Conclusion Of The Beaumont Incident

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.

Frank was transferred to East Texas to help curb mob violence and protect Blacks from lynch mobs. One of his close friends, fellow rangers, and partner was a man named Oscar Latta.

Here's Frank and Oscar, this was taken in 1908 when they were working in East Texas. Frank's number one of course:

source

In the last post I told about a crime committed by a Black man (the rape and brutal beating of a 13 yr old white girl)that had the whole city of Beaumont up in arms, literally, and they were willing to do whatever it took to get to the suspects.

Two people had been arrested. One was named Claude Golden and they'd found a blood-stained shirt cuff at his home. The other was a kid named Fennell who seemed suspicious for some reason, not sure why.

Today's story

Well, it just so happens that Frank was arriving in Beaumont that day to testify at a trial. But when he got there the train station was engulfed by over 2,000 angry, heavily armed townspeople yelling and shooting in the air!

They'd heard that the Sheriff was trying to sneak the prisoners out of town on the train so they were searching for them at the station.

What the vigilantes didn't know is that the Sheriff had the two suspects shuttled around town in a buggy, they were laying down so they couldn't be seen.

They first tried to hide them in a church, then in a schoolhouse, and then finally they got them to the Sheriff's barn without anyone seeing them.

Of course he volunteered for an impossible job

Upon his arrival Frank went to the Sheriff immediately and offered his assistance. When he learned what was going down he offered to guard the two men. The Sheriff thankfully accepted his offer and Frank snuck his way to the Sheriff's barn.

It wasn't long before the mob was at the Sheriff's place searching everywhere, including the barn but Frank must have had them under the floor or something because they came within feet of them but didn't find them.

In the meantime the Sheriff tried to get a buggy over to the barn without being seen but he couldn't do it. The mob was everywhere and hundreds more were heading to his place so he and a police detective named Cowart slipped into the barn to warn Frank.

Escape to the country

As you know, Frank was an expert woodsman, tracker, hunter, and survivalist so he told the Sheriff that their only choice was to escape into the country. The Sheriff said there were swamp lands about 4 miles from town so that's where Frank took them.

The prisoners were handcuffed as he led all five of them into the swamp and by now it was completely dark out. The mob found out they were headed that way so here they came, hundreds of them armed with lanterns and torches...as well as shotguns, pistols and rifles!

Into the blackness

Frank guided them into the thickest areas of the swamp and were forced even deeper as the mob closed in. Time after time the hunted were forced to crawl on their hands and knees in the mud, muck, and rancid black water.

They weren't alone though. The swamp was infested with plenty of alligators, copperheads and water moccasins! Makes me cringe.

The night air was filled with the acrid smell of gunfire because the vigilantes were doing alot of shooting. I think they were shooting those critters. Frank guided them all night long and avoided being seen.

At daybreak they crawled out of there and were able to make it to a church outside a small town called Hamilton. They hid the prisoners under the church and the Sheriff walked back to Beaumont to the train station.

Safety

He caught the next train out and ordered the conductor to stop at Hamilton at which point Frank and Cowart ran with the prisoners and jumped on the train. It wasn't long before they were in Galveston and locked up safely in the jail there.

Too bad we don't have a photo of what those guys looked like after spending the night crawling around in the swamp! But what a magnificent illustration of what Frank was willing to do to protect lives and see that justice was carried out.

The fate of the suspects

The victim of the rape and beating, 13 year old Ada Bell Hopkins, had been in a coma but she came out of it a few days later. When she did she adamantly picked out Golden from a selection of photos.

He was convicted of rape, which was a capital crime in Texas, and executed the next year by hanging.

How the crime happened.

Ada Bell had been searching for her horse and Golden had offered to help her find it, and that was the perfect opportunity to lure her into the woods where he attacked her.

The other suspect, Fennell, after reviewing his case the grand jury said there was no evidence against him so he was set free. He just had a whale of a tale to tell about his long night in a swamp hunted by hundreds of blood-thirsty vigilantes!

Frank's story continues in the next post.

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