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The Texas Rangers (Paperback)
Chuck Parsons; Foreword by Joe B Davis
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R657
R549
Discovery Miles 5 490
Save R108 (16%)
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Ships in 10 - 15 working days
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The Texas Rangers. The words evoke exciting images of daring,
courage, high adventure. The Rangers began as a handful of men
protecting their homes from savage raiding parties; now in their
third century of existence, they are a highly sophisticated
crime-fighting organization. Yet at times even today the Texas
Ranger mounts his horse to track fugitives through dense chaparral,
depending on his wits more than technology. The iconic image of the
Texas Ranger is of a man who is tall, unflinching, and dedicated to
doing a difficult job no matter what the odds. The Rangers of the
21st century are different sizes, colors, and genders, but remain
as vital and real today as when they were created in the horseback
days of 1823, when what is today Texas was part of Mexico, a wild
and untamed land.
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Luling (Hardcover)
Chuck Parsons, Luling Main Street
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R842
R700
Discovery Miles 7 000
Save R142 (17%)
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Ships in 10 - 15 working days
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Jesse Lee Hall (1849-1911) was one of many young men seeking a new
life following the Civil War, when he left North Carolina to find
adventure in Texas. After a stint as a deputy sheriff and a
Sergeant-at-Arms in the House of Representatives, he joined Captain
Leander McNelly's Texas Ranger Special State Troops in 1876. This
was the career move that he had needed as he soon found enough
action in South Texas.When McNelly could no longer command due to
illness, Hall was named to take his place. Hall was involved in
arresting King Fisher and his gang, and he (with a small squad)
arrested seven of the Sutton faction, effectively ending the bloody
Sutton-Taylor Feud. One of his men, John B. Armstrong, finally
captured the most wanted man in Texas, John Wesley Hardin, in
far-off Florida. In 1878 Hall took part in the gun battle ending
the career of outlaw Sam Bass. Nearing his fiftieth birthday, Hall
hoped to join Teddy Roosevelt's 'Rough Riders,' but that did not
happen. Instead he was posted to the Philippines, where as a
commander during the Philippine Insurrection he was so badly
injured that he was given a medical discharge. The old warrior died
in San Antonio in 1911, loved and respected, having a reputation
equaled by few.
America's Wild West created an untold number of notorious
characters, and in southwestern Texas, John King Fisher (1855-
1884) was foremost among them. To friends and foes alike, he
insisted he be called "King." He found a home in the tough
sun-beaten Nueces Strip, a lawless land between the Nueces River
and the Rio Grande. There he gathered a gang of rustlers around him
at his ranch on Pendencia Creek. For a decade King and his gang
raided both sides of the Rio Grande, shooting down any who opposed
them. Newspapers claimed King killed potential witnesses-he was
never convicted of cattle or horse stealing, or murder. King's
reign ended when he was arrested by Texas Ranger Captain Leander
McNelly. In no uncertain terms he advised Fisher to change his
ways, so King became deputy sheriff of Uvalde County. But his
hard-won respectability would not last. On a spring night in 1884,
King made the mistake of accompanying the truly notorious gambler
and gunfighter Ben Thompson on a tour of San Antonio, where several
years prior Thompson shot down Jack Harris at the latter's saloon
and theater, the Vaudeville. Recklessly, King Fisher accompanied
Thompson back to the theater, where assassins were waiting. When
the smoke cleared, Fisher was stretched out beside Thompson, dead
from thirteen gunshot wounds.
In Captain Jack Helm, Chuck Parsons explores the life of John
Jackson "Jack" Helm, whose main claim to fame has been that he was
a victim of man-killer John Wesley Hardin. That he was, but he was
much more in his violence-filled lifetime during Reconstruction
Texas. First as a deputy sheriff, then county sheriff, and finally
captain of the notorious Texas State Police, he developed a
reputation as a violent and ruthless man-hunter. He arrested many
suspected lawbreakers, but often his prisoner was killed before
reaching a jail for "attempting to escape." This horrific tendency
ultimately brought about his downfall. Helm's aggressive
enforcement of his version of "law and order" resulted in a deadly
confrontation with two of his enemies in the midst of the
Sutton-Taylor Feud.
Nashville Franklyn “Buckskin Frank” Leslie was a man of mystery
during his lifetime. His reputation has rested on two
gunfights—both in storied Tombstone, Arizona—but he was much
more than a deadly gunfighter. Jack DeMattos and Chuck Parsons have
combined their research efforts to help solve the questions of
where Leslie came from and how he died. Leslie developed a
reputation as a man to be left alone. Such notables as the Earps,
Doc Holliday, and John Ringo wisely avoided confrontations with
him. Leslie was a “lady killer” both figuratively and—in one
celebrated incident—literally. Beyond his gunfighting legacy,
DeMattos and Parsons also explore Leslie’s scouting with General
Crook on the Great Plains and his alleged service as a deputy for
Wild Bill Hickok in Abilene, Kansas.
Luke Short perfected his skills as a gambler in locations that
included Leadville, Tombstone, Dodge City, and Fort Worth. In 1883,
in what became known as the "Dodge City War," he banded together
with Wyatt Earp, Bat Masterson, and others to protect his ownership
interests in the Long Branch Saloon - an event commemorated by the
famous "Dodge City Peace Commission" photograph. During his
lifetime, Luke Short became one of the best known sporting men in
the United States, and one of the wealthiest. The irony is that
Luke Short is best remembered for being the winning gunfighter in
two of the most celebrated showdowns in Old West history: the
shootout with Charlie Storms in Tombstone, Arizona, and the
showdown against Jim Courtright in Fort Worth, Texas. He would have
hated that.
In this second edition, historians Chuck Parsons and Donaly E.
Brice present a complete picture of N. O. Reynolds (1846-1922), a
Texas Ranger who brought a greater respect for the law in Central
Texas. Reynolds began as a sergeant in famed Company D, Frontier
Battalion in 1874. He served honorably during the Mason County "Hoo
Doo" War and was chosen to be part of Major John B. Jones's escort,
riding the frontier line. In 1877 he arrested the Horrells, who
were feuding with their neighbors, the Higgins party, thus ending
their Lampasas County feud. Shortly thereafter he was given command
of the newly formed Company E of Texas Rangers. Also in 1877 the
notorious John Wesley Hardin was captured; N.O. Reynolds was given
the responsibility to deliver Hardin to trial in Comanche, return
him to a safe jail during his appeal, and then escort him safely to
the Huntsville penitentiary.
"John Wesley Hardin " His name spread terror in much of Texas in
the years following the Civil War as the most wanted fugitive with
a $4,000 reward on his head. A Texas Ranger wrote that he killed
men just to see them kick. Hardin began his killing career in the
late 1860s and remained a wanted man until his capture in 1877 by
Texas Rangers and Florida law officials. He certainly killed twenty
men; some credited him with killing forty or more. After sixteen
years in Huntsville prison he was pardoned by Governor Hogg. For a
short while he avoided trouble and roamed westward, eventually
establishing a home of sorts in wild and woolly El Paso as an
attorney. He became embroiled in the dark side of that city and
eventually lost his final gunfight to an El Paso constable, John
Selman. Hardin was forty-two years old.Besides his reputation as
the deadliest man with a six-gun, he left an autobiography in which
he detailed many of the troubles of his life. In "A Lawless Breed,"
Chuck Parsons and Norman Wayne Brown have meticulously examined his
claims against available records to determine how much of his life
story is true, and how much was only a half truth, or a complete
lie. As a killer of up to forty men, Hardin obviously had
psychological issues, which the authors probe and explain in
laymen's terms. To Hardin, those three dozen or more killings were
a result of being forced to defend his life, his honor, or to
preserve his freedom against those who would rob or destroy him or
his loved ones. Was he a combination freedom fighter/man-killer, or
merely a blood-lust killer who became a national celebrity? This
deeply researched biography of Hardin and his friends and family
will remain the definitive study for years to come.
The Sutton-Taylor Feud of DeWitt, Gonzales, Karnes, and surrounding
counties began shortly after the Civil War ended. The blood feud
continued into the 1890s when the final court case was settled with
a governmental pardon. Of all the Texas feuds, the one between the
Sutton and Taylor forces lasted longer and covered more ground than
any other. William E. Sutton was the only Sutton involved, but he
had many friends to wage warfare against the large Taylor family.
The causes are still shrouded in mystery and legend, as both sides
argued they were just and right. In April 1868 Charles Taylor and
James Sharp were shot down in Bastrop County, alleged horse thieves
attempting to escape. During this period many men were killed
""while attempting to escape."" The killing on Christmas Eve 1868
of Buck Taylor and Dick Chisholm was perhaps the final spark that
turned hard feelings into fighting with bullets and knives. William
Sutton was involved in both killings. ""Who sheds a Taylor's blood,
by a Taylor's hand must fall"" became a fact of life in South
Texas. Violent acts between the two groups now followed. The
military reacted against the killing of two of their soldiers in
Mason County by Taylors. The State Police committed acts that were
not condoned by their superiors in Austin. Mobs formed in Comanche
County in retaliation for John Wesley Hardin's killing of a Brown
County deputy sheriff. One mob ""liberated"" three prisoners from
the DeWitt County jail, thoughtfully hanging them close to the
cemetery for the convenience of their relatives. An ambush party
killed James Cox, slashing his throat from ear to ear-as if the
buckshot in him was not sufficient. A doctor and his son were
called from their home and brutally shot down. Texas Rangers
attempted to quell the violence, but when they were called away,
the killing began again. In this definitive study of the
Sutton-Taylor Feud, Chuck Parsons demonstrates that the violence
between the two sides was in the tradition of the family blood
feud, similar to so many other nineteenth-century American feuds.
His study is well augmented with numerous illustrations and
appendices detailing the feudists, their attempts at treaties, and
their victims.
Ben Thompson was a remarkable man, and few Texans can claim to have
crowded more excitement, danger, drama, and tragedy into their
lives than he did. He was an Indian fighter, Texas Ranger,
Confederate cavalryman, mercenary for a foreign emperor, hired gun
for a railroad, an elected lawman, professional gambler, and the
victor of numerous gunfights. As a leading member of the Wild
West's sporting element, Ben Thompson spent most of his life moving
in the unsavory underbelly of the West: saloons, dance-houses,
billiard halls, bordellos, and gambling dens. During these travels
many of the Wild West's most famous icons—Wyatt Earp, Doc
Holliday, Bat Masterson, Wild Bill Hickok, John Wesley Hardin, John
Ringo, and Buffalo Bill Cody—became acquainted with Ben Thompson.
Some of these men called him a friend; others considered him a
deadly enemy. In life and in death no one ever doubted Ben
Thompson's courage; one Texas newspaperman asserted he was
“perfectly fearless, a perfect lion in nature when aroused.”
This willingness to trust his life to his expertise with a pistol
placed Thompson prominently among the western frontier's most
flamboyant breed of men: gunfighters.
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