H. Joaquin Jackson - One Ranger Returns

ONE RANGER RETURNS

THE RANGERS PRAYER

O God, whose end is justice,

Whose strength is all our stay,

Be near and bless my mission

As I go forth today.

Let wisdom guide my actions,

Let courage fill my heart

And help me, Lord, in every hour

To do a Rangers part.

Protect when danger threatens,

Sustain when trails are rough;

Help me to keep my standard high

And smile at each rebuff.

When night comes down upon me,

I pray thee, Lord, be nigh,

Whether on lonely scout, or camp,

Under the Texas sky.

Keep me, O God, in life

And when my days shall end,

Forgive my sins and take me in,

For Jesus sake, Amen.

PIERRE BERNARD HILL
TEXAS RANGER CHAPLAIN

BRIDWELL TEXAS HISTORY SERIES

H. JOAQUIN JACKSON

WITH JAMES L. HALEY

Copyright 2008 by H. Joaquin Jackson

All rights reserved

Printed in the United States of America

Second printing, 2008

Requests for permission to reproduce material from this work should be sent to Permissions, University of Texas Press, P.O. Box 7819, Austin, TX 78713-7819. www.utexas.edu/utpress/about/bpermission.html

The paper used in this book meets the minimum requirements of ANSI/NISO z39.48-1992 (R1997) (Permanence of Paper).

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA

Jackson, H. Joaquin. 1935

One ranger returns / H. Joaquin Jackson with James L. Haley. 1st ed.

p. cm. (Bridwell Texas history series)

Includes index.

ISBN 978-0-292-71626-1 (cloth: alk. paper)

1. Jackson, H. Joaquin. 1935 2. Texas RangersBiography.

I. Haley, James L. II. Title.

HV7911.J23A3 2008

363.2092dc22

[B] 2007038624

To all the Texas Rangers, past and present

The Old Ranger is still pretty sharp, but even my memory does not have the photographic recall that it once had. I am indebted to several individuals for filling in some blanks.

I want to thank my old friends from the days of the Good Ole Boys at the FBI National Academy, Dave Gaylord and Ruben Archuleta, for sharing their memories to refresh my own.

The library at Sul Ross State University, in Alpine, provided access to newspaper articles covering the Frome murders, which were the most notorious of their day in Texas, but which have fallen from our common memory so completely that they had to be resurrected virtually from scratch.

To the University of Texas Press, in the persons of Dave Hamrick and Bill Bishel, and to my agent, Jim Hornfischer, for his advice and encouragement in maintaining a harmonious working relationship among all parties, my sincere thanks.

For my great friends Shelton and Sunny Smith, who provided a home away from home at their beautiful 4S Ranch on the Blanco River west of Wimberley, where James Haley and I could work in peace, no thanks can suffice.

Thanks are also owing to Bexar County deputy sheriff Bill Stanley, who helped gather information and photos for the Champ Carter chapter; to Russell Smith, author, friend, and fellow lawman, for his help on the hunt for Alfredo Hernandez; to Ben Ross, a friend originally from the Dryden area, in Terrell County, for his help also on the hunt for Alfredo Hernandez; to Danny Rhea and Bill Gerth, former Rangers and Medal of Valor recipients, for their information about the Silver Badges of Courage; to Brian Kokernot, for the use of his ranch near Alpine as a place to work on this book away from the telephone; to Kim Keith, our great friend, who makes our trips possible by taking care of our home place, and Will, when needed. And to all the readers of One Ranger who wanted to read more.

Finally, and this is going to be hard to word in a proper way, there would be no interesting crime stories to read if there were no crimes, and there would be no crimes without victims, some of whom survive from the incidents I relate, who could be reminded of painful episodes in their lives. Where appropriate, I have changed the names and some circumstances to protect their privacy and peace of mind.

As I sit down to think about how to introduce a second volume of my Texas Ranger memoirs, Ann Richards, the former governor of Texas, has just passed on to help the Big Boss guard the pearly gates. She was a great lady and a great leader, but many readers dont know, and indeed Ann probably didnt know, that she played a major role in the success of my first book, One Ranger: A Memoir.

As the manuscript was being prepared for production, Shelton Smith, who had been Anns lead counsel while she was governor, and who I met because he was chairman of the Former Texas Ranger Foundationand who has become a very close friendtold me that I needed a strong woman to give me a blurb for my book. Having never been involved in the literary world, I did not know what the hell a blurb meant, except it was similar to blurt, and in my world that was some kind of spontaneous response. And I said, Well, who do you suggest to do this?

Shelton replied, Ann Richards.

My former cowriter David Marion Wilkinson was also present, and I looked them both right in the eyes and said, Hell, shes one of the reasons I left the Ranger service.

They still thought we should give it a shot, and after Shelton sent the manuscript to Richards, several days passed before she called him at his office in Wimberley. She didnt say hello or This is Ann or anything else. But Shelton knew her voice instantly as she said, You tell that old bastard that Ill give him a blurb for his book, but I know he rode his horse from Amarillo, Texas, to Austin, Texas, to turn in his Ranger badge when I was governor, and I damn sure dont appreciate it.

Shelton said, No, Ann, thats not right.

Richards insisted, I know its right. I know what he did.

He said, No, Ann, thats not right. Pause. He rode his horse from Alpine, Texas, to Austin, Texas, and turned in his Ranger badge.

In point of fact, it was my retirement papers that I turned in, not my badge, and I rode from Alpine to Austin in my state-owned Jeep Cherokee, which had about six lame horses under the hood and was the sorriest vehicle I ever drove for the state.

When I first entered law enforcement, the thought that I might live a life worth writing a memoir about was the furthest thing from my mind. But when I was approached about doing a book, a fine and seasoned writer named Robert Draper prepared a proposal. When the New York publishers read it, they thought the big story would have to be about my alleged objections to women serving in the Texas Rangers, and their reaction wasnt just no but hell no. A couple of them sniffed that the book had possibilities, but it was probably right for a regional press, which in New York is rather a put-down.

After David Wilkinson came aboard as my cowriter, the book was indeed placed with a regional publisher, but a very distinguished house with national reach, the University of Texas Press. Imagine my surprise when One Ranger became the fastest seller in the Presss history. We are now waiting on the ninth printing, having sold over 30,000 copies. Reviews of the book appeared in places we might have expected, such as