tected by the Rangers or any-
one else until someone recog-
nized the outlaw’s likeness on a
wanted poster a few weeks
afterward. The gang, including
their leader, was later captured
by a county sheriff in Arizona.
Cox, in The Time of the
Rangers, moves from the
Depression decade toward
modern-day law enforcement
in a steady, natural manner that
makes for easy reading and
understanding. For example, I
read the first volume, Wearing
the Cinco Peso, all the way
through in three long sittings.
The second is just as relaxed.
The most important post-
Depression-era advance for the
DPS was the two-way car radio
system. Radio marks the most
significant delineation between
“old” and “new” so far as law
enforcement is concerned.
The remainder of Cox’s
continued from page 19
and playing music for more
than a dozen years, but, living
in the Big Bend, he is able for
the first time to make most of
his income through music.
“I lived in cities that were
considered music hubs, which
were great places to listen to
and be inspired by other musi-
cians but virtually impossible to
earn enough to afford the cost
of living in those places,”
Reichman said.
continued from page 22
Carter as a desert hermit, he
was a sociable host at
Persimmon Gap. The 1935
Alpine Avalanche profile noted
that Bobcat always offered
guests a drink from his “Wine
of Life.” The concoction was
“made of grapes, peach
peelings, apples, a little sotol
and anything else he can find.
He drops these in a barrel and
lets nature do the work.” Some
of the bravest visitors sampled
his famous bobcat stew.
Oftentimes, he’d caterwaul a
second volume is a litany of
events that have carried the
Texas Rangers toward the rep-
utation they enjoy today. Cox
paints a more factual picture of
some events than most other
writers seem able to manage.
For example, in the first vol-
ume, Cox reveals that Ranger
Sgt. John H. Armstrong did not
in fact arrest John Wesley
Hardin in Florida. The county
sheriff did. Armstrong was
watching from an adjacent
train car. So, another myth
bites the dust.
However, when he relates
his version of “Kidnapping at
Horseshoe Bay,” Cox fails to
acknowledge that the case was
bungled from the beginning by
the ranger from Llano who was
leading the case. Those miscues
cost the lives of two people, one
of
those Bobby Paul
Dougherty, Texas Ranger. From there to the Branch
Davidian debacle at Waco – a
federal foul up that the
McClennan County sheriff
and/or Texas Rangers would
have handled much differently,
to the El Dorado raid on the
Mormon polygamists near El
Dorado in 2008 – an event that
ended poorly in many folks
opinion for both the Texas
Child Protective Services
agency and the Rangers, Cox
lays events squarely on the line.
Cox’s lucid, entertaining
composition and propensity to
stick with the facts is commend-
able. (Texans, after all, don’t
necessarily wish to be told that
their “ranger boys” make mis-
takes, as happened at
Horseshoe Bay, et al. That
would make them real people
rather than lesser gods.)
So far, I nominate two
authors for the list of most
Reichman has a large body
of original work – more than
100 songs – but very few of
them have been recorded.
Changing that is another rea-
son he’s made his home base in
the Big Bend.
“One of the intentions of
living out here is to have a
space that is inspiring and free
from distractions,” Reichman
said, “so that I can start com-
mitting my music to tape.”
“I have been grateful for the
community of authentic and
unique individuals that call this part of the world home,” he
said, “though I don’t know
what my permanency is here. I
don’t think anyone really does.”
It’s a good reason to appre-
ciate Reichman and Trammel
while they’re in our midst.
few lines from “The Streets of
Laredo” or another favorite
song.
Bobcat took sick again in the
early fall of 1940, entered the
Alpine hospital and died on
October 14. His death certifi-
cate listed “hypostatic pneumo-
nia, aided by senility.” But as
folklorist Elton Miles observes
in his 1976 book, Tales of the Big
Bend, “Some believe his death
was caused by an enforced vio-
lation of his lifestyle. When he
arrived at the hospital, they say,
the first thing they did was give
Bobcat Carter a bath, and that
is what killed him.” Adapted from the book
Mavericks: A Gallery of Texas
Characters by Gene Fowler,
University of Texas Press,
www.utexas.edu/utpress/books/fow
mav.html
definitive work on the Rangers.
Those are of course, Mike Cox
as well as Robert M. Utley
(Lone Star Lawmen, Oxford
University Press, 2007). But I
haven’t yet had the opportuni-
ty to read the New Mexican
version by Charles Harris and
Louis Sadler. It should be
interesting to get an out-of-
state opinion.
And
I’m
looking
forward to
it.
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