What is the significance of the texas rangers

A large proportion A few of them drank intoxicating liquors. Still, it was a company of sober and brave men. They knew their duty and they did it. While in a town they made no braggadocio demonstration.

They did not gallop through the streets, shoot, and yell. They had a specie of moral discipline which developed moral courage. They did right because it was right. During the Civil War, with thousands of Texans off fighting with the Confederate Army, frontier protection was afforded by a "Regiment of Rangers. The backbone of home front security was still the volunteer "ranging" company, whose members operated on the "legal authority" of the pistols they carried on their hips or the rifle swinging in their saddle boot.

After the war, the Legislature passed a bill creating three companies of Texas Rangers, but a bill to provide funding failed. Financial support for state law enforcement in the early s was sporadic. For all practical purposes, there were no Texas Rangers for nearly a decade after the war. During this time, law enforcement was handled by a highly political and roundly hated organization known as the State Police.

Texas, like other Southern states, was in the throes of reconstruction and any authority, civil or military, was distrusted. The force eventually was disbanded. Unfortunately, the problems that had made some kind of statewide police force necessary in the first place had not disappeared along with the State Police.

But Texas was changing. The military, led by war-seasoned veterans of the Union Army, was methodically ridding Texas of its Indian problem. By the second half of the decade, the biggest threat to Texas was lawless Texans.

In five years time, the Rangers were involved in some of the most celebrated cases in the history of the Old West. Much of the fact that would later be mixed with Ranger legend occurred during the turbulent period. After Armstrong, his long-barreled Colt. When it was over, one of Hardin's friends was dead.

Hardin had been knocked out cold, and his three surviving friends were staring at Armstrong's pistol. A neat round hole pierced Armstrong's hat, but he was uninjured. Hardin served a lengthy prison sentence, only to die in a shoot-out in El Paso in shortly after his release. Train robber Sam Bass, who had been in Texas since , was confronted by four Rangers in Round Rock in the summer of In the shoot-out that followed, one of Bass' gang was killed outright. Bass was gravely wounded, but managed to escape.

He was found, taken back into town, and later died. One account has the year-old outlaw saying "Life is but a bubble, trouble wherever you go" shortly before he died. Bass may or may not have described life as a bubble, but the Texas Rangers certainly found plenty of trouble wherever they went.

Rangers contended with local disturbances that amounted to miniature wars, bloody feuds, lynch mobs, cattle thieves, barbed wire fence cutters, killers and other badmen. The Rangers usually prevailed. As the turn of the century approached, the reputation of the Ranger as the person required to take care of a situation beyond the means of local law enforcement was well established. Adjutant General W.

Mabry wrote of the Rangers in his report to the Legislature that "This branch of the service has been very active and has done incalculable good in policing the sparsely settled sections of the state where the local officers In the s, Rangers preserved law and order in Big Bend mining towns, tracked down train robbers and even were called on to prevent an illegal prize-fight from taking place on Texas soil.

The promoters of the storied Fitzsimmons-Maher bout finally had to settle for staging the boxing match on an island in the Rio Grande. In , the Rangers scouted , miles; made arrests; returned 2, head of stolen livestock to the owners, assisted civil authorities times and guarded jails on 13 occasions.

In , the Frontier Battalion faded along with the frontier; but by July, , the Legislature passed a new law concerning the Ranger service. The force, to be organized by the governor, was created "for the purpose of protecting the frontier against marauding or thieving parties, and for the suppression of lawlessness and crime throughout the state. Ranger Captains picked their own men, who had to furnish their own horses and could dress as they choose.

They did not even have a standard badge. The law authorized four Ranger companies of a maximum of 20 men each. The career of Company "B" Captain W. McDonald, and a book written about him, added much to the Ranger legend, including two of its most famous sayings. When sent to Dallas to prevent a scheduled prize-fight, McDonald supposedly was greeted at the train station by the city's anxious mayor, who asked: "Where are the others?

And on the title page of Paine's book on McDonald are 19 words labeled as Captain McDonald's creed: "No man in the wrong can stand up against a fellow that's in the right and keeps on a-comin. During the first two decades of the Twentieth Century, Rangers found themselves up against men in the wrong as always, but some of the law enforcement problems these officers confronted were as new as the century itself.

Since the days of the Mexican War, Rangers had occasional work to do along the long, meandering Rio Grande, but the emphasis on the river increased in with the outbreak of revolution in Mexico. Generally easy to ford, the Rio Grande had never been much more than a symbolic boundary. Some of the violence associated with the political upheaval in Mexico crossed the river into Texas. On several occasions, Mexican bandits raided into Texas.

And at least twice, Rangers returned the favor, making punitive strikes into Mexico. In one battle in , as many as 20 Mexicans may have been killed by Rangers who crossed to the south side of the river. During this time, the Ranger force was as large as it ever was in its history, and historians who have studied the period agree there was some dilution of quality.

After one Ranger raid into Mexico, an entire company was dismissed. Texas was growing up--the Rangers were part of the state's civil authority, and had to learn to do their work within the framework of the law, no matter the necessary liberties some of their predecessors had taken in earlier years. Still, the Rangers were not without backing in their efforts to keep the hostilities in Mexico from washing across the river into Texas.

Governor O. Colquitt wrote Ranger Captain John R. Hughes:"I instruct you and your men to keep them Mexican raiders off of Texas territory if possible, and if they invade the State let them understand they do so at the risk of their lives.

In , the national prohibition law was passed. It gave the Rangers, along with federal officers, another problem to cope with on the border. Many a burro train of bootleg liquor from Mexico was intercepted, and shoot-outs between Rangers and smugglers were not infrequent. During the first World War, the already large regular Ranger force was supplemented with another Special Rangers appointed by the governor. After the war, on the heels of a Legislative inquiry into the Rangers' operations on the border, the Legislature in reduced the size of the force to four companies of 15 men, a sergeant and a captain.

Additionally, the lawmakers authorized a headquarters company of six men in Austin under a Senior Ranger Captain. Texas was in a state of transition, and so were the Rangers. Rangers still rode the river on horseback, but they also used cars. The automobile was taking over as the principal mode of transportation in Texas and the rest of the country.

And horseless carriages needed oil, not oats. The increased national demand for petroleum fueled a new law enforcement problem for the Rangers. In addition to their traditional duties, along with assisting in tick eradication efforts, handling labor difficulties and the enforcement of prohibition, the Rangers had to deal with the lawlessness that came with the oil boom in Texas. One of the first places that happened was in a community that years before had been named in their honor.

The small Eastland County town of Ranger, so named because it had been settled near the site of an old frontier Ranger camp, boomed with the discovery of oil in the area. By , Ranger had a population of 16,, and a substantial number of those residents were not particularly interested in abiding by the law. Texas Rangers sent to Ranger, Texas raided gaming halls, smashed drinking establishments, and corralled a wide assortment of miscreants and felons. When Rangers filled the jails, prisoners sometimes had to be handcuffed to telephone poles.

The same story would be repeated throughout the '20s and '30s. Only the names of the towns changed. From Borger to Mexia, Rangers preserved what peace and dignity they could in the wild oil field boomtowns. The Rangers had greater mobility, but so did the outlaws.

Robbers could hit a small town bank and quickly make their getaway. Rangers were given railroad passes, but had to provide their own cars. One of the best-known Rangers who made the transition from horse to car was Frank H.

He first joined the Rangers in Hamer left the force occasionally to take other law enforcement jobs. At the beginning of , he was transferred to Austin, where he would spend the next decade as a Ranger Captain. One of the major problems facing the Rangers during Hamer's tenure as Senior Ranger Captain was bank robbery.

Rangers were able to survive because the organization was structured in a less expensive manner than that of a regular army. The Rangers did undergo short terms of abolishment but were always called back into service.

The early years were that of conflict since Texas and Mexico were in constant dispute over territory. The differences finally lead to a war between Texas and Mexico, when Texas joined the Union and became a member of the United States in The Rangers became a part of a complete military structure, yet this did not alter their effectiveness.

The Rangers gained national prominence for the first time and were considered to be the best troops in the American Army. For ten years following the end of the war with Mexico, the tasks of protecting the frontier were assumed by United States Army troops.

The Rangers saw little service during that period. Rangers still rode the river on horseback, but they also used cars.

The automobile was taking over as the principal mode of transportation in Texas and the rest of the country. And horseless carriages needed oil, not oats. The increased national demand for petroleum fueled a new law enforcement problem for the Rangers. In addition to their traditional duties, along with assisting in tick eradication efforts, handling labor difficulties and the enforcement of prohibition, the Rangers had to deal with lawlessness that came with the oil boom in Texas.

One of the first places that happened was in a community that years before had been named in their honor. The small Eastland County town of Ranger, so named because it had been settled near the site of an old frontier Ranger camp, boomed with the discovery of oil in the area.

By , Ranger had a population 16,, and a substantial number of those residents were not particularly interested in abiding by the law. Texas Rangers who were sent to Ranger, Texas raided gaming halls, smashed drinking establishments, and corralled a wide assortment of miscreants and felons. When Rangers filled the jails, prisoners sometimes had to be handcuffed to telephone poles.

The same story would be repeated throughout the '20s and '30s. Only the names of the towns changed. From Borger to Mexia, Rangers preserved what peace and dignity they could in the wild oil field boomtowns. With the advent of the automobile the Rangers had greater mobility, but so did the outlaws. Robbers could hit a small town bank and quickly make their getaway. Rangers were given railroad passes, but had to provide their own cars. He first joined the Rangers in Hamer left the force occasionally to take other law enforcement jobs, but by , he was captain of Ranger Co.

C, stationed in Del Rio. At the beginning of , he was transferred to Austin, where he would spend the next decade as a Ranger captain.

One of the major problems facing the Rangers during Hamer's tenure as Senior Ranger Captain was bank robbery. There was one catch--the money would be paid for dead robbers only. As the Depression took hold in Texas, unscrupulous types began setting up phony holdups, hiring men to rob a bank and then killing them in the act so the reward money could be collected.

This was a situation the Rangers could not solve with force. Instead, Hamer went to the press, exposing what was happening. Hamer's move paid off--the banking association's reward policy was changed. As Senior Ranger Captain, Hamer reported to the state's adjutant general, a man appointed by the governor. A governor also could appoint Rangers, or influence a selection.

As governors changed, Ranger leadership usually changed. Though history shows many good men wore the Ranger badge in the s and s, the system was rife with politics and ripe for abuse.

When Gov. Sterling resigned his office. Forty Rangers, including Capt. Hamer, left with him. But Hamer was not away from law enforcement for long. In February , Lee Simmons, superintendent of the Texas prison system, asked Hamer if he would track down the notorious criminal couple Clyde Barrow and Bonnie Parker.

Hamer agreed and was given a commission as a Texas highway patrolman. Since , when a force had been created to patrol the expanding Texas roadways, the state in effect had two police agencies. The young Highway Patrol operated as part of the Highway Department. Hamer trailed Bonnie and Clyde for days. Finally, Hamer and other officers, including former Ranger Manny Gault, caught up with the dangerous duo in Bienville Parish, Louisiana. The officers had hoped to take the outlaws alive, but when the pair reached for their weapons, Hamer and the others opened fire.

The career of Bonnie and Clyde was over. For a time, it looked like the Texas Rangers were not going to last much longer than Bonnie and Clyde. Under Gov. Ferguson, Ranger commissions were easy to come by, and not all those handed a silver star were men whose character was worthy of the honor. Additionally, Ferguson appointed some 2, Special Rangers. A few of those were even ex-convicts. The problem did not go unrecognized. The Texas Senate, on Sept. The committee produced a report in early that was singularly critical of Texas law enforcement.

However, the document also proposed a solution: the creation of a state law enforcement agency to be known as the Department of Public Safety. A bill was introduced that would create such an agency, which would operate under a three-member Public Safety Commission.

The Texas Rangers would be transferred from the Adjutant General's Department and Highway Patrol would be moved from the Highway Department to form a single state police force. Some modifications in the law were made by a joint House-Senate conference committee, but on Aug. Under the new DPS, the Ranger force would consist of 36 men. Though smaller than it had been in years, the Texas Rangers would finally have the benefits of a state-of-the-art crime laboratory, improved communications, and, most importantly, political stability.

With the creation of the DPS, the Rangers would have professionalism to match their tradition. Tom Hickman, a veteran Ranger, was named senior captain of the Rangers. The force was organized into five companies, each headed by a captain. The headquarters for Co. B was set up in a specially-built log building on the fairgrounds. Texas Rangers were seen in news reel footage in movie houses around the nation.

Depression-era DPS appropriations were lean, but as the decade of the s ended, the Texas Rangers were on their way toward modernization.

Fingerprint and modus operandi files were available for Ranger use at the Department's Camp Mabry headquarters in Austin, and Ranger vehicles were equipped with police radio receivers, though two-way radio would not be available to Rangers until the s.

Former Ranger Manuel T. Lone Wolf Gonzaullas headed the Department's Bureau of Intelligence, which gave Rangers the benefit of chemical, ballistic and microscopic testing in their criminal investigations.

Rangers still had to provide their own car, horse, and saddle, though the DPS issued horse trailers. For the first time, Rangers had the benefits of in-service training. They also had to write weekly activity reports. The Texas Rangers were part of another agency but their duties essentially were the same as they had been for years.

Rangers were called upon to enforce the state's laws, with particular emphasis on felony crimes, gambling and narcotics. Rangers also were used in riot suppression and in locating fugitives. Ranger duties varied from showing air raid warning training films to tracking down escaped German POWs later in the war. When U.

This apparently caused considerable anxiety among the German people. The Reich's minister of propaganda eventually had to clarify matters. By , the authorized strength of the Texas Rangers had been increased to 45 men. Two years later, the force was increased again, to 51 men. Texas was growing in the post-war economy and so was the parent agency of the Rangers. In , the Legislature authorized construction of a new headquarters building in North Austin. The same year, the DPS bought its first airplane.

A Ranger became the Department's first pilot-investigator. In their first year under the DPS, the Rangers took part in an estimated cases; two decades later, in , the Rangers were involved in 16, cases. The s through the '70s were a turbulent time involving prison riots, Civil Rights and labor movements and desegregation. After questionable use of Texas Rangers in some incidents, changes were made further defining their mission and restricting State and local authorities from using the Texas Rangers to aid or resist political agendas.

The National Guard was brought in and Ranger Capt. In Governor Governor Allan Shivers, chose to passively resist federal desegregation of two schools in Texas following a district court order to implement the Supreme Court decision Brown v.

Board of Education. He dispatched a Texas Ranger to Mansfield and two to Texarkana with instructions to keep the peace, but not assist African American students in registering for school. The federal government chose not to intervene and registration was unsuccessful. In Texas Rangers and Troopers were sent to intervene in a violent steel mill strike in East Texas.