Monday, June 24, 2024

ID the actual Texas Ranger

 


Thanks, Tad!

28 comments:

  1. Hammer on the right, pisswilly on the left.

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    1. nah that's Denver Pyle on the right.

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  2. Actor Tom Mix on the left, Frank Hammer on the right, Texas lawman. I think he had a hand in tracking down Bonnie and Clyde back in the day.

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    1. Watch Cosner's "The Highway Men" for the story there.

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    2. That was one damned good movie and the written version of Frank Hammer is incredible. He was one tough one hombre.

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  3. I don't think many 20th centure lawmen wore cowboy boots in their vehicles. I'm guessing the right person as the Texas Ranger.

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  4. I notice that the guy wearing a white hat (the good guys in the old western movies) seems to have better clothes for outdoor activities. He has reinforced pants (to stay on a horse), boots (to use on a dirt road), a handkerchief around the neck...

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  5. Frank Hamer. That guy was tough. During a grand jury lunch recess, a bad guy shot it out with Frank on the street. The jury was watching from the second floor. They no-billed him that afternoon. I don't remember how many bullets he carried in him...

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  6. Still trying to figure out what he's carrying in his coat pocket. The item off to the side is another cigar, I think. But that long shiny thing close to the lapel?

    Drape of the suit coat says he's packing.

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    1. The item running up to his coat lapel is a chain. In pictures of Frank Hamer of better focus and detail from the later period of his life you can see it’s a chain with a Maltese Cross or cross pattée fob on one end. I suspect there is a watch on the other end in his pocket.

      I believe the other object is the stem of a pipe. At first I assumed it was a pen or pencil, but again in better photos you can see it is always in the same position. Looking closely at the pocket in pictures with more detail I think you can see the outline of the pipe.

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  7. You have never been to Texas. Men, women, young girls and boys---EVERY BODY wears cowboy boots and cowboy hats are incredibly common too. When my son was about 6, he didnt ask for anything except BLUE!! cowboy boots. He got'em too. good kid.

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  8. Hamer & "Lone Wolf" Gonzales were legends in their time. Maybe the best Ranger story of all time was that German soldiers in WW2 that (when captured) they knew they were going to be defeated, as the feared "Texas Rangers" had landed in France.

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    1. Captain Manuel Trazazas Gonzaullas, actually, and he was born in Cadiz, Spain. But you are very correct that he and Frank Hamer were legendary.

      His Colt revolvers can be seen here:

      http://theautry.org/the-colt-revolver-in-the-american-west/historic-individuals?artifact=97.127.1-.2

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  9. I was going to say "some movie star cowboy on the left, Kevin Costner on the right". Costner does look like Frank Hammer.

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  10. I believe Mattie Ross would call the one on the left a “rodeo clown”.

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  11. I don't know about the rest of you-all, but I am enjoying this exchange of comments. Thanks for the fun!!!

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  12. Why almost everyone call him HAMMER?

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  13. The guy on our left is Tom Mix, who was, indeed, a movie star. But before that Mr. Mix was an actual, for real, dyed in the wool, working cowboy.

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  14. "I'm Frank Hamer
    The Life of a Texas Peace Officer"
    By John H. Jenkins and H. Gordon Frost
    1968, 2015

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  15. On p”old time radio” show, my husband and I listen to “tales of the Texas Rangers” it’s a great listen…factually based on real cases (1940’s and early 50’s). Texas back then took murderers to the chair most of the time….ah, the good old days

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  16. What a novel idea. So that's why the crime rate was so low back then. Murderers went to the chair never to return and to make an example for any dummy who thought it would be a good idea. If the chair ever returns there's a lot of cleaning up needs done for sure.

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    1. After your comment, I was reminded of a story about a cowboy being sentenced to hang for stealing a horse. The cowboy says, "you're not going to hang me for just stealing a horse, are you?" The judge replied, "I'm hanging you so other people don't steal horses."

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    2. I know how you feel. I always snicker when somebody tries on the old 'Death Penalty is not a deterrent !' chestnut.

      Really? Tell me - how many more murders do they commit after they're hung, then?

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    3. Hanged---although some might be hung----

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  17. Back around 2003/4, eating lunch at Herschels in Mt. Pleasant I watched two Rangers take 5 guys into custody in the parking lot. They turned them over to local PD then came in for lunch as if it was just another day. Rangers were still quite the badasses 20 years ago, don't k ow about now.
    The Ranger Museum in Waco is worth a trip to see. Got free admission as I told the staff how to stop their Fire Alarm from being in run away trouble. 👍🏻

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  18. That was then, now we have supposedly "top of the line G-men" getting robbed in parking lots outside the venue they're supposed to be protecting.

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  19. Read an article recently--believe this was taken in Tucson, just a day or so before Tom Mix got hisself kilt by his own suitcase after he ran through a construction barricade outside of Florence (Ariz)--there's a monument to the event there today. It's been reported alcohol wuz involved.

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