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155 old wounds reopened— the colorado home inv aded Chapter XIV 1 In the summer of ’91 the peaceful serenity of the Marlows’ cozy mountain home was suddenly invaded by officers who came up from Texas to tear agape the old wounds of their tribulations, to re-arrest them and take them back again as prisoners to the scenes of all their woe. One bright June day there stepped off the Denver & Rio Grande train upon the depot platform at Ridgway two men. They were large, bronzed, handsome specimens of manhood, wore wide-brimmed hats of the sombrero pattern and were heavily armed with improved Colt’s revolvers, which swung in holsters from cartridge belts about their waists. Their dress and manner stamped them for what they were—Texas Rangers. These were Captain McDonald2 andA. J. Britton,3 two of the bravest and most fearless members of the northern division of Texas Rangers 1 This chapter was misnumbered XIV in the original 1892 edition and the error was not corrected in the later publication. Actually it should have been Chapter XIX. 2 William Jesse McDonald (1852–1918) was one of the legendary “Four Captains” of the storied Texas Rangers: McDonald, John Reynolds Hughes (1855–1947), John Harris Rogers, (1863–1930), John Abijah Brooks (1855–1944). A generator of legends, he stands high in the pantheon of Ranger heroes. It was said of him that he would “charge hell with a bucket of water.” Arriving alone at the scene of a riot, he was asked if he was the only Ranger coming and reportedly replied: “There’s only one riot, ain’t there?” He had already acquired a wide reputation for fearlessness while acting as deputy sheriff and deputy U. S. marshal prior to his January 1891 appointment to head Company B, Frontier Battalion, Texas Rangers, by his close friend Governor James S. Hogg. He had only held the position a few months when he was sent to Colorado after the Marlows (Paine, Captain Bill McDonald, passim; Tyler, New Handbook of Texas, 4:391–93; Morris, A Private in the Texas Rangers, 273). 3 James Magruder “Grude” Britton (1863–1910), sergeant of Company B, performed notably during his more than six years service in the Rangers. Glenn Shirley, in his book The Fighting 156 ⁄ CHAPTER XIX under government employ, and they came armed with a requisition from the governor of Texas for the arrest of George and Charley Marlow, charged with complicity in the killing of Sheriff Wallace by their brother, Boone Marlow, in January of 1888.4 They knew the Marlows, these men, and were aware of their dauntless courage. They had known them years ago in Texas and Indian country, and while they admired their courage and abilities, and knew that should they resist arrest there would have to be a desperate fight and perhaps death to face, they had come determined to take them prisoners, let the consequences be what they may, for they were deputized by the law and the court and had a plain duty to perform. Word was hurriedly dispatched to Ouray, to J. H. Bradley, then sheriff of Ouray county,5 to come immediately to Ridgway on matters of urgent importance. Sheriff Bradley appeared on the scene a few hours later, and Captain McDonald made known to him the purpose of their errand. They had warrants for the arrest, besides the requisition from the Texas governor, but under the law it was necessary for the local sheriff to make the arrest and then turn the prisoners over to the Rangers for conveyance and delivery to the Texas authorities. Accordingly Sheriff Bradley, one of the best friends the Marlows have in Colorado, started out from Ridgway, over the foothills and to the broad mesa upon which Marlows, followed Rathmell and incorrectly gave his initials as “A. J.” and Albert Paine, McDonald’s biographer, misspelled the name “Brittain” (Captain Bill McDonald, 143). W. John L. Sullivan, who served with Britton in B Company, recorded the name correctly (TwelveYears in the Saddle, 52). After many years service as a peace officer, Britton was shot and killed in a dispute with a Fort Worth police captain in 1910 (Morris, A Private in the Texas Rangers, 274– 75). Although Charley Marlow had been indicted inAugust 1889 for the murder of Sheriff Wallace, it was not until February 3, 1891, that a warrant was issued for his arrest by District Clerk A. T. Gay. Three days later Sheriff William Henry Lewis...

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