loosened the rails and caused a terrific
derailment.
These two, however, were stopped by
Diamond Dick before their mischief
turned deadly.
As with most strong-willed per-
sons, Diamond Dick was opinionated
and would argue a point, sometimes
with disastrous results.
While working as a watchman for the
GH&SA Railway at Sanderson, he got
into a heated argument with an old
track foreman.
The foreman contended that he
could defend himself from attack with a
simple wooden chair, faster than Dick
could with a firearm.
Of course, Dick, who was quite a
gunman, begged to differ. The words
became heated and insults were
exchanged.
Without warning, Dick stood up and
went for his gun. The old man leaped to
his feet and made a grab for his chair.
To Dick’s horror his pistol went off and
when the smoke cleared he saw that he
had wounded the old man in the leg.
He could not explain why he shot the
man, except that it was a terrible acci-
dent.
When the doctor arrived, he said
there would be no lasting effects for the
old man, and soon all were laughing at
the suddenness of the turn of events.
Under normal circumstances, Dick
used just the amount of force that was
required to take control of a situation.
Sometimes the outcome was lethal, but
that was not usually the case.
When he and another watchman
caught a man in the GH&SA El Paso
yards with what was believed to be
stolen goods, they had to become very
forceful. As the reporter commented,
“The fellow showed fight, and the offi-
cers had to wipe the earth with him
before he would surrender and allow
himself to be taken to county jail.”
It is said that he who lives by the
sword, dies by the sword, and that was
the case for Ernest “Diamond Dick” St.
Leon.
While chasing three horse thieves
outside of El Paso, Dick’s newly-sworn
deputy, a New Orleans medical doctor
named Breaux, was killed instantly in a
gun battle, and Dick was mortally
wounded. He still managed to bring the
thieves into custody and to justice, but
he succumbed to his wounds on Aug. 1,
1898.
Dick’s death caused a small scandal
that threatened to tarnish the Texas
Rangers’ name.
It was reported widely in the El Paso
press that St. Leon was to have a pauper’s
burial.
The public was outraged and a sub-
scription was taken up to give him a
proper burial.
In reality, St. Leon’s wife arranged to
have him buried, and Captain Hughes
promised her that she would be reim-
bursed.
Still, the controversy raged. Adjutant
General Wozencraft, head of the Texas
Rangers, had to publish an article in the
papers discrediting the rumor and assur-
ing the public that the Rangers took care
of their own, while they lived and after
they died.
But, for years there was no marker at
St. Leon’s grave in Concordia Cemetery
in El Paso. Only in recent times did a
hand-crafted cross appear on his grave,
and in the last few years, his great-grand-
son erected a marble headstone, paid for
by the Concordia Heritage Association
and the El Paso Historical Society.
As his friend and fellow officer
Deputy Sheriff Ten Eyck said,
“Diamond Dick was a good officer. He
took altogether too many chances, I
think, in most cases… I have known
him for some time, and a more persist-
ent traveler after criminals I never met in
all my life.
Running them down
seemed to be his only hobby and he
seemed to enjoy the chase after them.
He was in the field most all the time and
ever and always had his eyes peeled for
offenders against the law.”
As with most stories concerning
Sanderson in the early days and the
characters that drifted in and out of our
timeline, truth is often better than fic-
tion. Folks, you just can’t make up this
stuff!
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