Red's Lucky Day And The Third Assassin
Howdy folks and greetings from the Great Plains of North Texas!
We're in a series about one of the best Texas Rangers 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 and Gee McMeans or McUgly as I call him, finished their fight with McMeans himself being finished. Frank was badly shot up though and in excruciating pain from being shot in the leg and shoulder.
McUgly's henchman, Red, was running down the sidewalk away from Frank when we ended the post.
Today's story
When Frank's brother, Harrison, heard all the shootin he ran back to the garage as fast as he could. He arrived just in time to see Red running away so he grabbed his Winchester rifle from the car and took dead aim at Red's back.
Frank says, "Don't! Not in the back." Red ducked into a restaurant and Harrison gave chase but couldn't find him. Later when he was asked why he didn't shoot Red in the back Frank just said, "I couldn't shoot the damned coward in the back."
Red was lucky it was Frank
Even in the heat of battle and full of fury he had honor. The Sheriff arrived a few minutes later and arrested Frank, Harrison, Gladys, and Rocky. Rocky?!
I don't know why they would arrest Rocky but then we have no photos of her, maybe she looked like a killer. lol. (Rocky was Gladys's sister-in-law).
The Sheriff confiscated all the guns too: Seven revolvers, three rifles, two shotguns, and two semi-automatic pistols!
They all went to jail except Frank who was carried to the courthouse where a doctor treated him but couldn't get alot of the metal out of his shoulder. Then they sent him to jail too.
Quite the medical treatment they gave huh? With wounds that serious they didn't even get him to a hospital! That was pathetic.
Too late and a dollar short
Later that day another hired gunman by the name of Higdon arrived in Sweetwater by train. He was supposed to meet up with McUgly to help ambush Frank.
This job was NOT well planned!
Sweetwater, TX, 1917:
When he saw a covered body being taken into the funeral parlor he loudly proclaimed, "that he'd planned to kill Frank Hamer and that McMeans hadn't the decency to wait for him."
A bystander told him that the job was still open, Frank was injured in the shootout but was still alive and that McMeans hadn't hogged all the glory after all.
A shocked Higdon grumbled that "it wouldn't do to take on a wounded man, not a decent thing at all." He hopped on the next train out of town! Big talkers usually fade fast when faced with real danger but he shows back up later in the story.
The sad part
McMeans was mean and ugly actin but he was also married and had an 11 yr old son. They shipped his body back home to them the next day.
I feel sorry for them because he's the one that made the really disastrous decision to try and murder Frank, not them.
This story continues in the next post.
Thanks for reading folks, God bless you all!
-jonboy
Texas
PS- Now on a lighter note, I found a dream of a vending machine. It's not just an ice cream vending machine, it's an ice cream MAKING vending machine!
MooBella ice cream came out with this thing. It has 14 different flavors and you can choose your combination with a total of 96 variations, all in 40 seconds.
Check out this cool video:
They're rollin 'em out this year but only in New England, unfortunately. They need to put them where it's hot. Texas needs you MooBella!
@janton, I love your stories. And I don't think Sweetwater has changed in 100 years.
Howdy sir blockurator! I just read your great post about the free public use photos, tremendously helpful! Anyway, thanks for the kind words and have you been to Sweetwater?
I've been through Sweetwater. I may have stuck around once or twice, for a meal or something. I grew up in Texas. Born and raised in Dallas, so I've been all over the state, mostly north and east Texas. Though, I confess, now living in Pennsylvania since 2006, it's been years since I've been anywhere near Sweetwater. When I was there last, it seemed to be as staid as it ever was. :-)
I'm sure it hasn't changed a bit! The giant growth is all around the larger cities of course. Even our little town of Caddo Mills is exploding with new developments that have hundreds of condos in them, it's amazing. Over a thousand people a day moving here, mostly from CA and NY.
What took you to Pennsylvania, career?
From California and New York? That's interesting.
My wife brought me here, courtesy of Uncle Sam. I was a National Guard officer and spent 2005 in Iraq. While I was gone, my wife moved us up here to be closer to the grandchildren. She grew up around here. We're near Gettysburg.
I see, well thank you for your service sir blockurator. Yes, with so many people from liberal states moving in they think Texas will turn blue in a few years, things are changing and the Texas culture that has always been will mostly be a fond memory.
I'd love to visit the battlefield there someday.
We'd love to have you!
I'll make it someday.lol.
Frank must have been in a lot of pain as he got older with all those injuries and them being cared for properly.
Good to know he was honorable-would not shoot someone in the back even if that someone tried to kill him first.
Howdy redheadpei! I agree and it makes me wonder if I would have done the same, or NOT done the same. Maybe I would shoot for the lower legs. I haven't gotten to his story when he is old but it'll be interesting, I'd think he'd have to have all kinds of problems from all the damage and bullets still in him!
I hope that sheriff figures out what's what soon and Frank gets the care he needs. That's pretty awful.
Moobella! How fun. I splurged today while I was out and had a pumpkin shake from Culver's. A delightful Halloween treat!
Oh that sounds heavenly! Do they have MooBella ice cream up there? I've never heard of it.
Yeah I can just see the old Doc, probably from the Wild West days, looking him over and sayin "He'll live. I've seen worse!" lol. I don't think he got anymore treatment. Probably didn't even have pain killers to give him.
I've never heard of Moobella before, but then I'm out of the loop on a lot of things!
Since they are setting the machines up in New England I figured they must be from that area. I think they should place them in FL or Texas. I assume you guys also did some traveling in New England?
I've spent lots of time in Central New York, and have traveled through Vermont and New Hampshire, and a bit of Maine.
Culver's has the best ice cream. They are a Wisconsin institution! I have never seen an ice cream vending machine, but I would probably be tempted to give it a try if I came across one!
I've never seen Culvers so I guess they don't get down here unfortunately. I'd give any ice cream making vending machine a try! How has your day gone? You know what? It was 30 degrees last night, set a record. And it was 50 today, the normal for this time of year is 73. Supposed to get done to 31 tonight.
I've been posting about the 6 inches of snow we got.
Culver's started in Wisconsin, a mom and pop business in Central WI in the next town over from where I lived. Their ice cream was worth the trip. Their food is pretty decent, too. The franchise is huge and we actually have 3 of them in my town now. There are some in Texas, but it looks like they are only in the cities.
Howdy tonight Melinda! Sorry I missed this yesterday. Ok, so it's not just an ice cream maker, I'll probably run into them sometime I'm sure.
Red was lucky it was Frank. Frank was lucky it was Red. 😊
lol! Great point sir Vincent, Red was a rank amateur at this killin stuff!
McUgly and McMean, huh 🤣🤣🤣🤣
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Yes sir, McMean was a mean and ugly character so I nicknamed him McUgly. lol.
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Mmmmmmmmmm
Howdy brittandjosie! I know, you have to read the whole series to know what's going on so my reaction would be the same. lol. God bless you all over there!
It was only for the moobella
Oh yes, that gets the same reaction from me too! lol.
I've missed some of the series, and I assume Frank is no longer a Texas Ranger at this point, as I don't think he'd be arrested if he was. Was the arrest because he killed McUgly?
Howdy sir free-reign! Yes this post is in the middle of a long series. He got arrested because he killed McUgly and the Sheriff had to figure out what went down and who was at fault. That part's in the next post.
Thanks so much for commenting!