THE TEXAS RANGERS IN A TURBULENT ERA WESLEY HALL LOONEY, B.A. A THESIS IN HISTORY MASTER OF ARTS - by Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of Texas ...
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THE TEXAS RANGERS IN A TURBULENT ERA
by
WESLEY HALL LOONEY, B.A.
A THESIS
IN
HISTORY
Submitted to the Graduate Faculty
of Texas Tech University in
Partial Fulfillment of
the Requirements for
the Degree of
MASTER OF ARTS
Approved
Accepted
May, 1971No.2-'
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
X wish to express my appreciation to Dr. James V.
Reese, the Chairman of my committee, for his valuable
criticism, patience, and encouragement, I am very grate-
ful to Dr. David M. Vigness for serving on the committee
and for his helpful suggestions. I would also like to
thank the staff of the Archives in Austin, Texas for their
valuable aid in locating obscure government documents.
X:LTABLE OF CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ii
I. ANALYZING THE BACKGROUND 1
II. ACTIVITIES OF THE TEXAS RANGERS,
1917-1919 21
III. INVESTIGATION OF THE RANGERS 43
IV. CONCLUSION 75
BIBLIOGRAPHY 79
111CHAPTER I
ANALYZING THE BACKGROUND
Relations between Texas and Mexico have always
depended in large degree upon whether order or chaos
reigned below the Rio Grande. The 1910-1920 decade was one
of violent action and reaction along the Mexican border and
within Mexico proper. President Porfirio Diaz had ruled
the Republic of Mexico since 1884. In the twenty-seven
years of his iron-handed regime, Mexico had enjoyed peace
and stability. The stable Diaz government had fostered a
calm along the Texas-Mexico border. In Mexico natural re-
sources had been developed, internal improvements had been
made, national solvency and firm foreign credits had been
achieved, and prosperity hitherto unknown had appeared.
Yet, there had been a monstrous governmental fault within
this outward betterment. The Diaz prosperity was slanted.
It reached only the rich and the powerful. The working
population grew poorer while a small class of property
holders grew richer. A chasm between the few rich and the
many poor grew too wide for any despotism to bridge.
Henry B. Parkes, A History of Mexico (Boston
Houghton Mifflin Company, 1950), pp. 311-20.) In 1910 stable conditions in Mexico came to an end
in the form of revolution. The initial revolt was spear-
headed by Francisco Madero, who pressed for the restoration
of constitutional liberties ruthlessly denied under Diaz.
This revolt, known as the Plan de San Luis, was initiated on
October 5, 1910. The outcome was successful, as Diaz was
finally forced to resign on May 25, 1911. Two days later
he slipped quietly away to exile in Paris.
The revolt against suppression by the dictator Diaz
ushered in a period of uneasiness and unrest in Mexico. In
October Madero called for national elections and assumed
the presidency almost without opposition. However, counter-
revolutions were soon launched against the new President
by Pascual Orozo, a former follower; Felix Diaz, a nephew
of the old dictator; and Bernardo Reyes, a former cabinet
2
member under Diaz. All three were unsuccessful at this
time in their bids to overthrow Madero.
This brief peace was short-lived, as fiery students
at the Chapultepec Military Academy rioted and liberated the
imprisoned Diaz and Reyes. With the support of this group,
plus other factions, Madero was ousted. Madero and his vice-
president were murdered "while attempting to escape."
Victoriano Huerta was proclaimed President on
February 19, 1912. However, undercurrents of dissatisfaction
2
Charles C. Cumberland, Mexican i^evolution: Genesis
Under Madero (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1952),
pp. 117-29.with his conservative regime were brewing, as it was soon
obvious that the new leader resembled the despised Diaz.
His support by the army, the clergy, the moneyed class,
and the foreign interests indicated to the people a return
3
to the hated Diaz policies.
As a result, Venustiano Carranza, supported by
those in the northern provinces, led a counterrevolution
with the Plan of Guadalupe as a guideline on March 26, 1913
In the South the insurgents, led by Emiliano Zapata/ rose
in the same kind of violent revolt. Huerta, failing to
gain the much needed recognition of the United States, was
4
forced out of office in mid-July, 1914.
Carranza held uneasy control, as his power was
soon challenged by his chief lieutenant--the notorious
Pancho Villa. Carranza's main forces held control over the
border areas south of a line running through Del Rio while
Pancho Villa reigned above that point. There seemed to be
a lack of central control and leadership in both opposing
camps.
Revolutionary conditions which prevailed in Mexico
from 1910 to 19 20 had a tendency to overrun the border and
to produce in southern Texas conditions similar to those
•^Ibid.
4
Samuel Flagg Bemis, American Foreign Polic\' and
Diplomacy (New York: Henry Holt and Company, Inc., 1959),
pp. 320-44.in Mexico, j In the fall of 1914, there were many distur-
bances along the border. The weak Carranza government did
little to contain the lawless and revolutionary elements,
and raids in the Lower Valley of the Rio Grande increased.
Appeals for federal troops by Texas authorities were in
vain, for the unrest was regarded by federal authorities
as being strictly local in nature. But, as the disturbances
increased. General Frederick Funston, commanding the
Southern Department, became convinced that the view held
by Governor James E. Ferguson of Texas was correct—the
5
trouble was more than local.
The revolution, in all its phases, was essentially
a national movement, a surging of the masses seeking equality
and recognition. As such, it affected Mexicans in Texas
as well as those in Mexico, and encouraged them to assert
their rights and to demand respect. In the Lower Rio
Grande Valley, the Mexican-Americans, long targets of pre-
judice and contempt by Americans, formed fertile soil for
the revolutionary promises and ideas. The Mexicans
along the border, encouraged by the promises and ideas of
the revolutions, became restless. A strong anti-American
feeling of long standing, nourished by the nationalistic
5
Charles C. Cumberland, "Border Raids in the Lower
Rio Grande Valley," The Southwestern Historical Quarterly,
LVII, No. 3 (January, 1954),' pp. 293-95.5
tendencies of the revolution, added to the discontent.
To compound the already explosive situation, in
August of 1914 the world faced the advent of World War I.
Of course, as Germany noticed immediately, American sympa-
thies were aligned with the Allies. Therefore, Mexican
antipathy for the United States and irredentist hopes for
the Lower Rio Grande Valley were measured. Germany saw
in Mexico a possible base for espionage, and even diver-
sionary activity, against the United States. Further, the
use of ports along the Mexican coast would strengthen the
German war machinery.
Foreseeing eventualities, the Germans lost no time
in setting up a spy ring in Mexico. In addition to usual
espionage activities, its agents were also instrumental in
7
fanning hatred between the Mexicans and the Americans.
In 1915 the discovery of a sinister plot by Mexican
revolutionaries to seize the vast Southwestern region of the
United States startled residents in the Lower Valley of the
Richard Marcum, "Fort Brown, Texas: The History
of a Border Post," Cunpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Texas
Technological College, 1964), p. 282.
7
U.S., Congress, Senate, Committee on Foreign Re-
lations, Investigation of Mexican Affairs, S. Doc. 285,
66th Cong., 2d Sess., Serial Nos. 7665-7666, pp. 1223-25.
This government document contains the hearings of the
Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Mexican affairs; most
of the more than 250 witnesses who appeared and most of
the members of the committee were biased against Mexico
and desired to bring about intervention by the United
States. Hereafter referred to as Investigation of Mexican
Affairs. Tom Lea, The King Ranch, II (Boston: Little,
Brown and Company, 1957) , pp. 581-83.Rio Grande. As much of the episode centered on the border
town of San Diego, Texas, the conspiracy quickly was
labeled the "Plan of San Diego." It had a pipedream weird-
p
ness that bulged old border men's eyes:
We, who in turn sign our names, assembled
in the revolutionary plot of San Diego, Texas,
solemnly promise each other, on our word of
honor, that we will fulfill, and cause to be
fulfilled and complied with, all the clauses
and provisions stipulated in this document,
and execute the orders and the wishes emanating
from the provisional directorate of this movement
and recognize as military chief of the same
Mr. Agustin S. Garza, guaranteeing with our lives
the faithful accomplishment of what is here agreed
upon.
1. On the 20th day of February, 1915, at
2 o'clock in the morning, we will rise in arms
against the Government and the country of the
United States of North America, one as all and
all as one, proclaiming the liberty of the in-
dividuals of the black race and its independence
of Yankee tyranny which has held us in iniquituous
slavery since the remote times; and at the same
time and in the same manner we will proclaim
the independence and segregation of the States
bordering on the Mexican Nation. Which are:
Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado, and Upper
California, of which States the Republic of Mexico
was robbed in a most perfidious manner by North
American imperialism.
2. In order to render the foregoing clause
effective, the necessary army corps will be formed
under the immediate command of military leaders
named by the Supreme Revolutionary Congress of
San Diego, Tex., which shall have full power to
designate a supreme chief, who shall be at the
head of said army. The banner which shall guide
us in this enterprise shall be red, with a white
diagonal fringe, and bearing the following in-
scription: "Equality and independence," and none
of the subordinate leaders or subalterns shall use
any other flag (except only the white flag for
signals).
p
Testimony of John A. Vails, Investigation of Mexican
Affairs, pp. 205-207.3. Each one of the chiefs will do his
utmost, by whatever means possible, to get
possession of the arms and funds of the cities
which he has beforehand been designated to cap-
ture, in order that our cause may be provided
with resources to continue the fight with
better success, the said leaders each being
required to render an account of everything
to his superiors, in order that the latter
may dispose of it in the proper manner.
4. Every North American over 16 years of
age shall be put to death, and only the aged
men, the women, and children shall be respected;
and on no account shall the traitors to our
race be spared or respected.
5. The Apaches of Arizona, as well as the
Indians of the Territory shall be given every
guaranty; and their lands which have been taken
from them shall be returned to them, to the end
that they may assist us in the cause v/hich we
defend.
6. The movement having gathered force, and
once having possessed ourselves of the States
above alluded to, we shall proclaim them an in-
dependent republic, later requesting (if it be
thought expedient) annex'ition to 'lexico, with-
out concerning ourselves at the time about the
form of government which may control the destinies
of the common mother country.
7. When we shall have obtained independence
for the Negroes, we shall grant them a banner,
which they themselves shall be permitted to se-
lect, and we shall aid them in obtaining six
States of the American Union, which States border
upon those already mentioned, and they may form
from these six States a republic, and they may
therefore be independent.
It is understood among those who may follow
this movement that we shall carry in a singing
voice the independence of the Negroes, placing
obligations upon both races and that on no account
will we accept aid, either moral or pecuniary,
from the Government of Mexico; and it need not
consider itself under any obligation in this,
our movement.
9
Investigation of Mexican Affairs, pp. 1206-07.8
Basilio Ramos, Jr., one of the leaders of this
movement, was arrested at McAllen, Texas, by Tom Mayfield,
deputy sheriff of Cameron County, about the middle of
January, 1915. He was then taken to Brownsville where he
was examined by the United States Commissioner and bound
over to await the action of the federal grand jury. At
the May, 1915 term of the United States District Court for
the Southern District of Texas, Ramos was indicted, but
when the case was called for trial the court dismissed the
case and discharged the defendant. Among the papers which
had been found in Ramos' possession was a copy of the Plan
of San Diego and a letter which referred to General Emiliano
P. Nafarrate, the Carrancista commander at Tampico. Also,
he had on his person a pass through the Carrancista lines
signed by General Nafarrate. Other officers of the
Carranza government were also alleged to be implicated in
the plot. At the time of Ramos' arrest and indictment,
he was an exile from Mexico. Some months later amnesty
was granted him, and he was treated graciously by Carranza
officers in northern Mexico and, for the next several
months, was assisted in the furthering of the Plan of San
Diego.
''•^Ibid. , pp. 1287-96.
Randolph Robertson, Vice Consul at Monterrey,
to the Secretary of State, June 9, 1916, copy in Papers
Relating to the Foreign Relations of the United States—
1916 (Washington: Government Printing Office), pp. 570-72.
12
Investigation of Mexican Affairs, pp. 1302-09.Many claimed that the grand design of the plan
was inspired by Germany in the hope of wrecking Mexican-
American relations, while others believed that it was
part of a personal campaign by the Mexican leader Carranza
to gain American recognition for his government. That he
used the border disorders to force recognition from Presi-
dent Wilson is quite evident. When he obtained that recog-
nition, these disturbances ceased—and the Plan of San Diego
faded. Throughout this period the plan was regarded as a
grand design, when actually it was used as a device to
clothe border raids with constitutionality and to win
13
recognition for a Mexican revolutionary. The Plan of
San Diego well illustrated the unrest that plagued the
Texas border for the first tvzo decades of the Twentieth
Century.
By 1915 it was apparent that irredentism (a move-
ment to regain South Texas for Mexico) along the border
was strong. The activities of Aniceto Pizano and Luis
de la Rosa, fairly well-to-do residents of Texas, clearly
illustrated this fact. In the summer months of 1915 these
two men started another movement along the lines of the
Plan of San Diego. Under their leadership many raids were
conducted at widely scattered points in the Valley area.
They organized bands of raiders which included :icxican
•"•^William M. Hager, "The Plan of San Diego,"
Arizona and the West, V, (1963), pp. 327-36.10
civilians, soldiers of Carranza's army, and American
citizens of Mexican extraction.
Newspapers in northern Mexico freely printed glow-
ing accounts of the victories the Mexican revolutionaries
won in Texas. Their attitude seemed to be one of en-
couragement. The newspapers could not publish such articles
day after day without the consent and approval of the
authorities; evidently, the Carranza government condoned
them. Nor could Mexican citizens carry arms without the
knowledge and approval of the officers of government; there-
fore, it was believed in Texas and Mexico that these raiders
were armed by or with the consent of General Nafarrate,
14
who was then xn command at Matamoros.
There was considerable German activity on both
sides of the border before and after 1916. The proposals
in the famous Zimmerman Telegram in February of 1917,
which urged Carranza to ally himself with Germany in re-
turn for irredentist rewards, bears some similarity to the
Plan of San Diego. Whether the plan inspired the Zimmerman
proposals is not known. Certainly, the German government
knew about the plan, and also was aware that irredentism
would be easy to fan in Mexico—especially if Mexican-
15
American relations were strained.
Investigation of Mexican Affairs, pp. 1253ff.
•'•^Ibid., pp. 1231-41.11
All that ever came out of these visionary plots
was a long series of ragged raids and multiple threats
upon the lives and property of border Texans. Even so,
events were ominous enough from mid-1915 through 1917 to
disrupt ordinary daily existence and commerce. Life between
the Rio Grande and the Nueces became almost constantly
complicated with alarm. Border Texans became increasingly
incensed by each new report of a raid by the revolutionists
or bandits.
The border bandits terrorized the Lower Rio Grande
Valley in the summer and early fall of 1915. During the
month of May, a band of Mexicans, estimated to be twenty
to thirty men, was seen by various persons in the vicinity
of Rancho Los Indies, about eight or nine miles east of
Sebastian, Cameron County, and thirty-five mil'^^s north of
Brownsville. Thirty deputy sheriffs and many citizens
joined in the chase but could never locate the Mexicans.
American and Mexican farmers and ranchmen reported almost
daily the loss of cattle, saddles, and other property.
On July 12, 1915 eleven Mexicans, heavily armed,
forced Nils Peterson, a farmer living south of Lyford,
forty miles north of Brov/nsville, to open his store and to
. . 17
supply them with food and ammunition.
•""^Corpus Christi Caller, various issues during
month of May, 1915.
17Brownsville Daily Herald, July 13, 1915.12
A band of fourteen heavily-armed Mexicans on
August 6, 1915 appeared at Sebastian. After robbing
Alexander's store of various articles, they proceeded to
the granary near the railroad track and there kidnapped
A. L. Austin and his son, Charlie Austin. The two Austins
were subsequently shot by these bandits. 18
During the first uays of August, 1915, a formidable
group of Mexican horsemen was reported to be in the brush
country north of Brownsville. When their destination, the
headquarters of the southern end of the King Ranch, became
apparent, Caesar Kleberg telephoned to the Rangers at
Brownsville and to the Army command at Fort Brown, request-
ing immediate help. Only a handful of cowboys, headed by
foreman Tom Tate, v/as available to protect the southern end
of the ranch. Early in the afternoon of the eighth of
August, a special train left Bro\)msville bound for Norias,
about seventy miles north. It carried an Army captain, a
squad of eight troopers from the Twelfth Cavalry, tv/o Texas
Ranger captains, several Rangers, and a group of local
peace officers. Upon their arrival at Norias, they found
King Ranch horses ready and waiting.
While the Rangers and others went into the brush
to find the bandits, the eight troopers were left at the
ranch headquarters. The Mexicans attacked the rancli,
•^^Ibid. , August 7, 1915.13
apparently unaware of the presence of the troops. Dur-
ing the battle Gordon Hill, a deputy sheriff of Cameron
County, and three other civilians, arrived on a gasoline
truck from Harlingen just in time to take part in the fight-
ing. The beleaguered men turned back charge after charge
of the bandits. Finally, in the darkness of night, the
raiders slipped away carrying a number of their wounded,
leaving ten dead. The next morning the raiders were followed
as they headed south toward the river, but they were not
caught. Some of them had been identified, however; and
more than a dozen were tracked down later and killed.19
Within the next six months, there were twenty-six
recorded clashes in the immediate area with Mexican in-
cursionists.20 They made vicious raids on isolated ranches,
and derailed two trains and shot and robbed the victims
in the wrecks. There were bloody ambushes, running battles
in the brush, and brutal shootings of helpless captives.
On October 18, 1915, bandits derailed a passenger
train six miles north of Brownsville. Among the passengers
were four unarmed soldiers on a recreation trip; Dr. E. S.
McCain, State Health Officer stationed at Brownsville;
Harry Wallis, formerly a Ranger; John Kleiber, District
19
Testimony of Caesar Kleberg, Investigation of
Mexican Affairs, pp. 1550ff.
20
Frank Cushman Pierce, A Brief History of the
Lower Rio Grande Valley (Menasha, Wisconsin: George Banta
Publishing Company, 1917), pp. 92-99.14
Attorney of the State Court for the district; and sev-
eral others. As soon as the train had come to a complete
stop, four Mexicans entered the train and began shooting
at the citizens, and then, seeing the soldiers, turned
their fire on them. One soldier was killed instantly,
but the other three, although severely wounded, survived.
Dr. McCain and Wallis sought refuge in the toilet. The
bandits fired through the toilet door and one of the shots
struck McCain in the abdomen, resulting in his death the
next day. Wallis was shot in the arm and hand, but re-
covered. Kleiber, lying on the floor, was covered with
blood from the soldiers, and the bandits supposed him to be
^ ^ 21
dead.
On October 21, 1915 a party of Mexicans attacked
some sleeping soldiers at Ojo de Agua ranch in Hidalgo
County. At the time of the attack, there were eight or
nine men of the signal corps and seven or eight of Troop G,
Third U. S. Cavalry, at the ranch. The raiders, apparently
well organized in military formation, killed three men
and wounded eight of the soldiers during an engagement
22
which lasted nearly an hour. The shooting was heard in
the vicinity and aroused reenforcements from another patrol,
who were largely responsible for driving off the raiders.
21
Investigation of Mexican Affairs, pp. 1269-82.
22
Corpus Christi Caller, October 22, 1915.15
In the brush surrounding the ranch house,'the
soldiers found five dead bandits. An indication that the
raid was more than mere banditry was that two of the
23
dead men were Carranza soldiers. This was the last of
the serious encounters until June of the next year.
Confronted with rumors of raids and plots which
they could not understand and actual raids and plots which
seemed to threaten their very lives, the residents of
South Texas became almost panic-stricken. In the Lower
Valley, where the raids were concentrated, local vigilante
groups sprang into being, while representatives of Willacy,
Starr, Cameron, and Hidalgo Counties met behind locked
24
doors in early August to organize a protective society.
An aroused citizenry armed itself in fear of an actual in-
vasion from the south. Anglo-Americans in the Valley un-
leashed their frustrations and vengeance on numerous hap-
less citizens of Mexican descent. Many of these people,
guilty of having the wrong ancestry, sought asylum in Mexico
Any man of Latin appearance was suspected of being a spy
or a raider. Prejudice and discrimination appeared to be
25
the motivating forces for some of the acts of reprisal.
Trigger-happy civilians and local officers were prone to
23
Investigation of xMexican Affairs, pp. 1302-09.
Corpus Christi Caller, August 5, 1915.
25
Investigation of Mexican Affairs, pp. 1199ff.16
shoot before ascertaining the intentions of such men.
Lynchings became almost commonplace.
Adolfo Munoz, thought to have been involved in the
murder of a merchant at Lyford, on the night of July 28,
1915 was being taken by officers from San Benito to the
county jail at Brownsville. The trip had been undertaken
for fear of mob violence in San Benito. A few miles out
of town, the car was surrounded by men armed with rifles who
forced the officers to leave immediately. The prisoner was
then taken from the car by eight or nine masked men and
hanged from a nearby tree. There was no clue to the iden-
tity of the masked men and no action was taken by the county
26
authorities.
Three Mexicans among six prisoners arrested after
one of the raids were killed near San Benito on September 14,
1915, after escaping from jail. Their bodies were found
some distance from the town with bullet holes in their
27
backs. No investigation of the incident was conducted.
The San Antonio Express observed in September of
that year; "The findings of dead bodies of Mexicans, sus-
pected for various reasons of being connected with the
troubles, has reached a point where it creates little or
no interest. It is only when a raid is reported, or an
^^Corpus Christi Caller, July 30, 1915.
27
San Antonio Express, September 15, 1915.17
28
American is killed, that the ire of the people is aroused.
The lynchings and executions were not the only in-
dications of fear and vengeance. Firearms were taken from
families of Latin extraction of vigilante committees and
local officials. Homes of many innocent persons of Mexican
extraction were burned on the basis that they were suspected
of being involved in the plots and raids. Mexican-American
families in outlying regions were forced to move into pop-
29
ulated centers where they could be watched more effectively.
"Black Lists" were circulated throughout the Valley. The name
of any Mexican who was suspected to be a "bad" Mexican by
any reputable Anglo-American was placed upon the list. These
Mexicans whose names v/ould appear on these lists would often
"disappear."
The response of the Mexican-American population of
the Valley to these actions of the Anglo-Americans was a
mass exodus from the region. Hundreds of families of Latin
31
extraction began fleeing into Mexico by early September.
It was estimated that at least half the Mexican-American
families in the Valley left the rural areas during September
32
and early October of 1915.
^^Ibid., September 13, 1915.
29
Cumberland, "Border Raids in the Lower Rio Grande
Valley," pp. 300-02.
30 Investigation of Mexican Affairs, p. 354.
31
San Antonio Express, September 7, 1915.
32
Investigation of Mexican Affairs, pp. 1181-84.18
The retaliatory acts of the enraged Anglo-
Americans only served to multiply the number of "bandits"
with which they had to contend. The hanging and shooting
of innocent Mexicans enraged their relatives, who many
times set out to seek revenge.
Like the terrified Mexican-Americans, many fear-
ridden Anglo-Americans took what they could carry with them
and hastily left the Valley heading northward. Others,
farmers and ranchers that lived out in the country, re-
moved their families to the towns. Patrols were organized
O A
by several towns to guard their inhabitants at night.
Along with these apprehensive acts, there were
heated requests for more United States troops to guard the
river. The War Department, believing the incidents to be
of a local nature, had normally been reluctant to bear the
responsibility of curbing the raiding before 1915. Dur-
ing March, 1911, for example. President Taft ordered the
mobilization of 25,000 United States troops along the border.
33
Texas, Proceedings of the Joint Committee of the
Senate and the House in the Investigation of the Texas State
Ranger Force, 36th Legislature, Reg. Sess., 1919, pp. 356-59,
558-60, 682-90. This document contains the hearings of the
committee created when Representative J. T. Canales of
Cameron County in January of 1919 introduced a controver-
sial bill to the Texas State Legislature providing for
reorganization of the Texas Rangers. A preponderance of
the testimony was aimed at individual Rangers for alleged
misconduct or violation of laws. Hereafter referred to
as Investigation of Texas Ranger Force.
34
Investigation of Mexican Affairs, pp. 1308-09.19
but the soldiers were stationed at Fort Sam Houston, Bay
City, and Galveston. Few were sent to the immediate
border vicinity.
But, as evidence accumulated showing the raids to
be more than local, federal troops began patrolling the
border on a large scale. By November 15, 1915 there were
741 officers and 19,944 enlisted men stationed on or near
the border. Primarily because of possible involvement in
the European war and Pancho Villa's raid into New Mexico
in the summer of 1916, the troop count along the border
35
was more than doubled by the end of 1916.
Thus, as the border situation became more complex
and inflamed with each passing day, it presented a great
challenge to the law-enforcement agencies of the Valley.
Who knew the area better than the local Rangers, whose
familiarity with the country was renowned? Major John B.
Jones led the Frontier Battalion in a clean-up campaign in
the 1870's that virtually cleared Southwest Texas of maraud-
ing Indians. During these Indian campaigns and other
campaigns to curb lawlessness along the border from 18 80-
1910, the Rangers acquired a reputation as knowing the
border country and being able to track in that country.
The Texas Rangers had had a long and spectacular
history dating from October 19, 1835. They fought in the
Marcum, "Fort Brown, Texas: The History of a
Border Post," pp. 284-86.20 Battle of San Jacinto. They were the advance guard for General Taylor's army during his march into Mexico- "Terry's Texas Rangers' wrote thrilling pages in the annals of war, as they left their bones on a hundred battle- fields during the days of the Confederacy. The Indian problem of Southwest Texas had been solved with their valuable assistance. They formed the backbone of Roosevelt's Rough Riders. And now, 1914-1918, there was another challenge for them to meet.
CHAPTER II
ACTIVITIES OF THE TEXAS PvANGERS, 1917-1919
The alarm caused by the raids of 1915-1917 became
so great that the state felt it had to take preventative
measures. In November of 1917 Governor William Hobby,
acting with the authorization of the state legislature,
created a Ranger Home Guard. Consisting of four companies,
it was not to exceed one thousand men, and it was to be
selected and appointed by the governor. The new men were
inexperienced and in some cases incompetent; their activi-
ties were not always in keeping with the traditions of
the Ranger Service.
During the fifteen months following the creation
of the Home Guard, a series of incidents raised grave
doubts about Ranger methods in South Texas and elsewhere,
which culminated in the call for an investigation. In
December of 1917 the Rangers stationed in the Brownsville
area were searching for Ignacio Trevino, who was wanted
on three criminal charges. He had been a fugitive from
justice in that country for some time. The Rangers learned
Texas, General Laws of Texas, 35th Legislature,
1917, pp. 57-59.
2122
through a Mexican by the name of Andreas Uresti that
2
Trevino had been slipping into town at night.
About twelve o'clock one night, Pat Haley, the
Deputy Sheriff of Brownsville, went to Captain Sanders and
told him that he had this fellow Trevino located in a house
on the outskirts of town. Travelling in a hack, Sanders,
two of his men, and Haley chose to go a back way through
town in order to avoid the Mexican police. Arriving at the
house, they knocked on the door and could not get an answer.
They then proceeded to surround the house. Looking in one
of the windows, they found Trevino laying naked in bed right
by the open window. The Rangers pulled him through the
window and his wife, or somebody in the house, threw his
clothes out the windov/ to him. The Rangers put Trevino 5n
the hack and started to jail with him.
Six or seven blocks away from this place, they met
two policemen on horseback. The policemen called to the
hackdriver to light his lights as it was against the city
ordinance for hacks to be on the street vzithout lights.
Receiving no response, they attempted to stop the hack. At
this point Sanders and his men opened fire on the police-
men who commenced shooting into the hack. After several
shots one of the policemen fell off his horse.
^Testimony of Deputy Sheriff Pat Haley, Investigation
of Texas l^anger Force, pp. 1275-78.23
. . . and the hackman, he got scared, the man
who was driving and he whipped up his team and
made a pretty good start off and I hollered
to him to stop, and Uresti, on the front seat,
grabbed the lines and stopped, and the other
man was gone down the street and he ran back
there, but could not find anybody. . . .
Although the Rangers had no warrant for his arrest, none-
theless they locked Trevino in the county jail.
The Rangers began hunting the two men that had shot
at them. They learned that uptown there was a Toribio
Rodriguez, a Mexican policeman, suffering from gunshot
wounds. Captain Sanders and two of his Rangers forced them-
selves into Rodriguez's home. They took the Mexican, bare-
foot and partially clothed, and began walking toward town.
About a block from the house from which he was taken, he
was shot in the back. He was then placed in a hack and
carried to the city sanatorium where he died.
The Grand Jury of Cameron County failed to find suf-
ficient evidence to return an indictment in this case.
R. B. Creager, a Brownsville lawyer for several years,
charged that Rodriguez had been murdered by the Rangers. He
claimed that it was impossible to obtain a conviction for
this crime because there was a reluctance to indict a Texas
4
Ranger.
El Porvenir, a little Mexican settlement isolated
in the wilderness of the Big Bend area, was inhabited by
3
Captain J. J. Sanders to Captain W. M. Hanson,
December 17, 1917. Adjutant General's Papers. Hereafter
referred to as A.G.P.
4
Investigation of Texas Ranger Force, pp. 356-59.24
Mexicans whose relations were much closer to the people
of Mexico than they were to those of Texas. Many of the
ranchmen that lived along the border were certain that
much of their trouble came from the Mexicans who lived at
El Porvenir. Raymond Fitzgerald, owner of a large ranch
in the area, testified:
Their standing as thieves, informers,
spies and murderers has been well known in
this section for two or three years. They
used this El Porvenir ranch as headquarters,
. . . but stayed in Mexico during the day
and occasionally came over at night. Several
of these people were cousins to the noted
Chico Cano bunch of bandits who were known
all over this section of Texas as being one
of the worst gangs the Citizens and officers
had had to contend with during the last few
years.
The Brite Ranch was located in Presidio County
about twenty-five miles from the border and El Porvenir,
On Christmas morning, 1917, while Sam Neill and his family
were celebrating the occasion, a Mexican raiding party
surrounded the Ranch. Mr. Neill described the raid.
Well, . . . the women folks claimed
they wanted to get up early, so I have always
been an early riser, and I got up and went
into the kitchen for my coffee; my break-
fast was always coffee, that is all I ever
eat, and started me a pot of coffee . . .
and I came back . . . in my son's room, to
make a fire. They had no kindling—we were
then surrounded by those fellows, but I
didn't know—I take basket and went to the
woodpile, about sixty yards from the house,
and got the kindling and made the fire. I
Statement by Raymond Fitzgerald, January 28,
1918. A.G.P.25
went back to the woodpile again and got
other kindling and made one in my wife's
room. . . .
When I got back to the kitchen the cof-
fee was ready, the cook had come in and fixed
a cup of coffee. I turned from the stove
and set in the window drinking the coffee,
when I looked down the Candelaria Road, com-
ing from the river, and I saw six men abreast,
riding fast. I looked at them for a few
seconds and I called her attention to it and
she looked and . . . says, 'What can that be?'
. . . As they came around two big circular
tanks . . . I saw them reach and pull their
guns. I dropped the cup and saucer and run
through his room.
'Your son's?'
'Yes sir. He was still in bed; I hollered
and says, 'We are surrounded by bandits and
have got to fight.' I doubled in my wife's
room and got a gun, a six shooter—'
'You mean your rifle?'
'Yes sir. And as I got out in the corner
of the yard—this Mexican . . . jerked his
horse up, and he hollered at I'is men to kill
all the Americans. And as he said it, I shot,
and he didn't, of course, holler no more. . . .
When he hollered that, they jumped from behind
the walls and tank dumps like a bunch of quail
flushed from behind adobe walls . . . I fought
them from the corner of the house. I only got
in three shots until I was knocked down.
The bandits, about forty-five in number, plundered
the Brite Ranch store, packed all they could on their
horses, and set out for the mountains. The body of the
leader of the party was found a short distance from the
7
Ranch. He had on the coat of a Carranza uniform.
A company of Texas Rangers under the command of
Invesigation of M.exican Affairs, pp. 1517-26.
7
Testimony of Grover Webb, Investigation of
Mexican Affairs, pp. 1526-32.26
Captain J. M. Fox had been detached to the upper border
in the fall of 1917. In January of 1918, the Rangers re-
ceived a report that some of the Mexicans at El Porvenir
were seen wearing shoes taken during the December raid on
the Brite Ranch store. Accompanied by six ranchers, the
Captain and eight of his command immediately started toward
El Porvenir. The party reached its destination during the
night of January 28th. The Rangers went into the town and
began searching Mexican houses and found some twenty Mexicans
8
within these houses. They took these men about a quarter
of a mile from town and shot to death all but four of them.
The Rangers alleged that the Mexicans had attempted to
9
escape.
The State Department at Washington ordered an inves-
tigation of the killings. First Lieutenant Patrick Kelly,
of the U. S. Army, directing the investigation conducted
by the United States Authorities, pointed out that these
sixteen Mexicans, after having been arrested and disarmed
by the Rangers, were killed in cold blood. Two Americans,
Henry Warren and John Bailey, both of whom were living at
o
Captain J. M. Fox to General James A. Harley,
February 18, 1918. A.G.P.
g
Colonel G. T. Langhorne to Captain W. M. Hanson,
March 18, 1918. A.G.P.
Houston Chronicle, February 8, 1918.
Investigation of Texas Ranger Force, pp. 14 5-4 6.27
Porvenir at the time of this occurence, testified that
they were sure that none of the dead men, or survivors,
had participated with the bandits and they knew them to
be law-abiding men.
These men were all farmers—two of them were boys
about 16 or 17 years old. It was further claimed that
all of the slain were at Porvenir on the day of the raid
12
on Brite's ranch. Several witnesses testified that none
of the property taken from the Brite Ranch was found among
the dead men's possessions.13
The incident had serious consequences for the
Rangers. The Adjutant General discharged the Rangers who
committed this outrage as well as Captain Fox, who was in
14
command of the Rangers at the time."^ According to Captain
Fox, although he assumed the responsibility for the kill-
ings and asked to be discharged, the Adjutant General of
the State refused to discharge him at the time of the in-
cident. Captain Fox charged that his subsequent discharge
as Captain of the Rangers was really due to the fact "that
I am not supporting Governor Hobby for Governor, but am a
15
supporter of ex-Governor Ferguson."
12
Testimony of Henry Warren and John Bailey, In-
vestigation of Texas Ranger Force, pp. 1588-90.
Investigation of Texas Ranger Force, pp. 1585-88.
Order of General James A. Harley, June 8,
1918. A.G.P.
IK
Captain J. M. Fox to Captain W. M. Hanson,
June 11, 1918. A.G.P.28
Another Ranger commander whose activities
created controversy was Captain Charles F. Stevens.
Captain Stevens arrived at Brownsville on January 5, 1918,
in charge of Company G and remained in that region until
July of that year. Captain Stevens' men disarmed some of
the Mexicans on the border and found themselves in con-
flict with the sheriff of Cameron County, W. T. Vann.
Sheriff Vann claimed that Captain Stevens was not working
in harmony with the local officials and was disarming
law-abiding citizens of the county.
In a meeting between the two men. Sheriff Vann
informed Stevens that he did not think he had done the
proper thing in disarming a Mexican-American by the nam»e
of Pedro Lerma. Lerma, a large ranch owner, was a peace-
able and law-abiding citizen and one of the oldest Mexican-
American citizens in that county. Lerma and several of
his influential friends had served with the U. S. Army
in its efforts to punish the raiders of 1915. Lerma
had told Sheriff Vann that,
Jfe had been absent from home down at
Brownsville, and that some of Stevens'
Rangers had come there and frightened his
wife and daughters to death. The Rangers
went all through the house, broke open
trunks, and had taken away a lot of old
firearms he had there. He wanted to know
1 f.
Testimony of Judge James B. Wells, Investigation
of Texas Ranger Force, pp. 682-90.29
why he was treated so and wanted to-know
if he could not get the arms back.-*-'
Captain Stevens said that he did not know anything
about this particular case, but he would investigate it.
He did insist, however, that "upon suspicion my men have
the right to go to a private residence, search it, and
take a man's arms away." After a great deal of heated dis-
cussion of this and other acts of Captain Stevens, the two
men parted without coming to any agreement. Captain Stevens
afterwards remarked that he would execute the law in the
future as he had in the past, and that "if this is not
satisfactory, they can move me."
Judge James B. Wells and other respected citizens of
the lower border charged that Captain Stevens and his men
arrested people in one county and took them to another
county to be jailed; also, that the Rangers held prisoners
without filing charges against them or setting bond. Judge
Wells condemned many of the activities of Stevens and his
men. In testimony before the State Legislative Committee
of 1919 he cited one particular incident.
. . . I knew two who said they v/ere
Captain Stevens' men, they said, acting under
orders, going to Point Isabel and arresting
one of our Commissioners, Mr. Eddie Edwards,
one of the most prominent men in our com-
munity, arresting him without any warrant
and dragging him around without allowing him
17
Testimony of W. T. Vann, Investigation of Texas
Ranger Force, pp. 558-60.30
any bond, took him by Brownsville and took
him up to San Benito. . . . He wanted to
go to the 'phone, they would not let him go
to the 'phone. . . . Finally, at San Benito
about eighteen miles from Brownsville after
dragging him around the day before and all
night, they seemed to have made out some sort
of complaint against him at San Benito. . . .
He was charged with selling liquor without a
license, something in connection with liquor,
then he demanded to give bond and they would
not let him, then started on through Harlingen,
which is north about eight miles, and he again
demanded there to be allowed to give bond,
and they would not let him, and they then took
him up the road about twenty miles into Hidalgo
County and put him into the United States
military guardhouse.
Learning where Edwards was being kept. Judge Wells phoned
Colonel H. J. Slocum, Commander of Federal troops in the
Lower Valley, and asked him if the United States had any
charge against Mr. Edwards that would warrant him being
confined in the military guardhouse of the Army. Since the
Army had no charge against Mr. Edwards, Colonel Slocum in-
formed Captain Stevens that he had thirty minutes to get the
man out of his guardhouse or he would release him. The
Rangers took the prisoner from there to Harlingen. There
Sheriff Vann approved a bond for Edwards and he was released
after the Rangers were told they had to turn him loose. 18
In answering complaints against he and his men.
Captain Stevens made several statements that were indicative
of his philosophy as well as that of other Rangers of the
18
Testimony of Judge James B. Wells, Investigation
of Texas Ranger Force, pp. 682-90.31
period. "in some cases holding without bond may be
best. . . . I think maybe men ought to be held for a
little while and let him cool off and show him he cannot
cause any trouble. . . . " He indicated that there were
certain circumstances where the law should be set aside.^^
Three of Captain Stevens' men. Rangers George W.
Sadler, John Sitre, and A. P. Lock, were blamed with mur-
dering Florencio Garcia in another incident. These three
Rangers, investigating cattle-stealing on the Piper Planta-
tion which was just a few miles below Brownsville, arrested
Garcia on April 3, 1918, and instead of taking him to nearby
Brownsville, took him to Point Isabel on the coast several
miles away. There they asked permission of a Mr. Charles
Champion to pitch camp in his yard and for the loan of a
lock and chains to chain the prisoner to a post. Mr. Champion
told them it was rather rough treatment to give a prisoner
and volunteered to obtain the judge's permission for them to
lock him up in the town jail. Permission was readily granted
and there Garcia spent the night. Failing to obtain any
information from him concerning the cattle-stealing, the
next day the Rangers, accompanied by two soldiers who hap-
pened to be in the same area on patrol, headed toward
Brownsville with their prisoner. Garcia was riding a mule
they had been using as a pack animal. At a fork in the road.
19
Investigation of Texas Ranger Force, pp. 1446-48.32
the two soldiers turned off on the road leading to
Brownsville. The three Rangers, indicating that they
wanted to question Garcia some more, proceeded with their
prisoner toward San Benito. Garcia was not seen alive
again. The Rangers insisted that they had only gone a few
miles before turning their prisoner loose after deciding
that further questioning of Garcia was useless.^^
Miguel Garcia, Florencio's father, had gone to
see Oscar Dancy, County Attorney for Cameron County, and
had reported that his son had been arrested by some Rangers
and that he had not seen him since. In describing his son
at that time, Miguel Garcia had told Dancy that "he had
a cowboy hat, from the information I had it was a cowboy
Stetson, a light hat, as distinguished from a black hat,
and a cowboy brown or reddish brown, something like that,
jumper. . . . " 21
About a month later the remains of a man were found
within a few miles from the point where the three Rangers
with Garcia in their custody and the soldiers had separated
Several bones, a tattered shirt and jacket with three holes
in both of them, a monogrammed handkerchief, a pair of
shoes, and one grey felt Stetson hat were found in the same
20
Report of Captain W. M. Hanson to General James A
Harley, May 28, 1918. A.G.P.
21
Testimony of Oscar C. Dancy, Investigation of
Texas Ranger Force, pp. 542-57.33
22
general area. Miguel Garcia identified the clothes as
belonging to his son.
None of the three Rangers who had had custody of
Garcia before he was killed were discharged from the
Ranger Service, or in any way reprimanded for their action
by the Adjutant General's Department. Sadler, Sitre,
and Lock, however, along with Captain Stevens, were trans-
ferred without explanation to the upper border area some
months later.
In the fall of 1918 Sergeant J. J. Edds, one of
Captain Will Wright's men and newly appointed to the Force,
was involved in a controversial incident which led to fur-
ther criticism of the Rangers. Jose Maria Gomez Salinas
had been suspected for some time of stealing horses from
the Yzaguirre Ranch and other ranches surrounding Rio Grande
City. Following the report of a loss of several horses
from the Yzaguirre Ranch, Sergeant Edds and some cowboys
arrested Salinas a few miles from the border. Although
they were only a few miles from Rio Grande City, Sergeant
Edds decided the prisoner should be taken to Hebronville.
The reason for not taking him back to
Rio Grande City was because Judge Wells who
was attending court at Rio Grande City,
suggested that I bring Salinas to Rio Grande
City. I figured that Judge Wells might try
to give him bond on this case. I didn't want
him to have bond at that time. . . . I wanted
22
Testimony of H. N. Gray, Investigation of Texas
Ranger Force, pp. 1056-60.34
time in which to get my evidence in shape
to convict him on some other cases as he
was considered a very dangerous thief.
Sergeant Edds, unable to take the prisoner to
Hebronville, made arrangements with two cowboys from the
Yzaguirre Ranch, Sabas Ozuma and Frederico Lopez, to take
Salinas to Hebronville. The three started toward Hebron-
ville with Salinas, handcuffed, riding in front and the
two cowboys a few steps behind. Ozuma testified:
Everything went all right until we
arrived within four miles of Hebronville,
. . . As we were passing some brush he
looked around and at the same time putting
spurs to his horse and dashed into the
brush, when we fired at him, killing him.
We only fired one shot2each, both hitting
him in the back. . . .
In the subsequent investigation of the incident.
Ranger Captain W. M. Hanson stated that he believed that
Salinas was murdered because his body was found in the
middle of the road, handcuffed and shot in the back.
According to the statements of Ozuma and Lopez, Salinas
was running and had just entered the brush. If this was
the case. Captain Hanson argued the body could not have
been found in the middle of the road unless the two had
25
carried it there after they had shot him in the brush.
Testimony of Sergeant J. J. Edds, Investigation
of Texas Ranger Force, pp. 761-66.
^^Investigation of Texas Ranger Force, pp. 766-68.
^^Captain W. M. Hanson to General James A. Harley,
September 16, 1918. A.G.P.35
State Representative J. T. Canales charged that the two
Mexicans were given the order by Edds to kill Salinas,
but there is no evidence to substantiate this charge.^^
Another source of difficulty rose from the fact
that the Rangers were given the job of patrolling the
border to prevent young Mexicans of Texas birth from trying
to evade military service. Two State Rangers, Sergeant
Edds and Sidney Hutcheson, and two Army scouts were
travelling on September 4, 1918, from Salineno to Rio
Grande City with some prisoners. About six miles above
Rio Grande City their car ran out of water and it was neces-
sary to stop and send for water. One of the scouts started
toward the nearest house to get some water. When he re-
turned, he was standing on the running-board of a Ford
automobile in v/hich three young Mexican boys and an older
Mexican were riding. The four were taken from the car and
questioned individually. 27
Jesus Villareal, a constable of Duval County, in-
sisted that he was doing absolutely nothing wrong.
On the third day of September, 1918, I was
going to Rio Grande City to bring a nephew
(Miguel Villareal) that was going to get married
at Falfurrias, Texas, on the fifteen day of
September, 1918; at Concepcion, Texas, I was
called by Concepcion Benavides; he said he
26
J. T. Canales to General James A. Harley,
November 7, 1918. A.G.P.
27
Testimony of Royal Collins, Investigation of
Texas Ranger Force, pp. 1343-61.36
understood that I was going to Rio Grande
City, and that if I could take his son,
Guillermo Benavedes, and Eulalio Benavides
(his nephew) that they were going in a buggy
but if I would take them it would be better;
that they were going to purchase some goats;
to which I agreed. . . .
When the Rangers returned to Villareal with the
boys, they said that the boys had confessed that they were
going across to avoid the draft and that Villareal had con-
tracted to deliver them in Mexican territory. Jesus swore
that this was not so, that he was only taking the two boys
to Roma. The two Rangers then took him aside and questioned
him. Jesus continued.
They took me away (two of the Rangers) and
told me to lie down and one set on my stomach
and told me that if I did not say that what
the boys had said, they would kill me, to which
I answered that they could do what they pleased,
that what I had said was the truth. . . .
He claimed they choked him and hit him with their pistols
28
in trying to get him to change his story. The Rangers
took the four to Fort Ringgold where they were put in the
guardhouse. Afterwards, they were tried at the Federal
Court at Brownsville, and freed.
On October 6, 1918 Sergeant Edds, stationed at Rio
Grande City, killed Lizandro Munoz at Munoz' Ranch, near
Roma in Starr County, under the impression that he was deal-
ing with Alonzo Sanchez, a deserter from the Army. The
^^Affidavit of Jesus Villarreal, January 20, 1919.
A.G.P.37
Rangers had learned through an informer that Sanchez
would be at his father's ranch on the night of October 5.
Sergeant Edds and two other Rangers were sent to the ranch
to capture the deserter. The three arrived before dawn
and surrounded the house. Leaving one man to guard the
front. Sergeant Edds and the third Ranger approached the
back of the house. Edds entered the back yard through a
gate while the third Ranger remained on the outside where
he could watch the rear entrance. Inside the yard Edds
spotted two men sleeping on separate cots. One of the men
fit the description of Alonzo Sanchez, which led Sergeant
Edds to conclude that he was the deserter. Edds drew his
gun and approached the sleeping man. The Mexican awoke
to find Edds crouching over him with a gun in his hand.
The frightened Mexican grabbed Edds' rifle. Sergeant Edds
testified as follows:
I told him to turn my gun loose, that I
was not going to hurt him, but he did not do
it, and we scuffled back towards the fence
about fifteen feet. . . . He kept trying to
wrench the gun out of my hands and was a more
powerful man than I. He was about to get
the gun and I pulle^gthe trigger and the ball
hit him in the leg.
The shot awoke the man on the other cot, Zaragosa
Sanchez, brother of the deserter.
. . . The first I knew of the affair was
when the shot that killed Lizandro awoke me.
^^Testimony of Sergeant J. J. Edds, investigation
of Texas Ranger Force, pp. 485-93.38
I dressed and went to the body that was
lying over there, and he replied it was the
man that was sleeping with me on the other
cot and I asked permission to go and see
the body, and he replied to me, all right
go over and see if it was Alonzo. I replied
that it could not be Alonzo for he had left
the house about twelve o'clock. I then ap-
proached the body and saw that it was Lizandro
Munoz, my cousin, and so informed Edds. I
protested to Edds for killing my cousin and he
told me he thought it was Alonzo who he wanted
to arrest, . . . and that he had jumped on
him, and had been compelled to shoot him in
self-defense. I also told Edds that probably
he had the right to arrest Alonzo but did not
have the right to kill him. . . . I did not
see or hear anything before the shot was
fired. , . . ^
This incident inflamed the Mexican-American popu-
lation of the Lower Valley. As it turned out, the Rangers
did not have a warrant for the arrest of Alonzo Sanchez.
Judge Wells stated that in his legal opinion, after know-
ing all the circumstances and reading all the affidavits
concerning the killing. Sergeant Edds was guilty of man-
slaughter.31 However, since there were no witnesses to
the killing, no one could dispute Edds' story and no legal
action was brought against him.
Not all the questioning and controversy over Ranger
activity came from the border. A mass-meeting of citizens
from Ranger, Texas, headed by State Senator W. D. Suiter,
called Governor W. P. Hobby's attention to an incident
"^Sxffidavit of Zaragosa Sanchez, October 18, 1918.
A.G.P.
^^Judge James B. Wells to Captain W. M. Hanson,
November 2, 1918. A.G.P.39
that had occurred the 19th day of December, 1918. On that
day Rangers J. B. Nalle and John Bloxom, Jr. killed
Ernest W. Richburg in his own place of business in the
town of Ranger. Nalle and Bloxom claimed that Richburg
had been conducting a gambling operation in the back of
his business. Several of the local citizens vouched
for Richburg's character and said that they knew of no
gambling in his place of business. One of these, A. J.
Wallendorff, claimed he was warned by the Rangers to get
out of town during Captain W. M. Hanson's investigation
32
of the matter.
The group headed by Senator Suiter demanded that
the two Rangers be suspended from the Service. They charged
that this matter was of such notorious character and the
facts were so accessible that the Adjutant General's
Department would have no trouble securing all of the evi-
dence necessary to show that the Rangers who killed
Mr. Richburg did so under circumstances which made them
guilty of murder. 33 When the two men were suspended about
one month later, the irate citizens of Ranger accused the
Department of delaying their suspension in order to try
32
Investigation of Texas Ranger Force, pp. 722-38.
33
A petition signed by State Senator W. D. Suiter
and several citizens of Ranger, Texas, sent in the form
of a telegram to Governor W. P. Hobby, December 26, 1918.
Governor William P. Hobby's Letters. Hereafter referred
to as G.L.40
and protect these men in their unlawful acts."^^ No legal
proceedings were ever begun against the discharged Rangers.
Concerned about the reported brutality of the
Rangers and their maltreatment of Mexicans in the Valley,
Thomas Wesley Hook, an attorney at Kingsville, prepared
a petition that was signed by Mexicans of the Kingsville
area. The petition, declaring the inequities dealt the
Mexicans by the Rangers, was presented to Governor Hobby.
Hook, using data brought to him by Mexican-Americans,
wrote several newspaper articles for the Brownsville
Herald. He urged the Mexicans to organize for self-
36
protection.
During the term of District Court for Brooks County,
Texas, held in the spring of 1918, Captain J. J. Sanders
approached Hook while he was in the attorney's enclosure
of the courthouse and asked him if his name was Thomas Hook.
I replied in the affirmative and he asked
to see me when I v;as at leisure. I immedi-
ately . . . followed him and the other Ranger
who was with him out into the hall. There he
asked me if I had prepared a petition at
Kingsville. I replied in the affirmative
stating that I had used data brought to me by
A second telegram sent to Governor W. P. Hobby
by Senator W. D. Suiter and signed by several citizens
of Ranger, Texas, January 27, 1919. G.L.
"^Undated petition sent to Governor W. P. Hobby
by Thomas Wesley Hook. G.L.
36
Brownsville Herald, several articles from
May, 1916 to August, 1918.You can also read
