14 
THE TEXAS RANGER, THE BIG 
NORTH SHORE BREEZE 
MAN OF THE RIO GRANDE 
Fearless of Death, Courage of a Lion, and a Man Whose 
Authority None Know or None Question 
[By M. J. Brown, Editor Littl Valley (N. Y.) Hub.] 
VEE along mah dogie! 
Hike out my honey! 
Wells ’ll hit sweet grass bye ’n bye! 
Driving into a little Southern, Pa- 
cific station on the Mexican border 
I heard a man sitting on a bench sing 
the above lines, and the quaint notes 
that went with the words attracted 
a attention to him. 
“here were three men in the sta- 
tion, two white men and a Mexican. 
The singer sat next to me and as he 
continued to hum the little ditty I 
looked him over in idle curiosity. He 
was just an ordinary Texan, unshay- 
en, thin, dressed as they all dress— 
just an ordinary cow puncher, as 
I sized him up. 
Then he stopped his song and 
walked out on the platform, and as 
he arose I noted he had a big Colt’s 
revolver on his hip and a belt of 
cartridges. And I also noted that 
the minute he arose the Mexican fol- 
lowed him out. 
This attracted my curiosity and I 
followed them both. The man with 
the gun walked up and down the 
platform, singing his little song, and 
the Mexican followed his every step 
like a dog. As the Mexican had no 
gun, I ecouldn’t make it out why he 
kept such a close watch on the Tex- 
an, for it seemed to me all he would 
have to do to get away would be to 
get that Colt’s out and walk away. 
A few minutes later the other 
cowboy came out and I asked him 
why the Mexican was dogging the 
white man. 
And the way he laughed, Rerey 
made me feel.as if I had never be- 
fore been west of the Mississippi, 
and that this fellow knew it. 
The white man with the gun was 
a Ranger captain and the Mexican 
was a murderer. 
I had conelusions standing on 
their heads. 
The Mexican was trying. to get 
over the Rio Grande one night with 
a quantity of mescal (Mexican whis- 
key) when a river guard stopped 
him. He killed the guard: The 
Ranger had found him hiding out 
in the hills and brought him in and 
whenever and wherever the Ranger 
went the Greaser followed, for he 
knew the minute he refused to fol- 
low he was a dead man. 
Later,_as it neared train time two 
other Rangers came, and several pas- 
sengers. One of the passengers was 
a representative of the Eastman 
Kodak Co., and when he learned the 
men were Rangers he was wild for 
a snap shot. A bystander told him 
to go ahead and snap it, but the 
photographer dared not do so, neith- 
er had-he sand enough to ask them, 
when a bystander stepped up to the 
Captain and told him what the East- 
man wanted. The Ranger not. only 
willingly granted the request, but 
had his men stand so their guns 
would show, and with the villainous- 
looking Greaser in front—as a sort 
of an apology for carrying those 
guns. 
And then I went after a story of 
the Texas Rangers, and what I learn- 
ed about them and their lives was 
vitally. interesting—to me at ieast. 
These men are picked from among 
hundreds—picked for fitness for the 
hard work they have to perform, 
and the hard lives they have to lead. 
There is no pull nor politics jin their 
appointments. Qualificatious get 
them their jobs—and qualifications 
don’t come under the civil service, 
either. What a captain wants to 
know is when he sends one of his 
men out in the sticks to get a man, 
if he’ll get him. And get him he 
must or his Ranger service will be 
as brief as was Minister Crane’s ser. 
vice in China. 
An especial qualification of these 
men is absence of fear—men whe 
were born without it, or men who 
have faced danger so that it has no 
terrors. He must be not only ready 
but willing to take any danger as. 
signment his captain may give him, 
but he must return with the goods 
—he must get his man. 
For instance, there may be a shoot- 
ing among the cow boys back in 
the hills, and word comes down to 
the captain. He picks one man and 
tells him to get the shooter. Now 
consider that probably every eow 
* puncher on the outfit knows he is 
coming and every one is gsing to 
block his way, and you ean sce what 
he is up against. 
Does he get him? 
You bet he does, or he cleans up 
for the whole works. 
A rancher comes in and reports a 
poisoning of his cattle. It is an cid 
feud result, where a rival has hired 
some tough Mexican to do the dirty 
job for him. That Mexican doesn’t 
value his life any more than the 
Ranger does his. He takes ithe 
chance of making a get away be 
fore the Ranger can get him. There- 
fore. you can see how very danzer- 
ous the game is. The Greaser :ret 
into a locality where thare are miiny 
of his countrymen, for protecticn 
and secrecy, and the Ranger must 
go into that den, where all Greascrs 
look alike, and either bring him back 
or leave him, for his friends to bury. 
Along the Rio Grande, front Eagle 
Pass to El Paso, is a string of smuy- 
gler: as ever bunche | 
up. These fellows clash with the riv- 
er guards and then try to gof, away, 
and they will kill anybody va sigh 
to escape. 
these men. That’s what they are 
camped down on the border to de. 
And they do it or get killed them- 
selves. 
The foreman of a cow eamp told a 
little story which illustrates the re- 
sources of these men. The cowboys 
came in from town, with a quantity 
of whiskey, gambling and a fight fol 
lowed and one of the punchers was 
badly shot. They took him to town 
for treatment and the same night 
two Rangers came into camp. 
In this case the fellow who did the 
shooting was a general favorite with 
the outfit, so it was agreed with the 
boys to hide him out until the Rang- 
crs gave up the hunt, then run him 
over the border until the wounded 
man got well and the matter blowed 
over. By all hands watching the 
Rangers and keeping the fugative in- 
formed, he could keep changing his 
position, and it would be like looking 
for that needle in the hay mow te 
find him. 
In the morning the Rangers ate 
breakfast and then asked the boys to 
tell them where they had hidden out 
the puncher. Of course they were 
all entirely ignorant of where he 
might be. 
Then one fellow pulled a gun, cov- 
ered the four men, and ordered his 
partner to tie every man to wheels - 
of the camp wagon. When.this was 
done, one Ranger changed clothes 
and horses with a cowboy, took a 
dinner bucket and rode out. The de- 
coy worked and before noon he was 
back with his man. 
I wish I might tell you of the lim- 
its of authority these fellows have. 
but I have been unable to find out 
whereby, wherein and from whom 
vested. They are supreme, and 
mighty few question. what they 
may or may not do. 
Here is a little instance that will 
illustrate how far they may—or 
The Rangers must yet. 
