On October 17, 1835, Texans approve a resolution to create
the Texas Rangers, a corps of armed and mounted lawmen designed to guard the
frontier between the Brazos and Trinity Rivers. In the midst of their revolt
against Mexico, Texan leaders felt they needed a semi-official force of armed
men who would defend the isolated frontier settlers of the Lone Star Republic
against both Santa Ana's soldiers and hostile Indians; the Texas Rangers filled
this role. After gaining independence from Mexico the following year, Texans
decided to keep the Rangers, both to defend against Indian and Mexican raiders
and to serve as the principal law enforcement authority along the sparsely
populated Texan frontier. Although created and sanctioned by the Texas
government, the Rangers were an irregular body made up of civilians who
furnished their own horses and weapons. Given the vast expanse of territory
they patrolled and the difficulty of communicating with the central government,
the government gave the men of the Rangers considerable independence to act as
they saw fit. Sometimes the Rangers served as a military force, taking on the
role of fighting the Indians that in the U.S. was largely the responsibility of
the Army. At other times the Rangers mainly served as the principal law
enforcement power in many frontier regions of Texas, earning lasting fame for
their ability to track down and eliminate outlaws, cattle thieves, train
robbers, and murderers, including such notorious bandits as John Wesley Hardin
and King Fisher. Even as late as the first two decades of the 20th century, the
state of Texas continued to rely on the Rangers to enforce order in the wilder
regions of the state, like the oil boomtowns along the Rio Grande.
Increasingly, though, some Texans began to criticize the Rangers, arguing that
they used excessive violence and often failed to observe the finer points of
the law when apprehending suspects. As a result, in the 1930s, the state won
control over the Rangers, transforming it into a modern and professional law
enforcement organization.
Michael Thomas Barry is a
columnist for CrimeMagazine.com and is the author of Murder & Mayhem 52 Crimes that
Shocked Early California
1849-1949. The book can be purchased from Amazon through the
following link:
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