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    Historic Photos of Texas Lawmen
    Historic Photos of Texas Lawmen
    Historic Photos of Texas Lawmen
    Ebook240 pages43 minutes

    Historic Photos of Texas Lawmen

    By Mike Cox

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    About this ebook

    The history of law enforcement in the Lone Star State goes back well before photography, dating to Texas’s days as part of the Spanish empire. After that Texas became a province of Mexico and for nearly a decade stood among the nations as an independent republic before becoming the 28th state in the Union in 1845.

    Beyond the contribution to law and order made by constables, sheriffs, town marshals, city police officers, and federal lawmen, Texas is the birthplace of a law enforcement institution unique in the world, the legendary Texas Rangers.

    Historic Photos of Texas Lawmen features close to 200 images of Texas lawmen, bad men (and a few bad women), assorted characters with a law enforcement connection like the legendary Judge Roy Bean, and shots of the places they did their work—for good or bad. Each photograph has a story to tell.

    Some of the images in this volume, coming from the author’s personal collection, are published here for the first time. But all of the images command attention, many as attention-getting as the business end of a Texas Ranger’s .45.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherTurner Publishing Company
    Release dateDec 1, 2008
    ISBN9781618586896
    Historic Photos of Texas Lawmen
    Author

    Mike Cox

    An elected member of the prestigious Texas Institute of Letters, Mike Cox is the author of thirty-six non-fiction books. Over a freelance career of more than forty-five years, he also has written hundreds of articles and essays for a wide variety of national and regional publications. His bestselling work has been a two-volume, 250,000-word history of the Texas Rangers published in 2008. When not writing, he spends as much time as he can traveling, fishing, hunting and looking for new stories to tell.

    Read more from Mike Cox

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      Book preview

      Historic Photos of Texas Lawmen - Mike Cox

      e9781618586896_cover.jpge9781618586896_i0001.jpge9781618586896_i0002.jpge9781618586896_i0003.jpg

      Turner Publishing Company

      200 4th Avenue North • Suite 950

      Nashville, Tennessee 37219

      (615) 255-2665

      www.turnerpublishing.com

      Historic Photos of Texas Lawmen

      Copyright © 2008 Turner Publishing Company

      All rights reserved.

      This book or any part thereof may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

      Library of Congress Control Number: 2008905362

      9781618586896

      Printed in the United States of America

      08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15—0 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

      Table of Contents

      Title Page

      Copyright Page

      ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

      PREFACE

      CHAPTER ONE - (1849–1879)

      CHAPTER TWO - (1880–1899)

      CHAPTER THREE - (1900–1919)

      CHAPTER FOUR - (1920–1938)

      NOTES ON THE PHOTOGRAPHS

      BIBLIOGRAPHY

      e9781618586896_i0004.jpg

      The commercial and martial heart of San Antonio was Military Plaza, laid out during Spanish colonial times. Militia and Ranger units mustered here for generations. The plaza was also home to the city’s chili queens, pioneers of Tex-Mex food. This image was recorded in 1875.

      ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

      This volume, Historic Photos of Texas Lawmen, is the result of the cooperation and efforts of many individuals and organizations. It is with great thanks that we acknowledge the valuable contribution of the following for their generous support:

      Dallas Public Library

      Institute of Texan Cultures

      Library of Congress

      Mike Cox

      University of Oklahoma—Western History Collections

      e9781618586896_i0005.jpg

      With the exception of touching up imperfections caused by the vicissitudes of time and cropping where necessary, the photographs have not been altered in any way. The focus and clarity of many images is limited to the technology of the day and the skill of the photographer who captured them.

      PREFACE

      The history of Texas law enforcement considerably predates photography. When Spain first began settling what would become the Lone Star state, its soldiers amounted to Texas’ first peace officers. But they handled every problem, from protecting the missions from hostile Indians to maintaining civil order. The first known Texas lawman was 26-year-old Vicente Alvarez Traviesco. He was appointed alguacil (sheriff) of San Antonio de Bexar in 1731.

      In 1821, empresario Stephen F. Austin brought 300 American colonists to Texas, by then a Mexican province. Austin tried to pick his immigrants carefully, but even with character references, a few troublemakers made it to Texas. Thomas V. Alley was appointed constable by John Tumlinson on March 5, 1823, and is considered Texas’ first colonial peace officer. His job was to act in the capacity of constable to summon witnesses and bring offenders to justice. Later that summer, Austin wrote that he planned to hire ten men to act as rangers for the common defense of the colony. That is considered the genesis of the Texas Rangers, though their job principally involved protecting the settlers from hostile Indians, chiefly the fierce Kawakawa.

      When Texas became an independent republic in 1836, its constitution called for the election of a sheriff for each of its 13 original counties as well as a sufficient number of constables. Sheriffs were charged with serving civil process, with keeping the peace, quelling and suppressing all affrays, riots, and unlawful assemblies, as well as pursuing, apprehending, and jailing all persons charged with crime. Often, sheriffs also levied and collected taxes. Though vested with considerable power, being sheriff was not an easy job. In Harrison County, ten men held office during the time of the republic, an average of about one man a year. One sheriff vacated his office when a lynch mob hanged him and burned his tax book. In 1836, President Sam Houston appointed San Jacinto veteran Robert J. Calder as marshal of the new republic. But the job description was different from what the title would suggest. The marshal’s primary duty was to take charge of and oversee the disposition of shipwrecks or prizes seized by the nation’s navy. Calder did not hold that job long before being elected sheriff of Brazoria County, where he served three terms.

      Following Galveston’s incorporation in 1839, Leander Westcott became its first marshal. Drawing a $1,500-a-year salary, he received $600 to hire two deputies. The hulk of the Elbe, a storm-wrecked vessel, served as the island city’s first jail. Houston incorporated in 1837 with G. W. Holland elected as its first constable. But the Bayou City, though rowdy, was a much smaller town than bustling Galveston, the republic’s largest city. Houston would not have a city marshal until 1841 when Daniel Busley was appointed. After nearly a decade as a nation, Texas joined the Union in 1845. Its new constitution retained both the office of sheriff and constable at the county level while a state statute allowing for municipal government gave local officials the power to appoint town marshals. When San Antonio incorporated in 1846, the town council appointed James Dunn as the city’s first marshal that January 14. Texas’ new status as the 28th state triggered the 1846-1848 Mexican War. During that war, the first known Texas photograph was taken. Fittingly, the image captured by daguerreotype was a view of the

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