Yours to Command: the Life and Legend of Texas Ranger Captain Bill McDonald

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Captain Bill McDonald (1852-1918) is the most prominent of the “Four Great Captains” of Texas Ranger history. His career straddled the changing scene from the nineteenth to the twentieth centuries. In 1891 McDonald became captain of Company B of the Frontier Battalion of the Texas Rangers. “Captain Bill” and the Rangers under his command took part in a number of incidents from the Panhandle region to South Texas: the Fitzsimmons-Maher prizefight in El Paso, the Wichita Falls bank robbery, the murders by the San Saba Mob, the Reese-Townsend feud at Columbus, the lynching of the Humphries clan, the Conditt family murders near Edna, the Brownsville Raid of 1906, and the shootout with Mexican Americans near Rio Grande City. In all these endeavors, only one Ranger lost his life under McDonald’s command. McDonald’s reputation as a gunman rested upon his easily demonstrated markmanship, a flair for using his weapons to intimidate opponents, and the publicity given his numerous exploits. His ability to handle mobs resulted in a classic tale told around campfires: one riot, one Ranger. His admirers rank him as one of the great captains of Texas Ranger history. His detractors see him as an irresponsible lawman who accepted questionable …
Date: June 15, 2009
Creator: Weiss, Harold J., Jr.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Man, Bird and Beast (open access)

Man, Bird and Beast

Collection of Texas and Mexican folklore, including stories about folk medicine and ranch remedies, folk songs, legends and other folklore. The index begins on page 176.
Date: 1930
Creator: Dobie, J. Frank (James Frank), 1888-1964
System: The UNT Digital Library
And Horns on the Toads (open access)

And Horns on the Toads

Volume of folk stories and tall tales about the horned toad and other Texas folklore. The index begins on page 235.
Date: 1959
Creator: Boatright, Mody Coggin
System: The UNT Digital Library
Legends of Texas (open access)

Legends of Texas

Collection of popular Texas legends, including tales about buried treasure, the supernatural, pirates, origins of Texas flowers, and other miscellaneous legends. The index begins on page 271.
Date: 1984
Creator: Dobie, J. Frank (James Frank), 1888-1964
System: The UNT Digital Library
1941: Texas Goes to War (open access)

1941: Texas Goes to War

This book is a collection of essays discussing the role of Texans in World War II. It examines both the Texas soldiers fighting in the European and Pacific theaters as well as the Texans on the Homefront. The essays describe both the military and social aspects of the war. Index starts on page 241.
Date: 1991
Creator: Lee, James Ward; Barnes, Carolyn N.; Bowman, Kent A. & Crow, Laura
System: The UNT Digital Library
In the Line of Duty: Reflections of a Texas Ranger Private (open access)

In the Line of Duty: Reflections of a Texas Ranger Private

This book contains a series of anecdotes about Lewis Rigler's life, focusing on his time as a law enforcement officer in Texas. He discusses his life growing up, various cases that he worked on as a Texas Ranger, and general observations that he gained from his job. Index starts on page 181.
Date: 1995
Creator: Rigler, Lewis C., 1914- & Rigler, Judyth Wagner
System: The UNT Digital Library

Life of the Marlows: a True Story of Frontier Life of Early Days

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The story of the five Marlow brothers and their tribulations in late nineteenth-century Texas is the stuff of Old West legend (and served to inspire the John Wayne movie, The Sons of Katie Elder). Violent, full of intrigue, with characters of amazing heroism and deplorable cowardice, their story was first related by William Rathmell in Life of the Marlows, a little book published in 1892, shortly after the events it described in Young County, Texas. It told how Boone, the most reckless of the brothers, shot and killed a popular sheriff and escaped, only to be murdered later by bounty hunters. The other four brothers, arrested as accessories and jailed, made a daring break from confinement but were recaptured. Once back in their cells, they were forced to fight off a mob intent on lynching them. Later, shackled together, the Marlows were placed on wagons by officers late at night, bound for another town, but they were ambushed by angry citizens. In the resulting battle two of the brothers were shot and killed, the other two severely wounded, and three mob members died. The surviving brothers eventually were exonerated, but members of the mob that had attacked them were prosecuted …
Date: September 15, 2004
Creator: Rathmell, William
System: The UNT Digital Library
Coyote Wisdom (open access)

Coyote Wisdom

This volume contains popular folklore of Mexico and Texas, including animal folk stories, Navajo creation myths, discussions about folk characters, discussions about the philosophy of folklore, and other miscellaneous folk stories. The index begins on page 293.
Date: 1938
Creator: Texas Folklore Society
System: The UNT Digital Library
Straight Texas (open access)

Straight Texas

Volume of popular folklore of Texas, including tales about the origins of various cities and towns, personal anecdotes, songs, superstitions and other miscellaneous legends. The index begins on page 341.
Date: 1966
Creator: Dobie, J. Frank
System: The UNT Digital Library

Rounded Up in Glory: Frank Reaugh, Texas Renaissance Man

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Frank Reaugh (1860–1945; pronounced “Ray”) was called “the Dean of Texas artists” for good reason. His pastels documented the wide-open spaces of the West as they were vanishing in the late nineteenth century, and his plein air techniques influenced generations of artists. His students include a “Who’s Who” of twentieth-century Texas painters: Alexandre Hogue, Reveau Bassett, and Lucretia Coke, among others. He was an advocate of painting by observation, and encouraged his students to do the same by organizing legendary sketch trips to West Texas. Reaugh also earned the title of Renaissance man by inventing a portable easel that allowed him to paint in high winds, and developing a formula for pastels, which he marketed. A founder of the Dallas Art Society, which became the Dallas Museum of Art, Reaugh was central to Dallas and Oak Cliff artistic circles for many years until infighting and politics drove him out of fashion. He died isolated and poor in 1945. The last decade has seen a resurgence of interest in Reaugh, through gallery shows, exhibitions, and a recent documentary. Despite his importance and this growing public profile, however, Rounded Up in Glory is the first full-length biography. Michael Grauer argues for Reaugh’s …
Date: August 2016
Creator: Grauer, Michael
System: The UNT Digital Library
The Texas Folklore Society: Volume 1, 1909-1943 (open access)

The Texas Folklore Society: Volume 1, 1909-1943

Book describing the history and publications of the Texas Folklore Society between the years of 1909 and 1943. It includes information about "public songs and ballads; superstitions, signs and omens; cures and peculiar customs; legends; dialects; games, plays and dances; riddles and proverbs" (inside front cover). The index begins on page 317.
Date: 1992
Creator: Abernethy, Francis Edward
System: The UNT Digital Library

The Light Crust Doughboys Are on the Air: Celebrating Seventy Years of Texas Music

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Millions of Texans and Southwesterners have been touched over the years by the Light Crust Doughboys. From 1930 to 1952, fans faithfully tuned in to their early-morning and, later, noontime radio program, and turned out in droves to hear them play live. The Doughboys embodied the very essence of the “golden era” of radio—live performances and the dominance of programming by advertising agencies. Their radio program began as a way to sell Light Crust Flour. Their early impresario, W. Lee “Pappy” O'Daniel, quickly learned how to exploit the power of radio to influence voters, and he put that lesson to good use to become a two-time Texas governor and the model for Pappy O'Daniel in the movie, Oh Brother, Where Art Thou? But the group was more than a way to push flour; the talented musicians associated with them included Bob Wills and Milton Brown, each of whom receive credit for founding western swing. With the demise of their regular radio program, the Light Crust Doughboys had to remake themselves. Trailblazers in western swing, the Doughboys explored many other musical genres, including gospel, for which they were nominated for Grammys in 1998, 1999, 2001, and 2002. They continue to play …
Date: September 15, 2002
Creator: Dempsey, John Mark
System: The UNT Digital Library
Happy Hunting Ground (open access)

Happy Hunting Ground

Collection of popular folklore from Central and South America, including Mexican ballads, primitive art, cowboy dances, reptile myths, superstitions, Indian pictographs, and other folktales. The index begins on page 127.
Date: 1925
Creator: Texas Folklore Society & Dobie, J. Frank (James Frank), 1888-1964
System: The UNT Digital Library

Texas Rangers: Lives, Legend, and Legacy

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Authors Bob Alexander and Donaly E. Brice grappled with several issues when deciding how to relate a general history of the Texas Rangers. Should emphasis be placed on their frontier defense against Indians, or focus more on their role as guardians of the peace and statewide law enforcers? What about the tumultuous Mexican Revolution period, 1910-1920? And how to deal with myths and legends such as One Riot, One Ranger? Texas Rangers: Lives, Legend, and Legacy is the authors’ answer to these questions, a one-volume history of the Texas Rangers. The authors begin with the earliest Rangers in the pre-Republic years in 1823 and take the story up through the Republic, Mexican War, and Civil War. Then, with the advent of the Frontier Battalion, the authors focus in detail on each company A through F, relating what was happening within each company concurrently. Thereafter, Alexander and Brice tell the famous episodes of the Rangers that forged their legend, and bring the story up through the twentieth century to the present day in the final chapters.
Date: July 2017
Creator: Alexander, Bob & Brice, Donaly E.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Folklore in Motion: Texas Travel Lore (open access)

Folklore in Motion: Texas Travel Lore

Collection of folklore stories and personal anecdotes that relate to travel in Texas, grouped into broad topics that include historic and modern modes of transportation. Index starts on page 281.
Date: December 15, 2007
Creator: Untiedt, Kenneth L.
System: The UNT Digital Library

The Ranger Ideal Volume 2: Texas Rangers in the Hall of Fame, 1874-1930

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Established in Waco in 1968, the Texas Ranger Hall of Fame and Museum honors the iconic Texas Rangers, a service that has existed, in one form or another, since 1823. They have become legendary symbols of Texas and the American West. In The Ranger Ideal Volume 2: Texas Rangers in the Hall of Fame, 1874-1930, Darren L. Ivey presents the twelve inductees who served Texas in the latter half of the nineteenth century. Ivey begins with John B. Jones, who directed his Rangers from state troops to professional lawmen; then covers Leander H. McNelly, John B. Armstrong, James B. Gillett, Jesse Lee Hall, George W. Baylor, Bryan Marsh, and Ira Aten—the men who were responsible for some of the Rangers’ most legendary feats. Ivey concludes with James A. Brooks, William J. McDonald, John R. Hughes, and John H. Rogers, the “Four Great Captains” who guided the Texas Rangers into the twentieth century. The Ranger Ideal presents the true stories of these intrepid men who fought to tame a land with gallantry, grit, and guns.
Date: October 2018
Creator: Ivey, Darren L.
System: The UNT Digital Library

Vengeance Is Mine: the Scandalous Love Triangle That Triggered the Boyce-sneed Feud

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The 1912 Boyce-Sneed feud in West Texas began with a torrid sex scandal at the core of a love triangle, featuring Lena Snyder Sneed, the high-spirited, headstrong wife; Al Boyce, Jr., Lena’s reckless, romantic lover; and John Beal Sneed, Lena’s arrogant, grim, and vindictive husband, who responded to Lena’s plea for a divorce by having her locked up in an insane asylum on grounds of “moral insanity.” The chase was on after Al rescued Lena from the asylum and the lovers fled to Canada. That’s when the killings began. No one who knew the vengeful John Beal Sneed doubted for a moment that he would go after his wife’s lover with lethal intent. Frustrated by Al’s escape to Canada, Sneed assassinated Al’s aged and unarmed father, Colonel Albert Boyce, a wealthy Amarillo banker and former manager of the huge XIT Ranch in the Panhandle during the late nineteenth century, who had been defending his son against Sneed’s legal machinations. Newspaper headlines predicted the upcoming murder trial would be the “greatest legal battle ever fought in Texas Courts.” Sneed’s well-paid legal team first earned him a mistrial. While awaiting his second trial, Sneed ambushed and killed Al Boyce, Jr., who had …
Date: July 15, 2011
Creator: Neal, Bill
System: The UNT Digital Library
Texas and Southwestern Lore (open access)

Texas and Southwestern Lore

Collection of popular folklore from Texas and the Southwest, including ballads, cowboy songs, Native American myths, superstitions and other miscellaneous folk tales. It also contains the proceedings of the Texas Folklore Society. The index begins on page 243.
Date: 1927
Creator: Dobie, J. Frank (James Frank), 1888-1964
System: The UNT Digital Library

Fort Worth Characters

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Fort Worth history is far more than the handful of familiar names that every true-blue Fort Worther hears growing up: leaders such as Amon Carter, B. B. Paddock, J. Frank Norris, and William McDonald. Their names are indexed in the history books for ready reference. But the drama that is Fort Worth history contains other, less famous characters who played important roles, like Judge James Swayne, Madam Mary Porter, and Marshal Sam Farmer: well known enough in their day but since forgotten. Others, like Al Hayne, lived their lives in the shadows until one, spectacular moment of heroism. Then there are the lawmen, Jim Courtright, Jeff Daggett, and Thomas Finch. They wore badges, but did not always represent the best of law and order. These seven plus five others are gathered together between the covers of this book. Each has a story that deserves to be told. If they did not all make history, they certainly lived in historic times. The jury is still out on whether they shaped their times or merely reflected those times. Either way, their stories add new perspectives to the familiar Fort Worth story, revealing how the law worked in the old days and what …
Date: October 15, 2009
Creator: Selcer, Richard F.
System: The UNT Digital Library
T for Texas: a State Full of Folklore (open access)

T for Texas: a State Full of Folklore

Collection of popular folklore of Texas, including information about crafts, stories about vampires, stories about peyote ceremonies, prison folklore, folk songs, and other miscellaneous folk tales.
Date: 1982
Creator: Abernethy, Francis Edward
System: The UNT Digital Library

Accidental Activists: Mark Phariss, Vic Holmes, and Their Fight for Marriage Equality in Texas

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In early 2013 same-sex marriage was legal in only ten states and the District of Columbia. That year the Supreme Court’s decision in United States v. Windsor appeared to open the door to marriage equality. In Texas, Mark Phariss and Vic Holmes, together for sixteen years and deeply in love, wondered why no one had stepped across the threshold to challenge their state’s 2005 constitutional amendment prohibiting same-sex marriage. They agreed to join a lawsuit being put together by Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLD. Two years later—after tense battles in the Federal District Court for the Western District of Texas and in the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, after sitting through oral arguments at the Supreme Court of the United States in Obergefell v. Hodges—they won the right to marry deep in the heart of Texas. But the road they traveled was never easy. Accidental Activists is the deeply moving story of two men who struggled to achieve the dignity of which Justice Anthony Kennedy spoke in a series of Supreme Court decisions that recognized the “personhood,” the essential humanity of gays and lesbians. Author David Collins tells Mark and Vic’s story in the context of legal and …
Date: August 2017
Creator: Collins, David
System: The UNT Digital Library
Hunters & Healers: Folklore Types & Topics (open access)

Hunters & Healers: Folklore Types & Topics

Volume of Texan and Mexican folklore, including stories about hunting, folk medicine, ballads, religion and other folklore. The index begins on page 169.
Date: 1971
Creator: Texas Folklore Society
System: The UNT Digital Library

The Johnson-sims Feud: Romeo and Juliet, West Texas Style

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In the early 1900s, two families in Scurry and Kent counties in West Texas united in a marriage of fourteen-year-old Gladys Johnson to twenty-one-year-old Ed Sims. Billy Johnson, the father, set up Gladys and Ed on a ranch, and the young couple had two daughters. But Gladys was headstrong and willful, and Ed drank too much, and both sought affection outside their marriage. A nasty divorce ensued, and Gladys moved with her girls to her father’s luxurious ranch house, where she soon fell in love with famed Texas Ranger Frank Hamer. When Ed tried to take his daughters for a prearranged Christmas visit in 1916, Gladys and her brother Sid shot him dead on the Snyder square teeming with shoppers. One of the best lawyers in West Texas, Judge Cullen Higgins (son of the old feudist Pink Higgins) managed to win acquittal for both Gladys and Sid. In the tradition of Texas feudists since the 1840s, the Sims family sought revenge. Sims’ son-in-law, Gee McMeans, led an attack in Sweetwater and shot Billy Johnson’s bodyguard, Frank Hamer, twice, while Gladys—by now Mrs. Hamer—fired at another assassin. Hamer shot back, killed McMeans, and was no-billed on the spot by a grand …
Date: August 15, 2010
Creator: O'Neal, Bill
System: The UNT Digital Library
The Family Saga: A Collection of Texas Family Legends (open access)

The Family Saga: A Collection of Texas Family Legends

Series of family anecdotes, collected from authors across the state of Texas describing general family history, how families arrived in Texas, and experiences related to the Civil War, Indians, animals, religion, ghosts, feuds, historic figures, and various other topics. Index starts on page 349.
Date: 2003
Creator: Abernethy, Francis Edward; Lincecum, Jerry Bryan & Vick, Frances Brannen, 1935-
System: The UNT Digital Library