Download or read book Historic Photos of Texas Lawmen written by and published by Turner Publishing Company. This book was released on 2008-12-01 with total page 431 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The history of law enforcement in the Lone Star State goes back well before photography, dating to Texas’s days as part of the Spanish empire. After that Texas became a province of Mexico and for nearly a decade stood among the nations as an independent republic before becoming the 28th state in the Union in 1845. Beyond the contribution to law and order made by constables, sheriffs, town marshals, city police officers, and federal lawmen, Texas is the birthplace of a law enforcement institution unique in the world, the legendary Texas Rangers. Historic Photos of Texas Lawmen features close to 200 images of Texas lawmen, bad men (and a few bad women), assorted characters with a law enforcement connection like the legendary Judge Roy Bean, and shots of the places they did their work—for good or bad. Each photograph has a story to tell. Some of the images in this volume, coming from the author’s personal collection, are published here for the first time. But all of the images command attention, many as attention-getting as the business end of a Texas Ranger’s .45.

Download or read book Historic Photos of Texas Lawmen written by and published by Turner. This book was released on 2008-12 with total page 202 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The history of law enforcement in the Lone Star State goes back well before photography, dating to Texas's days as part of the Spanish empire. After that Texas became a province of Mexico and for nearly a decade stood among the nations as an independent republic before becoming the 28th state in the Union in 1845. Beyond the contribution to law and order made by constables, sheriffs, town marshals, city police officers, and federal lawmen, Texas is the birthplace of a law enforcement institution unique in the world, the legendary Texas Rangers. Historic Photos of Texas Lawmen features close to 200 images of Texas lawmen, bad men (and a few bad women), assorted characters with a law enforcement connection like the legendary Judge Roy Bean, and shots of the places they did their work--for good or bad. Each photograph has a story to tell. Some of the images in this volume, coming from the author's personal collection, are published here for the first time. But all of the images command attention, many as attention-getting as the business end of a Texas Ranger's .45.

Download or read book Historic Photos of Texas Oil written by and published by Turner Publishing Company. This book was released on 2009-08-01 with total page 255 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: On January 10, 1901, near Beaumont, Texas, an unremarkable knoll of earth the world would soon call Spindletop shot a geyser of oil a hundred feet into the air, confirming the belief of Pattillo Higgins that black gold lay buried there. The Texas oil industry had begun in earnest, and neither Texas nor the world would ever be the same. In the years to come, Texas oil would fuel the nation’s automobiles and help to bring victory to the Allies in both world wars, shaping America’s destiny throughout the twentieth century. Join author and historian Mike Cox in this photographic visit to the heyday of Texas crude as he recounts the stories of key oil-patch discoveries around the state. Nearly 200 images in vivid black-and-white, with captions and introductions, offer a roughneck-close look at this uniquely American tale of dry holes and gushers, ragtowns and riches, boomtowns, blowouts, and wildcatters gone broke.

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 Lone Star Lawmen written by Robert M. Utley and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2007-03-05 with total page 449 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Hailed as "a rip-snortin', six-guns-blazin' saga of good guys and bad guys who were sometimes one and the same," Robert M. Utley's Lone Star Justice captured the colorful first century of Texas Ranger history. Now, in the eagerly anticipated conclusion, Lone Star Lawmen, Utley once again chronicles the daring exploits of the Rangers, this time as they bring justice to the twentieth-century West. Based on unprecedented access to Ranger archives, this fast-paced narrative stretches from the days of the Mexican Revolution (where atrocities against Mexican Americans marked the nadir of Ranger history) to the Branch Davidian saga near Waco and the recent bloody standoff with "Republic of Texas" militia. Readers will find in these pages one hundred years of high adventure. Utley follows the Rangers as they pursue bank robbers, bootleggers, moonshiners, and "horsebackers" (smugglers who used mule trains to bring liquor across the border). We see these fearless lawmen taming oil boomtowns, springing the ambush of Bonnie and Clyde, facing down angry lynch mobs, and tracking the "Phantom Killer" of Texarkana. Utley also highlights the gradual evolution of this celebrated force, revealing that while West Texas Rangers still occasionally ride the range on horseback and crack down on smugglers and rustlers, East Texas Rangers--who work mostly in big cities--now ride in high-powered cars and contend with kidnappers, forgers, and other urban criminals. But East or West, today's Rangers have become sophisticated professionals, backed by crime labs and forensic science. Written by one of the most respected Western historians alive, here is the definitive account of the Texas Rangers, a vivid portrait of these legendary peace officers and their role in a changing West.

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 Historic Photos of Heroes of the Old West written by and published by Turner Publishing Company. This book was released on 2010-05-28 with total page 334 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: No story in United States history is more compelling than the exploration and settlement of the American West, and the tales of those who blazed the trails will forever enthrall Americans yet unborn. In Historic Photos of Heroes of the Old West, the dauntless adventurers who gave us the legend come alive together in profile. Herein are the early pathfinders Zebulon Pike and Lewis and Clark, James Marshall and men of the gold rush, the lawmen Wyatt Earp and Wild Bill Hickok. George Armstrong Custer returns to the Little Big Horn and John Wesley Powell revisits the Colorado River. And Mark Twain, Buffalo Bill, and Charles Russell breathe the legend to life. A sagely written brush with the lore and romance of the Old West, this roundup of the most famous frontiersmen includes nearly 200 photographs, reproduced vividly in black-and-white, with captions and introductions by author and historian Mike Cox. Here are the fables and the faces of Americans double-tough, for every adventurer seeking an encounter with the great American West.

Download or read book Old West Lawmen written by Legends of America and published by . This book was released on 2012 with total page 228 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Old West was often a lawless place, where outlaws frequently reigned supreme. Many of the wild and rowdy places were initially populated by men and often attracted seedier elements of society to their many saloons, dance halls, gambling parlors and brothels. However, as thousands of pioneers pushed their way westward in search of land and better lives, they demanded law and order. Marshals and sheriffs were in high demand in some of the most lawless settlements, as well as the numerous mining camps that dotted the west. Though the vast majority of these Old West lawmen were honorable and heroic figures, ironically, many of them rode both sides of the fence and were known as outlaws as well. Old West Lawmen includes a collection of stories about 57 lawmen with over 70 vintage photographs plus articles on organizations like the Texas Rangers, U.S. Marshals, and Pinkerton Detective Agency.

Download or read book 200 Texas Outlaws and Lawmen 1835 1935 written by Laurence J. Yadon and published by Pelican Publishing. This book was released on 2008 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Beginning with Texas's declaration of independence in 1835 and stretching into the turbulent Depression era a century later, many ruthless criminals and daring deputies and rangers kicked up dust within the state's borders. Billy the Kid, Machine Gun Kelly, Bat Masterson, and Belle Star were familiar faces. Other characters included Texas Jack, Rowdy Joe, Mysterious Dave, Long Haired Jim, Buckskin Frank, and Curly Bill. In this book, accounts of gunfights, robberies, and kidnappings follow selected profiles. In a borrowed costume, Marshal Ratliff, the Santa Claus Robber, held up cashiers while several of his "elves" pulled weapons to help St. Nick fill his sack. Mishaps, accidents, and misunderstandings lighten the mood between truly heinous crimes such as that of the Bender family. Owners of a small hotel, the four family members would kill lone travelers for their possessions. While pursuing his undergraduate degree at the University of Tulsa in Oklahoma, Laurence Yadon considered himself fortunate to have studied under William Settle, a Jesse James scholar. This experience served as his inspiration to become a lifelong student of American history, especially that of the Southwest. Dan Anderson is a former newswriter, photographer, features writer, and columnist. He has been honored with multiple awards from the Associated Press for spot news reporting, investigative reporting, and newswriting. Anderson and Yadon are also the authors of 100 Oklahoma Outlaws, Gangsters, and Lawmen: 1839-1939, published by Pelican.

Download or read book Eternity at the End of a Rope written by Clifford R. Caldwell and published by Sunstone Press. This book was released on 2016-03-03 with total page 670 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Since 1819 over 3,000 souls found their personal “eternity at the end of a rope” in Texas. Some earned their way. Others were the victim of mistaken identity, or an act of vigilante justice. Deserved or not, when the hangman’s knot is pulled up tight and the black cap snugged down over your head it is too late to plead your case. This remarkable story begins in 1819 with the first legal hanging in Texas. By 1835 accounts of lynching dotted the records. Although by 1923 legal execution by hanging was discontinued in favor of the electric chair, vigilante justice remained a favorite pastime for some. The accounts of violence are numbing. The cultural and racial implications are profound, and offer a far more accurate, unbiased insight into the tally of African-American and Hispanic victims of mob violence in the Lone Star State than has ever been presented. Many of these deeds were nothing short of morbid theater, worthy of another era. This book is backed up by years of research and thousands of primary source documents. Includes Index and Bibliography.

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 2013-09-15 with total page 321 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 Time of the Rangers written by Mike Cox and published by Forge Books. This book was released on 2009-08-18 with total page 517 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The second installment of a no-holds-barred look at the history of the famed Texas Rangers from western author Mike Cox Following up on his magnificent history of the 19th century Texas Rangers, Mike Cox now takes us from 1900 through the present. From horseback to helicopters, from the frontier cattle days through the crime-ridden boom-or-bust oil field era, from Prohibition to World War II espionage to the violent ethnic turbulence of the ‘50s and ‘60s--which sometimes led to demands that the Texas Rangers be disbanded. Cox takes readers through the modern history of the famed Texas lawmen. Cox's position as a spokesperson for the Texas department of Public Safety allowed him to comb the archives and conduct extensive personal interviews to give us this remarkable account of how a tough group of horse-borne lawmen--too prone to hand out roadside justice, critics complained--to one of the world's premier investigative agencies, respected and admired worldwide. At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

Download or read book Tracking the Texas Ranger Historians written by Bruce A. Glasrud and published by University of North Texas Press. This book was released on 2024-10-15 with total page 465 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The first systematic inquiry into the Texas Rangers did not begin until 1935 with Walter Prescott Webb’s publication The Texas Rangers. Since then numerous works have appeared on the Rangers, but no volume has been published before that covers the various historians of the Rangers and their approaches to the topic. Editors Bruce A. Glasrud and Harold J. Weiss Jr. gather essays that profile individual historians of the Texas Rangers, explore themes and issues in Ranger history, and comprise archival research, biographies, and autobiographies. Several approaches in Texas historiography have influenced the writings on the Texas Rangers and serve to organize the chapters in the volume. Traditionalists (Chuck Parsons, Stephen L. Moore, and Bob Alexander) stress the revered happenings in the nineteenth century that brought about the Lone Star state and its empire-building Ranger force. To these historical writers the Texas Rangers were part of a golden age. Revisionists (Robert M. Utley, Louis R. Sadler, and Charles H. Harris) pull back from this adulation, emphasize the importance of overlooked ethnic and racial groups, and point out misbehavior on the part of Rangers. They also want to separate fact from fiction. Some Ranger historians (Frederick Wilkins and Mike Cox) straddle both traditional and revisionist approaches in their works. The final group, Cultural Constructionalists (Gary Clayton Anderson, Américo Paredes, and Monica Muñoz Martinez), continue the work of Revisionists and focus on an interconnected past that includes theoretical approaches and the study of memory and regional identities. Several themes emerge throughout the book. One is how the Rangers changed from unorganized mounted militia, dragoons in the modern sense, to organized cavalry forces with six-shooter firepower who served as a military arm of the state and nation. A second is how the dichotomous views of the Rangers—as either patriot warriors or bloody avengers—left their imprint on Anglo and Hispanic society. This divergent examination especially derived from incidents in the US-Mexican War, the period from 1910 to 1920, and the lower Rio Grande valley in the 1960s. And yet another theme is how the Rangers first resisted and fought against, yet ultimately absorbed, all creeds and colors into their ranks over two hundred years as they evolved into police officers: Anglo, Black, Hispanic, Indian, and women Rangers.

Download or read book The Texas Calaboose and Other Forgotten Jails written by William E. Moore and published by Texas A&M University Press. This book was released on 2019-01-23 with total page 341 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A calaboose is, quite simply, a tiny jail. Designed to house prisoners only for a short time, a calaboose could be anything from an iron cage to a poured concrete blockhouse. Easily constructed and more affordable for small communities than a full-sized building, calabooses once dotted the rural landscape. Though a relic of a bygone era in law enforcement and no longer in use, many calabooses remain in communities throughout Texas, often hidden in plain sight. In The Texas Calaboose and Other Forgotten Jails, William E. Moore has compiled the first guidebook to extant calabooses in Texas. He explores the history of the calaboose, including its construction, use, and eventual decline, but the heart of the book is in the alphabetically arranged photo tour of calabooses across the state. Each entry is accompanied by a vignette describing the unique features of the calaboose at hand, any infamous or otherwise memorable occupants, and the state of the calaboose at present. Most have been long abandoned, but because many remain on city or town property, some have been repurposed into storage buildings or even government offices. In certain ways, these small jails encapsulate the history of outlying communities during a time of transition from the “Wild West” to the twentieth century. Some of the structures have been preserved and cared-for, but despite the stories they can tell, many more are endangered or have already been lost. This definitive guide to tiny Texas jails serves as a record of a unique and disappearing feature of our heritage.

Download or read book Houston Blue written by Mitchel P. Roth and published by University of North Texas Press. This book was released on 2012 with total page 497 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Back in 2005, the board of the directors of the Houston Police Officers' Union commissioned Mitchel Roth, Ph.D., and Tom Kennedy to research and write a book that chronicled the history of the Houston Police Department and the Houston Police Officers' Union."--Foreword.

Download or read book Firearms of the Texas Rangers written by Doug Dukes and published by University of North Texas Press. This book was released on 2020-08-14 with total page 645 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From their founding in the 1820s up to the modern age, the Texas Rangers have shown the ability to adapt and survive. Part of that survival depended on their use of firearms. The evolving technology of these weapons often determined the effectiveness of these early day Rangers. John Coffee “Jack” Hays and Samuel Walker would leave their mark on the Rangers by incorporating new technology which allowed them to alter tactics when confronting their adversaries. The Frontier Battalion was created at about the same time as the Colt Peacemaker and the Winchester 73—these were the guns that “won the West.” Firearms of the Texas Rangers, with more than 180 photographs, tells the history of the Texas Rangers primarily through the use of their firearms. Author Doug Dukes narrates famous episodes in Ranger history, including Jack Hays and the Paterson, the Walker Colt, the McCulloch Colt Revolver (smuggled through the Union blockade during the Civil War), and the Frontier Battalion and their use of the Colt Peacemaker and Winchester and Sharps carbines. Readers will delight in learning of Frank Hamer’s marksmanship with his Colt Single Action Army and his Remington, along with Captain J.W. McCormick and his two .45 Colt pistols, complete with photos. Whether it was a Ranger in 1844 with his Paterson on patrol for Indians north of San Antonio, or a Ranger in 2016 with his LaRue 7.62 rifle working the Rio Grande looking for smugglers and terrorists, the technology may have changed, but the gritty job of the Rangers has not.

Download or read book Remembering Texas Lawmen written by and published by Remembering. This book was released on 2010-10 with total page 134 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The history of law enforcement in the Lone Star State goes back well before photography, dating to Texas' days as part of the Spanish empire. After that Texas became a province of Mexico and for nearly a decade stood among the nations as an independent republic before becoming the 28th state in the Union in 1845. Beyond the contribution to law and order made by constables, sheriffs, town marshals, city police officers, and federal lawmen, Texas is the birthplace of a law enforcement institution unique in the world, the legendary Texas Rangers. With a selection of fine historic images from his best-selling book Historic Photos of Texas Lawmen, Mike Cox provides a valuable and revealing historical retrospective on this important aspect of Texas history. Remembering Texas Lawmen features more than 125 images of Texas lawmen, bad men (and a few bad women), assorted characters with a law enforcement connection like the legendary Judge Roy Bean, and shots of the places they did their work--for good or bad. Each photograph has a story to tell, and all of the images command attention, many as attention-getting as the business end of a Texas Ranger's .45.