The Mess In Navasota

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.

In the last post Frank resigned his Ranger position to take a job as a Sheriff in Navasota, Texas. The job paid $85 a month instead of the $40 a month which the Rangers paid so he must have felt rich!

Main Street of Navasota, Texas in the early 1900's:

source

Today's story

The problem with the position was that he was the only lawman in town. He had no deputies or any help at all, he was totally alone. And there was an awful lot that he was expected to do so they got every penny worth of that $85 and more.

The Sheriff was supposed to patrol the streets during the day and respond to any calls for help. At night they were to go down the back alleys, checking doors, looking for burglars, taking care of drunks.

And if that weren't enough..

They were also supposed to go after gambling and confiscate gambling tables and paraphernalia, enforce anti-prostitution laws, etc.

In many towns they were supposed to keep the roads and bridges in working order and maintain public windmills and pick up stray dogs! lol.

So the job was a handful, especially with an uncooperative public.

Here's Frank the year he took the Marshal job in 1908. He was 24 yrs old:

source

The situation in Navasota

It was a mess. It was racist and run by a group of racists who called themselves "The White Man's Union." They had a deal with the previous Sheriff that none of them could be arrested. lol.

They included many of the old plantation owners from before the Civil War.

They not only controlled the town but also the Sheriff. Well, you know with Frank being the Sheriff now, that dog ain't gonna hunt!

Right before Frank got there the Sheriff was holding a Black man in jail for stabbing a white man.

Epic fail

The white man survived but that didn't matter to the lynch mob who stormed the jail, took the doomed Black man to the nearest telephone pole and hung him.

Of course no arrests were made.

A woman who came upon the scene wrote a letter to the Governor pleading for him to send someone to clean up the town. The Sheriff resigned because he couldn't protect prisoners or control the ruffians of the White Man's Union.

Those bullies loved to come into town, get drunk, and beat up Blacks and poor white sharecroppers for sport because they couldn't be arrested.

In the next post we'll see how Frank handles the situation.

Thanks for reading folks, God bless you all!
-jonboy
Texas

PS- Found another cool wire dragon:

source