Written in Blood: The History of Fort Worth's Fallen Lawmen, Volume 1, 1861-1909

CHAPTER 10 Police Officers Dick Howell & Oscar Montgomery (April 11, 1908)

226 CHAPTER 10 Dick Howell, ca. 1906, when he was marshal of the North Fort Worth Police Department (note the old-style badge). Two years later he is out of the Department, a civilian, but still willing to lend a hand in an emergency. From B. B. Paddock, A Historical and Biographical Record of North and West Texas (Chicago, 1922). (Courtesy Fort Worth Public Library, Local History & Genealogy Dept.) Chief Oscar Montgomery, as he appeared in a 1913 Department photograph, probably taken in April. In the group photo, you can tell just how big a man he was by comparing the size of his head and hands to the men on either side of him. (Collections of Kevin Foster) 227 CHAPTER฀10฀ Police฀Officers฀Dick฀Howell฀ &฀Oscar฀Montgomery฀ April 11, 1908 Mamas, Don’t Let Your Babies Grow up to Be Lawmen The deaths of most of the officers in these pages were the direct result of being assaulted in the performance of their duties. It is not that simple with Dick Howell and Oscar Montgomery. Both men were severely wounded in the line of duty and in fact given up to death, but they were too tough to die. Both recovered and lived many more years. It is at least arguable, however, that their lives were ultimately cut short by their wounds, and in Dick Howell’s case the medical evidence is so undeniable that the Fort Worth Police and Firefighters Memorial committee had no problem putting him on their monument. Oscar Montgomery did not make the monument, but his story is inseparably tied to Dick Howell’s, and but for fate he would have taken the devastating shotgun blast that permanently crippled Howell. Richard D. Howell and Oscar R. Montgomery worked for the small community of North Fort Worth, just across the Trinity River from Fort Worth. They were lawmen and fast friends. Because of that friendship and the code of the badge, each knew the other would always have his back. In 1908, Montgomery was town marshal of North Fort Worth, and Howell was a special officer for the Fort Worth and Denver City Railway. Thirty-seven-year-old Oscar Montgomery was born on February 228 CHAPTER 9 24, 1872, in Hico, Hamilton County, Texas, also the hometown of Fort Worth lawmen Lee and Sid Waller (see chapter 6). He had four brothers and sisters growing up and received a limited education in the public school system before leaving Hico to make his mark in the world. He married Rizpah J. Hudson on July 14, 1902, and they had three children: a daughter, Ruth, and two sons, William “Roy” and James Ralph “Sully.”1 Oscar and Rizpah came to Fort Worth from Comanche County in 1903 so that he could take a job at one of the new packing plants. He worked on the killing floor at Swift and Company; Armour and Company was right across the street. If he had stayed in Comanche all he would have had to look forward to was a life of farming or ranching. The couple bought a house in North Fort Worth not far from his job, but nothing in North Fort Worth was far from the packing plants. North Fort Worth only existed because of the packing plants. As a typical Victorian male, Oscar was a joiner; he belonged to the Woodmen of the World and the Knights of Pythias, which were his retreat from job and family duties.2 The first thing everyone noticed about Oscar Montgomery was his size. He was a mountain of a man, standing six foot six inches and weighing more than 200 pounds, none of it fat. Most of the men he worked with were closer to 150 pounds. He had ham-sized hands and an over-large head that a thick black mustache only served to draw more attention to. From the top of his massive head to his similarly proportioned feet he was a formidable presence. He did not intend to slaughter animals and carve up their carcasses for the rest of his life. He could have been the “Strong Man” in a circus but instead joined the North Fort Worth Police Department in 1904. Two years later he was elected marshal, succeeding Dick Howell. Montgomery was well regarded by both his constituents and officers because he enforced the laws fairly and with restraint. His size alone was enough...