The Naples Monitor (Naples, Tex.), Vol. 37, No. 19, Ed. 1 Friday, September 1, 1922 Page: 2 of 4
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1
NAPLES MONITOR en hy ('apt. John l\. llught
Published Every Kriday i^t out alone to run down t\
BY .... W. H. WATTS J pcradoes who hud stolen u d
Publish**! every Friday and entered 1 borses from a ranch neai
Ait second-el hm matter ilk the Postofflce
at Naples, Texas, under act of Con
gress March 3, 1879.
ihe
ti
,1
SUBSCRIPTION
ONE YEAR .... $1.00
SIX MONTHS ... 60c
Capt. H
more than >>0o miles in (he
i winter and finally located
I an isolated camp in the
if the state. He tot
part
prim
Advertising Rates on Application
TEXAS RANGERS
RENEW DEEDS
Continued from first page.
can shoot straight, and wheiever a
scene of danger is, there they are
ready to brave it. It was due en-
tirely to the efforts of the rangers
that the notorious Big Bend region
op the upper Rio Grande was cleared
of its hundred criminal refugees
who made that their rendezvous in
defiance of all efforts of the local
and State authorities to dislodge
them.
Captains Choose Own Men.
The rangers are a nonpartisan or-
ganization, taking no part in politics.
Their commanding officer is the ad-
jutant general of Texas. They have
no rank higher than captain, and the
force is divided into several com-
panies. These companies are divided
into detachments of two or three
men, which may be detailed to duty
several hundred miles apart. If one
consults a map and comprehends the
vast size of Texas, it is not difficult
to see that men so far from head-
quarters and from each other have
to think and act for themselves.
The governor appoints the cap-
tains, and each captain chooses the
men for his own company. The
men's ages vary from 23 to 45 years,
and at the latter age the men are
supposed to retire. But they don't.
The life is too fascinating to quit
for a little thing like age—and,
after all, the rule isn't rigidly en-
forced. Several of the present
sergeants and captains are consider-
ably over the limit. Neither
officers nor men are required to take
an oath on entering the service.
The salaries paid by the State are
$90 a month for privates, $100 a
month for sergeants, $150 a month
for captains. To this is added $80
a month for each man for subsistence
Each ranger is required to furnish
his own horse, pistols and rifles. The
star*, ii
in
th
outlaw
off the
>ners and brom
Jed to the seen
McDonald's
ipt. MeDou
exploits to
i' wan his n
Will'
ranches.
Davis' white duck coat was
similary treated, and the pranks en-
ded by the rangers providing him
with an old suit of the Mexican
owarro tyj>e and a big straw soiyv
biei'o To the credit of liavis, let
it he said that he took the initiation
good naturedly, and h11 of the rang-
ers became his warm friends.
Company at Ystela.
necessities I
tunitv was offered him. It is relat-
* •
ed that on one occasion he arid an
other ranger by the name of Jim
Lawrence were traveling horseback
through the mountainous region
along the upper Rio Grande border
and had made camp at a spring.
They were attacked by a band of
Apache Indians. For two hours the
the Indians
that circled
Finally there
__jk them «
them back
scene of their crime. For many years at least one com- two rangers kept oil
Thrilling t'*ploUs. pany of rangers had its headquart- from behind,the rocks
aid has several thrill-' ers at the ancient and historic town their camping space.
his credit. One of j of Ysleta, in the upper valley of the was a lull in the fighting, and said
ursuilol'a notorious j Ki«> Grande. They were prepared j Tom:
had been running cattle 1 to go on scouting expeditions or take Jim, I'll, lay down and take a
L'his chase led up the trail of bandits on a mo- nap while I've got a chance.
central western part of | ment's notice. Often they would spread himself out upon the
through the Panhandle start out and ride for prehaps days ground and in a moment was sound
jvhat is still called No i and nights with hardly an hour's asleep, while Lawrence kept up the
id, although it is a part of rest, changing horses at ranch hous-! fight. After an hour s slumber Ben-
Four hundred miles Jes or wherever they came across son awoke much refreshed and re-
point Capt. Mc- fresh mounts. It not'infrequently sumed the work of warding off the
Donald overtook his thief, tied him happened that circumstances made Indians. When darkness came the
him all the it necessary for the rangers to di- Indians withdrew to their temporary
vide their forces and each man take village n°t tai away. Benson and
up a particular trail. It was then Lawrence mounted their
that the man-for-man test came. which had escaped injury by being
On one such occasion Captain sheltered behind the rocks, and
Hughes, now living in contented re- struck out for the nearest settlement
tirement on his little irrigated farm As they rode along, the appetizing
from the
Texas up
and into
Man's U
Oklahom
from the starting
on a horse and brought
way back in that uneasy fashion.
This is the same McDonald who
(now dead) was later appointed by
Gov. S. W. T. Lanham as State rev-
enue agent. : As this office carries
no police powers the former ranger
was under no necessity to go armed.
But he was too used to his ever
ready gun to discard it willingly,
and when the governor informed
him that under the law he must do
so McDonald said: "Governor, you
don't know what that gun means to
me. I've worn.some kind of a gun
ever since I was big enough to tote
one, and I can't get used to goin'
without it."
"You'll have to learn ta do with-
out a weapon; that's' the law," said
the governor.
The old ranger flared up,
"I know what you want," said he.
"You want some feller to come
along and throw me down and take
my terbacco away from me!"
Capt, McDonald was sent by Gov.
Culberson to prevent the fight the
promoters of the encounter between
Bob Fitzsimmons and Pete Maher
expected to pull off at El Paso, the
legislators having passed a law pro-
hibiting prize fights. The ranger
found the town full of fight follow-
ers, gathered from all parts of the
United States. He called in person
upon Bob and Pete and their back-
ers and laid down the law as it was
written.
There was a howl of protest and
the tougher element did not hesitate
to make threats against McDonald's
life. But the ranger was not dis-
turbed and when it was decided to
have the fight take place on the
.a-side^f the FJ-io Grande, op-
posite Langtry, 400 miles east of
El Paso, Capt. McDonald went along.
At Langtry the crowd taxed the
restaurant to the limit and a gun-
man sitting at a table opposite the
ranger started to abuse a Mexican
waiter for not attending to him
speedily, McDonald didn't like the
gunman's tone.
"I wouldn't talk that way to the j conditions. He never missed a
Mexican," said he. "He'sdoin' the chance to take his fill of these two
best he can."
horses, ammunition and transporta-
tion. The enlistment is for two
years, but the officers and men are
privileged to quit the service at any
time. If the rangers are required
to be in permanent camp for any
great length of time, the quarters
are paid for by the State. Ordinarily,
however, they stay in one place but
a few days at a time.
Mete Out Frontier Justice.
In the early days of Indian massa-
cres, greaser invasions, no telegraph . . , .
communication and other things to gr^ed the kjUer
be expected in a frontier territory,
the Texas Rangers were a law to
themselvs. They frequently meted
out punishment to offenders, accord-
ing to the degree of their crimes,
without going through the formality
of a trial. The very audacity of the
rangers then constituted the fasci- j
nation of the stories told about them, j
This sort of rough law and justice j
. „ _ , „ - , i mous ranger, Capt. Bui McDonald,
came to an end afew years after the i „ . ...
Civil war. but, nevertheless, the leav- RicWd H"d,n8 boated
en of rough-and-ready justice per- In 1890 an attemPt was made by !
sists and. in instances, has done Catarino Garza, a border editor of a :
much good j Spanish newspaper, to start a revolu- j
A few years ago the ancient method tion against I -esident Porfirio Diaz,
of Mexico. e gathered a few fol-
at Ysleta, trailed a notorious Mexi-
can bandit more toan 200 miles into
the deep and dangerous recesses of
the Big Bend region. Hughes went
after the outlaw alone. He braved
the bandit-infested border locality,
knowing that it was a question of
his life or the other man's. He got
his man.
Owned Famous Ranger Horse.
Capt. Hughes once owned the
most famous horse in the ranger
service. This animal was gray and
fine to look upon. It seemed to
know when it was on the trail of an
outlaw, and it even had the gener-
ous reputation of being able to fol-
low the scent of a criminal. This
remarkable reputation strikingly en-
hanced one time when Capt. Hughes
was on the chase of a desperate
murderer who had fled into the
wilds of the Big Bend country.
Night and impenetrable darkness
came on and it was impossible to
follow the trail by sight.
The horse seemed to know, how-
ever, what to do. It seemed so
abxious to go on that Capt. Hughes
turned loose the bridle rein and per-
mitted it to take its own course. It
was far past midnight when the j
horse suddenly slackened its speed i
and lightened, its footfalls. A fewj
minutes later there came into view
the smoldering embers of a camp
fire. Capt. Hughes cautiously dis-
mounted, throwing bridle rein over
the head of the horse, he aproached
the ring of light. He came upon
the sleeping fugitive and had the
irons upon his wrists before the man
was fairly awake,
One of the early-day rangers was
odor of boiled venison came to the
nmrtrils of Benson.
Raided Indians for a Ham.
"The smell of that meat makes
me powerful hungry," Benson said.
Suppose we ride over by the camp
of the redskins and maybe I can get
hold of a cooked ham or something."
Lawrence could not dissuade his
companion from his purpose of pur-
loining the venison. When they got
to the edge of the Indian village they
saw several pots of meat in the
process of cooking. They put spurs
to their horses and rode through the
collection of tents at top speed. Ben-
son stopped long enough to grab a
whole ham out of one of the pots, and
as he continued his ride he ate the
meat in a most satisfied way. The
Indian braves pursued the two
rangers for several miles, firing at
son was nibbling at the ham bone.
When the rangers were first organ-
ized all of the western half of the
domain that is now embraced in
Texas was occupied by Indians and
herds of buffalo, and for several
years following their organization
the chief duty of the rangers was
to protect advent ursome white
settlers from the raids of Comanche,
Lipan and Apache Indians. It was
not long before the Indians realized
they could not burn and slay without
suffering terrible reprisal at the
hands of the white devils, as they
called the rangers.
Gradually the red men abandoned
their periodical attacks on the fron-
tier settlements and retired before
this new force. With each succeed-
ing year the rangers penetrated
farther and farther into the Indian
country, driving the redmen north-
ward into the Panhandle and finally
defeating, after a desperate fight, a
horses, great body of Comanches in the Palo
Duro canyon.
Following this kind of activity,
the work of the rangers came to be
rounding up of cattle thieves. To
some extent, even to this day, the
cattle thieves are a pest in the live
stock interests of Texas. To run
them down, make prisoners or shoot
them is still a large part of the
dangerous game.
Since the enactment of the Vol-
stead act and the State law prohib-
iting the manufacture and sale of
intoxicating liquors, much of the
activity of the force is spent in
capturing liquor runners from the
Mexican border and in tracing and
convicting illicit manufacturers.
aoaoi
Job Printing
At the
Monitor Office
Wni. M. Johnson
Watch, Clock, Gun, Type-
writer and Sewing Ma-
chine Repairer
NAPLES, - - TEXAS
Tom Benaon. He was famous as an
Indian fighter, but, above all things,
he had a wide reputation for sleep-
ing and eating under all kinds of
T. F. HAMPTON
Blacksmithing
Woodwork
Automobile
Repairing[
Horseshoeing a Specialty [
Dr. C. D. H1BBETTS
NAPLES, TEXAS
Morris County Bank Building
PHONES
Office 15 Residence 168
'Mebbe you want to take it up'
I done took it up," was McDon-
ald's reply as he nestled one hand to
the stocK. of his automatic.
"I'll fix you after grub," said the
bad man, flinging himself out of the
dining room. A friend followed him
and asked:
"Do you know who that man is?"
"No, but I'm going to fix him."
"Yes? Better not. He,s the fa-
6f catching a thief and hanging or
shooting him off-hand was revived.
This was during troubelsome times
in Mexico, which always seems to en-
gender similar times on the Rio
Grande border.
A notable instance is that concern-
ing a detachment of rangers at Marfa
For several months a band of Mexi-
can bandits had harassed them. Pa-
tience was exhausted, and the ran-
gers rounded up fifteen of the river
bandits and shot them all without
trial, The State authorities looked
upon this wholesale execution as a
high-handed act and dismissed the
entire company, including its cap-
tain, from the service.
Men of Good Character.
lowers and for several months made
much work for rangers in the lower
Rio Grande border region. It was
big news and newspapers of the
North and East sent correspondents
to cover the progress of the so-called
war.
One of the first to arrive was
Richard Harding Davis. At San
Antonio he stopped long enough to
change apparel to suit, the campaign j
that he thought he was about to en-
ter upon. He donned a white duck
suit and a white cork helmet—an
outfit that might have been all right
in Egypt or India, but which had
| never before been seen in the then j
i "wild and wooly" part of South
THE
Methodist Ladies of
Mount Pleasant,
Will have their
Semi-annual Style Show
on September 14, at 8 p. m., at j
the Martin Theatre, Good spe- :
cialties between every act.
tM1 i HUH 11 11HW
A. B. Gallaway
Wholesale
Flour, Hay, Grain, and
all Kinds of Feed Stuffs
Most of the rangers come from; Texas, where Garza was recruiting
the border towns and the ranches; ^orce to 'nvac'e Mexico.
now and then one or two are re-
cruited from the cities. A good
In due time Davis arrived at the
ranger camp of Capt. J. S. McNeel
moral reputation is a necessity for a.nd hiB oornPan^ of filters. It was
admittance, along with the other
attributes.
Ordinarily the force is kept down
to small dimensions, but under the
law it may be increased In time of
emergency to as many men as the
situation require#. During the rail-
road strike the range organization
was considerably enlarged.
A long ride after thieves was tak-
situated in the heart, of the chap-
arral. The advent of Davis, dressed
in immaculate white, created quite
a stir among the rangers. They
decided to initiate him at once into
border life. First one of the rangers
lifted the helmet from Davis' head
and threw it into the air with a
whoop. Before it reached the ground
it was bored through by many bul-
The Good People Of Naples And
* " Surrounding Territory.
I Have Purchased The Stock of Goods Formerly Owned by Mr.
M. Gallaway And Am Going To Open Up A First Class Drug Store
Two Doors Above The P. O.
September the First
I Am Very Thankful For My Many Friends I Have Gained While
Here And Want To Talk It Over Personally with Each Of You
I Will Carry A Complete Stock At All Times And I Will
Have The Best Live And Let Live Prices That Can Be Had.
Everything In My Prescription Room Will Be New And
Fresh Your Preemptions Will Be Filled Exactly As Written By Your
Physician.
I'm Not Here To Get Rich In A Few Years. And Am Not
Figureing On Getting All The Business. But I Assure You Will
Get Value Received For Every Cent Spent In Our Store.
Our Service Will Be Un Excelled.
Come In To See Us Whether You Buy Or Not m
We Are Glad To Have You Call.
YOUR FRIEND
HENRY McCOY.
i
i
Restaurant and Grocery
When in Naples and hungry or want
FANCY GROCERIES
at any time from 6 a. m.
to 8 p. m. see
W. H. DAVIS
A Large
Number
Of the most successful business
men in this country do business
with the
THE MORRIS COUNTY NATIONAL BANK
Naples, Texas
Because safe methods have their origin in an account.
with a good strong bank. Because our 25 years expe-
rience addB strength to our institution.
Will Cash All Your Checks.
J. H. MATHEWS President.
W. W. ROBISON, Cashier
H. H. HINES, Assistant Cashier.
aoooca
J
Poultry and Eggs
We want all your eggs and poultry
and will pay you highest market prices,
CASH-
We are prepared to handle all you have
so don't be afraid to bring them to town.
A. L. J. B.
HICKS & MOORE
Smith's Barber Shop
W. F. Smith, Propretor
o o o
Hot and Cold
Baths
O © O
Shoe Shining Parlor for Ladies and Gentlemen
THE NAPLES MONITOR, $1.00 PER YEAR
Naples Hardware Co.
Hardware, Furniture, Har-
ness, Guns, Ammunition
Fishing Tackle
UNDERTAKERS' GOODS
BUCK'S AND BRIDGE BEACH STOVES
BUY YOUR
BRICK
WHILE THEY ARE CHEAP-HALF PRICE
J. B. WATTS
Naples, Texas
j
i
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Watts, W. R. The Naples Monitor (Naples, Tex.), Vol. 37, No. 19, Ed. 1 Friday, September 1, 1922, newspaper, September 1, 1922; Naples, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth329405/m1/2/?q=SAN+ANGELO: accessed June 3, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Atlanta Public Library.