Captain J. A. Brooks, Texas Ranger

9. The Baker/De La Cerda Incident

Three years before the four captains assumed their duties for the Ranger Force, an outbreak of smallpox in Laredo caused a minor panic in the mostly Mexican town that turned into a full fledged riot by March 1899. Dr. Walter F. Blunt, the state’s chief health officer, called for a quarantine across the city and ordered fumigation for most of the homes. The townspeople, misunderstanding the health officer’s intentions , reacted as if they were being permanently evicted. The local constabulary called for help, and the Rangers of Company E moved in to assist Blunt and his staff. On March 18 a fight broke out in the streets of Laredo, with snipers firing from rooftops and the Rangers returning fire. Capt. John Rogers was gravely wounded and rushed to a San Antonio surgeon to save his shattered arm. Agapito Herrera, a former deputy sheriff who led the insurgency, was shot and killed. The riot was quelled and the quarantine instigated without further incidents, except for the growing resentment in that community towards the Texas Rangers.1 One of the physicians on Dr. Blunt’s staff was Isaac Jarrett Jones, a native of Arkansas who had moved to Austin in 1894 by way of a practice in Mississippi. Dr. Jones became Blunt’s assistant and chief clerk in 1899 after four years as surgeon in the Texas Confederate Home. He also was active in Texas politics and served as the chair of 138 THE BAKER/DE LA CERDA INCIDENT My men are crack shots and I am not afraid of them getting the worst of anything. 9 the Travis County Democrats executive committee. In his biennial report for 1899–1900, Dr. Blunt wrote: “I desire to say that my efficient clerk, Dr. I. J. Jones, has been of great service to me in every department of the service, both in the office and the field, and I desire to express to him my sincere thanks for his service.”2 During the following year Dr. Blunt became ill and was absent for long periods of time until he was finally forced to resign in October 1901. His replacement, Dr. George R. Tabor, filed this report eight weeks after taking over: “I asked to be shown the books belonging to the department, and found there had been absolutely no system with reference to the bookkeeping, and I also found a small irregularity, to which I called the attention of [Jones], and which he explained by saying it was only an error which he or Dr. Blunt could rectify. He would not pursue the subject further,” Tabor wrote, “but left the office . . . and left the city the next day.” Dr. Tabor immediately called in an accountant to go over the books: the “small irregularity” turned out to be an embezzlement of funds totaling nearly $8,700, all of which had occurred since Jones had begun clerking for the health department. In the report, details of the misappropriation included Jones signing checks over to himself or signing someone else’s name on a check made out to him, inflated vouchers “in his handwriting without any attempt to disguise it,” and more. “Numerous forgeries and other offenses were committed by Dr. Jones to secure money out of this department,” concluded Tabor.3 On January 5, 1902, a warrant was issued for Isaac J. Jones and, when word came that Jones had fled the city, the adjutant general sent a telegram to Captain Brooks in Alice to take the case. It was rumored that Jones might be heading for Mexico, and the telegram instructed Brooks to track him there. When Brooks asked for any identifying characteristics of the fugitive he would be chasing, the adjutant general replied, “He has a peculiar walk on account of his being extremely pigeon-toed.”4 With that, Brooks started south. By January 7 he was at the Iturbide Hotel in Monterrey, where he received a telegram that Jones The B aker/ D e la Cerda Incident 139 might be in Mexico City. Three days later, informants told Brooks that Jones had cashed a check for twenty-five dollars at a local shop. Brooks kept on the hunt, scouring the capital city for three weeks. On the twenty-first, Governor Sayers encouraged Brooks in a telegram “to be economical” in his paying informants, “but good job so far.” The next day Brooks learned...