#OTD in 1949, the first episode of The Lone Ranger premiered, starring Clayton Moore and Jay Silverheels. In this romanticized version of the Wild West, and what it meant to be a Texas Ranger, this ABC show teamed up a Native American named Tonto, and the Lone Ranger to defeat lawlessness. While the television series […]
#OTD in 1937, Bob White, a Black farmworker, was found guilty of rape and sentenced to death based on a forced confession extracted with the help of Texas Rangers. Though little remembered, the case is one of two Supreme Court rulings against Ranger conduct. In August 1937, White was arrested in Polk County, Texas, for
#OTD sometime in October of 1921 Texas Ranger Frank Hamer killed Mexican revolutionary and outlaw Rafael “Red” Lopez. His death marked the end of a years long tale that law enforcement would only fully come to understand in the early 2000s.
On an unknown date in October 1962, Homer Garrison, Director of @TxDPS and Chief of the Texas Rangers, dressed in blackface for a work picnic and lampooned the @NAACP. A thread on Garrison and racism in the modern Rangers.
#OTD in 1918, Texas Rangers illegally held and tortured Jesus Villareal of Copita, TX on his way to his niece’s wedding near Roma. Villareal was traveling with his two nephews to the wedding, when he was stopped by a Ranger at one o’clock in the morning who asked him to drive him a mile or
#OTD in 1915 between eleven and fifteen Mexican men were killed by Texas Rangers just outside of Ebenoza, Hidalgo County, Texas. Rangers clashed with about 40 Tejano raiders near Ebenoza, and the Rangers, reigning victorious, took 12 or more of the raiders prisoner and lynched them. According to eyewitness army scout John Peavey, “we saw
#OTD in 1915, Texas Rangers murdered Jesus Bazan and his son-in-law, Antonio Longoria, in cold blood. Raiders from Mexico had ridden onto their Hidalgo County ranch and stolen horses and other supplies, so the men were faced with a predicament. The men had two choices. Report the theft and face revenge from the raiders or
#OTD on January 1st, 1958, the University of Texas Press published Américo Paredes’ landmark book With His Pistol in His Hand, an examination of the life and legend of Gregorio Cortez, whose persecution by the Texas Rangers and other law enforcement made him a folk hero in the early 1900s. On June 12, 1901, sheriffs
Publication of Paredes, With His Pistol in His Hand Read More »
#OTD on January 8, 1865, Texas Confederate militiamen, including Texas Ranger captain N. M. Gillentine, attacked a large group of Kickapoo Indians camped on a tributary of the Conchos river about 25 miles southwest of where San Angelo, Texas is currently located. The Kickapoo being attacked were a large group of families, possibly as many
#OTD on January 10, 1915, Governor James “Pa” Ferguson began expanding the number of Texas Rangers as a response to “bandit incursions” at the Texas-Mexico border. At the start of the year there were around one dozen Rangers. By 1917 when Ferguson left office there were over 1,000. While Ferguson responded
