Frank Gets Bored And Leaves
Navasota is a thriving little city these days. For some reason they boast of having the world's largest tea pot. Which has nothing to do with this post. lol.
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 Frank intimidated the criminal element of Navasota by putting on shooting exhibitions and he also started to like a lady who sent him letters and postcards every week.
She only lived 30 miles away but in 1910 most everyone still rode horses so it wasn't a quick, easy trip to travel that distance. Plus he was working all the time since he was by himself.
There were cars and trucks being made at that time but they were not affordable to the average person with prices around $5,000 so only the wealthy could buy them. That 5grand translates to a value of $140,000 in today's money!
In 1909 Henry Ford created the assembly line which brought prices down to about $850 and then by 1913 the Model T was down to $550 which is equivalent to $14,000 in today's money.
Frank got a raise to $100 a month because he was doing such a good job but he liked his horses and he had Mance to drive him around in the Marshal's buggy.
Today's story
Frank was pretty clueless about women. In fact, he knew nothing. lol. But it's understandable because when he was growing up he spent all his time out in the woods by himself and then joined the Rangers at a very young age and had spent all his time working.
He thought this new lady in his life was a friend I guess, one that he really liked.
Mollie was ready to give up on him
Yeah, she was ready to throw herself at him and he was so unaware, that he was calling her "Little Sis" because he didn't know she liked him in a more serious way! lol.
She'd been writing and sending photos of herself every week for months with no particular response from him. Finally she got tired of waiting and wrote him a postcard which said, "Think of me sometimes..Hope I'll see you again some day."
THAT finally got his attention and he realized what was going on..and started a long courtship. He was slow as molasses but after two more years they finally got hitched.
Frank's family didn't even know when they got married and couldn't afford to come to the wedding. On their honeymoon Mollie wrote to Frank's mother to tell her they'd been wed.
Why Frank didn't call them isn't known, maybe they still didn't have a phone at the house. Isn't that amazing how different things were back then?
Frank was itching for action
He was finally getting bored with his job in Navasota. After 3 years it was calm and peaceful there.
No one would have believed that one man could totally transform a hateful, racist town but he did it. The mayor of Houston knew about his work and offered him a job there so he accepted.
He didn't resign until they hired another ex Texas Ranger who would also be tough on crime.
The town was sad to see him go and by that time the newspapers were completely on his side and super impressed with his work and wrote articles praising and honoring him.
His young Black friend and companion, Mance Lipscomb had this to say about Frank's work:
"Boy, he cooled that town down. Po colored folks was scared to meet white folks on the street...cuz they was white and they was niggas, they don't wanta touch up aginst no white folks. But them white folks commenced ta lettin the colored folks git by. Give some room for them. But wad'n no room fur nobody but whites until HE come there."
Sometimes it takes brute force
While Frank had his critics screaming about his violent tactics, sometimes that's what it takes if the violence is for the enforcement of moral and righteous law against criminals who violently oppose it.
Evil behavior should have consequences. Might for Right was Frank's philosophy. And it worked against impossible odds.
Navasota today
Since I trashed the town's reputation of the past I wanted to make sure not to leave that impression today. It's a fine little city now, no racism and very peaceful. They haven't forgotten Frank's amazing work there either.
They have a bronze statue of him in front of city hall, honoring him for single-handedly cleaning up the town and stopping racism in their city:
Frank's story continues in the next post when he arrives in a very violent Houston, Texas.
Thanks for reading folks, God bless you all!
-jonboy
Texas
![cs034m5wjc.jpg](https://steemitimages.com/640x0/https://img.esteem.ws/cs034m5wjc.jpg)
![uvsylyennv.png](https://steemitimages.com/640x0/https://img.esteem.ws/uvsylyennv.png)
![l1xgphrt5d.png](https://steemitimages.com/640x0/https://img.esteem.ws/l1xgphrt5d.png)
![ak059z170l.png](https://steemitimages.com/640x0/https://img.esteem.ws/ak059z170l.png)
Hi, @janton!
You just got a 6.21% upvote from SteemPlus!
To get higher upvotes, earn more SteemPlus Points (SPP). On your Steemit wallet, check your SPP balance and click on "How to earn SPP?" to find out all the ways to earn.
If you're not using SteemPlus yet, please check our last posts in here to see the many ways in which SteemPlus can improve your Steem experience on Steemit and Busy.
Howdy steem-plus! Thanks for the upvote!
Luckily, most cats are nicer than that, lol.
Anyway, so Frank got married and left to Huston! What a swift change since last chapter!!! Well I am glad he made such a great step. One mess cleaned up, while new one is waiting, lol. But at least he is not alone anymore. It's nice they are honoring him with the bronze statue. Well deserved!!! Truly remarkable how he reformed that lawless, racist town, all by himself!!! And now they are famous because of the huge tea pot??? LOL!!!
Howdy Miss Lena! Yes, no one thought it was possible for one man to change a good sized town like that! It proves that one person can make a huge difference even if they have to do it all alone.
Howdy Janto! I totally agree! We can make a difference! Although, it's not always so obvious as in Frank's case. He was born to that specific type of God's work and he realized that in his early age. That's why he succeed it! We all have purpose, unfortunately, many people never realize what it is. Or they do, but they are afraid to do it.
That is so true. Frank definitely found his at a young age! I'm still looking for mine!
Oh you are??? Maybe this is it, dinging out the truth about American history and sharing it here with us.
Well I think this is temporary but we'll see. We know you found yours in vegan recipes right? And spreading that lifestyle message.
Yes, you are right, I did. You can join the vegan movement too, that is the most important now!
There are so many important movements that I want to join that I have a list! But not any time.
Well that Frank did a great thing for Navasota it seems, even if he was a little dense where women were concerned lol. Mollie had the tenacity of a bulldog and good thing too, else they never would have gotten hitched lolol.
lol.Howdy tamaralovelace! That's true, I think she sort of had to teach him how to act!
Frank was quite a guy! Love these stories and the teapot !
Howdy sir rossfletcher! Thanks for the kind words and I'm glad you got a kick out of that teapot!
You're welcome :)
Their giant teapot looks suspiciously like an old grain bin! It's a cute claim to fame.
Great statue of Frank. That town was lucky to have him.
Yeah, if he hadn't been there they would have killed many more Blacks for sure.
The teapot was definitely a grain bin! lol.
I know that prejudice against people who are different still exists, but I am so glad I don't have to see it up close. Thank goodness for people like Frank!
I agree. He was a tremendous role model.
Congratulations @janton! You have completed the following achievement on the Steem blockchain and have been rewarded with new badge(s) :
You can view your badges on your Steem Board and compare to others on the Steem Ranking
If you no longer want to receive notifications, reply to this comment with the word
STOP
To support your work, I also upvoted your post!
Vote for @Steemitboard as a witness to get one more award and increased upvotes!
Howdy steemitboard and thank you for the upvote and for keeping all these stats!
So janton, Frank's mother didn't get a chance to be a MOG. He obviously just did not think of his parents when he got married to this lovely young lady.
It was pretty unusual wasn't it? What is a MOG? lol. Sounds scary!
Hahaha, I was wondering if you would work it out or not. MOG is Mother of the Groom.
Oh of course! yes, I knew it was something that I would know about when it was spelled out! Thanks for giving me that definition angiemitchell!
Thanks for using eSteem!
Your post has been voted as a part of eSteem encouragement program. Keep up the good work! Install Android, iOS Mobile app or Windows, Mac, Linux Surfer app, if you haven't already!
Learn more: https://esteem.app
Join our discord: https://discord.gg/8eHupPq
Howdy esteemapp! Thanks so much for the great platform and for the upvote!
Great story! It's neat to see that he was remembered so fondly, both then and now.
As for teenagers... yeah. Oh yeah.
lol! Very true on both points, especially the teenagers! lol.
Mornin’ Cowboy! I’m glad to see a statue of Frank. He needs to be honoured for his unbelievable work.
About time he clued into the messages from Mollie. I guess love would be the last thing on his mind while trying to bring a town under control and also wipe out racism.
Yeah he had never been around women so he had to be trained. lol..but lots of men need trained!