Latest / Six Years with the Texas Rangers, 1875 to 1881 / 010 - Service With Reynolds the Intrepid Part 2
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- 0:01Speaker 1: Section nine of Six Years with the Texas Rangers eighteen
- 0:05Speaker 1: seventy five to eighteen eighty one. This is a LibriVox recording.
- 0:10Speaker 1: All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more
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- 0:17Speaker 1: by Andrew Frame. Six Years with the Texas Rangers eighteen
- 0:22Speaker 1: seventy five to eighteen eighty one by James B. Gillette,
- 0:26Speaker 1: service with Reynolds The Intrepid, Part two. We knew the
- 0:31Speaker 1: moment we left the creek bed we would be in
- 0:33Speaker 1: full view of the Potters and the ranch house. We
- 0:36Speaker 1: decided then that we would advance on the house as
- 0:39Speaker 1: fast as we could run, and so be in good
- 0:41Speaker 1: position to capture the man who had ridden into the camp.
- 0:45Speaker 1: We rose from the creek running. Old Man Potter discovered
- 0:48Speaker 1: us as we came into view and yelled, run, Dick, run,
- 0:51Speaker 1: Here comes the Rangers. We then knew the man we
- 0:54Speaker 1: wanted was at the camp. We were so close upon
- 0:57Speaker 1: Dublin that he had no time to mount his horse
- 1:00Speaker 1: or get his gun, so he made a run for
- 1:01Speaker 1: the brush. I was within twenty five yards of him
- 1:04Speaker 1: when he came from behind the wagon, running as fast
- 1:07Speaker 1: as a big man could. I ordered him to halt
- 1:09Speaker 1: and surrender, but he had heard that call too many
- 1:12Speaker 1: times and kept going. Holding my Winchester carving in my
- 1:15Speaker 1: right hand, I fired a shot directly out him as
- 1:17Speaker 1: I ran. In a moment he was out of sight,
- 1:21Speaker 1: I hurried to the place where he was last seen
- 1:23Speaker 1: and spied in running up a little ravine. I stopped,
- 1:26Speaker 1: drew a bead on him, and again ordered him to halt.
- 1:29Speaker 1: As he ran, Dublin threw his hand back under his
- 1:31Speaker 1: coat as though he were attempting to draw a pistol.
- 1:34Speaker 1: I fired my bullet, struck the fugitive in the small
- 1:37Speaker 1: of the back, just over the right hip bone, and
- 1:39Speaker 1: passed out near his right collarbone. It killed him instantly.
- 1:43Speaker 1: He was bending over as he ran, and this caused
- 1:46Speaker 1: the unusual course of my ball. The boys whom I
- 1:49Speaker 1: had outrun now joined me, and Carter fired two shots
- 1:53Speaker 1: at Dublin. After he was down, I ordered him to desist.
- 1:56Speaker 1: As the man was dead, I examined the Bible to
- 2:00Speaker 1: make sure it was Dublin, for I knew him intimately,
- 2:02Speaker 1: as I had cow hunted with him before I became
- 2:04Speaker 1: a ranger. We found him unarmed, but he had a
- 2:08Speaker 1: belt of cartridges around his waist. He was so completely
- 2:12Speaker 1: surprised by our sudden appearance he could do nothing but run.
- 2:16Speaker 1: The seven hundred dollars reward on him could never be collected,
- 2:19Speaker 1: as it was offered for his arrest and conviction. Dublin's brothers,
- 2:23Speaker 1: Roll and Dell swore vengeance against myself and the Banister boys,
- 2:27Speaker 1: but nothing ever came of the oath. In the month
- 2:30Speaker 1: of February eighteen seventy eight, Lieutenant Reynolds started to Austin
- 2:34Speaker 1: with five prisoners who had captured in Kimberley Minard Counties.
- 2:37Speaker 1: They were chained together in pairs. John Stevens, the odd Man,
- 2:41Speaker 1: was shackled by himself as a guard for these prisoners.
- 2:44Speaker 1: Reynolds had detailed Will and John Banister, Dave Lygan, Ben Garter,
- 2:48Speaker 1: dick Ware, and myself on the junction city in Mason Road.
- 2:53Speaker 1: Some ten miles east of our camp was the small
- 2:55Speaker 1: ranch of Stark Reynolds, a fugitive from justice charged with
- 2:59Speaker 1: horse stealing and assault to kill. Company E had scouted
- 3:03Speaker 1: for him in Kimball County and had rounded up his
- 3:05Speaker 1: ranch many times. We knew he was in the county,
- 3:08Speaker 1: but he always managed to escape us. As we passed
- 3:12Speaker 1: this ranch, Lieutenant Reynolds, Private's ware Carter Laggen and myself
- 3:16Speaker 1: for marching in front, with a four mule wagon following us,
- 3:20Speaker 1: in which were the chain prisoners. Behind it came the Banisters,
- 3:23Speaker 1: who were on guard that day and detailed to keep
- 3:26Speaker 1: a constant watch on the captive outlaws. We passed the
- 3:30Speaker 1: Stark Reynolds home about ten o'clock in the morning, and
- 3:32Speaker 1: Lieutenant Reynolds remarked that it was hardly worthwhile to round
- 3:35Speaker 1: up the house, as he had done so many times
- 3:38Speaker 1: in the past without result, but that he would surely
- 3:41Speaker 1: like to capture the fellow. We had not ridden for
- 3:44Speaker 1: more than half a mile beyond the ranch, and we
- 3:46Speaker 1: came face to face with Stark himself. He was a
- 3:50Speaker 1: small man and riding an exceedingly good brown pony. We
- 3:54Speaker 1: were about four hundred yards apart and discovered each other
- 3:56Speaker 1: at the same instant. The outlaw was carrying a small
- 3:59Speaker 1: sec of flower in front of him. He immediately threw
- 4:03Speaker 1: this down, turned his horse quickly and made a lightning
- 4:05Speaker 1: dash for the Lano Bottoms, some three miles away. At
- 4:09Speaker 1: that point, the junction City and Mason Road winds along
- 4:12Speaker 1: a range of high mountains, with the country sloping downward
- 4:15Speaker 1: to the Lano River. This grade was studded with scrubby
- 4:19Speaker 1: live oak and mesquite brush, not thick enough to hide
- 4:22Speaker 1: a man, but sufficiently dense to retard his flight through it.
- 4:26Speaker 1: We gave chase at once, and for a mile and
- 4:28Speaker 1: a half. It was the fastest race I ever saw
- 4:30Speaker 1: the rangers run. We were closely bunched the entire distance
- 4:34Speaker 1: with Lieutenant Reynolds. He was riding a fast race horse,
- 4:38Speaker 1: always slightly in the leave. He finally got close enough
- 4:41Speaker 1: to the fugitive to demand his surrender. Stark only waved
- 4:45Speaker 1: his gun defiantly and redoubled his speed. Lieutenant Reynolds then
- 4:48Speaker 1: drew his six shooter and began firing at the outlaw.
- 4:51Speaker 1: After emptying his pistol, he began using his Winchester. The
- 4:55Speaker 1: Lano bottoms were now looming up right in front of us.
- 4:59Speaker 1: The race had been fast enough to run every horse
- 5:01Speaker 1: into a big limber carter wearing ligan dropped out of
- 5:04Speaker 1: the race. Up to this time I had contented myself
- 5:08Speaker 1: by trying to keep up with Lieutenant Reynolds, for it's
- 5:10Speaker 1: always easier to follow a man through the brush than
- 5:12Speaker 1: to run in the leave. I had a good grip
- 5:15Speaker 1: on my bridle reins and was trying to steady my
- 5:17Speaker 1: pony as best I could. I now saw that the
- 5:20Speaker 1: outlaw was beginning to gain on us. I ran up
- 5:22Speaker 1: beside the lieutenant and said, he's getting away from us.
- 5:25Speaker 1: Must I go after him. Lieutenant Reynolds turned and looked
- 5:29Speaker 1: at me with the wildest look on his face I
- 5:31Speaker 1: ever saw. His hat was gone, his face was badly
- 5:35Speaker 1: scratched by the brush, with blood running down over his
- 5:37Speaker 1: white shirt. Bosom, Yes, goddamn him, stop or kill him.
- 5:43Speaker 1: I changed the bridle reins to my left hand, drew
- 5:45Speaker 1: my gun with my right and digging my spurs deep
- 5:48Speaker 1: into my pony's side. I was out of side of
- 5:50Speaker 1: the lieutenant in three hundred yards. The fugitive saw that
- 5:53Speaker 1: I was alone, that I was going to overhaul him.
- 5:55Speaker 1: He suddenly brought his pony to a standstill, jumped down,
- 5:58Speaker 1: took shelter behind the animal, and drew a bead on
- 6:01Speaker 1: me with his gun. God damn you, stop or I'll
- 6:03Speaker 1: kill you, he cried. I tried to obey his order,
- 6:07Speaker 1: but my pony was running downhill and ran straight at
- 6:09Speaker 1: him for twenty five yards more. Before I could stop.
- 6:12Speaker 1: I jumped down from my horse and made ready to fight,
- 6:15Speaker 1: but Stark broke for a thicket on foot. As soon
- 6:18Speaker 1: as he ran out behind his pony, I fired at him.
- 6:21Speaker 1: The bullet must have come rather close to him, for
- 6:23Speaker 1: he quickly turned and took shelter behind his mouth again
- 6:26Speaker 1: as he peeped over his saddle at me. I attempted
- 6:29Speaker 1: to draw a bead on his head, but I was tired, nervous,
- 6:32Speaker 1: and unsteady. Before I could shoot, Dave Lagan galloped right
- 6:36Speaker 1: up to the outlaw ordered him to surrender and drop
- 6:38Speaker 1: his gun, which Stark did at once. The boys had
- 6:42Speaker 1: heard me shoot, and in five minutes were all upon
- 6:44Speaker 1: the scene. The captive was searched and ordered to remount
- 6:48Speaker 1: his pony, With one of the boys leading Stark's mount,
- 6:51Speaker 1: we started back to the wagon nearly three miles away.
- 6:55Speaker 1: As soon as the outlaw was a prisoner and he
- 6:57Speaker 1: knew he would not be harmed no matter what he said,
- 7:00Speaker 1: he began a tirade against the rangers. He declared the
- 7:03Speaker 1: whole battalion was a set of damned murderers, especially Company E,
- 7:07Speaker 1: and said it was curbstone talk and Minard, Mason and
- 7:10Speaker 1: Kimball Counties that Lieutenant Reynold's men would kill a man
- 7:13Speaker 1: and then yell for him to throw up his hands.
- 7:15Speaker 1: He kept up this running talk until he exhausted Lieutenant
- 7:18Speaker 1: Reynolds's patience. The latter then ordered Stark to shut up
- 7:22Speaker 1: and declared the speaker was a damned liar, for Company
- 7:25Speaker 1: E never killed a man without first giving him a
- 7:27Speaker 1: chance to surrender. Lieutenant Reynolds then said, with the last
- 7:31Speaker 1: old briar breaker captured, he had accomplished the task set
- 7:35Speaker 1: him and was now ready to go elsewhere. As we
- 7:38Speaker 1: rode along, one of the boys remarked that my pony
- 7:40Speaker 1: was limping badly. A wish's leg would come right off
- 7:44Speaker 1: up to his shoulder, declared Stark, in disgust. If it
- 7:47Speaker 1: hadn't been for him, I would have made it to
- 7:49Speaker 1: the bottoms and escaped. On approaching the wagon, the prisoner Stevens,
- 7:54Speaker 1: a man of some intelligence and humor, stood up and
- 7:56Speaker 1: called out to Stark, By God, old man, they got you.
- 8:00Speaker 1: They rode too many corn fed horses and carried too
- 8:03Speaker 1: many guns for you. I don't know who you are,
- 8:05Speaker 1: but I'm sorry for you. While they were chasing you,
- 8:07Speaker 1: I got down on my knees here in the wagon,
- 8:10Speaker 1: and with my face turned up to the skies, I
- 8:12Speaker 1: prayed to the Almighty God that you might get away.
- 8:15Speaker 1: Stark was chained to this good natured liar, and now,
- 8:17Speaker 1: for the first time our prisoner seemed to realize his condition.
- 8:21Speaker 1: He asked Lieutenant Reynolds to send word to his family
- 8:24Speaker 1: that he had been captured. The lieutenant thereupon sent one
- 8:28Speaker 1: of the boys to Stark's home to tell missus Reynolds
- 8:30Speaker 1: that the rangers would camp on Red Creek for dinner,
- 8:33Speaker 1: and if she wished to see her husband, we would
- 8:35Speaker 1: be there probably two hours. Presently, Stark's old, gray haired
- 8:39Speaker 1: father came to our midday camp. When he saw his
- 8:42Speaker 1: son chained, he burst out crying, saying, my son, it's
- 8:46Speaker 1: not my fault that you were in this condition. I
- 8:48Speaker 1: did my best to give you good advice and tried
- 8:50Speaker 1: to raise you. Right after dinner, we resumed our march
- 8:54Speaker 1: toward Austin. Stark. Reynolds was finally turned over to the
- 8:58Speaker 1: Sheriff of Terrant County. He was admitted to bail and
- 9:01Speaker 1: gave bond, but before he came to trial, he was
- 9:04Speaker 1: waylaid and killed, supposedly by relatives of the man he
- 9:07Speaker 1: had previously attempted to murder. Early in the spring of
- 9:11Speaker 1: eighteen seventy eight, a ranchman living five miles above our
- 9:15Speaker 1: camp saw a bunch of Indians on Bear Creek, Kimball County,
- 9:19Speaker 1: and at once reported to Lieutenant Reynolds. The Redskins had
- 9:23Speaker 1: been seen late in the evening, and by the time
- 9:25Speaker 1: a scout could be started after them, it was almost night.
- 9:29Speaker 1: The lieutenant, however, followed the trail until it entered a
- 9:32Speaker 1: cedar break. It was then too dark to work farther,
- 9:35Speaker 1: so the scout returned to camp to make arrangements to
- 9:37Speaker 1: resume the trail the following morning. On the march back
- 9:41Speaker 1: to camp, the rangers picked up a paint pony with
- 9:43Speaker 1: an arrow sticking in its hip. The Indians had probably
- 9:46Speaker 1: tried to catch the horse, and, failing to do so,
- 9:49Speaker 1: had shot it, as was their custom. Just after dark,
- 9:53Speaker 1: a runner from Junction City came in and reported a
- 9:56Speaker 1: bunch of Redskins had been seen near the town stealing horses.
- 10:00Speaker 1: It was a beautiful moonlight night and a close watch
- 10:03Speaker 1: was kept on our horses. Just at midnight, John Banister,
- 10:07Speaker 1: an alert man on guard, noticed that one of our
- 10:10Speaker 1: pack mules, hitched at the end of our picket line,
- 10:12Speaker 1: was pulling back on its rope and looking over a
- 10:15Speaker 1: brush fence that enclosed the camp. With Winchester in hand,
- 10:19Speaker 1: Banister passed through a gate, walked slowly down the fence
- 10:22Speaker 1: and into some small underbrush near the mule. Suddenly a
- 10:26Speaker 1: man rose to his feet and fired on Banister at
- 10:29Speaker 1: a distance of not more than ten steps, then broke
- 10:32Speaker 1: and ran. Banister had once opened fire on the Indian.
- 10:36Speaker 1: The very first report of a gun brought every man
- 10:38Speaker 1: in camp out of his bed. We could see the
- 10:41Speaker 1: flashes of Banister's gun and went to his aid. In
- 10:43Speaker 1: our night clothes and barefooted, I ran down by the
- 10:46Speaker 1: picket line of horses and jumped the fence with a mule.
- 10:48Speaker 1: Had seen the red skin. By moonlight, I could glimpse
- 10:51Speaker 1: the Indian running down the river bank. I shot at
- 10:54Speaker 1: him nine times as he ran, but without effect. Some
- 10:57Speaker 1: two hundred yards below our camp was a ford on
- 10:59Speaker 1: the Lano, and the fugitive was making for it. Just
- 11:03Speaker 1: as soon as the Indian reached the crossing and plunged
- 11:05Speaker 1: into the river. Eight or nine of the rangers that
- 11:07Speaker 1: had followed Banister on the high ground were in a
- 11:09Speaker 1: position to shell the swimmer as he crossed. There were
- 11:12Speaker 1: probably one hundred shots fired at him, but he finally
- 11:15Speaker 1: disappeared in the brush on the south side of the river.
- 11:18Speaker 1: Investigation of the place where he crossed showed the timber
- 11:21Speaker 1: cut all to pieces, but strange to say, not a
- 11:25Speaker 1: shot hit the Indian as far as we ever knew.
- 11:28Speaker 1: We found a blanket where the savage had risen and
- 11:30Speaker 1: shot at Banister, and measuring the ground, found that the
- 11:34Speaker 1: ranger was just twelve short steps from the Indian when
- 11:36Speaker 1: fired upon by the red skin. It was a miracle
- 11:39Speaker 1: that Banister was not killed. The bullet of forty five
- 11:43Speaker 1: caliber buried itself in some sacks of corn in a
- 11:45Speaker 1: tent just back of him. The next morning we found
- 11:48Speaker 1: where ten or twelve Indians had waited under some large
- 11:51Speaker 1: pecan trees while this scout slipped up to our camp
- 11:54Speaker 1: to investigate and steal a horse. The trees were about
- 11:57Speaker 1: four hundred yards from camp and on the opposite side
- 12:00Speaker 1: the river. Some of the rangers jokingly said those old
- 12:04Speaker 1: braves must have thought this lone one stirred up hell
- 12:06Speaker 1: at the ranger camp on account of the range cattle
- 12:09Speaker 1: and horses along the Lano River. Lieutenant Reynolds lost some
- 12:13Speaker 1: eight or ten hours the next morning before picking up
- 12:15Speaker 1: the Indian trail. This gave the Redskins ten or twelve
- 12:18Speaker 1: hours start, as they were at our camp just at midnight.
- 12:22Speaker 1: The trail passed out west between the North and South
- 12:25Speaker 1: Lano Rivers and followed a rough mountain country that made
- 12:28Speaker 1: pursuit difficult and slow. We followed the savages five or
- 12:32Speaker 1: six days and finally abandoned the trail near the head
- 12:35Speaker 1: of Devil's River after a heavy rain. While we had
- 12:39Speaker 1: been active in rounding up the numerous outlaws and cattle
- 12:42Speaker 1: thieves that infested Kimball County, we had not been able
- 12:45Speaker 1: to clean up the mystery of the peg Leg stage robbers,
- 12:48Speaker 1: which had long baffled the best detectives, sheriffs, and rangers.
- 12:53Speaker 1: Peg Leg was a small stage station on the San
- 12:56Speaker 1: Saba in the midst of a rough and very mountainous country.
- 13:00Speaker 1: Stage was repeatedly held up, and as repeatedly the robbers escaped.
- 13:05Speaker 1: The scene of the hold up was many times examined,
- 13:07Speaker 1: and the parties made determined efforts to trail the bandits,
- 13:10Speaker 1: but always without success. But the trail was quickly lost
- 13:13Speaker 1: in the rough mountains. One of the features that proved
- 13:16Speaker 1: particularly puzzling was the constant recurrence of an exceedingly small
- 13:20Speaker 1: footprint at each robbery. These marks were so very small
- 13:25Speaker 1: they convinced many observers that a woman from Fort mccavic
- 13:28Speaker 1: or Fort Concho was operating with the bandit gang. Naturally,
- 13:32Speaker 1: the rangers were anxious to round up this group of
- 13:34Speaker 1: out laws and put a stop to their depredations. In
- 13:38Speaker 1: May eighteen seventy eight, Sergeant Neville made a scout up
- 13:41Speaker 1: on the South Atlanto and captured Bill Allison, a son
- 13:45Speaker 1: in law of Old Jimmy Dublin, father of the bandit
- 13:47Speaker 1: Dick Dublin. Allison was wanted on several charges of cattle
- 13:51Speaker 1: theft and was taken to Austin for safekeeping. After remaining
- 13:55Speaker 1: in the Travis County jail for nearly a year without
- 13:58Speaker 1: being able to give bond, became discouraged. He believed his
- 14:02Speaker 1: brothers in law, the Dublins, were not aiding him to
- 14:05Speaker 1: get bond, and became bitter and resentful toward them. This
- 14:09Speaker 1: antagonism finally led to the unveiling of the peg Leg mystery.
- 14:13Speaker 1: In the spring of eighteen seventy nine, Dick Ware and
- 14:16Speaker 1: myself took some prisoners to the Austin jail. Bill Allison
- 14:20Speaker 1: saw us and called out to me. He and I
- 14:22Speaker 1: had been cowboys together long before I became a ranger.
- 14:26Speaker 1: Jim said, Allison, you know I've been cooped up here
- 14:29Speaker 1: in this jail for nearly a year. People who ought
- 14:32Speaker 1: to be my friends have evidently abandoned me, and I
- 14:35Speaker 1: Am not going to stand it any longer. I can
- 14:37Speaker 1: put the peg Leg stage robberies behind the bars, and
- 14:40Speaker 1: I'm going to do it. Waere, who was something of
- 14:44Speaker 1: a diplomat, said hold on, Bill, if you have anything
- 14:47Speaker 1: to confess, we'll get an order from the sheriff to
- 14:49Speaker 1: take you to see General Jones so you can talk
- 14:51Speaker 1: to him. The General at once wrote a note to
- 14:55Speaker 1: Dennis Corwin, sheriff of Travis County, and asked that he
- 14:58Speaker 1: let Allison accompany us to his office. The sheriff turned
- 15:02Speaker 1: his prisoner over to us, and we took him to
- 15:04Speaker 1: General Jones, who had a private interview with him for
- 15:06Speaker 1: over an hour. What Allison confessed we did not know,
- 15:10Speaker 1: but we returned him to the jail. General Jones moved
- 15:14Speaker 1: quickly for the very next day, a scout of rangers
- 15:16Speaker 1: from Company E was sent back to Kimball County. I
- 15:19Speaker 1: was just preparing to go west to El Paso with
- 15:22Speaker 1: Colonel Baylor, so I missed this last and most important
- 15:25Speaker 1: scout back into Kimball County. However, this final expedition was
- 15:29Speaker 1: so successful I cannot omit it from a history of
- 15:31Speaker 1: the Rangers. Arriving at Kimball County, the Company E detail
- 15:36Speaker 1: arrested roll In Dell Dublin, Mac Potter, and Rube Boyce.
- 15:41Speaker 1: In the running fight that resulted in their capture. Role
- 15:44Speaker 1: received a bad wound in the hip. The two Dublin
- 15:47Speaker 1: brothers and mac Potter, when a reigned in federal court,
- 15:49Speaker 1: pled guilty to stage robbery and were sentenced to fifteen
- 15:52Speaker 1: years at hard labor. During their trial, the mystery of
- 15:56Speaker 1: the peg leg robberies was finally cleared up. The Dublin
- 15:59Speaker 1: boy with the guiding spirits in the hold ups and
- 16:02Speaker 1: worked with great cleverness old Man Jimmy Dublin's ranch on
- 16:06Speaker 1: the south Atlanta was their headquarters. From the ranch to
- 16:09Speaker 1: peg Leg station on the Sansabo was not more than
- 16:12Speaker 1: sixty miles across a rough mountainous country. As there were
- 16:16Speaker 1: no wire fences in those days, the robbers would ride
- 16:19Speaker 1: over to the station, rob the stage, and in one
- 16:21Speaker 1: night's ride, regain their home. Traveling at night, they were
- 16:25Speaker 1: never observed. Dick Dublin, whose death while resisting capture has
- 16:29Speaker 1: already been described, was the leader of the Bandit gang.
- 16:33Speaker 1: Even the mystery of the tiny footprints was disclosed. They
- 16:36Speaker 1: were made by Mac Potter, who had an unusually small
- 16:39Speaker 1: foot for a man. While Rue Boyce was confined in
- 16:43Speaker 1: the Travis County jail, he made one of the most
- 16:46Speaker 1: sensational jail escapes in the criminal annals of Texas. Missus
- 16:50Speaker 1: Boyce called at the prison with a suit of clean
- 16:52Speaker 1: underclothes for her husband. The basket in which she carried
- 16:56Speaker 1: them was examined and she was admitted into the cell
- 16:58Speaker 1: of her husband. However, she had hidden a big forty
- 17:02Speaker 1: five Colt's revolver about her person and smuggled it in.
- 17:06Speaker 1: Rube changed his underwear, put the soiled garments in the basket,
- 17:09Speaker 1: and hid the pistol under them. At the end of
- 17:12Speaker 1: her visit, Missus Boyce started out, and Rube accompanied her
- 17:15Speaker 1: down the corridor to the door. Mister Albert Nichols, the jailer,
- 17:19Speaker 1: opened the door with his left hand to let the
- 17:21Speaker 1: woman pass out, at the same time holding his pistol
- 17:25Speaker 1: in his right hand. As the door swung open, Rube
- 17:28Speaker 1: reached into the basket he was carrying for his wife,
- 17:31Speaker 1: whipped out the hidden pistol, thrust it into the jailer's face,
- 17:35Speaker 1: and ordered him to drop his forty five and step
- 17:37Speaker 1: within the jail. Realizing that a second's hesitation would mean death,
- 17:42Speaker 1: Nichols complied and was locked in by the outlaw. Boyce
- 17:46Speaker 1: then ran out of the back yard of the jail,
- 17:48Speaker 1: mounted a pony that had been hitched there for him,
- 17:50Speaker 1: and galloped out of Austin, firing his pistol as he ran.
- 17:53Speaker 1: He made a complete getaway. Three or four years later,
- 17:57Speaker 1: he was arrested at SoCoRo, New Mexico, and returned to Austin.
- 18:01Speaker 1: At his trial for participation in the peg leg stage robberies,
- 18:05Speaker 1: he was acquitted, and perhaps justly so, for Bill Allison
- 18:08Speaker 1: declared to me that Dick Dublin with his brothers Dell
- 18:11Speaker 1: and Roll and Mack Potter, were the real robbers. The
- 18:15Speaker 1: arrest and conviction of the Dublins, together with the other
- 18:18Speaker 1: men Lieutenant Reynolds had captured or killed, completely cleaned out
- 18:21Speaker 1: the stage robbers, cattle and horse, thieves, and murderers that
- 18:24Speaker 1: had made Kimball County their rendezvous. Today, Kimball County is
- 18:28Speaker 1: one of the most prosperous and picturesque counties in the state.
- 18:31Speaker 1: Its citizens are law abiding and energetic. Junction City, the
- 18:35Speaker 1: county seat, is a splendid little city of probably twenty
- 18:38Speaker 1: five hundred inhabitants. Forty years ago, the time of which
- 18:42Speaker 1: I write, there were no courthouses in Kimball County. The
- 18:46Speaker 1: first district courts were head under the spreading bows of
- 18:49Speaker 1: a large oak tree. The rangers of which I was
- 18:52Speaker 1: frequently one, guarded the prisoners under another tree, at a
- 18:55Speaker 1: convenient distance from the judge and his attendants. Late in
- 18:59Speaker 1: the spring early summer of eighteen seventy eight, at a
- 19:02Speaker 1: session of the County Court of San Sabba County, Billy
- 19:05Speaker 1: Brown was being prosecuted by County Attorney Brooks for a
- 19:08Speaker 1: violation of the prohibition laws. Brown took offense at a
- 19:12Speaker 1: remark of the prosecuting attorney and attempted to draw his
- 19:15Speaker 1: six shooter on him. T. J. T. Kendall, a law
- 19:19Speaker 1: partner Brooks, saw Brown's move and quickly whipping out his
- 19:22Speaker 1: own pistol. He killed Brown in the courtroom. Then, fearing
- 19:25Speaker 1: mob of captured, Kendall, fortified himself in a second story
- 19:29Speaker 1: of the courthouse and refused to surrender. He held the
- 19:32Speaker 1: whole town at bay while his wife administered to his wants. Meantime,
- 19:36Speaker 1: he set a hurry call to the nearest rangers asking
- 19:38Speaker 1: for protection against mob violence. Captain Errington received the message
- 19:42Speaker 1: and set a detachment from Coleman to San Saba to
- 19:45Speaker 1: preserve order. General Jones was notified and ordered Lieutenant Reynolds
- 19:50Speaker 1: at Chunction City to march to San Saba with his
- 19:52Speaker 1: company to take charge of Kendall and relieve Captain Rington's men.
- 19:56Speaker 1: It was probably two weeks after the killing before company
- 19:59Speaker 1: E reached San Saba, but mister Kendall was still holding
- 20:03Speaker 1: fort in the upper story of the courthouse. On the
- 20:06Speaker 1: arrival of Reynold's company, Kendall asked the court for a
- 20:09Speaker 1: preliminary examination. When court convened. The prisoner waived examination and
- 20:14Speaker 1: asked for transference to the Travis County Jail at Austin.
- 20:18Speaker 1: The court, realizing the feeling against Kendall, ordered his removal thither.
- 20:23Speaker 1: When the time came for Kendall's removal, a hack was
- 20:26Speaker 1: driven up to the courthouse door, where a great crowd
- 20:28Speaker 1: had assembled to see the prisoner. Jim Brown, sheriff of
- 20:32Speaker 1: Lee County, Texas and brother of Bill Brown, heavily armed,
- 20:36Speaker 1: had taken his station within ten feet of the prison door.
- 20:40Speaker 1: Just before mister Kendall descended the courthouse steps, Lieutenant Reynolds
- 20:44Speaker 1: ordered the crowd to fall back fifty feet from the hack.
- 20:47Speaker 1: The people immediately obeyed, with the exception of Jim Brown,
- 20:51Speaker 1: who sat perfectly still on his horse. The lieutenant looked
- 20:54Speaker 1: at Brown for a minute, then turned to his rangers
- 20:57Speaker 1: and ordered them to draw their guns and move everyone
- 20:59Speaker 1: far fifty yards from the courthouse. Like a flash, every
- 21:03Speaker 1: ranger drew his gun, dismounted, and waved the crowd back.
- 21:07Speaker 1: Brown turned to Reynolds and said, I am going to
- 21:10Speaker 1: Austin with you. If you do, you will go in irons.
- 21:15Speaker 1: Move back. Brown, who had killed several men, slowly turned
- 21:19Speaker 1: his horse and rode away. He did not know the
- 21:22Speaker 1: man with whom he was dealing. Lawyer Kendall, was thereupon
- 21:26Speaker 1: carried to Austin without incident. When we reached Austin, Jim
- 21:30Speaker 1: Brown met Lieutenant Reynolds on the street and apologized for
- 21:33Speaker 1: the way he had acted at San Saba. He said
- 21:36Speaker 1: he fully intended to kill Kendall as he approached the hack,
- 21:39Speaker 1: but the presence of so many rangers caused him to
- 21:41Speaker 1: change his mind. Lieutenant Reynolds declared he was anticipating just
- 21:46Speaker 1: such a move and had instructed his men to shoot
- 21:49Speaker 1: Brown into doll rags at his first move. Soon after this,
- 21:53Speaker 1: Lieutenant Reynolds moved Company E down on the San Saba
- 21:56Speaker 1: in a beautiful peac congrove, an ideal summer camp, about
- 21:59Speaker 1: two more miles from the town of San Saba. From
- 22:02Speaker 1: this point we scouted all over Atlanto, Lampassas, Burnett, and
- 22:05Speaker 1: San Saba Counties at our favorite pursuit of rounding up
- 22:08Speaker 1: bad men. It was from this camp that we made
- 22:11Speaker 1: our sensational ride to round Rock after Sam Bass, the
- 22:15Speaker 1: notorious train robber. End of Section nine