Lawlessness in Texas did not end with the close of the cowboy era. It just evolved, swapping horses and pistols for cars and semiautomatics. From Patrolman "Newt" Stewart, killed by a group of servicemen in February 1900, to Whitesboro chief of police William Thomas "Will" Miller, run down by a vehicle in the line of duty in 1940, Ron DeLord and Cliff Caldwell present a comprehensive chronicle of the brave--and some not so brave--peace officers who laid down their lives in the service of the State of Texas in the first half of the twentieth century.
Little-known stories of brave men who should never be forgotten.The tally of Texas lawmen killed during the stat's first sixty-five years of organized law enforcement is truly staggering. From Texas Rangers the likes of Silas Mercer Parker Jr., gunned down at Parker's Fort in 1836, to Denton County sheriff's deputy Floyd Coberly, murdered by an inmate in 1897 atter ten days on the job, his collection accounts for all those unsung heroes. Not merely an attempt to recall a dozen popular hours of research conducted over more than a decade. Ron DeLord and Cliff Caldwell have carefully assembled a unique and engaging chronicle of Texas history.
Hailed as "a rip-snortin', six-guns-blazin' saga of good guys and bad guys who were sometimes one and the same," Robert M. Utley's Lone Star Justice captured the colorful first century of Texas Ranger history. Now, in the eagerly anticipated conclusion, Lone Star Lawmen, Utley once again chronicles the daring exploits of the Rangers, this time as they bring justice to the twentieth-century West. Based on unprecedented access to Ranger archives, this fast-paced narrative stretches from the days of the Mexican Revolution (where atrocities against Mexican Americans marked the nadir of Ranger history) to the Branch Davidian saga near Waco and the recent bloody standoff with "Republic of Texas" militia. Readers will find in these pages one hundred years of high adventure. Utley follows the Rangers as they pursue bank robbers, bootleggers, moonshiners, and "horsebackers" (smugglers who used mule trains to bring liquor across the border). We see these fearless lawmen taming oil boomtowns, springing the ambush of Bonnie and Clyde, facing down angry lynch mobs, and tracking the "Phantom Killer" of Texarkana. Utley also highlights the gradual evolution of this celebrated force, revealing that while West Texas Rangers still occasionally ride the range on horseback and crack down on smugglers and rustlers, East Texas Rangers--who work mostly in big cities--now ride in high-powered cars and contend with kidnappers, forgers, and other urban criminals. But East or West, today's Rangers have become sophisticated professionals, backed by crime labs and forensic science. Written by one of the most respected Western historians alive, here is the definitive account of the Texas Rangers, a vivid portrait of these legendary peace officers and their role in a changing West.
A lively reference covering a century’s worth of shooters, sheriffs, and more in the Lone Star State. The Lone Star State is known for producing both vicious outlaws and valorous lawmen. While Machine Gun Kelly terrorized urban civilians, lawmen such as Ranger John Barclay Armstrong tried to keep things under control. This is the story of Texas’s most famous criminals, intrepid lawmen—and in the case of James Edwin Reed, both—as well as such figures as the legendary Judge Roy Bean. This reference brings to life a time before the West was tamed, and also includes a chronology of well-known crimes and a locale list of notorious events.
Thomas Bruce White, law officer, son of Robert Emmet and Margaret (Campbell) White, was born at Oak Hill, Texas, on March 6, 1881. He attended public schools and, for two years, Southwestern University in Georgetown. He began his career with Company A of the Texas Rangersqv at Colorado City and married Bessie Patterson on October 17, 1909. From 1909 to 1917 he worked as special agent for the Santa Fe and Southern Pacific railroads at Amarillo, San Antonio, and El Paso. While in El Paso he became an agent of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and he was soon promoted and placed in charge of the Houston office. He was one of the first FBI inspectors, with responsibility for inspecting the bureau's offices in all southern and western states. When crimes against Oklahoma's Osage Indians kept increasing, White was moved to Oklahoma City, where he solved the difficult case "of the Osage Indian murders." Afterward, the officials of the United States Bureau of Prisons persuaded him to transfer to that organization. The Whites and their two sons moved into the warden's residence of Leavenworth prison on October 1, 1926. For five years he ran the prison. In 1931 he was seriously wounded by gunfire in an escape attempt. When he recovered, officials of the bureau decided he should be given a less demanding assignment and transferred him to La Tuna Federal Correctional Institution, near El Paso, Texas. This institution was opened under his wardenship on April 29, 1932. White inaugurated programs that made La Tuna very well known, including, for instance, the growing and harvesting of food crops by inmates. On March 6, 1951, when White reached the mandatory civil service retirement age of seventy, he accepted a six-year appointment to the Board of Pardons and Paroles. In tendering the appointment, Chief Justice John E. Hickman said he had never seen better recommendations than those presented on White's behalf. Shortly before his death White stated, "I began by catching criminals and sending them to prison. Then I spent twenty-five years taking care of them while they were serving their time. Finally, I spent the last six years of my career deciding when they should be released. I had come the full circle." White was a devout Baptist. He died in El Paso on December 21, 1971.--Texas State Historical Association.
A retired Texas Ranger recalls a career that took him from shootouts in South Texas to film sets in Hollywood. When his picture appeared on the cover of Texas Monthly, Joaquin Jackson became the icon of the modern Texas Rangers. Nick Nolte modeled his character in the movie Extreme Prejudice on him. Jackson even had a speaking part of his own in The Good Old Boys with Tommy Lee Jones. But the role that Jackson has always played the best is that of the man who wears the silver badge cut from a Mexican cinco peso coin, a working Texas Ranger. Legend says that one Ranger is all it takes to put down lawlessness and restore the peace: one riot, one Ranger. In this adventure-filled memoir, Joaquin Jackson recalls what it was like to be the Ranger who responded when riots threatened, violence erupted, and criminals needed to be brought to justice across a wide swath of the Texas-Mexico border from 1966 to 1993. Jackson has dramatic stories to tell. Defying all stereotypes, he was the one Ranger who ensured a fair election—and an overwhelming win for La Raza Unida party candidates—in Zavala County in 1972. He followed legendary Ranger Captain Alfred Y. Allee Sr. into a shootout at the Carrizo Springs jail that ended a prison revolt and left him with nightmares. He captured “The See More Kid,” an elusive horse thief and burglar who left clean dishes and swept floors in the houses he robbed. He investigated the 1988 shootings in Big Bend’s Colorado Canyon and tried to understand the motives of the Mexican teenagers who terrorized three river rafters and killed one. He even helped train Afghan mujahedin warriors to fight the Soviet Union. Jackson’s tenure in the Texas Rangers began when older Rangers still believed that law need not get in the way of maintaining order, and concluded as younger Rangers were turning to computer technology to help solve crimes. Though he insists, “I am only one Ranger. There was only one story that belonged to me,” his story is part of the larger story of the Texas Rangers becoming a modern law enforcement agency that serves all the people of the state. It’s a story that’s as interesting as any of the legends. And yet, Jackson’s story confirms the legends, too. With just over a hundred Texas Rangers to cover a state with 267,399 square miles, any one may become the one Ranger who, like Joaquin Jackson in Zavala County in 1972, stops one riot. “A powerful, moving read . . . One Ranger is as fascinating as the memoirs of nineteenth-century Rangers James Gillett and George Durham, and the histories by Frederick Wilkins and Walter Prescott Webb—and equally as important.” —True West “A straight-shooting book that blow[s] a few holes in the Ranger myth while providing more ammunition for the myth’s continuation. . . . Reads more like a novel than [an] autobiography.” —Austin American-Statesman
An action-packed picture book brings to life the colorful history of the legendary lawmen who fought in the Revolutionary War, defended the Alamo, and crossed enemy lines, by tracing their very first skirmish to their role in modern-day Texas.
The Best Man in Laramie She's no damsel in distress, but Shelley Meyerson may just need a white knight like deputy sheriff Colt McCabe. Thanks to her scheming ex-husband, Shelley's about to lose her home. The last person she wants to turn to for help is Colt, the guy who broke her heart the night of the high school prom. But now that she's back in Laramie, there's no avoiding him—especially when they're both serving in the same wedding party. True, the handsome, gallant lawman is a valuable ally. And he seems genuinely interested in Shelley and her little boy. She could definitely use a friend…and maybe something more. Rekindling their romance is easy—but learning to trust again is hard. Especially when Shelley learns that Colt's been keeping a secret that could cost him his badge….
Don’t miss this reader favorite from USA TODAY bestselling author Delores Fossen, featuring a Texas lawman and the woman and baby he’ll do anything to protect… Texas lawman Bo Duggan got the shock of his life when Mattie Collier showed up on his doorstep, claiming his daughter was really hers and not his son’s twin. But before Bo could argue, Mattie became a gunman’s target and duty compelled him to protect her. After getting the children to safety and then going on the run, Bo couldn’t help but admire the way Mattie wouldn’t back down—from a fight and from believing she was his baby’s mother. Bo had trouble imagining a life without the little girl he’d given his heart to. And before long, he had to admit, he had trouble imagining living without her mother, too. Originally published in 2011 Book 3 in Texas Maternity: Labor and Delivery
Texas lawman Bo Duggan got the shock of his life when Mattie Collier showed up on his doorstep, claiming his daughter was really hers and not his son's twin. But before Bo could argue, Mattie became a gunman's target and duty compelled him to protect her. After getting the children to safety and then going on the run, Bo couldn't help but admire the way Mattie wouldn't back down—from a fight and from believing she was his baby's mother. Bo had trouble imagining a life without the little girl he'd given his heart to. And before long, he had to admit, he had trouble imagining living without her mother, too.
