their terrible fears and horror of another outbreak were upon them,
and God spare me in my life the sorrow of ever again witnessing the
faces of agonized women and fear-stricken children, tensioned with
days and nights of suffering and waiting for relief, with none coming
from either Nation or State to give them assurance that greater and
unspeakable outrages were not to follow.
"Tardy relief did come. At the eleventh hour the fiends, who disgraced
the uniforms they were permitted to wear and shamed a nation, were
removed. That all of the three companies were blamable must be
conceded, for they knew who were guilty and they shielded and sheltered
them, and failed to give them up. Hence it is that it has been left to
the civil authorities of the State, and especially to this District
Court, to apprehend, if possible, those directly guilty of murder,
assault to murder, and the ruffianly conspiracies to that end, as
the authorities of the United States, in charge, have declared their
inability to discover who were the uniformed thugs and murders that
committed the outrages.
"The lengthy investigation of a committee of your leading citizens,
made while these outrages were fresh, is at your service. I also
present to you three affidavits made before me by W.J. McDonald,
Captain of Company B of the ranger force of Texas, against twelve of
the negro soldiers and one civilian, a negro ex-soldier. All these
parties are under arrest, and within the jurisdiction of the civil
authorities of the State, and to await the action of our courts. Hence
it is that if it has ever been known by committee, Sheriff, State
Ranger or other officer or individual who, if any of these men are
guilty, that knowledge should come to you as the grand inquisitorial
body that represents, not only the County of Cameron, but the State of
Texas.
"I have no hesitation in saying that I share in the universal belief
that among those under arrest are many of the murderers, but something
more than mere belief and opinion are required to vindicate the
law. Evidence must be had upon which to predicate an indictment,
and warrant a trial. If you indict on mere suspicion or opinion and
without evidence, you leave our people and community open to the charge
of injustice and the proceedings will resolve themselves into mere
delay, for in the end an indictment unsustained by evidence must be
dismissed."]
XLI
_The Battle on the Rio Grande_
ASSASSINATION OF JUDGE STANLEY WELCH. CAPTAIN BILL ORDERED TO THE
SCENE. AN AMBUSH; A SURPRISE AND AN INQUEST
Within three months from the night of the Brownsville raid, there
occurred another tragedy in the banks of the Rio Grande. In the hours
of earliest morning of Tuesday, November 6th--Election Day--while
asleep in his office room at Rio Grande City, District Judge Stanley
Welch, prominently connected with the Brownsville episode, was shot
dead in his bed by some unknown assassin; this cowardly killing being
doubtless the harvest of factional discord, widely sown and carefully
tended in that hotbed of political corruption and violence along the
Mexican border.
Rio Grande City lies up the river from Brownsville a distance of about
one hundred miles. It is the county seat of Starr County, and has
no railroad nearer than Sam Fordyce, the terminus of the St. L.B. &
M., some twenty miles away. There are no railroads at all in Starr
County--a big county, full of cactus, hard, spiny mesquite grass,
Mexicans, and hot burning sand. Riot and plot would flourish naturally,
in a place like that, as they do in all Latin-American territory.
Starr County, in fact, is rather more Mexican than Mexico herself,
using the word to convey the less fortunate characteristics of that
hybrid race. It is not the better class of citizens that leave Mexico,
or Italy, or China, and the United States has suffered accordingly.
The border counties of Texas, because of their situation have been
peculiarly unfortunate in this regard. In Starr County the elective
offices are held almost entirely by Mexicans, and the struggle for
place is very fierce and bitter. Affairs generally are conducted by
Mexicans, and even the schools are in Mexican hands. From a statement
concerning the school trustees and teachers, in Starr County, it
appears that out of twenty-four trustees only seven could speak and
write the English language, and out of thirty-nine teachers nineteen of
them had no knowledge whatever of our national tongue. Commenting on
this report, D.C. Rankin of Dallas, in an article in the Corpus Christi
Crony, says:
"The male teachers are political heelers for the party in power, and
the lady teachers are backed by workers in the ring.... No wonder that
law and order amount to nothing in that rotten section, and no wonder
that District Judge, Stanley Welch, was assassinated while asleep in
his bed. No wonder that when Rangers were sent there to preserve the
peace and protect the citizenship from the ravages of the so-called
Americanized Mexicans, that they were ambushed and fired upon by a lot
of these desperadoes."
It is this story of crime and ambush that we shall undertake to
tell in this chapter. When the assassination occurred, District
Attorney Kleiber, who also may be remembered as having figured in the
Brownsville story, was asleep in the room adjoining the one occupied
by Judge Welch--the two inhabiting a small one-story brick building
not far from the court-house. They had retired about the same time and
Kleiber slept soundly until next morning at seven. Hearing no movement
in Judge Welch's room, he called, but received no answer. Thinking the
judge had overslept, Kleiber then rose, and opening the door between,
called again. The judge did not stir, and going nearer the district
attorney saw blood coming from his left side. Judge Welch was lying
on that side; the window behind him was up--the shutter closed. He
had been shot in the back, from without, through a broken slat in the
blind. Attorney Kleiber recalled having been partially roused from his
sleep by some sudden noise, and now supposed it to have been the fatal
shot.
Mr. Kleiber at once notified the authorities, and by eight o'clock
news of the murder was on the street. It was Election Day, as already
stated, and excitement followed the report, with demoralization among
the better element--the party to which Judge Welch belonged. It should
be explained here that the two parties in that section are the "Reds"
and the "Blues"--nominally Democrats and Republicans, though the
distinction would seem one of patronage rather than of politics. In Rio
Grande City the party of Judge Welch, called the Reds (Democrats)--is
in the minority.
On this Tuesday, November 6th, 1906, its franchise was even more
restricted than usual. When the fact of the murder became known about
fifty mounted men, "Blues," went through the crowds, demanding that
the polls be instantly opened. Local officers were either unwilling
or unable to deal with this mob, and open warfare between the Blues
and the Reds was imminent. To avoid bloodshed, Chairman Seabury of
the Reds assembled the best men among the leaders of the Blues and
persuaded them to agree with him that no armed men should approach the
court-house, where the voting place had been established; also that one
man of each party should be appointed as special peace officer at the
polls, and that a Blue and a Red should vote alternately as long as
there existed material for such an arrangement.
The agreement was kept two hours, after which the Blues took possession
of the court-house; entered the door, and held the same, backed by
armed men on foot and on horseback, terrorizing and keeping out most of
the opposition voters. When the polls closed at 6:30 p.m., about one
hundred and twenty-five electors had not cast their votes.[19] There
had been plenty of intimidation and some personal violence, but no loss
of life. The elements for riot and bloodshed, however, were all there,
and it needed only a little brisk stirring to precipitate a general
killing.
Meantime, news of the murder of Judge Welch, with a report of the
general situation at Rio Grande City, and a request for Rangers, had
traveled overland to Sam Fordyce and by telegraph to Austin, not
arriving in time for action that day. Captain McDonald's territory
included Starr County--his headquarters having been removed to Alice
in 1903,[20] and on Wednesday morning of November 7th, 1906, he was
called by telephone from the governor's office at Austin. Governor
Lanham himself was at the Austin end and conveyed the news of the
assassination, which McDonald had just learned from another source.
"How many men have you at Alice?" inquired the governor.
"Two, including myself. My sergeant, W.J. McCauley, is here. One of my
men is on a scout below Corpus Christi, and the other (his force had by
this time been reduced to three) is guarding two murderers at Edna."
"Captain," was the governor's next question, "would the fact that
you have not been favorably disposed toward Judge Welch since the
Brownsville affair make any difference in your undertaking this matter,
now?"
"If you think so, Governor, you ought to get another Ranger Captain
for this company; a Ranger that would let a thing like that make any
difference in a case of this kind would be no good for any purpose that
I know of."
"Well, then, Captain, take whatever force you have, and proceed as soon
as possible to Rio Grande City, and I will send additional men there,
as quickly as possible. I will wire the authorities that you are on the
way with one Ranger and that more will follow at once."
"All right, Governor, I'll start first train, and do the best I can."
"And Captain" (The governor had suddenly remembered Brownsville).
"Yes, sir."
"Be conservative, Captain. Investigate, and try to quiet matters, but
be conservative, quite conservative, Captain."
"Yes, sir, Governor, all right. I'll be conservative--as conservative
as the circumstances will permit."
"Now, do that, Captain. Just quiet matters, and I'll send you
reinforcements at once. Only be as conservative as possible till they
come."
Captain Bill wasted no time in his preparation. The train would leave
in half and hour, and he didn't stop to pack a dress suit. He notified
McCauley, and gathered up a young fellow named Marsden, who had Ranger
ambitions, and started with such clothes and guns as he had on.
It is a slow, roundabout way from Alice to Rio Grande City. You have
to go from Alice over to Corpus Christi and there wait for a train
that takes you down to Harlingen. Then at Harlingen you must wait for
another train to take you to Sam Fordyce, and at Sam Fordyce you can
hire a hack that will carry you to Rio Grande City, unless you are
waylaid and murdered along that lonely road which follows the river and
winds between a thick growth of cactus, mesquite and all the thorny
rank vegetation of that sandy semi-tropical land. Starting from Alice
in the forenoon, one with good luck may reach Rio Grande City by ten
o'clock at night, though it will be safer to wait at Sam Fordyce until
next morning. Those who travel from Sam Fordyce to Rio Grande City
after nightfall, go armed, and need to.
Captain Bill had good luck on the way down. While waiting for the
Harlingen train at Corpus Christi he fell in with Sam McKenzie, his
ranger, who had been on a scout in that section, and at Harlingen he
found Blaze Delling, who had resigned from Company B to become U.S.
River Guard. He brought both men along, and with a force like that
he felt able to cope with a mob of whatever size or nationality. Of
course, nothing was known at Rio Grande City of the increase in the
Ranger army. It had been given out there that Captain McDonald and
one man had been ordered down, and that reinforcements would follow,
accordingly as Governor Lanham had wired.
The day was well along when the little army finally reached Sam Fordyce
and secured a conveyance for the final stage of their journey. An old
frontiersman by the name of Inman, who owned a hack and pair of small
mules, agreed to undertake the journey. It was late in the afternoon
when they started.
Night fell, clear and starlight, but there was no moon, and the narrow
winding southern road hedged thickly with mesquite and yucca and cactus
growth was dark enough, except here and there where it opened to the
river or to a hacienda (Mexican ranch), with its half dozen thatched
huts, or hackles, surrounded by brush fences.
The Rangers drove along quietly, speaking in low voices when they spoke
at all, peering into the darkness ahead, for they had no knowledge of
what conditions were awaiting them, or what they were likely to meet
along the way. Besides, it is the Ranger practice to go warily on dark
nights and not traverse an unknown road with festivity and boisterous
mirth.
It was about 8:30 o'clock and they had covered a little more than
half the distance to Rio Grande City, when they heard the noise of
approaching wheels and vaguely distinguished the outlines of some
vehicle in the darkness ahead. They were at the time about opposite
Casita Ranch--a poor place with the usual brush fences. Mr. Inman
slackened down his mules and pulled the Ranger hack a little to one
side of the road, supposing it to be only one of the traveling coaches
that make daily trips between Rio Grande City and the railway terminus.
But when the approaching vehicle was about thirty paces away, there was
a sudden flash in the dark, a report, and a bullet went singing over
the heads of the Rangers.
The Rangers were instantly in battle front, guns up and ready. They did
not fire at once, however, for there might be some mistake.
"Hold up there!" called McDonald. "We are Texas Rangers! Stop that
shooting!" and this admonition Private McKenzie quickly repeated in the
Mexican tongue.
[Illustration: CAPTAIN BILL'S LAST BATTLE.
"As pretty a fight as ever took place on the banks of the Rio Grande."]
There was no chance for mistake, after that. The hacks had been moving
right along and were now not more than twelve feet apart. Then the
approaching hack stopped and three figures with guns were seen to
leap to the ground. Captain Bill, who was standing up in the hack
with his Winchester leveled on them, thought at first that they
were getting out to surrender their arms, and three of his Rangers,
McCauley, McKenzie and Delling quickly jumped down, facing them. But at
that instant the epithets "Cavarones!" and "Gringoes!" came from the
Mexicans, and then "Tetterly! Tetterly!" (Shoot! Shoot!) with which
signal the Mexicans, both on the ground and in the hack, let go at the
Rangers, point blank, while from behind the brush fence two guns in
ambush opened an enfilading fire.
Then for the thirty seconds or so that it lasted, there was as pretty
a fight as ever took place on the banks of the Rio Grande. With seven
Mexican and five Ranger rapid-fire guns going--a round dozen in
all--there was one continuous explosion, and an unceasing glare.
"From where I stood in the hack, I could see the whites of their eyes,"
Captain Bill said afterward, "and I felt as if I could pick the buttons
off their coats. I let go as fast as I knew how, and at a different
Mexican every time."
But though rapid, the Ranger fire was cool and accurate, while the
Mexican marksmanship was inexcusably bad.
In less than half a minute it was all over. The seven Mexican guns were
silenced, the Mexican force demolished. In the road, a man lay across
his gun, dead. Two were limping and staggering away--one with a broken
leg, the other to die; two more--the ambushers--were hiding in the
weeds (where they were presently captured), while in the Mexican hack,
which was now once more moving slowly along, was a freight of yet two
more, both dead.
Sergeant McCauley, from his position on the ground, looked up to where
Captain McDonald, still standing in the hack, was already reloading.
"Pretty little fight, Uncle Bill," he said, casual like.
"Yes," said Captain Bill, thoughtfully filling the magazine of his
Winchester, "but do you reckon the governor will think we've been
conservative enough?"
When the dead and wounded and prisoners were gathered and a general
observation of the field was taken, it was found, from the empty
shells, that each side had fired about an equal number of shots--some
sixty, in all.
Marvelous as it may seem, not a Ranger was touched by any of the thirty
or more shots fired at them, though Mr. Inman, the driver, got a pretty
hot bullet through the very narrow space just under his arm a bullet
that cut his undershirt and scorched his skin, and made him think for
the moment that he was wounded. Old veteran that he was, he sat quietly
holding his team--a silent observer of the spectacle--only regretting
that, being unarmed, he could not have a more active part.
Captain Bill now took Delling and started for Rio Grande City,
leaving the remainder of his force in charge of the dead, wounded and
prisoners. They kept a sharp lookout for new attacking parties as
they drove along, and discussed the recent battle in voices that were
jubilant, but modulated.
"Of course, from the governor's telegram, they only expected to meet
two men," Captain Bill reflected. "It must have been a sunrise when
they suddenly found five guns going." And a little later, speaking out
of what seemed a troubled conscience, "But I'm afraid the Governor
won't think I was conservative."
Then presently they met two more vehicles coming, this time in a hurry.
Ready for action, the Rangers waited until they were up close, then
stopped them. They, also, had come to meet the Rangers, but this time
with a note from the county judge, telling them to hurry, as the town
was up in arms, and an outbreak was momentarily expected.
Captain McDonald sent one of the hacks after his men and their
prisoners, with orders to get Mexicans from the Casita Ranch to watch
the dead men until the inquest, next day. Then with the other hack he
pushed on to Rio Grande City. From the tone of the judge's note he
expected to find matters in a desperate condition. When he arrived,
however, there seemed to be no special excitement. Everybody was armed
and there were groups on the street, but there was little noise or
open disturbance. The Ranger Captain looked up the judge and sheriff
and made a report of his battle and its results, the news of which was
soon both general and effective. When he went out among the crowds and
told them to disarm--to go home and put their guns away and quit their
foolishness--it was like the dismissal of a State encampment. By the
time his men arrived everything was peaceable. It was too late that
night to make a report to the governor, but Captain Bill summed up the
situation in a telegram next morning. Governor Lanham had protested at
the length and cost of a telegraphic report from Brownsville; this time
there was no waste of words.
"Rio Grande City, Nov. 8, 1906.
"Gov. S.W.T. Lanham,
"Austin, Texas.
"We were ambushed; four Mexicans dead, one wounded, two captured;
preparing to hold inquest. Everybody disarmed; everything quiet.
"W.J. MCDONALD,
"Capt. Co. B,
"Ranger Force."
That told the story, adequately, cheaply and modestly. The papers over
the State made a good deal to-do over it, and reviewed Captain Bill's
other exploits--real and imaginary--but to him it was only in the day's
work, the work he had been carrying on for a long time, now, nearly a
quarter of a century.[21]
The inquest was held that morning according to program, and the verdict
justified the Rangers. After which, the four unlucky Ranger-hunters
were buried in a lonely old graveyard near the place where they fell.
The names of the four were, Farias, Osuna, Vincia and Perez--all known
in Rio Grande City. Their comrade who was wounded, another Osuna,
confirmed the Rangers' account of the battle. The original plan had
been for all to lie in ambush behind the fence and fire on the Rangers
deliberately, at close range. Losing patience, however, in an attempt
to clamber over the thick barrier, all but two decided to remain in the
hack.
The better element of Rio Grande City, though rejoicing over the
results of the ambush, were naturally apprehensive as to what might
happen next. Friends of the dead men were numerous, and it was believed
that a bloody outbreak with reprisals would follow. Captain McDonald
assured the citizens that he had no such fears, and the arrival of
State troops and Ranger Company D, Captain Hughes, helped to restore
confidence.
Captain Bill did not remain long in Rio Grande City. He was still
engaged in solving the Conditt problem at Edna and could not undertake
to unravel the mystery of Judge Welch's assassination. It remains
unraveled to this day. Perhaps time will furnish a clue. Perhaps the
secret lies buried in the old graveyard back of the Casita Ranch.
Nothing was ever done with the prisoners taken by the Rangers. That is,
nothing was done with the two men caught in ambush. The wounded man was
afterward made deputy sheriff, probably as a reward of merit for having
engaged in a shooting match with the Rangers and escaped alive.
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 19: For further details of the condition at Rio Grande City
at this time, see Appendix E.]
[Footnote 20: Company B had been transferred from Amarillo to Fort
Hancock in 1902 for a comparatively brief period.]
[Footnote 21: "The Fort Worth Record," commenting on this report,
compared it to Perry's famous "We have met the enemy and they are
ours." The Record adds: "Perry and McDonald are made of the same stuff.
If McDonald had been in Perry's place he would have been equal to the
emergency. If Perry had been in McDonald's place he couldn't have done
better."]
XLII
The End of Rangering and a New Appointment
STATE REVENUE AGENT OF TEXAS. THE "FULL RENDITION" BILL ENFORCED. A
GREAT BATTLE AND A BLOODLESS TRIUMPH
The Rio Grande affair was Captain Bill's last Ranger service of
dramatic importance. He was continuously busy during the two months
that elapsed between that episode and his official retirement, but it
was only in the usual line of duty, chasing murderers, putting down
riot and disarming unruly men--the things he had done so often that to
look back on his career now was to gaze down a kaleidoscopic vista of
death and disorder--a whirling maze of bad men and guns.
It was in January, 1907, that he went to Bellville as a witness in a
murder case, and it was while he was there, January 16th, that Governor
T.M. Campbell, who had just succeeded Governor Lanham, appointed him
State Revenue Agent of Texas. Captain Bill's first knowledge of the
matter came to him through the morning paper at Bellville. When his
duties were over there, he set out for Austin to inquire into it.
He knew that a State Revenue Agent was appointed to keep a general
supervision over the collection of the State revenues--taxes, license
money and the like--but he had only a dim idea as to the specific
duties of the office. He was by no means certain that he wanted to
exchange the wide free life of Rangering, whatever might be its
drawbacks, for the routine duties of an office in the Capitol, with
a desk, a revolving chair and a stenographer, whatever might be
the comforts and perquisites of these things. He was no longer a
young man, and he had been shot through from different directions.
Desperate wounds, long hard vigils, cold and exposure, had left him
weather-beaten and with shoulders and chest no longer as full and erect
as in the old days. Yet his eye was just as clear, his ear as alert and
his nerve as steady as in the beginning, and if this appointment was
merely a sinecure; a reward for deeds performed--a sort of official
manifest that he was down and out--he would have none of it. He could
_wear_ out, and he might some day stop a conclusive bullet, but he
declined to _rust_ out.
Perhaps there was a pretty general belief in Texas that Captain
McDonald's appointment was, in fact, a sinecure, but if so the idea
was transient. Arriving at the State Capitol, he called on Governor
Campbell, without delay.
"How about this appointment, Governor?" he said. "What kind of a job is
it?"
"Well, it's a better job than you've got, Captain. The pay is better
and it's safer, too. You're going to die, or be killed, someday, going
about in all kinds of weather and getting shot at, from ambush. We
can't afford to lose you, just yet."