How The Most Famous Texas Ranger Got His Start
Howdy folks and greetings from the Great Plains of North Texas!
A couple months ago I saw the movie The Highwaymen starring Kevin Costner and Woody Harrelson.
It's about two famous retired Texas Rangers who were asked to come out of retirement to track down and kill the psycho serial killers Bonnie and Clyde.
Costner played Frank Hamer brilliantly:
It's a great movie, especially if you're a history buff because it's accurately done. But anyway, in the movie they referred to Kevin Costner's character, Frank Hamer, as a legendary lawman.
That kind of surprised me because I didn't know his story, probably because he worked at the very end of the Cowboy era and into modern times.
Well, it depends on what you call "modern" but the time of cars, telephones, and the end of the Wild West.
So I started researching to find out what he was about and WOW, his story is incredible! He was one of our greatest lawmen and most assuredly our most successful Texas Ranger.
And is shockingly unsung. I was blown away by his record and his exploits.
I think I'll do a series about him but for now I just wanted to share how he got his start in the Rangers. But I'll start from the beginning.
His upbringin
Frank was born in the Texas Hill Country in 1884, that's pretty close to the center of the state. He had 7 brothers and sisters and his dad was a blacksmith. Naturally, from an early age he worked with his dad.
We even have a photo of his family shop and home. The blacksmith shop and home sat beside each other.
Looks sorta like shacks don't they? They were poor.
That meant he spent long hours toiling away with a sledgehammer and anvil in his father’s shop. It helped him to grow up big and strong..6 ft 2 and all muscle.
His life was basically all work and no play. I can relate. No formal schooling after the sixth grade.
Frank said, “The only education I got was on the hurricane end of a Mexican pony.” lol.
He spent tons of time outdoors and became and expert hunter, rifleman, tracker, and rider(horses). He left home and worked in West Texas as a cowboy.
Here's a typical cowboy scene from that time period showing the herd of cattle and horses and the Chuck Wagon with the cook:
In the next post we'll talk about how he got in with the Rangers and how he earned their respect with the first case he was on.
Thanks for reading folks, God bless you all!
-jonboy
Texas
Hey good morning @janton. I saw that movie, I love Kevin Costner movies. Thanks for a little history, looking forward to the next chapter.
Have a wonderful day my friend!!
Howdy farm-mom! How are you guys? I'm sorry I'm so swamped with outside work this summer that I've fallen off the cliff with so many friends! thanks so much for commenting, Kevin Costner is so good and I think the family of Frank Hamer were consultants and made sure that the story was accurate.
The title had me thinking we’d learn how this guy became a Ranger.
How was your weekend Janton?
Howdy sir dandays! yes, that's what the title means but people can't handle long posts so I'm trying to keep them short so I cut it off. Our weekend is great. Is it still hot over there? You guys have good air conditioning?
We’re in England, sir, it doesn’t get hot here. We’ve been in sweat shirts, pants and beanies since we got here in June.
Howdy sir dandays! I had no idea that it didn't get hot there, I kept hearing about the record heat wave in Europe so I thought you guys were in it.
Hold it.."beanies?"
I didn’t know it either Janton. I keep asking how cold winter is because I had to buy a jacket and it’s only August. I guess it’s zero between November and February here so yeah.. it doesn’t get hot here. 0 is the same wether it’s F or C. Yes’ir, beanies.
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Well I hate to sound like a dumb redneck but what are beanies? lol. We used to call those little caps with the propellers on them beanies! lol.
Beanie. Like a headsock, what do you call them? These things.
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Howdy sir dandays! well in the North we called them tugues or stocking caps. But I don't think anyone wears them in Texas so I don't think they call them anything here. lol.
What are your plans after the hardfork as far as posting?
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Wow thank you so much @penderis, God bless you!
Looks like a good movie. Hopefully they have it on my next inflight or my home streaming.
I liked him ever since Robinhood.
me too sir abitcoinskeptic! MY favorite was Dances With Wolves. Do you do alot of flying?
Dances with wolves was another great film. He had a gooď stretch until water world set him back.
I don't fly too often, I just have a big one coming up soon which means movie times. Heading to Canada for a couple weeks.
Oh this is a great time to be going to Canada isn't it? Yes, Costner went from major big screen star to some great roles on smaller screens like Netflix and he's starring in an online series for Paramount and plays a Montana rancher but I can't recall the name of it at the moment.
Hello!!!
@janton
Wow !!!
Another awesome story coming our way...😊
Howdy annephilbrick! Well this one is just an intro composed of a few posts but I'll probably do a longer series on him which covers his whole live.. but I don't have a good book yet, I found one though so I'll be ordering it soon. I'm glad you like the sound of the story though!
Awesome! I love reading through your stories and the pictures you put with them. Looking forward to seeing this one continue!
Howdy sir wwwiebe! thanks so much. well this is just a short introduction series, I found a good book about his life, I just need to see if it's available anywhere and then I'll do him justice with a full series. men like him really tamed the West and made if safe for everyone.
That was a good movie. Costner was wonderful as Frank Hamer. They alluded to what a great Texas Ranger he had been, but gave few clues about his career. I'll look forward to hearing you tell his story.
It's going to be a great one, I'm looking for the biography that was written by an historian, if I can find it then I'll tell his whole life story which was incredible. It's funny that he wasn't famous until after his career had ended and he got back into it to get Bonnie and Clyde and now that's what he's known for.
I will be looking forward to it. I like it when you pick people to write about that I know nothing about.
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Hi jonboy, very interesting to hear this story. I saw Kevin Costner and Woody Harreison playing Texas Rangers in this movie too. I thought it was well done too and very sad when the riddled the car and Bonnie and Clyde with bullets. They were psycho killers and was probably the only way to deal with them. But it was very shocking to witness.
Howdy angiemitchell! yes, I agree and I think that's why the two rangers wanted nothing to do with the publicity of it. I thought it was interesting that the feds were so desperate to stop Bonnie and Clyde that when they gave the assignment to Hamer it was to take them out, not capture them. I think they wanted to send a message and stop the media circus.
I'm glad you saw the movie though, do you guys have Netflix?