Winchester Warriors: Texas Rangers of Company D, 1874-1901

Chapter 13: “A dynamite cartridge under the saloon”

229 Chapter 13 “A dynamite cartridge under the saloon” Dawn may have broken for a new decade, but the history of Company D reveals some things remained unchanged. Texas Rangers, in most instances, were not making state service a career. Again, comparing two Company D Muster Rolls is illustrative. A 1890 roster contains but one name that was listed on a 1885 Muster Roll, that of Frank Jones who had managed the evolution from lieutenant to captain. There was, however, one dynamic that merits mention. On the Muster Roll for 1890 there are as many unpaid Special Rangers as there are salaried Texas Rangers.1 Two aspects of Texas Ranger lore were rooted too deeply for any change: peril and politics. The policing of people can be a markedly hazardous line of work, which 1890 will confirm in spades for the Texas Rangers of Company D. Corporal James R. Robinson had that message driven home during the year’s first month. Robinson, in charge of a three-man detail, had been sent to Sonora, Sutton County, to keep the peace in an asof -yet unorganized county. The town, ninety miles due north of Del Rio, was tough. From the start Corporal Robinson noticed Sonora was “one hard place.”2 Right off the bat, New Year’s Day, he arrested Pedro Rias for Assault to Murder, and Lon Reynolds for Theft of Cattle , sending both prisoners to Junction City as there was no jailhouse at Sonora. On the ninth, a deputy sheriff from Kimble County was in town and “got on a drunk.” Corporal Robinson “unarmed him.” Less than a week later Company D’s 1st Corporal arrested William Taylor for “Shooting on Streets.” J. R. Robinson couldn’t spell worth a damn, but he was well seasoned, salty: “They Schoat this little town up often[.] I and one man tried to Stope two men the other night[.] They Schoat and We Schoat two Schoats apeace[.] They run out of the place So I will arrest thim when I finde thim.”3 Those gunshots were the harbinger for many more fired by or at Company D Texas Rangers during the next few months. 230  Chapter 13 Too, capricious decisions—political and administrative—at Frontier Battalion headquarters could radically impact the everyday lives of Company D’s rank and file. As certainly as January 1890 was starting off as an exciting time for Corporal Robinson, that same month citizens’ petitions poured into Austin: at least three would affect Company D in the near term—and for the long haul. A thunderous uproar was emanating from Cotulla, the county seat of La Salle County, that perpetual hothouse of unrest at the Nueces Strip’s top edge. An area physician, Doctor J. W. Hargus, had takenameasureofthecommunity’spulse.Heexpounded,“morethan once I was led blindfolded into a thicket to doctor a wounded outlaw. I have treated gunshot wounds of 259 men and have seen 108 men with bullet holes in them that did not need treating.”4 Counting dead bodies was not the basis for a petition submitted to Adjutant General King on the third day of January—tallying votes was. Alarmed that there would be a bold “attempt made to vote a large number of Mexicans illegally” in an upcoming local option election about legalizing the sale of intoxicants, concerned citizens on the “dry” side had made their fears known to Austin. According to those petitioners, Sonora, Texas. For a time it was a wild and woolly town, considered by many Company D Texas Rangers as “one hard place.” Courtesy Sutton County Historical Society. “A dynamite cartridge under the saloon” 231 the La Salle County Sheriff, the Precinct 1 Justice of the Peace, and a Constable were standing in league with the “liquor element.” The petitioners feared that they would “have but little or no protection of law,” and respectfully appealed that a “Squad of rangers be sent here at the earliest moment possible….”5 Generally the county was in a “lawless condition” and the sheriff was considered a “perfect nonentity ” by Captain Jones.6 The La Salle County folks wanted to see the bright and shining faces of Company D Texas Rangers. Barroom scene, Sonora, Texas. Courtesy Sutton County Historical Society. A smattering of Uvalde County citizens didn’t want any Company D men in their neighborhood—whatsoever. They were not happy with the local Texas Rangers and through their written...