Daily Tribune (Mount Pleasant, Tex.), Vol. 140, No. 129, Ed. 1 Wednesday, July 2, 2014 Page: 4 of 12
This newspaper is part of the collection entitled: Mount Pleasant Area Newspapers and was provided to The Portal to Texas History by the Mount Pleasant Public Library.
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Opinion
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usually included the Texas Rangers.
several came to mind as I listened to retired
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ing to photograph the next
company of retired Texas Leon Aldridge tion to serving other notable roles in law en-
Rangers who were gathered
forcement including serving as bodyguard to
there for the Texas Rangers Association Foun- presidents and as a U.S. Marshall.
robberies, murders, feuds, lynchings and shoo- real-life courage and dedication toward dan-
Among them were Granite Founder and
On the side of Texas Rangers lore, McDon- TRAF Vice Chairman Jim Chionsini (who
In the almost 200 years since, the Rangers eluding McDonald, who were sent to prevent I came to know through Jim many years ago.
Some war stories from previous elections
even bother to publicize their candidate’s name.
a write-in.
he didn’t win.
term “Board of Selectmen” instead of City
election (this was before the state passed the with 18 votes. This is interesting because the
[aw that said you can skip an election if there city had a 25 signature requirement to get on place with 28 percent of the vote.
are no contested races).
Some folks thought they’d try a stealth petition in public than were willing to vote for With 72 percent of the voters having not voted
campaign and take advantage of the lack of him in private.
for him, the poor guy had so little support in
Lower East Side.
Elected Republican officials in New York are majority and had a much better time of it the
and roused their supporters. The outcome was as rare as hen’s teeth. I asked a colleague how second time around.
surprising.
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©2014 Mount Pleasant Daily Tribune
MOUNT PLEASANT, TEXAS 75456
www.dailytribune.net
WEDNESDAY, JULY 2, 2014 PAGE 4A
22-222
a major industrial plant ran for city council in
a multi-candidate race. He came in dead last
Captain William “Bill” McDonald who served
as a Texas Ranger from 1891 to 1907, in addi-
as I do that, as the old Russian saying goes, man named Bill Larkin who served one term
two people can keep a secret - if one of them as Republican State Representative - from the
In a race for an open seat on the board, there
were eight candidates - and no provision for
a runoff in local bylaws. The winner took first
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MOUNT PLEASANT
DAILY TRIBUNE
the FBI, Scotland Yard, and the Royal Cana- er” appears to have been based on a whimsi- raised, I knew about the Texas Rangers prior
dian Mounted Police. Stories of bravery and cal statement made by McDonald during that to the reunion, or at least I thought I did.
I
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interesting election stories
[ have accumulated over 29
years of living in Texas.
You’d think elections can be
straightforward and simple -
and most are - but every so
often you get one that leaves
you scratching your head.
For example, back around
1986 or so, in the Dallas
suburb of Mesquite, two city
is dead.
The candidates found out at the last minute,
Speaking about Midlothian, one year there Council - I saw when I was in high school a
was a city council race where the manager of good example of why runoffs are needed.
Ranger said. “I lived in Talco when I was near Wichita Falls, “No man in the wrong can teers, freely giving of their time and resources
younger. Left there in 1951 to go to work for stand up against a fellow that’s in the right to uphold the foundation’s mission.
case such as that, the law says the write-in with
the largest number of votes gets in the runoff.
The incumbents won handily in the runoff,
which was really a waste of money. I’ve always
wondered if this incident is what led to the
[aw later being passed where cities can forego
elections if there are no contested races.
Talking about write-ins, in about the same
time frame I worked at a weekly newspaper in
Ellis County.
The Midlothian school board once had a
board member whose antecedents were from
Eastern Europe - not remarkable if you know
term.
He didn’t get re-elected, but to his credit, he
hung in there and later earned a seat with a
L
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‘Been there lately?” he asked.
‘No sir, it’s been several years,” I replied.
53
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in Atlanta. He served out his entire Ranger
career in East Texas’s Company B retiring in
1989.
While listening to Womack’s accounts of
investigating crime, working undercover in
k.
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the DPS.”
Texas author and journalist Mike Cox, who
12
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ANKRS
"V Ty "Then in the Course of human
% / I events, it becomes necessary
V V for one people to dissolve
V V the political bands which
have connected them with another, and
to assume among the powers of the
earth, the separate and equal station to
which the Laws of Nature and of Na-
ture’s God entitle them, a decent respect
to the opinions of mankind requires that
they should declare the causes which
impel them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evi-
dent, that all men are created equal,
that they are endowed by their Creator
with certain unalienable Rights, that
among these are Life, Liberty and the
pursuit of Happiness.-That to secure
these rights, Governments are institut-
ed among Men, deriving their just pow-
ers from the consent of the governed,
-That whenever any Form of Govern-
ment becomes destructive of these ends,
it is the Right of the People to alter or
to abolish it, and to institute new Gov-
ernment, laying its foundation on such
principles and organizing its powers in
such form, as to them shall seem most
likely to effect their Safety and Happi-
ness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that
Governments long established should
not be changed for light and transient
causes; and accordingly all experience
hath shewn, that mankind are more
disposed to suffer, while evils are suf-
ferable, than to right themselves by
abolishing the forms to which they are
accustomed.
But when a long train of abuses and
usurpations, pursuing invariably the
same Object evinces a design to reduce
them under absolute Despotism, it is
their right, it is their duty, to throw off
such Government, and to provide new
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council members were on
the ballot unopposed for re-
mer during college.”
and keeps on a-comin’.”
nally from Mount Pleasant.”
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and elite law enforcement agencies such as enduring version about “one Riot—one Rang- event in photographs. As a Texan, born and
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man under his command lost his life. law enforcement and others who just have a
McDonald is also credited with making sincere interest in upholding and furthering
a statement about the Rangers that serves the mission of the Texas Rangers Association
The incumbents came out far ahead, but ticket. He said Larkin had been the Republican Daily Tribune. Email: lou@dailytribune.net.
neither actually received a majority of votes
cast - there was such a scattering of write-ins. MALLARD FILMORE ® by Bruce Tinsley
The city had to have a runoff Apparently in a ,,,-------------------------------
has penned some 20 non-fiction books about aid is also allegedly attributed with making will serve as the organization’s chairman next
the Texas Rangers, records that that they are a statement that grew beyond the realms year); Tony Hill, fellow Mount Pleasant High
the oldest state law enforcement agency in of factual history. One version of the oft’ re- School graduate and former Stephen F. Aus-
North America. The agency’s history dates to peated story goes that a town in early fron- tin State University campus police chief who
1823 when Texas settler and ’’Father of Tex- tier Texas dispatched for the Texas Rangers is currently the chief of police at Perryton in
as,” Stephen F. Austin called for “ten men... to help quell a civil riot. When the mayor met the Texas Panhandle; Pittsburg, Texas resi-
to act as rangers for the common defense... the train, one lone Texas Ranger was there, dent Gray McWhorter who I met for the first
The wages I will give said ten men is fifteen The mayor asked, “Just one Texas Ranger,” time at the reunion although Mount Pleasant
dollars a month payable in property.” The two to which the Ranger’s response was, “There’s mutual friends Ronnie Lilly and David Nee-
I struck up a conversation "
with retired Texas Ranger
Max Womack. Actually, he
started the conversation 5
with me as I was prepar- <
‘Not much there anymore,” the retired as the epitaph on his tombstone at Quanah, Foundation. These individuals serve as volun-
— 102014
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Vry "yith the last of this spring’s four what that county is like; the city of Ennis has candidate on the ballot so many times that in
% / I elections behind us, I thought I’d a large number of people descended from folks one election, when the Democrats nominated a
W W take a minute and recollect some who immigrated to build the railroad. new candidate, apparently nobody recognized
¥ ¥ of the more At the time I worked at the Midlothian the new candidate’s name but remembered
Reporter, Ed Schiesche was no longer on the Larkin’s - and so he won.
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Special breed of courageous individuals
interest in the election to sneak in with a pair Moving farther afield for election anecdotes, general he had a very, very hard time getting
of write-in candidates. But you know as well I once met when I lived in New York City a anything done and being listened to during his
There are any number of individuals whose Ranger Womack make his acceptance speech
life and service with the Texas Rangers is the as Honored Ranger at this year’s reunion,
stuff of legends, and they are all documented Womack’s service began with the Highway
in the Texas Ranger Hall of Fame and Mu- Patrol in 1951 after which he was promoted
seum in Waco. Just one example is Ranger to Ranger in 1969 in a newly created district
Why we celebrate
Fourth of July
Editor’s note: With the Fourth of July
nearly upon us, we are reprinting the
preamble of the Declaration of Inde-
pendence. The Continental Congress in
Philadelphia voted for independence on
July 2, 1776 and passed the declaration,
written by Thomas Jefferson, two days
later on July 4. Fifty-six men from 13
colonies signed the document, including
two future presidents — John Adams
and Jefferson.
Larkin got elected at all on the Republican Lou Antonnelli is managing editor of the
have been compared to other world-famous an illegal heavyweight prizefight. The more My role for the evening was to record the
“So, you know where Talco is then?” he touts. His 1906 handling of black troops in the ger displayed by men and women like him
asked, the smile on his face growing larger. Twenty-fifth Infantry case made him known who have served, and who still serve, as Texas
‘Yes sir,” I said. “One of my high school class- as “the man who would charge hell with a Rangers.
mates at Mount Pleasant was from Talco, his bucket of water.” In his last Ranger exploit, he In addition to retired and current Texas
father worked for the pipeline company. And, and his men shot their way out of an ambush Rangers, the ballroom in Waco that night was
I worked in the Talco oil field myself, one sum- in Starr County. During this time, only one filled with supporters, some from the ranks of
T
7
job needed doing to maintain law and order Storied accounts such as those of McDonald
throughout the history of Texas, the solution are commonplace in Texas Ranger history, and
dation’s annual reunion. As a Texas Ranger, McDonald’s Company B East Texas and enforcing the law delivered
‘You from Waco,” he asked with a smile in of the Frontier battalion was involved in in- in a lighthearted joking mannerism that
his voice that matched the one on his face. vestigations throughout the state, including evoked frequent laughter from the audience,
“No sir,” I replied. “I live in Center.. .origi- a legendary illegal prize-fighting ring, bank I couldn’t help but smile knowing it belied the
the ballot, which means more people signed his If you think he was fortunate, think again.
school board - but then he launched a last- Of course, for this to happen, the Democrats
minute campaign to get back on the board as had to have been so complacent that they didn’t
You can imagine how many variants there That didn’t happen again, but Larkin still got
were written in of his name - which was his one term in office.
pronounced “Cheesy”. I think he got about 150 Going back further, in my hometown in
votes - not bad given the circumstances. But Massachusetts-where they use the antiquated
.....gg-*2
==-«==
E././
Lou Antonelli
Guards for their future security.—Such companies formed as a result of this request just one riot, ain’t there?” ley had already briefed me on his work with
has been the patient sufferance of these are regarded as the first ancestors of the mod- History records a somewhat different ver- the TRAP; and Bill Hartman, long-time friend
Colonies’ and such is now the necessity ern Texas Rangers. sion involving a large number of Rangers, in- and business associate of Jim Chionsini, who
which constrains them to alter their
former Systems of Government.
The history of the present King of
Great Britain is a history of repeated
injuries and usurpations, all having in heroism among the Texas Rangers abound, time that was used by author Bigelow Paine Leon Aldridge is vice president of Granite
direct object the establishment of an often times blending documented history with in his classic book, Captain Bill McDonald: Publications and a former Mount Pleasant
absolute Tyranny over these States. larger-than-life lore. However, when a tough Texas Ranger. resident. Email: leon@granitepub.com
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tanding outside
a ballroom at the
Waco Civic Center a
couple of weeks ago,
©2014 Mount Pleasant Daily Tribune
Phone:1-903-572-1705 I Fax:1-903-572-6026;
Web Site: www.dailytribune.net
E-Mail: news@dailytribune.net;
(USPS 365-540)
Office Hours: Monday-Friday 8 a.m.-5 p.m.
___ MEMBERS OF:
m "" SOUTHERNNEWSPAPER w w
•mmm Y PUBL.ISHERS ASSOCIATION A Eh
ra shpa AP
ASSOCIATION • • ••
Consolidated with Mount Pleasant Times and
Times Review on July 31, 1972.
Gary Borders, Editor & Publisher
Lou Antonelli, Managing Editor
David O’Dell, Business Manager
Published five days a week except Monday
and Saturday at 1705 Industrial, Mount
Pleasant, Texas by Tribune Publishing Co.,
LLC. Periodical postage paid at Mount
Pleasant, Texas under Act of March 31, 1916.
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MOUNT PLEASANT DAILY TRIBUNE, P. O.
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Antonelli, Lou & Borders, Gary. Daily Tribune (Mount Pleasant, Tex.), Vol. 140, No. 129, Ed. 1 Wednesday, July 2, 2014, newspaper, July 2, 2014; Mount Pleasant, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1428478/m1/4/?q=%22Places+-+United+States+-+Texas+-+Titus+County%22: accessed July 10, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Mount Pleasant Public Library.