The inscription on it is “presented by Ben McCulloch to
Aloysius Dermott H. Antonio Octe 3, 1853.”
Any idea who this man was???
We have researched McCulloch and see he was very
highly decorated, but don’t know who the other guy is.
What do you think the value of the gun itself would be?
It also is in wonderful shape and has ivory grips.
Thanks a lot.
Paulina
Paulina,
I congratulate you on the "trunk find." All I ever found
were old clothes.
I'm assuming the following:
●
●
The inscription is either Colt factory or period. These are the first things a
collector/dealer will check.
Was the gun made in 1853 or before? Check the serial number (should be no
higher than 112,000, and all numbers should match).
A Colt presented by McCulloch to a Confederate General
is potentially very valuable (however, not quite as much
as if Antonio had presented it to Ben).
If the historical connections can be verified, the market
value of this piece is potentially high. I would
recommend that you seek out a qualified firearms
appraiser or auction house specializing in historic
American firearms and have a formal appraisal done. The
value will likely be substantially more than that listed in
Flayderman's Guide to Antique American Firearms and
Their Values 8th Ed., and other references.
It is extremely difficult to make judgments from photos
or descriptions, so it is always best to consult a
professional appraiser. Nonprofit educational museums,
such as The Texas Ranger Hall of Fame and Museum,
don't appraise or evaluate to avoid conflicts of interest
and to remain apart from the commercial trade in
artifacts. Their interest is in the historical importance
and associations of such items. Values are subjective
and always changing, so it is best to consult dealers and
appraisers involved in buying and selling. Do be careful,
check credentials and seek out second opinions.
http://www.texasranger.org/dispatch/13/pages/Ask_Dispatch.htm (5 of 8) [4/30/2009 11:38:17 PM]
TEXAS RANGER DISPATCH Magazine
Hope this helps.
David Stroud
Unfortunately, we cannot answer all questions. Maybe
one of our readers can help with the following inquiries.
Hello,
I am looking for any information I can find on a frontier
gunsmith named J. L. Wyler. He worked in Weatherford
[Texas] about the same time as Labon E. Tucker, and
they probably knew each other. Wyler is known to have
produced revolving rifles similar to Colt's Root rifle. Any
information would be greatly appreciated.
Jack R Brandon
Mr. Brandon,
I am unable to locate any information on the gunsmith
Wyler. If I run across anything, I'll let you know.
David Stroud
My great-great-great grandfather Littleton Rattan was
killed fighting Indians during the Mexican War. He
enlisted with James Gillette under the command of Jack
Hayes. He had previously served with Stout at the
Village Creek campaign and had also served with
Bourland and Stiff in their militia groups.
On the roster, he is shown as "killed by Indians on Dec
18, 1847 at ______?" One other Ranger was killed in
this battle. I'm writing a manuscript about Littleton
Rattan and hope to someday determine where he was
killed. One source has said "near Laredo," but with no
source. Would you have any recommendations on how I
might search for the place of his death? Any persons I
might contact?
Thanks,
Mike McKeever
I've looked through what I have, which is very slim on
the 1847 period. I don't think I can help much, but I
would suggest contacting Donaly Brice at the Texas
State Library and Archives in Austin, Texas for more
information. Their web site is here http://www.tsl.state.
http://www.texasranger.org/dispatch/13/pages/Ask_Dispatch.htm (6 of 8) [4/30/2009 11:38:17 PM]
TEXAS RANGER DISPATCH Magazine
tx.us/arc/genfirst.html Good luck!
Steve Moore
[I’m a] native-born Texican, long-time internet surfer,
and long-time admirer of the Texas Rangers. This is
undoubtedly one of the best web sites I've ever visited.
Keep up the great work.
Only met one Ranger, but never forgot his name-it was
Clay Bednar. (Not sure about the spelling.) If there is
any way to contact him, I'd like to do that. Although I
doubt he'd remember an eighteen-year-old kid from 1965
(?), I never forgot him. Sheriff Rose was in office in
Liberty County at the time.
Bill Roberts
[Dear Bill]
Thanks for your kind comments. Regrettably, Clay
Bednar passed away recently. His obituary is available
on the following page:
http://www.texasranger.org/memorials/Bedner_Clay.
htm
Best regards,
Byron A. Johnson, Director
Texas Ranger Hall of Fame and Museum
Is the Dispatch available by subscription in printed form
or only online?
Bill Bludworth
At this time, the Dispatch is only available online.
Do you have writer's guidelines available via email?
Thanks,
Lisa
Yes, we do. We will post them in the near future on the
contents pages of each issue.
Texas Ranger Dispatch
c/o Texas Ranger Hall of Fame and Museum
PO Box 2570
http://www.texasranger.org/dispatch/13/pages/Ask_Dispatch.htm (7 of 8) [4/30/2009 11:38:17 PM]
TEXAS RANGER DISPATCH Magazine
Rangers Today
Visitor Info
History
Research Center
Hall of Fame
Student Help
Family History
News
Click Here for
A Complete Index
to All Back Issues
Dispatch Home
Visit our nonprofit
Ranger Chapman's 1907 Winchester
by David V. Stroud
Museum Store!
Contact the Editor
So far, all of my articles have featured only
weapons used officially by the Texas Rangers
because they were the best of the best. The
Model 1907 featured this time, though not
formally utilized by the organization, is
nevertheless documented to an individual
who was an early 20th-century Ranger and,
therefore, truly represents a Ranger’s
weapon. (1)
George W. Chapman was twenty-three years
of age when he enlisted as a private in
Captain J. J. Sander’s Company A in Alice on
1 September 1917. According to The State of
Texas, Adjutant General’s Department,
Warrant of Authority and Descriptive List, he
was born in Ataosa County, stood 5” 11” tall,
had brown eyes and hair, a light complexion,
and listed “Peace Officer” as his occupation.
Chapman signed the Enlistment, Oath of
Service, and Description Ranger Force Form
listing his marital status as single and
solemnly swearing:
. . . since the adoption of the Constitution of
the United States and of this State, and I do
further solemnly swear that since the
adoption of the Constitution of this State, I being a citizen of this
State, have not fought a duel with deadly weapons, nor have I
acted as second in carrying a challenge, or aided, advised or
assisted any person thus offering. And I furthermore swear that I
have not, directly nor indirectly, paid, offered or promised to pay,
contributed nor promised to contribute, any money, or valuable
thing, or promised any public office or employment, to secure my
appointment, So help me God.
Chapman served barely a month, being honorably discharged on
11 October of the same year. He then reenlisted in Company C,
Laredo, under Captain W. M. Ryan on 20 March 1920.
http://www.texasranger.org/dispatch/13/pages/Winchester-07.htm (1 of 7) [4/30/2009 11:38:24 PM]
TEXAS RANGER DISPATCH Magazine
The second Descriptive List gave his height as 5’ 10 ½”, and
noted that he had a fair complexion. His occupation is listed as
stockman.
Once more, Chapman served only briefly, resigning on 22
February 1921 before reenlisting a third time on 11 August 1922
in Company A. He again resigned on 1 November 1922.
Chapman’s last enlistment paper recorded his occupation as
contractor and his place of birth as Pleasanton in Atascos County.
He is listed as married, residing in Cotulla, and recommended by
“Fuller Williamson, Chief Special Agent, International –Great
Railroad in Palestine, Texas.” (2)
Many may believe Chapman’s service as a Texas Ranger was
unusual. However, that type of sporadic service was common
during much of the organization’s history. As the need for
additional Rangers arose, Special Texas Rangers were enlisted
until the situation was handled, and then discharged.
As a Special Ranger, Chapman was expected to arm himself with
the best weapons available. He chose the Model 1907, selfloading Winchester presented here. (3)
Winchester’s first semi-automatic rifle was the Model 1903
blowback in .22 caliber. Since standard .22 bullets were not
uniform as to powder charge, this often resulted in the ’03 failing
to reload. Winchester then developed a uniformly charged—as
much as possible—automatic cartridge that should have sent
sales through the roof. However, due to the need of the special
cartridge, trade was slow, and only 123,000 or so were
manufactured by the time the rifle was discontinued in 1936. (4)
The ’03 was followed by the .32-caliber Model ’05, which utilized
the same basic design. Although Winchester had spent two years
developing a blowback that fired a heavier cartridge, the ’05 was
still underpowered. Therefore, regular production halted after
serial number 29,113 in 1914. (5)
The Model 1907 was Winchester’s answer to its customers’
requesting a self-loader capable of firing a more powerful round.
Its .351 caliber, capable of penetrating a quarter-inch steel plate,
(6) became the company’s bestseller of the blowback repeaters,
with a production run in excess of 58,000. (7)
The ‘07 maintained Winchester’s attractiveness in its symmetry,
beauty, and compactness, while still being simple and strong. The
working parts of the rifle are few and tough. There are no moving
projections on the outside to catch clothing or tear hands, no
screws or pins to shake lose, and the attached sights offer the
shooter championship accuracy.
After serial number 18,300 (1909), heavier stocks became
standard, and the ‘07 was regarded as a lawman’s rifle due to
http://www.texasranger.org/dispatch/13/pages/Winchester-07.htm (2 of 7) [4/30/2009 11:38:24 PM]
TEXAS RANGER DISPATCH Magazine
poor civilian sales. (8) The detachable magazine holds five
rounds.
10-Round Magazine
Ten-round models were available for $3.50 but had to be fitted at
the factory. Because of its weight (7 ½ pounds) and cost ($28),
the self-loader was available with a twenty-inch, round, nickelsteel barrel only and in plain, pistol-grip, walnut stock. A “fancy
walnut, checked” stock and forearm could be purchased for $48.
(9) Police rifles were produced with sling swivels, heavier stocks,
checked-steel butt plates, and bayonet attachments upon order.
(10)
The barrel makings appearing on the 1907s during production
varied. Early markings are found on top through the first 17,300:
MANUFACTURED BY THE WINCHESTER REPEATING ARMS CO.
NEW HAVEN, CONN. U.S.A. SELF LOADING MODEL 1907. PAT.
AUG. 27.-.351 CAL.
DEC. 10, 1901, FEB. 17. DEC. 22, 1903. AUG 21, 1906. OCT. 30,
1906.
Barrel Markings
After number 7,100, this additional marking is on the left side of
the barrel:
-NICKLE STEEL BARELLESPECIALLY FOR SMOKELESS POWDER
Model ‘07s approaching number 17,300 may have the last line of
patent dates replaced to read:
AUG. 21. OCT. 30. 1906. JULY 5. 10
By number 3,500, the added line and changes became standard
barrel markings on the left side. After number 24,300, nickel steel
was replaced with:
http://www.texasranger.org/dispatch/13/pages/Winchester-07.htm (3 of 7) [4/30/2009 11:38:24 PM]
TEXAS RANGER DISPATCH Magazine
-WINCHESTER PROFF STELLSomewhere between number 47,900 and number 48,300, this
marking became standard until the end of production:
MADE IN NEW HAVEN. CONN. U.S. OF AMERICA—WINCHESTERMODEL 07-.351 CAL.
-WINCHESTER PROFF STEEL-TRADE MARKTang markings through number 15,900:
WINCHESTER
TRADE MARK
MOD. 1907 S.L.
After number 15,900:
WINCHESTER
TRADE MARK
REG. IN U.S. PAT OFF.
MOD. 07 S.L.
After number 27,100 until production end:
WINCHESTER
TRADE MARK
MADE IN U.S.A
MODEL 07 S.L.
The ’07 was not only popular with lawmen such as the Texas
Rangers and F.B.I, but also with the outlaws such as Bonnie and
Clyde, Machine Gun Kelly, and John Dillinger. World War I Allied
flyers whose copilots fired at German aircraft from the rear seat
also used this weapon. (11)
Lawman George W. Chapman’s Model ’07 was produced in 1916
and must have been a recent purchase when he enlisted in
Company A. What adventures the private had with it during his
sporadic service are unknown. However, the pride of owning a
Texas Ranger ’07 can only be imagined by fellow gun historians.
(12)
http://www.texasranger.org/dispatch/13/pages/Winchester-07.htm (4 of 7) [4/30/2009 11:38:24 PM]
TEXAS RANGER DISPATCH Magazine
Chapman's Warrant
of Authority
Notes
1) Chapman’s enlistment papers and proof of ownership.
2) Enlistment paper.
3) “Semi-automatic” means that the weapon is self-loading, but
for many they are referred to as an “automatic.” “Automatic”
actually describes a weapon that is self-loading but loads,
fires, extracts, and ejects the spent cartridges. In blowback
models, the bolts are non-locking and simply blow back to eject
and reload.
http://www.texasranger.org/dispatch/13/pages/Winchester-07.htm (5 of 7) [4/30/2009 11:38:24 PM]
TEXAS RANGER DISPATCH Magazine
4) Some serial numbers were skipped while assembling leftover
parts in 1937. This resulted in a higher number (126,211) than
the actual number manufactured.
5) The ’05s were assembled until 1923, and the same skipping of
serial numbers occurred as in the ’03. The skipped numbers are
found between 29,113 and 31,467. Serial number 1 was
assembled on November 6, 1907, and production from 1943 to
1958 is unclear. However, serial numbers over 58,000 were
reached before production ceased in 1958.
6) A full patch bullet must be used to accomplish this publicized
feat.
7) Wilson, p. 152.
8) Madis, pp. 188-889.
9) Winchester Catalog, 1916, pp. 87 & 96.
10) Madis, pp 188-189.
11) Wilson, p. 152.
12) As with any obscure Ranger of yesteryear, historical
information is not readily available. It must be painstakingly
sought by searching county newspapers during the Ranger’s
service to validate any family stories one might receive. To date,
the author/owner of Chapman’s ’07 has reserved that treasure
hunt until the book, Ector’s Brigade, has been published.
Bibliography
Madis, George. The Winchester Handbook, Arts and Reference
House, 1981.
Wilson, R.M., Winchester, An American Legend: An American
Legend: The Official History of Winchester Firearmsand
Ammunition from 1849 to the Present, Random House. 1991.
Winchester Repeating Arms Co., Catalogue No. 80 - 1916, 1866 1916 Fiftieth Anniversary Edition, 1916.
David Stroud was born in Tyler, Texas, and graduated from
Henderson (Texas) High School in 1963. He enlisted in the
Marines the following year and served a tour in Vietnam and two
years as a drill instructor at Parris Island, South Carolina. He
earned his B.S. and M.A. degrees in history at Stephen F. Austin
State University and is a history instructor at Kilgore (Texas)
http://www.texasranger.org/dispatch/13/pages/Winchester-07.htm (6 of 7) [4/30/2009 11:38:24 PM]