Yours to Command: The Life and Legend of Texas Ranger Captain Bill McDonald

Chapter 4. A Gunfight Between Two Guardians of the Law

In his investigation of criminal activities in the first half of the 1890s in the Texas Panhandle, Captain McDonald took part in a bloody gun battle. No outlaw ambushed him in cowardly fashion. No desperado had the nerve to face him in a fast-draw gunfight. Instead, McDonald found himself in the streets of Quanah in December 1893 shooting it out with a county sheriff. When the gunfire ended, Captain Bill had near-fatal wounds and the other lawman was headed for his grave. Through the years the reasons for such clashes in the American West have been varied and complex. In the hurried atmosphere involving split-second gunplay, accidents did occur. In addition, gun-wielding peace officers held grudges, became mean, and showed violent natures, especially after drinking and carousing in saloons and houses of prostitution. The police in western America also reflected departmental infighting and societal beliefs. Burning social issues, like the struggle to suppress commercialized vice, and the antagonistic thought-patterns resulting { 8 7 } Chapter 4  A GUNFIGHT BETWEEN TWO GUARDIANS OF THE LAW It was strange, indeed, that McDonald did not “happen to get killed” in those busy days of the early nineties. One of the favorite vows of tough “pan-handlers” was to shoot Bill McDonald on sight.1 from law officers disputing their authority to make arrests and get rewards, pushed some policemen into shootouts with each other. As the United States moved westward, lawmen at cross purposes with other lawmen could turn their jurisdictions into battlegrounds. Captain Bill was not the only member of the Frontier Battalion who found himself in a gun battle with another lawman. The officers and rank and file of the ranging companies even pulled their side arms or other weapons and fired at each other. In 1877 “drunk and disorderly” Ranger Private W. H. Turner tried to shoot a fellow Ranger and was dishonorably discharged from the service for his conduct.2 In 1882 Ranger A. H. S. Davenport was captured and removed from the service after he failed to pay his debts, got drunk, and tried to desert. In a chase Davenport pulled his rifle, as other Rangers fired several shots, one of which hit his horse.3 Four years later the monthly report of Company B stated that Private Sterling Price “killed” Private George May. An argument about placing a coffee pot on a fire led to the deadly gunplay.4 Then in 1894, Special Ranger and Deputy U. S. Marshal Baz (Bass) Outlaw, drunk and mean, shot and killed Ranger Joe McKidrict and wounded a town constable, while being gunned down himself by the same constable .5 Such unwanted violence hampered the operations of the Frontier Battalion. Cascading events led to the downfall of more than one Texas Ranger. A classic case occurred in 1881 at Fort Davis. Rangers Jeff Davis Milton and W. H. “Buck” Guyse of Company E went to town, got drunk, and fired their guns, even at a deputy sheriff. When Milton returned to the Ranger camp, he sobered up and took his punishment. Guyse, on the other hand, disappeared. When found by Rangers sent after him, Buck hid in rocks, opened fire, and, in turn, took a bullet in the shoulder from the weapon of a charging Ranger. After medical treatment at Fort Davis, Guyse deserted. Then the Ranger captain informed his company by special order that Rangers would be treated like criminals when they broke the law.6 Y O U R S T O C O M M A N D { 8 8 } Captain Bill had the ability to stop gunplay between local peace officers. In his service as a Special Ranger he reported to his superiors in 1889 that he stopped an armed confrontation between outgoing and incoming sheriffs in a county in the Panhandle. McDonald did this by taking away the weapons that these lawmen had—especially their shotguns. McDonald noted that he kept the outgoing sheriff from being “killed” and that “things” had become “more quiet.”7 To the chagrin of those who have praised Bill McDonald for his ability to handle riotous situations, the Ranger captain did not keep things quiet in his troubles with a particular county sheriff. He did not resolve the numerous issues with the local lawman. Nor did he disarm his opponent before the bullets flew. The most serious conflict...