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 had just captured a horse thief and the local Sheriff, who used to be a Texas Ranger, asked him if he wanted to join the Rangers.
Of course he did. Every kid growing up in Texas dreamed of being a Texas Ranger, they were heroic and legendary figures in Texas lore.
Because of the Sheriff's request, Frank, who was 22 by now, was ordered to report to the Ranger camp in the Bend Bend region of Southwest Texas.
In spite having a stellar record of fighting crime the Rangers were so underfunded that they had to stay in tents in a camp outside town.
Big Bend country:
He was ordered to report to Captain John Rogers who was a famous Ranger himself but looked more like a banker. Here he is on the cover of a book written about him by history professor Paul Spellman:
Captain Rogers was short, portly, and wore spectacles and suits so he didn't look anything like a typical cowboy or Ranger.
But looks are deceiving because he was fearless, a great gun hand, deadly in a shootout and had killed many an outlaw in gunfights.
Oh great, he's just a boy!
Frank came on high recommendations from the Sheriff but when Captain Rogers saw him he was thoroughly disappointed because Frank just looked like a kid!
But after being around him it didn't take him long to see that if anyone on earth was made to be a ranger it was Frank Hamer.
At such a young age he was already an expert tracker, hunter, naturalist, marksman, horseman, behavior expert, survivalist...his years of living in the wilderness and working as a cowboy had made him rugged and used to roughing it and living off the land.
Here's Frank at age 22, the year he joined the Rangers in 1906:
Besides that he was big and strong with tremendous strength, raw courage, a photographic memory and a superb analytical mind.
He was self-reliant and independent, his word was his bond, his deep faith in God gave him an unmovable standard of right and wrong, he couldn't be bought or tempted at any price.
Plus he'd already been tested and proved he could remain calm under fire in the gunfight with McSween. In short, he was the most deadly adversary an outlaw would ever dread to face!
And he would be mortified if he read this post! lol..because he was also very humble and quiet. I can't believe I spent half this post just listing his attributes.
I think Kevin Costner did a brilliant job of portraying his character in the Netflix movie The Highwaymen with Woody Harrelson.
Frank's story continues on the next post.
Thanks for reading folks, God bless you all!
-jonboy
Texas
