Beyond the Badge: The Work and Records of the Texas Rangers
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Work Detail
Job duties of rangers have gone from the “ranging” of the nineteenth century, where the primary role was to protect frontier settlements, to the modern era of special criminal investigations with the Department of Public Safety. Specifics of the kind of work rangers have performed can be found in letters written from outposts to officers at headquarters, reports documenting actions taken, journals logging daily activities, job classifications and descriptions, and even photographs illustrating inspections, dives, and the destruction of gambling equipment.
Charles August Johnson standing with horse, 1892. Copy photographs of Company E, Frontier Battalion of the Texas Rangers, Prints and Photographs, 1/32-1. Click or tap on image to view larger version.
A Texas Ranger by his car with sign, “I am the Law Today,” December 1942. Texas Department of Public Safety photographs, 1983/112-R-234. Click or tap on image to view larger version.
Letter between Horrell and Higgins family members regarding ongoing feud, July 30, 1877. Texas Adjutant General’s Department departmental correspondence, 401-395. Front and Back. Click or tap on links and images to view larger versions.
Letter of truce between Horrell and Higgins families, August 2, 1877. Texas Adjutant General’s Department departmental correspondence, 401-396. Front and Back. Click or tap on links and images to view larger versions.
Early rangers were involved in addressing numerous types of disputes from theft to murder. These letters document a “truce” they mediated between the Horrell and Higgins families. Rangers compelled them to sign the truce after forcibly entering the respective families’ homes.
Journal of march made from Austin to Ft. Griffin, September 16, 1870. Texas Adjutant General’s Department Ranger records, 401-1156. Page 1, pages 2 and 3, pages 4 and 5, pages 6 and 7. Click or tap on links and images to view larger versions.
Early ranger companies marched according to guidance from their headquarters. This journal documents the distances covered, weather conditions, and other notable events observed while traveling.
Letter to N.A. Reynolds Commander of Company “E”, May 28, 1878. Texas Adjutant General’s Department departmental correspondence, 401-397. Front and Back. Click or tap on links and images to view larger versions.
This letter describes the request for a company of rangers to provide protection for a prisoner under threat of mob violence in San Saba.
Letter from Captain Burbank to Adjutant General, October 4, 1855. Texas Adjutant General’s Department Ranger records, 401-1153. Front, Pages 2 and 3, Back. Click or tap on links and images to view larger versions.
Rangers were often the first organized forces present to witness or intervene in border disputes. This letter describes instances of Texans crossing into the Mexican city of Piedras Negras across the Rio Grande River.
Rio Grande River, Piedras Negras, A.V. Latourette, 1880. Prints and Photographs collection, 1/35-46.
Click or tap on image to view larger version.
Gambling equipment being destroyed at Camp Mabry dump grounds, July 19, 1945. Texas Department of Public Safety photographs, 1983/112-R-250. Click or tap on image to view larger version.
Slot machines and other gambling devices confiscated by Texas Rangers and burned, March 18, 1940. Texas Department of Public Safety photographs, 1983/112-R-204. Click or tap on image to view larger version.
Within the Department of Public Safety, rangers assisted in enforcing laws against gambling by confiscating and destroying illegal gambling devices like slot machines.
Letter from Sheriff A.R. Henderson to Gov. Campbell, December 7, 1910. Texas Governor Thomas Mitchell Campbell records, 301-220. Click or tap on image to view larger version.
Notice of meeting to form "Law and Order League" in Humble, Texas, 1910. Texas Governor Thomas Mitchell Campbell records, 301-220. Click or tap on image to view larger version.
Public officials and members of the public expressed the desire for rangers to be involved with enforcement of "Sunday Laws" which prohibited or limited activities such as drinking and gambling.
Road blockade, September 1944. Texas Department of Public Safety photographs, 1983/112-R-243. Click or tap on image to view larger version.
Dudley White and Red Arnold investigating a safe burglary, September 23, 1954. Texas Department of Public Safety photographs, 1983/112-R-400. Click or tap on image to view larger version.
DPS diving equipment, Dub Naylor in diving suit, 1948. Texas Department of Public Safety photographs, 1983/112-R-308. Image 1 and image 2. Click or tap on links and images to view larger versions.
As rangers transitioned into more traditional criminal investigators under DPS, their duties expanded into assisting with tasks like road blockades, safecracking, and evidence retrieval (even underwater).
Letter to Gov. Allred from J.H. Fehl, October 25, 1935. Texas Governor James V. Allred records, 1985/024-21. Click or tap on image to view larger version.
Letter to Gov. Allred from Commissioners of Nueces County Navigation District No. 1, November 5, 1935. Texas Governor James V. Allred records, 1985/024-21. Click or tap on image to view larger version.
Letter to Gov. Allred from J.E. Eldredge, November 7, 1935. Texas Governor James V. Allred records, 1985/024-21. Click or tap on image to view larger version.
Telegraph to Gov. O’Daniel from Strike Committee of the National Maritime Union, May 28, 1939. Texas Governor W. Lee O’Daniel records, 2001/138-101. Click or tap on image to view larger version.
Rangers under the Department of Public Safety were often deployed in situations to maintain law and order. In the 1930s, constituents and labor unions wrote to the governor to encourage and in some cases disavow use of the ranger force during strikes.
Company “E”, Frontier Battalion taken at Alice, Texas, 1892. Prints and Photographs, 1/32-02. Click or tap on image to view larger version.
The Frontier Battalions were formed under Governor Richard Coke in 1874 in order to protect the frontier. Each company within the battalion was made up of seventy-five rangers.