The Texas Star Newsletter for the Texican Rangers A Publication of the Texican Rangers An Authentic Cowboy Action Shooting Club That Treasures & Respects the Cowboy Tradition SASS Affiliated PO Box 294713 May, 2016 Kerrville 78029-4713 Officers Words from the Judge President Judge GeePee 210-378 6966 judgegeepee@gvtc.com Vice President Sheriff Robert Love 210-215-9155 a_fite@sbcglobal.net Secretary Tombstone Mary 210-262-7464 maryn58@sbcglobal.net Treasurer Madam Ella Moon 830-739-0339 madamellamoon@live.com Range Master A.D. Texaz 210-862-7464 jn1897@me.com Communications Dutch Van Horn 210-823-6058 dutchvanhorn@satx.rr.com Hello the Camp: Let me begin by thanking all the cowboys and cowgirls that braved the impending weather to shoot with us on Saturday and Sunday. Even though we got a little wet on Saturday we had a great time, with good friends, good stages and a great ranch to shoot on making it all worthwhile. Sunday was also pending bad weather; however, I did not feel a drop of rain until we were leaving the ranch. 52 brave souls came out on Saturday with 6 guests and 20 on Sunday with 2 guests. On Sunday our own Agarita Annie shot the match, and needless to say she did great. Please encourage her when you see her. Congratulations to our overall winner on Saturday and Sunday Skyhawk Hans and to our 12 clean match shooters on Saturday and our 1 on Sunday. Winners of Wild Bunch/Cowboy Match on Saturday the 30th of April were Leather Lung in the Wild Bunch and Bison Jim in the Cowboy Posse. Marshall Willy was the winner of the BAM Match on Sunday the 1st of May.
Now for club business, at the work day I was approached by 2 club members that are willing to provide seed money to start a fund to purchase equipment for maintaining our range. In my opinion I believe it would be advantageous to have a riding mower and a walk behind string trimmer that the club owns. When we own equipment we can mow and trim as needed, not only when we have a work day. There are members and board members who would donate their time to come out and mow and trim as needed. Please email (judgegeepee@gvtc.com) with your comments. See you next match. Judge GeePee John Wesley Hardin Most Dangerous Gunfighter of the Old West Old West outlaw and gunslinger John Wesley Hardin was born May 26, 1853, in Bonham, Texas. Rumored to be so mean he once shot a man for snoring, Hardin was shot to death in El Paso on August 19, 1895, by a man he had hired to kill someone else. John's father, James G. Hardin, was a Methodist preacher, lawyer, schoolteacher, and circuit rider. His mother was Elizabeth Hardin. At age fourteen, John stabbed a schoolmate. At age fifteen, he shot a man to death in Polk County. While fleeing from the law following that murder, he killed at least one, and possibly four Union soldiers who were attempting to apprehend him. As a cowboy on the Chisolm Trail in 1871, Hardin killed seven people. He killed three more upon arriving in Abilene, Kansas. Back in Texas, following a run-in with the State Police back in Gonzales County, Hardin got married, settled down and had three children. But he soon resumed his murder spree, killing 4 more times before surrendering to the Cherokee County sheriff in September 1872. He broke out of jail after a couple of weeks, however. Hardin next killed Jack Helm, a former State Police captain, who led the fight against the anti-reconstructionist forces of Jim Taylor in the Sutton-Taylor Feud. Hardin had become a supporter of Taylor's from 1873 to 1874. In May 1874, Hardin killed a deputy sheriff in Brown County while visiting the town of Comanche. Fleeing to Florida with his family, Hardin was captured by Texas Rangers in Pensacola on July 23, 1877. During that flight, he killed at least one, and perhaps as many as five more victims. On September 28, 1878, Hardin was sentenced to twenty-five years for the Brown County deputy's murder. He was pardoned on March 16, 1894. Having studied law while in prison, Hardin was admitted to the Texas bar soon after his release. In 1895, Hardin went to El Paso to testify for the defense in a murder trial. Following the trial, he stayed and established a law practice. Just when he seemed to finally be
going straight, Hardin began an affair with one of his married female clients. Her husband found out about the affair and Hardin hired some law officials to kill him. One of the hired gunmen, however, Constable John Selman, shot Hardin instead. Hardin carried a number of firearms during his life but it was reported he had a pair of Colt Thunderer s in.41 caliber when he was killed. Hardin carried these guns in special leather lined pockets of his pants. He favored this method of carry because he said he could draw faster than a conventional holster. Perhaps that speed was why Selman shot him in the back. Legend has it that his last words were, "Four sixes to beat, Henry." When killed, Hardin was shooting dice with local furniture dealer Henry Brown at the Acme saloon in El Paso. Thus ended the life and career of one of Texas deadliest gunslingers. Despite his killing of over thirty people, Hardin had a reputation as a gentleman among those who knew him, and he always claimed he never killed anyone who didn't need killing. Captain Bill McDonald By Dutch Van Horn 1852-1918 William Jesse McDonald, known as Captain Bill McDonald was a bodyguard for both U.S. Presidents Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson, and a famous Texas Ranger Captain credited for first saying, One riot, one Ranger. Mc Donald was born in Kemper county near Meridian, Mississippi, but relocated with his mother to east Texas after the American Civil War. At the age of sixteen, McDonald quarreled with federal officials during Reconstruction and was tried for treason but acquitted through the intervention of future U.S. Representative David B. Culberson. He graduated in 1872 from Soule Commercial College in New Orleans. He became a teacher and later established a grocery store in Mineola, Texas. He later became a deputy sheriff in Wood County. After he married the former Rhoda Isabel Carter, they moved to Hardeman County, Texas where he was again a deputy sheriff. It was said of the mild-mannered, gentle-spoken lawman that he "would charge hell with a bucket of water," and that he could have a pair of handcuffs on a criminal before they could offer
resistance. The man led a charmed life--no bullet could touch him, legend said. He rose from deputy sheriff to be a special Ranger, and soon afterward was made a Deputy U.S. Marshal. His bold tactics drove the Brookins gang from Hardeman County. McDonald also apprehended cattle thieves and train robbers in No Man s Land and the Cherokee Strip. In 1891, Governor Hogg named McDonald to succeed Samuel A. McMurry as the captain of Texas Rangers Company B, Frontier Battalion, a position that he retained until 1907. McDonald and his company were involved in numerous matters throughout the state, including: the Bob Fitzsimmons-Peter Maher prizefight in El Paso, the Wichita Falls bank robbery, the murders by the San Saba Mob, the Reese-Townsend feud, the lynching of the Humphries clan, the Conditt family murders, and the shootout with Mexican Americans near Rio Grande City. In all of these events, only one Ranger, T.L. Fuller, lost his life under McDonald s command. Although McDonald was nearly killed in a gunfight with Sheriff John P. Matthews of Childress County in 1893 in Quanah, he was no mythical western gunfighter. His reputation as a gunman rested upon his easily demonstrated marksmanship, a flair for using his weapons to intimidate opponents, and the publicity given his numerous exploits. Yet McDonald had the ability to track outlaws, to evaluate physical evidence found at the scene of a crime, and to stand off mobs. His admirers see him as one of the "Four Great Captains," along with John A. Brooks, John R. Hughes, and John H. Rogers. McDonald's detractors have portrayed him as an irresponsible lawman who accepted questionable information, precipitated violence, hungered for publicity, and related tall tales that cast himself in the hero's role. This most famous and feared lawman in the history of Hardeman County--and perhaps the entire state of Texas--went on to inspire generations of Texas Rangers and did more to foster and preserve the Rangers' "one riot, one Ranger" credo than any other man. Without a doubt, had that December, 1893 shoot-out never taken place, the stories of Capt. McDonald would still cover the pages of countless history books. Guide to President Theodore Roosevelt on his famous Big Wolf Hunt, and later a bodyguard for President Woodrow Wilson, McDonald's niche in history was assured. McDonald died of pneumonia in Wichita Falls, Texas. He was buried at Quanah, Texas, and his tombstone carries the motto: No man in the wrong can stand up against a fellow that s in the right and keeps on a-comin.
"The next best thing to being clever is being able to quote someone who is. Mary Pettibone Poole "We are rough men and used to rough ways." Bob Yonger "A jail is just like a nutshell with a worm in it, the worm will always get out." John Dillinger "There were only two things the oldtime cowpunchers were afraid of: a decent woman and being set afoot." Teddy Blue Abbot "Can't you hurry this up a bit? I hear they eat dinner in Hades at twelve sharp and I don't aim to be late." Black Jack Ketchem, just before he was hanged Famous Quotes "They say I killed six or seven men for snoring. It ain't true. I only killed one man for snoring. John Wesley Hardin Leave me alone and let me go to hell by my own route. Calamity Jane I have vision, and the rest of the world wears bifocals. Butch Cassidy Above all things, the plainsmen had to have an instinct for direction. I never had a compass in my life, but I was never lost. Charles Goodnight "Never run a bluff with a six-gun." Bat Masterson
Derringers By Dutch Van Horn The term derringer is a misspelling of the last name of Henry Deringer, a famous 19 th -century maker of small pocket pistols. Many copies of the original Philadelphia Deringer pistol were made by other gun makers worldwide, and the name was often misspelled; this misspelling soon became an normal term for any pocket pistol, along with the generic phrase palm pistol that Deringer s competitors invented and used in their advertising. The original Deringer pistol was a single-shot muzzle loading pistol called the Philadelphia Deringer. This was the type of pocket pistol used by John Wilkes Booth in the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. With the advent of cartridge firearms, pistols began to be produced in the modern form but were still known as a derringer. A derringer is generally the smallest usable handgun of a given caliber. They were frequently used by women, because they are easily concealable in a purse or as a stocking gun. Due to their compact size they were also many times carried in a muff (a fashion accessory for keeping the hands warm). The original cartridge derringers held only a single round, usually a pinfire or rimfire, with the barrel pivoted sideways on the frame to allow access to the breech for reloading. When Colt finally started to convert from cap and ball technology to self-contained metallic cartridges they were behind their competitors. As a stop gap in 1870 Colt bought the National Arms Company, a Brooklyn, New York, a company known for manufacturing derringers Colt continued to produce the.41 Short derringer after the acquisition, as an effort to help break into the metallic-cartridge gun market and later produced its own rear-loading guns and cartridges. These Colt Derringers were popular and were manufactured until 1912.
The famous Remington derringer design doubled the capacity, while maintaining the compact size, by adding a second barrel on top of the first and pivoting the barrels upwards to reload. Each barrel then held one round, and a cam on the hammer alternated between top and bottom barrels. The Remington derringer was in.41 Short caliber and achieved wide popularity. This bullet moved very slowly, at about 425 feet per second. That is about half the speed of a modern.45 ACP. The bullet traveled slowly enough to be seen in flight but at very close range, such as across a card table, it could easily kill. The Remington derringer was poplar and sold from 1866 to 1935. Slightly larger than a gentleman s pocket watch, the Sharps Pepperbox derringer was a favorite with gamblers and other who felt they needed protection, but wished to keep their ace in the hole out of sight. Sharps first produced its Pepperbox derringer in.22 short rimfire, then later in.30, and.32 short and long rimfire. One frontiersman, threatened with a.22 derringer, slapped it out of his assailant s hand and said, If anyone ever shot me with a twentytwo, and I found out about it, I d skin him alive! Also known as the colt Cloverleaf, the Colt House Pistol as a small 4-shot single-action revolver chambered for the.41 Short/Long rimfire. This gun was designed to fill the same role as a derringer: small personal protection, but with greater ammunition capacity. Chambered in the same.45 Short rimfire cartridge that the Remington derringer used, it was not a very powerful round. The 130 grain projectile only had 13 grains of black powder to make it go.
The 4-shot cylinder had a unique shape which led to the Cloverleaf nickname. Colt made about 7500 of the standard Cloverleaf between 1871 and 1876. They also made another version with a 5-shot unfluted cylinder. The popularity of guns like this influenced other manufactures to develop their own line of pocket pistols. RO Corner By Sheriff Robert Love The officers of the Texican Rangers are offering the members something completely different for the Saturday shoot in June. We will be holding a 22 side match BEFORE the main match. This will allow us to beat the heat and all have lunch as soon as the main match is over. A.D. Texaz & Sheriff Robert Love will furnish guns or you can bring your own. Since 22 Long Rifle ammo has been hard to get, the Texican Rangers will be furnishing the ammo. We have 4 categories: Cowboy, Wild Bunch, Ladies Cowboy & Ladies Wild Bunch. Cowboy will be shot with 5 rounds from a single action revolver and 10 rounds from a lever action or pump action rifle. Wild Bunch will be shot with 5 rounds from a semi-auto pistol and 10 rounds from a semiauto rifle. Each shooter can compete in both categories if he/she wishes to. The side match will start at 7:30 a.m. and run until 8:45 a.m. The mandatory shooters meeting will be at 9:15 with hammers down at 9:30. Feedback By Tombstone Mary, Secretary We are halfway through our shooting year with 6 more opportunities to get your 5 matches in for annual club awards. For those of you who are new to our club you must shoot 5 times in one category to qualify for annual awards. If you have any questions about how many times you have competed in one category, please send me an email. If I can help answer any questions or help with any problems, please let me know. You can email me at Maryn58@sbcglobal.net
Van Horn Mercantile FOR SALE: by Culebra Blaze Ruger New Vaquero,.357/.38, 5.5" bbl, blued. Like new, less than 250 rounds fired. Was a backup before I started shooting.45 Colt. $575 Ruger Blackhawk,.357/38, 6.5" bbl, blued. Like new, less than 250 rounds fired. Bought for the last "Josey Wales" match some time ago; has been a house pistol since. $475 Face to face only. Contact Culebra Blaze, Cell: 210618-5551, e-mail: wilebiker@yahoo.com. May Birthdays Dan McAngus 5/1 Marshall Willy 5/4 Texas Sarge 5/5 Texas Tony 5/8 Frontier Faith 5/17 Sierra Cheyenne 5/29 Lucky Nickel 5/28 WANTED A new shooter is interested in buying: A pair of Ruger SASS Vaqueros in 357 A 20 barrel 73 in 357 An SKB double in 12 Ga. If you have any of these for sale, contact him via email: williamdwiseman@yahoo.com Books Key Links www.sassnet.com www.texicanrangers.org www.greenmountainregulators.org www.pccss.org www.stxpistolaros.com www.tejascaballeros.org www.traviscountyregulators.com www.trpistoleros.com www.texasjacks.com www.cimarron-firearms.com www.tsra.com www.wildwestmercantile.com TEXICAN RANGERS 2016 March 12-13 Monthly Match April 7-10 COMANCHERIA DAYS April 30 Wild Bunch Match May 14-15 Monthly Match June 11-12 Monthly Match July 9-10 Monthly Match August 13-14 Monthly Match September 10 SHINDIG 2016 September 11 Monthly Match October 8 Final Match of 2016 November/December Range Closed
CENTRAL TEXAS MONTHLY CLUB SHOOTING SCHEDULES 1st Saturday Plum Creek (Lockhart) 1st Saturday South Texas Pistaleros (San Antonio) 2nd Saturday Texas Riviera Pistoleros (George West) 2nd Saturday Travis County Regulators (Smithville) 2nd Sunday Rio Grande Valley Vaqueros (Pharr) 2nd Weekend Texican Rangers (Comfort) 3rd Saturday Tejas Caballeros (Dripping Springs) 4th Saturday (Cowboy) and 4th Sunday (Long Green Mountain Regulators (Marble Falls) Range) 2016 Jan 30 Feb 22-28 Mar 11-13 Mar 17-20 April 7-9 April 7-10 May 5-8 May 13-15 May 19-22 TSRA Regional Match Winter Range (25th Anniversary) Bayou Blast Trailhead (25th Anniversary) Land Run Comancheria Days Battle of Plum Creek Jail Break Fall of the Fort (SASS TX State Championship) THSS Phoenix Lake Charles, LA THSS Oklahoma City Texican Ranger (Comfort) Plum Creek Oakwood Outlaws Ft. Parker Books Texas Ranger Jim Callan a man looking for a way to put some salve on his wounded heart. Perhaps by fighting renegades he could fight the beast within. This is the epic tale of the lives of a man and a woman woven together by happenstance and by historical movements that continue to shape the great southwest today. From the settlement of Texas by folks like Sam Houston to the battlegrounds of the Mexican-American War, you ll feel the bonds that hold Texans to their roots. By: Col. Callan SASS Life 73944 aka James T. [Tim] Graham Texican Rangers Available online from: Amazon, Barnes and Noble and Outskirts Press $27.95 Hardback - $18.95 Paperback
Photo Gallery I wasn t dressed like this and everyone was laughing at me.