Download or read book Captain J A Brooks written by Paul N. Spellman and published by University of North Texas Press. This book was released on 2007 with total page 281 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: James Abijah Brooks (1855-1944) was one of the four Great Captains in Texas Ranger history, others including Bill McDonald, John Hughes, and John Rogers. Over the years historians have referred to the captain as "John" Brooks, because he tended to sign with his initials, but also because W. W. Sterling's classic Trails and Trials of a Texas Ranger mistakenly named him as Captain John Brooks. Born and raised in Civil War-torn Kentucky, a reckless adventurer on the American and Texas frontier, and a quick-draw Texas Ranger captain who later turned in his six-shooter to serve as a county judge, Brooks's life reflects the raucous era of the late nineteenth and early twentieth-century American West. As a Texas Ranger, Brooks participated in the high profile events of his day, from the fence-cutting wars to the El Paso prizefight, from the Conner Fight--where he lost three fingers from his left hand--to the Temple rail strike, all with a resolute demeanor and a fast gun. A shoot-out in Indian Territory nearly cost him his life and then jeopardized his career, and a lifelong bout with old Kentucky bourbon did the same. With three other distinguished Ranger captains, Brooks witnessed and helped promote the transformation of the elite Frontier Battalion into the Ranger Force. As a state legislator, he brokered the creation of a South Texas county that bears his name today, and where he served for twenty-eight years as county judge. He was the quintessential enforcer of frontier justice, scars and all.
Download or read book Captain John H Rogers Texas Ranger written by Paul N. Spellman and published by University of North Texas Press. This book was released on 2003 with total page 289 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Spellman now presents the first full-length biography of this enigmatic man.".
Download or read book Yours to Command written by Harold J. Weiss (Jr.) and published by University of North Texas Press. This book was released on 2009 with total page 481 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Captain Bill McDonald's (1852-1918) admirers rank him as one of the great captains of Texas Ranger history. His detractors see him as an irresponsible lawman who precipitated violence, hungered for publicity, and related tall tales that cast himself in the hero's role. This title seeks to find the true Bill McDonald and sort fact from myth.
Download or read book Captain John Brooks at Concord written by George F. Brooks and published by . This book was released on 1983 with total page 16 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Tracking the Texas Rangers written by Bruce A. Glasrud and published by University of North Texas Press. This book was released on 2012 with total page 382 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Tracking the Texas Rangers: The Twentieth Century is an anthology of fifteen previously published articles and chapter excerpts covering key topics of the Texas Rangers during the twentieth century. The task of determining the role of the Rangers as the state evolved and what they actually accomplished for the benefit of the state is a difficult challenge. The actions of the Rangers fit no easy description. There is a dark side to the story of the Rangers; during the Mexican Revolution, for example, some murdered with impunity. Others sought to restore order in the border communities as well as in the remainder of Texas. It is not lack of interest that complicates the unveiling of the mythical force. With the possible exception of the Alamo, probably more has been written about the Texas Rangers than any other aspect of Texas history. Tracking the Texas Rangers covers leaders such as Captains Bill McDonald, "Lone Wolf" Gonzaullas, and Barry Caver, accomplished Rangers like Joaquin Jackson and Arthur Hill, and the use of Rangers in the Mexican Revolution. Chapters discuss their role in the oil fields, in riots, and in capturing outlaws. Most important, the Rangers of the twentieth century experienced changes in investigative techniques, strategy, and intelligence gathering. Tracking looks at the use of Rangers in labor disputes, in race issues, and in the Tejano civil rights movement. The selections cover critical aspects of those experiences--organization, leadership, cultural implications, rural and urban life, and violence. In their introduction, editors Bruce A. Glasrud and Harold J. Weiss, Jr., discuss various themes and controversies surrounding the twentieth-century Rangers and their treatment by historians over the years. They also have added annotations to the essays to explain where new research has shed additional light on an event to update or correct the original article text.
Download or read book The Ranger Ideal Volume 2 written by Darren L. Ivey and published by University of North Texas Press. This book was released on 2018-11-15 with total page 818 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: They say everything is bigger in Texas, and the Lone Star State can certainly boast of immense ranches, vast oil fields, enormous cowboy hats, and larger-than-life heroes. Among the greatest of the latter are the iconic Texas Rangers, a service that has existed, in one form or another, since 1823. Established in Waco in 1968, the Texas Ranger Hall of Fame and Museum continues to honor these legendary symbols of Texas and the American West. While upholding a proud heritage of duty and sacrifice, even men who wear the cinco peso badge can have their own champions. Thirty-one individuals—whose lives span more than two centuries—have been enshrined in the Texas Ranger Hall of Fame. In The Ranger Ideal Volume 2: Texas Rangers in the Hall of Fame, 1874-1930, Darren L. Ivey presents capsule biographies of the twelve inductees who served Texas in the latter half of the nineteenth century. Ivey begins with John B. Jones, who directed his Rangers through their development from state troops to professional lawmen; then covers Leander H. McNelly, John B. Armstrong, James B. Gillett, Jesse Lee Hall, George W. Baylor, Bryan Marsh, and Ira Aten—the men who were responsible for some of the Rangers’ most legendary feats. Ivey concludes with James A. Brooks, William J. McDonald, John R. Hughes, and John H. Rogers, the “Four Great Captains” who guided the Texas Rangers into the twentieth century.
Download or read book Cult of Glory written by Doug J. Swanson and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2021-06-08 with total page 481 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “Swanson has done a crucial public service by exposing the barbarous side of the Rangers.” —The New York Times Book Review A twenty-first century reckoning with the legendary Texas Rangers that does justice to their heroic moments while also documenting atrocities, brutality, oppression, and corruption The Texas Rangers came to life in 1823, when Texas was still part of Mexico. Nearly 200 years later, the Rangers are still going--one of the most famous of all law enforcement agencies. In Cult of Glory, Doug J. Swanson has written a sweeping account of the Rangers that chronicles their epic, daring escapades while showing how the white and propertied power structures of Texas used them as enforcers, protectors and officially sanctioned killers. Cult of Glory begins with the Rangers' emergence as conquerors of the wild and violent Texas frontier. They fought the fierce Comanches, chased outlaws, and served in the U.S. Army during the Mexican War. As Texas developed, the Rangers were called upon to catch rustlers, tame oil boomtowns, and patrol the perilous Texas-Mexico border. In the 1930s they began their transformation into a professionally trained police force. Countless movies, television shows, and pulp novels have celebrated the Rangers as Wild West supermen. In many cases, they deserve their plaudits. But often the truth has been obliterated. Swanson demonstrates how the Rangers and their supporters have operated a propaganda machine that turned agency disasters and misdeeds into fables of triumph, transformed murderous rampages--including the killing of scores of Mexican civilians--into valorous feats, and elevated scoundrels to sainthood. Cult of Glory sets the record straight. Beginning with the Texas Indian wars, Cult of Glory embraces the great, majestic arc of Lone Star history. It tells of border battles, range disputes, gunslingers, massacres, slavery, political intrigue, race riots, labor strife, and the dangerous lure of celebrity. And it reveals how legends of the American West--the real and the false--are truly made.
Download or read book Captain John R Hughes Lone Star Ranger written by Chuck Parsons and published by University of North Texas Press. This book was released on 2011 with total page 422 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The first full and complete modern biography of Texas Ranger Captain Hughes, who served as a Texas Ranger from 1887 until early 1915--longer than any other on the force. He first came to the attention of the Rangers after trailing horse thieves and recovering his stock. In his golden years he became a national celebrity, receiving more awards and honors than any other Texas Ranger.
Download or read book Six Shooters and Shifting Sands written by Bob Alexander and published by University of North Texas Press. This book was released on 2015-03-15 with total page 497 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Many well-read students, historians, and loyal aficionados of Texas Ranger lore know the name of Texas Ranger Captain Frank Jones (1856-1893), who died on the Texas-Mexico border in a shootout with Mexican rustlers. In Six-Shooters and Shifting Sands, Bob Alexander has now penned the first full-length biography of this important nineteenth-century Texas Ranger. At an early age Frank Jones, a native Texan, would become a Frontier Battalion era Ranger. His enlistment with the Rangers coincided with their transition from Indian fighters to lawmen. While serving in the Frontier Battalion officers' corps of Company D, Frank Jones supervised three of the four "great" captains of that era: J.A. Brooks, John H. Rogers, and John R. Hughes. Besides Austin Ira Aten and his younger brothers Calvin Grant Aten and Edwin Dunlap Aten, Captain Jones also managed law enforcement activities of numerous other noteworthy Rangers, such as Philip Cuney "P.C." Baird, Benjamin Dennis Lindsey, Bazzell Lamar "Baz" Outlaw, J. Walter Durbin, Jim King, Frank Schmid, and Charley Fusselman, to name just a few. Frank Jones' law enforcing life was anything but boring. Not only would he find himself dodging bullets and returning fire, but those Rangers under his supervision would also experience gunplay. Of all the Texas Ranger companies, Company D contributed the highest number of on-duty deaths within Texas Ranger ranks.
Download or read book Fraternity written by Diane Brady and published by Random House. This book was released on 2012-01-03 with total page 249 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY San Francisco Chronicle • The Plain Dealer The inspiring true story of a group of young men whose lives were changed by a visionary mentor On April 4, 1968, the death of Martin Luther King, Jr., shocked the nation. Later that month, the Reverend John Brooks, a professor of theology at the College of the Holy Cross who shared Dr. King’s dream of an integrated society, drove up and down the East Coast searching for African American high school students to recruit to the school, young men he felt had the potential to succeed if given an opportunity. Among the twenty students he had a hand in recruiting that year were Clarence Thomas, the future Supreme Court justice; Edward P. Jones, who would go on to win a Pulitzer Prize for literature; and Theodore Wells, who would become one of the nation’s most successful defense attorneys. Many of the others went on to become stars in their fields as well. In Fraternity, Diane Brady follows five of the men through their college years. Not only did the future president of Holy Cross convince the young men to attend the school, he also obtained full scholarships to support them, and then mentored, defended, coached, and befriended them through an often challenging four years of college, pushing them to reach for goals that would sustain them as adults. Would these young men have become the leaders they are today without Father Brooks’s involvement? Fraternity is a triumphant testament to the power of education and mentorship, and a compelling argument for the difference one person can make in the lives of others.
Download or read book Winchester Warriors written by Bob Alexander and published by University of North Texas Press. This book was released on 2009 with total page 418 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Winchester Warriors: Texas Rangers of Company Dm, 1874-1901 is Number 6 in the Frances B. Vick Series.
Download or read book Rawhide Ranger Ira Aten written by Bob Alexander and published by University of North Texas Press. This book was released on 2011 with total page 473 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Ira Aten was the epitome of a frontier lawman. He enrolled in Company D of the Texas Rangers during the transition from Indian fighters to peace officers. The years Ira spent as a Ranger were packed with adventure, border troubles, shoot-outs, major crimes, and manhunts. Aten's role in these events earned him a spot in the Ranger Hall of Fame.
Download or read book Red Sky Morning written by Joe Pappalardo and published by St. Martin's Press. This book was released on 2022-06-28 with total page 264 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The explosive and bloody true history of Texas Rangers Company F, made up of hard men who risked their lives to bring justice to a lawless frontier. Between 1886 and 1888, Sergeant James Brooks, of Texas Ranger Company F, was engaged in three fatal gunfights, endured disfiguring bullet wounds, engaged in countless manhunts, was convicted of second-degree murder, and rattled Washington, D.C. with a request for a pardon from the US president. His story anchors the tale of Joe Pappalardo's Red Sky Morning, an epic saga of lawmen and criminals set in Texas during the waning years of the “Old West.” Alongside Brooks were the Rangers of Company F, who ranged from a pious teetotaler to a cowboy fleeing retribution for killing a man. They were all led by Captain William Scott, who cut his teeth as a freelance undercover informant but was facing the end of his Ranger career. Company F hunted criminals across Texas and beyond, killing them as needed, and were confident they could bring anyone to “Ranger justice.” But Brooks’ men met their match in the Conner family, East Texas master hunters and jailbreakers who were wanted for their part in a bloody family feud. The full story of Company F’s showdown with the Conner family is finally being told, with long-dead voices heard for the first time. This truly hidden history paints the grim picture of neighbors and relatives becoming snitches and bounty hunters, and a company of Texas Rangers who waded into the conflict only to find themselves in over their heads – and in the fight of their lives.
Download or read book Policing the Great Plains written by Andrew R. Graybill and published by U of Nebraska Press. This book was released on 2007-11-01 with total page 294 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the late nineteenth century, the Texas Rangers and Canada?s North-West Mounted Police were formed to bring the resource-rich hinterlands at either end of the Great Plains under governmental control. Native and rural peoples often found themselves squarely in the path of this westward expansion and the law enforcement agents that led the way. Though separated by nearly two thousand miles, the Rangers and Mounties performed nearly identical functions, including subjugating Indigenous groups; dispossessing peoples of mixed ancestry; defending the property of big cattlemen; and policing industrial disputes. Yet the means by which the two forces achieved these ends sharply diverged;øwhile the Rangers often relied on violence, the Mounties usually exercised restraint, a fact that highlights some of the fundamental differences between the U.S. and Canadian Wests. Policing the Great Plains presents the first comparative history of the two most famous constabularies in the world.
Download or read book Ten Guns from Texas written by William W. Johnstone and published by Pinnacle Books. This book was released on 2016-03-29 with total page 367 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: USA Today-Bestselling Author: A rancher treks from Wyoming to Texas to deliver his cattle—but first he’ll have to deliver justice to a band of kidnappers… The MacCallister family is legendary in the American frontier. And wherever a MacCallister travels, the legend--and the guns--follow. Fight Like The Devil When Duff MacCallister journeys to Texas to deliver 100 head of Angus cattle, he finds a land on fire. Unruly, lawless teams of fence cutters, branded Blue Devils by the locals, are rampaging across grazing land and cutting fences in the name of an eastern land company. The ranchers are fighting back, and Duff joins the fray. But the fight leads to Austin, and into an even deadlier mission. The governor's daughter has been kidnapped by Blue Devils. Duff and his partner Elmer are willing to go after her, but they're going to need more men and a lot more firepower. The best the governor can do is three outlaws who once served honorably in war. Now Duff MacCallister is going up again a fanatical, highly trained enemy, riding with gunmen he cannot fully trust. Once the shooting starts, there is no turning back--because Duff and his posse are heading straight into the bloody depths of hell. “A masterful storyteller.”—Publishers Weekly
Download or read book Reverberations of Racial Violence written by Sonia Hernández and published by University of Texas Press. This book was released on 2021-06-15 with total page 323 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Between 1910 and 1920, thousands of Mexican Americans and Mexican nationals were killed along the Texas border. The killers included strangers and neighbors, vigilantes and law enforcement officers—in particular, Texas Rangers. Despite a 1919 investigation of the state-sanctioned violence, no one in authority was ever held responsible. Reverberations of Racial Violence gathers fourteen essays on this dark chapter in American history. Contributors explore the impact of civil rights advocates, such as José Tomás Canales, the sole Mexican-American representative in the Texas State Legislature between 1905 and 1921. The investigation he spearheaded emerges as a historical touchstone, one in which witnesses testified in detail to the extrajudicial killings carried out by state agents. Other chapters situate anti-Mexican racism in the context of the era's rampant and more fully documented violence against African Americans. Contributors also address the roles of women in responding to the violence, as well as the many ways in which the killings have continued to weigh on communities of color in Texas. Taken together, the essays provide an opportunity to move beyond the more standard Black-white paradigm in reflecting on the broad history of American nation-making, the nation’s rampant racial violence, and civil rights activism.
Download or read book Bad Company and Burnt Powder written by Bob Alexander and published by University of North Texas Press. This book was released on 2014-07-15 with total page 481 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Bad Company and Burnt Powder is a collection of twelve stories of when things turned "Western" in the nineteenth-century Southwest. Each chapter deals with a different character or episode in the Wild West involving various lawmen, Texas Rangers, outlaws, feudists, vigilantes, lawyers, and judges. Covered herein are the stories of Cal Aten, John Hittson, the Millican boys, Gid Taylor and Jim and Tom Murphy, Alf Rushing, Bob Meldrum and Noah Wilkerson, P. C. Baird, Gus Chenowth, Jim Dunaway, John Kinney, Elbert Hanks and Boyd White, and Eddie Aten. Within these pages the reader will meet a nineteen-year-old Texas Ranger figuratively dying to shoot his gun. He does get to shoot at people, but soon realizes what he thought was a bargain exacted a steep price. Another tale is of an old-school cowman who shut down illicit traffic in stolen livestock that had existed for years on the Llano Estacado. He was tough, salty, and had no quarter for cow-thieves or sympathy for any mealy-mouthed politicians. He cleaned house, maybe not too nicely, but unarguably successful he was. Then there is the tale of an accomplished and unbeaten fugitive, well known and identified for murder of a Texas peace officer. But the Texas Rangers couldn't find him. County sheriffs wouldn't hold him. Slipping away from bounty hunters, he hit Owlhoot Trail.
