Frank's First Take Down As A Ranger

in #history5 years ago (edited)

Howdy folks and greetings from the Great Plains of North Texas!

We're in a series about one of the top Texas Ranger lawmen to ever wear the badge, the great Frank Hamer, who was brought out of retirement to take down Bonnie and Clyde.

Recap

In the last post Frank had reported to the Texas Ranger camp and was being trained by Captain Rogers.

The training they had back then wasn't like going to the police academy or boot camp, this was more like on the job training with separate firearms instructions if needed.

There was no official school for training set up, you just showed up and went to work, learning as you go.

Today's story

The men were also taught about the legal requirements they had to fulfill: what was needed to make an arrest stick, the different reports and paperwork to file, etc.

In other words, with the infrastructure of towns being built and law enforcement in place there were many laws they had to follow.

Just a few years before it was more like open warfare against Apache, Comanche or Kiowa war parties or Mexican bandits and if you saw them, you just tried to kill them before they killed you!

It made no difference to Frank

Because he loved it all. It didn't matter to him what kind of "Rangerin" it was, he loved it all. He was a Ranger's Ranger. Boring stake outs, going to court, filling out paperwork, all fun to Frank!

First few months were like that...small time arrests, searching for people who were no longer around, week long stakeouts etc, nothing big.

But then an incident happened in Del Rio, Texas in which Frank "earned his spurs" and the respect of the force.

I wrote about that incident which took 6 posts to tell and that starts here in case you're interested in reading that series.

Most of you have read it but for those who haven't I'll give you a nut-shell version because it was very significant to Frank's young career.

The Del Rio incident

There was a serial murderer who had killed 2 local ranchers, he was holed up at the brothel in Del Rio so the Sheriff, 7 deputies and Captain Rogers with 3 of his men went to the brothel to arrest him, his name was Putnam.

The Sheriff got the girls out and they said Putnam was in there but he wasn't going to surrender. So the Sheriff ordered him to come out and waited 30 minutes.

No Putnam. Captain Rogers and his 3 men, including Frank, were covering the rear of the building.

Suicide by cop basically

Well, after 30 minutes, with a crowd growing more agitated because they wanted to go get Putnam themselves, the Sheriff decided to have his men open fire.

Which they did. Meanwhile in back of the house Frank saw a curtain move and then the barrel of a six shooter stick out so he shot his rifle at the six gun.

Turns out that Putnam was crouched down so his face was the same height as his gun and he was shot in the face and died instantly.

Can't be too careful I reckon

The men outside heard a "thud" after Frank fired his shot. They heard nothing else but just to be sure the Sheriff ordered his men to light the place up. Which they did.

They shot so many holes through the walls that the place was destroyed, looked like swiss cheese. Furniture, fixtures, decor, even the stove ...all shot to pieces.

Putnam was found dead with the single shot to the head,(evidently he'd been hiding behind a heavy piece of furniture) and Frank was credited with the kill.

Here's a photo taken by the town photographer after the shooting. Frank is standing on the left side with his trusty Winchester Model '94 Saddle Ring Carbine, Captain Rogers is seated and holding a German Luger pistol which Putnam had on him:

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Captain Rogers already had confidence in young Frank, only 22 years old, but from then on Frank became one of his most trusted officers.

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Frank's story continues on the next post.

Thanks for reading folks, God bless you all!
-jonboy
Texas

PS- I found another extraordinary wire sculpture. Apparently this magnificent wire mesh Giraffe is in a private home:

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I think that's incredible!

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Well done Frank i taught him well....hehe 🤣

haha! It would be like the work of the Vin! lol. Swift and deadly.

Most definitely 🤣

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Howdy esteemapp! Thanks for the great platform and the upvote!

Howdy Sir @janton, nothing better that on the job training. Over here it is called being "thrown into the deep end" and it relates to a swimming pool for a person that has to learn how to swim.
Looking forward to the next post!
Blessings!

Haha! Well, in almost every case the people joining the Rangers were very experienced and were either ex military or ex sheriffs or sheriff deputies and that's the only way they could run the outfits with almost no training. Or else that kind of work could get you killed if you were too green.

Nice post! But poor giraffe! He couldn’t go anywhere at night!

Haha! howdy sir kaminchan! I didn't even think about it from the Giraffe's perspective, good thinking! Now I feel bad for him too.. lol.

I hope he will be freed to roam in the wild one day! LoL

Me too sir kaminchan! lol.

I think I'll get one or two of those giraffes for my new pad;)

lol! I hope you have a big house with tall ceilings deirdyweirdy! All your friends would know you as the crazy lady with the giant giraffe!

Hahaha, at the moment they know me simply as the crazy lady.

lol! Well at least you are known for something!

What a wonderful read. That giraffe just looks so cool! THanks for sharing this with us

Howdy sgbonus! I agree about the giraffe. Thanks for commenting!

This was the part of the story I was waiting for. Hamer Time!

Am I allowed to make jokes about a brothel full of holes?

hahhahahahaha!

lol! you're twisted sir wwwiebe! I talked quite a bit about brothels in the Western territories in my short series about this Del Rio incident, they were always connected to the law enforcement agencies and I'm sure that one was rebuilt in record time!

Well.. yes. Yes I am. :)

But in a good way! lol.

Wow. That giraffe! You would really have to love him to have him in your home!
Seeing Frank portrayed in his retirement years in the Bonnie
and Clyde era, I never thought about the fact that he came of age in the 'wild west'.

I know, he started out on horseback! lol. He was in the transitional period, it made him very versatile.
That giraffe, you are to right because I think he would be a real hassle to move!

It really makes me wonder how the rest of the house is decorated.

Oh, I'd love to see that! The house looked pretty impressive!

It does look like a bit of a mansion! I love that stair case.

Oh me too, I love big, winding staircases! And of course where we are now we have no staircase of any kind because it's a ranch and no one has basements so I don't even have a basement staircase!

I have no stairs either, but both me and my scooter are good with that!

You must have a ramp from your back deck to the backyard?

Hrm.... Tall, metal giraffe. That sounds like a lightning rod to me!

lol! But would it attract lightning inside the home like that? I have no idea, that's a scary thought!

That giraffe is incredible! I have a friend who would love to live with that too.
Your link to the previous six installments about the brothel story just took me right back to this post.
But it's a good one!

Oh man! Thanks for letting me know. I tried to fix it but it keeps taking me to today's post even though the other post is inserted. Do you know about this formatting things?

No I do not! But I just copy the entire url in my posts.

oh ok, got it. thanks.