Victor M. Alvarez - Two Guns Across Texas : Historical Tales of the Texas Rangers

Two Guns Across Texas

Victor M. Alvarez

Copyright Victor M. Alvarez 2022

Black Rose Writing | Texas

2022 by Victor M. Alvarez

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of the publishers, except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages in a review to be printed in a newspaper, magazine or journal.

The final approval for this literary material is granted by the author.

First digital version

All characters appearing in this work are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

Print ISBN: 978-1-68513-024-4

PUBLISHED BY BLACK ROSE WRITING

www.blackrosewriting.com

Print edition produced in the United States of America

I dedicate this book to my son,

Victor Manuel Alvarez, Jr.

With sincere appreciation to my best friend Dan Russell, whose insights on all my books, I greatly appreciated. Without his help, this book would not have had the final touches required for publication.

And to my wife, Pam, the impetus I needed to complete this book.

PRAISE FOR

VICTOR M. ALVAREZ S

PREVIOUS WORKS

Requiem for the Dead

Fans of military thrillers and tough, smart heroines will enjoy this high-octane adventure.

Publisher Weekly Review

A military cloak and dagger thriller, written by an authority on military protocol.

Authors Reading, Carole W.

An electrifying military thriller reminiscent of Mark Greaney and Brad Thor, with a plot worthy of a blockbuster movie.

BestThrillers.com, Bella G. Wright

Your reading frenzy begins on page one and continues to the end...well researched story as authors like Vince Flynn, Lee Child or Brad Thor bring to their readers.

Rox Burkey

A military thriller that takes the reader on an action-packed adventure through present-day Germany and North Korea.

Sublime Book Review

I couldn t put it down. With a strong female lead and non-stop action, it s sure to please.

Online Book Club

Character-driven, fast-paced action thriller, slick compelling and gritty.

Artisan Book Reviews, Ella James

This action-packed and bloody military tale introduces a dynamite duo.

Kirkus Book Review

Fast-paced and electrifying: this is a surefire hit.

The Prairies Book Review

The Theseus Conspiracy

2021 Finalist, The Best Thriller Book Awards on BestThrillers.com

A psychopathic villain in possession of seven deadly nuclear bombs. A conspiracy of divesting consequences. A thriller unlike any you ve ever read.

The Prairies Book Review

In this frantic conspiracy tale, characterization blends smoothly with action to produce a satisfying read.

Kirkus Book Review

The writing packs all the punches of a Tom Clancy-sequel cold war nail-biter with a modern edge.

Hollywood Book Reviews

A vivid, full-throttle military thriller featuring a villain that readers will never forget.

BestThrillers.com, Bella G.

VICTOR M. ALVAREZ

PREVIOUS WORKS

FICTION NOVELS

Kill Slade

Requiem for the Dead

The Theseus Conspiracy

Two Guns Across Texas

NON-FICTION

The Huntsman

No Time to Kill

Texas in the mid-1850s:

Table of Contents

FOREWORD

To my new readers and those that follow my stories:

I submit here the adventures of two Texas sons, Larry, and John Slade. It is long on story and short on plot, but it fills each story with the thrilling exploits of these two men. They re larger-than-life characters who lived in a world of violence: the Old Wild West.

What I m about to share with you are the thrilling adventures of two guns across Texas.

It was my only son, fifteen-year-old Jonathan Slade, who expressed his overwhelming desire to learn more of our kinfolk, his great-great-grandfather, and his great-grandfather, Larry, and John Slade.

Fascinated by these forbearers, he yearned to hear all that he could about the adventurous, albeit violent and often bloody lives and times of these two remarkable Texas Rangers, so here are a few words relative to their beginnings.

Several years back, as I started relating their stories to Jonathan, I could not pull away from my position as a Deputy Sheriff for the county of Austin, Texas, and research their lives full-time. Now that I ve retired, and with plenty of time on my hands, I ve compiled the enormous volumes of their letters, news clippings, and other documents and preserved their stories in book form, for my son, and the Texas Rangers Museum.

The men called Slade, both father and son, are the stuff of legends. Their stories survive and have been passed down from one generation to the next. And writing it in book form, I feel it is the least I can do to honor their memory.

From all the letters and memoirs, I ve read, John Slade, who was born in 1844 and passed away in 1916 at seventy-two, recounts his bloody birth. He wasn t a man of reckless blood, yet in time, much like their contemporaries famous frontier lawmen such as Wyatt Earp and James Wild Bill Butler Hickok he and his father Larry came to occupy an intriguing place in the legendary tales of the Old West.

When my father first started reading some of their letters to me at twelve, I became enthralled just like my son, about these two men who led a life and death struggle on the open plains, a rough and rowdy breed of men, alongside their women.

These two epitomized the classic ideals of manhood, standing proud and fearless in the face of adversity and danger, always giving a helping hand to those in need. Their manner was almost perfect from two men of the South.

Their guns often spoke for themselves. They were not gunslingers but trained to not just draw fast but to have an accurate aim.

Larry Slade served in the Texas Revolution and later became one of the first Texas Rangers, serving in his first post along the Sabine River, while his son, John Slade would later serve just like his father, a Ranger posted to the Austin, Texas, station.

I ve written their life stories in book form. Each within their time frames of violence, happiness, and strife.

The ranch that John Slade built is still standing today. It s my home now and outback of the main house, are the tombs of Larry and John Slade, and lying beside them are the two women that stood alongside them through thick and thin.

So, with heroes and villains alike, let s return to those days of yesteryear, as I tell you the stories of the man named Larry, and his son John Slade, Texas Rangers, as they blazed their two guns across Texas.

Yours very sincerely,

John Edward Slade VI.

PART ONE

LIFE AND TIMES

OF

LARRY KINCADE SLADE

CHAPTER 1

THE HOSTILES

AND

THE BIRTH OF JOHN SLADE