The Bandit War Along The Rio Grand

Howdy folks and greetings from the Great Plains of North Texas!

We're in a series about one of the top Texas Ranger lawmen to ever wear the badge, the great Frank Hamer, who was brought out of retirement to take down Bonnie and Clyde.

Recap

In the last post Frank had been working for the sheep raisers association to track down sheep rustlers when his acceptance back into the Texas Rangers came though.

Today's story

Naturally he finished up what he was working on and headed for the Big Bend area of West Texas on his favorite big bay named Bugler, as soon as he could.

Here's Frank on Bugler on the border in 1915:

Courtesy of the Texas Ranger Hall of Fame and Museum, Waco, Texas.

His unit was headed by Captain Fox who was new to the Rangers, having gotten a captain's appointment through political connections.

Fox lacked good leadership and the unit was demoralized because 3 of their men had been shot and killed by Mexican bandits right before Frank got there.

Frank was good for morale

Frank's natural leadership qualities were sorely needed and he was an inspiration to all the other Rangers he served with. One man from his unit, Ivey Finley(now that's an unusual first name) recalled about Frank:

"The man wasn't afraid of the devil himself. A rifle was his favorite weapon. We used to throw coins and small pebbles into the air, and he would break them almost every time with bullets from a high-powered rifle. He practiced constantly."

Here's the Winchester Model 1895 that Frank carried in his scabbard:

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That rifle was a .30-06 caliber, accurate out to a thousand yards.

The Bandit War

The chaos in Mexico created by their revolution spilled over the entire length of the border. Mexican bandits would steal cattle in Mexico and sell them in the United States, then steal horses here and sell them in Mexico.

Plus there were also bandits who wanted to take Texas back so they'd raid farms and ranches, killing and stealing. At the time, 1915, the Texas governor was a real whack job. He told the Rangers to kill all Mexican bandits, not arrest them.

Cold blooded murders

So another unit, not Frank's, did just that, they committed brutal murders. Even Frank's captain, Fox, committed murders when Frank wasn't around.

There were so many complaints and accusations that state and federal investigations after the war dug up alot of dirt on the Rangers but not on Frank.

No one ever accused Frank of any wrong doing and he wasn't implicated in any either. He had such a strong belief in justice and defending the defenseless or underdog that I don't think he could have participated in any murders.

I think God was protecting him by keeping him away from the atrocities that occurred. They happened when he was away on some assignment, usually tracking bad guys. They'd happen right after he left or right before he got there.

Called away from the border

Captain Fox's unit was pulled out from their border patrol and sent into the Big Bend area which was towards the center of Texas because one of the Senators had ranches there that kept getting their livestock stolen. The Senator was fuming. Poor baby.

Sounds like special treatment for the rich and powerful and of course it was, but at least it got Frank away from the murderous activity going on along the Rio Grand. It was the darkest times for and a black spot on the record of the Rangers.

Peace through overwhelming force

The next year, in 1916, President Wilson sent 100,000 troops to the border and stopped all the nonsense and this effectively ended the bandits crossing over to cause havoc. Peace through strength, that was kind of Frank's philosophy too.

Frank was so disillusioned by Fox's leadership, which he considered sorely lacking, and disgusted by all the murders he'd heard about...he resigned again.

We'll see where Frank heads next. He was involved in 52 gunfights in his career and has only been in a couple so far, so there's alot of action on the way.

-jonboy
Texas

PS- In my quest for cool sculptures I found one today by Italian artist Lorenzo Quinn. He actually has different versions of this one scattered around the world. The name of this is Force of Nature.

I think this one is in the United States. The woman represents Mother Nature:

I think the next two are in Europe, the European versions don't have clothes:

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They also kind of fit into the anti-gravity sculptures that I've been showing. I think they're rather stunning and powerful.

Thanks for reading folks, God bless you all!