From Preacher To Lawman
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 was working as a cowboy down along the SouthWest border of Texas. Cowboy work was long, hard, and boring.
Frankie's cowboy territory in Pecos County, Texas:
![n954h853z2.jpg](https://steemitimages.com/640x0/https://img.esteem.ws/n954h853z2.jpg)
When two horses were stolen from the ranch he was working on he rode out after the thieves, caught them, and took them to the Sheriff..by himself.
The Sheriff was extremely impressed by young Frankie who was only 17 yrs old. And Frankie found his calling.
Today's story
Although Frankie was working as a cowhand he met a wide variety of people and just as he was a student of wildlife, he was also a student of human behavior and was extremely astute.
He understood different types of people and compared them to the animals he had studied.
Frankie was a Human Behaviorist too
For instance, a criminal was like a coyote, always taking a look over his shoulder. A cornered political schemer is "a crawfish about three days from water." A murderer was "as cold-blooded as a rattlesnake with a chill."
He considered himself most like an antelope because "antelopes are the most curious of all animals." That's why he was getting bored stiff with being a cowboy.
He was such a voracious learner that he needed more challenges and stimulation than what a cowpoke's life offered. (plus it didn't pay squat).
His link to the outside world
Does anyone know what a telephone "Party Line" is? When phones first came out in rural areas they were all connected to each other so if your neighbor was on the phone you could just pick it up and talk to them without dialing.
And anyone else on that line could pick it up and listen in on the conversation. That's what we had in Kansas growing up.
Well, the ranch were Frankie worked had a phone line like that, this was in 1906. And being bored as he was he would listen in on people talking about news events and whatever else they talked about.
Lots of gossip no doubt too, but he was fascinated by this new contraption.
Well, one night Frankie was listening to people talk and the Sheriff that he'd turned those horse thieves over to was talking to one of his deputies about intercepting a horse thief that was heading Frankie's way.
The deputy couldn't do the job and the Sheriff was too tied up at the jail plus the thief had such a head start it'd be hard to catch him. So Frankie jumped in on the call and said "I'll go get him Sheriff!" The Sheriff says "Who the hell are YOU?"
So Frankie told him and the Sheriff said the thief was headed his way and if he could catch him he'd be much obliged and would be heading out to give him a hand as soon as he could.
Frankie knew where the thief had to stop
Frankie knew that the only source of water on the road was the windmill of the Carr ranch where he was working, and he figured the horse thief would show up about sunrise.
So he got up at 3 AM, strapped on his six-shooter, grabbed his rifle and rode out to the windmill.
This is the model of rifle Frankie used, it was a Winchester Model 1894 Saddle Ring Carbine:
Sure enough, about sunrise here comes the horse thief. When he dismounted Frankie stepped out behind some brush with his rifle pointed at him and said "You're under arrest."
The cat swung right back into his saddle and spurred his horse toward Fort Stockton.
I'm not surprised. At 20 Frankie still looked like a kid. A BIG kid at 6 ft 2 in but still a kid. I don't think the thief was too worried.
That was fine with Frankie, that's where the Sheriff was coming from.
He just followed about 20 feet behind him and after about 16 miles Frankie saw the Sheriff at the top of a hill galloping toward them in a buggy.
Two in a row for a volunteer
That was another horse thief caught by Frankie. As the Sheriff was cuffing the guy he said to Frankie, "This is the second time you've done my work for me. How'd you like to be a Texas Ranger?"
Frankie had never thought of it but it sounded DARN good to him! He asked what he had to do to get in? The Sheriff said "You let me take care of that." From that moment on Frankie's dream of becoming a preacher died.
The Sheriff's name was Dud Barker.
How would you like to have a name like "Dud?" lol. I love the names they had back then. In the last post we had a rancher named Green Berry.
Anyway, Dud was a Ranger for 3 years and had a great reputation with them so he had pull.
We'll take Frankie's story up again in the next post.
Thanks for reading folks, God bless you all!
-jonboy
Texas
PS- I've been finding more interesting wire sculptures. The possibilites are endless. Check this one out:
![yfg9kncrth.jpg](https://steemitimages.com/640x0/https://img.esteem.ws/yfg9kncrth.jpg)
You could really freak people out by putting this one up in a park at night!
![ysbm0yj3z6.jpg](https://steemitimages.com/640x0/https://img.esteem.ws/ysbm0yj3z6.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)
Hey @janton, I remember the "party line" well. Younger folks might think it is a group of people waiting to get into a club or something. LOL.
lol! Exactly. It was quite something wasn't it? It wasn't bad unless you needed to make a call and some people were talking forever and then you had to ask them if they would hang up so you could make a call!
Plus, the gossipers loved to listen in on everyone's calls. lol.
I love how you make history come alive with images
Thank you so much truelovemom!
♥
I'd say Frankie was lucky to have Dud on his side lol. Anyone with a name like Dud is sure to be a tough cookie.
I am absolutely loving those wire sculptures <3
Howdy tamaralovelace! I agree, Dud was great. lol. The sculptures are totally amazing, I have no idea how they do that stuff!
I think it's magic! :)
You're probably right! lol.
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Howdy esteemapp! Thanks so much for the upvote and the great platform!
These wire sculptures are ethereal! Great story. Do you know the stories of @deeanndmathews? She's writing fiction.about a more modern lawman with moral super powers. You guys might like each other's work.
Howdy owasco! I agree about the sculptures, I have no idea how they do those things. Thanks for the recommendation, I saw her post when she first joined, she's the singer right? I had no idea she was an author too. I'll check it out.
I remember those party lines! I never had one, but my family in the middle-of-nowhere Saskatchewan. They existed for a long time!
Yay! you remember those too! They were strange. You go to make a call and of course the old ladies in the neighborhood would be on there talking for hours. Finally you'd have to break in and ask if they could hang up so you could make a call. Then they'd get back on while you were talking so they could find out some more gossip! lol.
Yay, Frankie joins the league.
The wire mesh sculptures are freaky. 😊
I think you could do that kind sir Vincent, that wouldn't take as much time, more like sculpting. Then you could freak people out even more than you do already! lol.
Very funny! 😎
lol! thank you sir Vincent.
Hi janton, such an interesting story about Frank Hamer but I think that I will avoid the park where the ghostly lady stands, lol.
lol! That would be so freaky! Thanks for your kind words. It's a little slow at first but he gets into a great deal of action later on!
Oh well, even the best of us are guilty of slow starts, lol.
That's true, some people don't hit their prime and make a big difference until they are in their later years!
Haha Cowboy! These wire sculptures are getting more hairy looking.
I remember the party lines. It was great for what they called rubbering...listening to the calls of others. If you got on the line to listen the people on it would know as the line wasn’t as clear. They would holler, “Get off the line this is a private call!”
Frank has definitely found his calling.
Haha! yay someone else who knows about party lines, I guess we're revealing our ages aren't we? That was ancient technology. I hadn't heard that called "rubbering" but yes it was the specialty of all the old ladies in the neighborhood!
It was a bit of a hassle because they'd be on the phone for hours and finally you'd have to break in and ask them to hang up so you could make a call, and then they'd get back on and listen in! lol.
Oh! Those wire sculptures are great! Love to have one!
I agree sir kaminchan! I think if you made those you could make good money selling them at markets!
I wish I had the ability to do that!!
Then I will be able to get a fancy camera!
Oh you are using an old camera? I think your photos are very good!
Thank you very much! I use iPhone6S Plus!
And a small pocket camera, very old but handy!
Well if that's what it is then your photos are even more impressive! lol.