[48]
48 It was during this troubled twilight of peace, in the late spring of 1941, that Sheriff Fox and the Rangers rekindled peace themselves. Perhaps the ominous threat of greater external enemies looming on the horizon put their petty differences in perspective. Chris Fox and Texas DPS director Homer Garrison exchanged a series of friendly telephone and mail communiqués that were obviously aimed at healing the rift between the El Paso sheriff ’s office and the Rangers in Austin. Although they chatted about the job, and particularly the Frome case, the only hint of the sheriff ’s secret cooperation with the FBI was one veiled reference. Fox mentioned that he was “in the big middle of some work,” not in the normal duties of a local lawman, “that made him feel as low as the bottom of the ocean.” Referring to a phone call from Garrison the previous day, Fox wrote on April 30, 1941, “I’m going to get by there [Austin] in the course of the next few days and tell you what it is all about, but until that time I want you to know how deeply I have appreciated your friendship and how much it has meant to me during these years.”316 The sheriff and the top Ranger expressed mutual angst over the fact that the Frome murders remained unsolved. Fox wrote to Garrison, Sometimes I become thoroughly disgusted with myself about this case, but I know in my own heart that when the answer comes I will be butting my head against a stone wall for having been so damn dumb. I cannot help but think the solution is somewhere that so far has remained untouched, and that in the final analysis it will be or should be very simple. When you stop to think about it, there is nothing new or startling about this case. It is just one more case involving dual homicides. It has happened before and it will happen again. Of course, I realize that many things were against us, among them the fact that Jim Milam had to be illiterate and couldn’t read the sign on the 274 fetch the devil car door. High winds on the day of the killing, and for days after, blew away evidence.Andwhat wasn’tblown awaySheriffAlbert Anderson was unable to uncover because he was unable to keep half the population of Culberson County from assembling on the scene of the crime. And not forgetting our mutual friend, Frank [Ranger Mills], who scared offalltheMexicanhelpatHotelCortezbeforewecouldproperlylearnwhat they knew. But in fairness to Frank, none of the rest of us have shown any great skill, so I guess we should stop being so critical of him.317 Fox signed the letter, “Your sincerest Amigo.” DirectorGarrisonrespondedafewdayslater,expressinghisownfrustration at not having solved the now three-year-old case. He didn’t mention that he had no regular DPS investigator currently assigned to it. “I,too,havethesameopinionsaboutthiscasethatyoudoandveryoften spend much time trying to figure out some new angle,” Garrison wrote. “But I always come back to the original starting point with nothing new. I am confident this case will be worked out. How or when I wish I knew. Any new information we get I assure you we will send you. It’s been quite a while since this department has been graced by your presence, so we hope it will not be long before you come in the door that always has the latch string hanging on the outside for you.”318 Just how far down the list of investigative priorities the Frome case had dropped was apparent in a series of articles written by a Dallas Morning NewsreporternamedFelixMcKnight.Thearticlesrecitedthehistoryofthe Rangers and noted that their ranks would soon be substantially increased from thirty-one to forty-six. The reporter also noted that, while machine guns and hand grenades had been added to the Rangers’ arsenal, they still hauled their trusted horses in trailers behind their V-8s. Buried on the last page of the last article was this notation: “Incidentally, the department still works unceasingly on the fiendish slayings of Mrs. Weston Frome and her daughter Nancy on the desert near Van Horn in May of 1938.”319 The actual murders had occurred in March, not May. Nevertheless, the Rangers did assign investigators to the Frome case if they received new leads. One such incident occurred in March 1941. Rangers quickly debunked any connection to an Odessa murder case involving a .32-caliber automatic used by a disgruntled...
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