From Preacher To Lawman

Howdy folks and greetings from the Great Plains of North Texas!

We're in a series about one of the top Texas Ranger lawmen to ever wear the badge, the great Frank Hamer, who was brought out of retirement to take down Bonnie and Clyde.

Recap

In the last post Frankie was working as a cowboy down along the SouthWest border of Texas. Cowboy work was long, hard, and boring.

Frankie's cowboy territory in Pecos County, Texas:

source

When two horses were stolen from the ranch he was working on he rode out after the thieves, caught them, and took them to the Sheriff..by himself.

The Sheriff was extremely impressed by young Frankie who was only 17 yrs old. And Frankie found his calling.

Today's story

Although Frankie was working as a cowhand he met a wide variety of people and just as he was a student of wildlife, he was also a student of human behavior and was extremely astute.

He understood different types of people and compared them to the animals he had studied.

Frankie was a Human Behaviorist too

For instance, a criminal was like a coyote, always taking a look over his shoulder. A cornered political schemer is "a crawfish about three days from water." A murderer was "as cold-blooded as a rattlesnake with a chill."

He considered himself most like an antelope because "antelopes are the most curious of all animals." That's why he was getting bored stiff with being a cowboy.

He was such a voracious learner that he needed more challenges and stimulation than what a cowpoke's life offered. (plus it didn't pay squat).

His link to the outside world

Does anyone know what a telephone "Party Line" is? When phones first came out in rural areas they were all connected to each other so if your neighbor was on the phone you could just pick it up and talk to them without dialing.

And anyone else on that line could pick it up and listen in on the conversation. That's what we had in Kansas growing up.

Well, the ranch were Frankie worked had a phone line like that, this was in 1906. And being bored as he was he would listen in on people talking about news events and whatever else they talked about.

Lots of gossip no doubt too, but he was fascinated by this new contraption.

source

Well, one night Frankie was listening to people talk and the Sheriff that he'd turned those horse thieves over to was talking to one of his deputies about intercepting a horse thief that was heading Frankie's way.

The deputy couldn't do the job and the Sheriff was too tied up at the jail plus the thief had such a head start it'd be hard to catch him. So Frankie jumped in on the call and said "I'll go get him Sheriff!" The Sheriff says "Who the hell are YOU?"

So Frankie told him and the Sheriff said the thief was headed his way and if he could catch him he'd be much obliged and would be heading out to give him a hand as soon as he could.

Frankie knew where the thief had to stop

Frankie knew that the only source of water on the road was the windmill of the Carr ranch where he was working, and he figured the horse thief would show up about sunrise.

So he got up at 3 AM, strapped on his six-shooter, grabbed his rifle and rode out to the windmill.

This is the model of rifle Frankie used, it was a Winchester Model 1894 Saddle Ring Carbine:

source

Sure enough, about sunrise here comes the horse thief. When he dismounted Frankie stepped out behind some brush with his rifle pointed at him and said "You're under arrest."

The cat swung right back into his saddle and spurred his horse toward Fort Stockton.

I'm not surprised. At 20 Frankie still looked like a kid. A BIG kid at 6 ft 2 in but still a kid. I don't think the thief was too worried.

That was fine with Frankie, that's where the Sheriff was coming from.

He just followed about 20 feet behind him and after about 16 miles Frankie saw the Sheriff at the top of a hill galloping toward them in a buggy.

Two in a row for a volunteer

That was another horse thief caught by Frankie. As the Sheriff was cuffing the guy he said to Frankie, "This is the second time you've done my work for me. How'd you like to be a Texas Ranger?"

Frankie had never thought of it but it sounded DARN good to him! He asked what he had to do to get in? The Sheriff said "You let me take care of that." From that moment on Frankie's dream of becoming a preacher died.

The Sheriff's name was Dud Barker.