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Show Fifty Famous Frontiersmen By ELMO SCOTT WATSON Capt. Bill McDonald, Texas Ranger QNB of the" classic stories of the Old West is the tale of the riot which broke out in a Texas town and how Its agitated mayor sent a hurry-up call for a company of Texas Rangers to come forthwith and suppress the rioters. In due course a lone Ranger rode Into town and sought out the fearful burgomaster, who, seeing him, sputtered sput-tered indignantly: "Why why ... I asked for a whole company of Rangers and they've sent only one!" "Well," drawled that imperturbable imper-turbable guardian of the law In the Lone Star state, "There ain't but one riot Is there?" The Identity of this casual officer has never been authoritatively es-j es-j tabltshed, but it might very well have been Capt Bill McDonald, for it was Just about the sort of statement state-ment you could expect from the man of whom It was once said "He'd charge Hell "with a bucket of water." He is remembered as the deputy United States marshal who, almost single-handed, redeemed No Man's Land In Indian territory, tamed the Texas Panhandle and reformed the notorious Cherokee strip. In doing this he faced a task which federal, state and territorial officers of the law declared impossible and, braving brav-ing death a hundred times at the hands of desperadoes to whom there were no rules of war and whose slogan was "Shoot Capt Bill McDonald on sight,", he lived to see law and order prevail. But he was more than Jast a hard-riding, hard-hitting officer who knew not the name of fear. His native Intelligence made him a detective de-tective whose feats of solving baffling baf-fling mysteries compare favorably with some of the best city-trained sleuths In the history of crime detection. de-tection. And he had something else a psychology which made him invincible in-vincible and which Is best expressed In his own words: "No man In the wrong can stand up against; a fellow fel-low that's in the right and keeps on a-comlng 1" ". When Captain Bill died In 1918, press dispatches recalled , the fact that he had been a friend of Presidents Presi-dents (he had accompanied President Presi-dent Roosevelt on T. R.'s wolf-hunting wolf-hunting expedition in Oklahoma In 1003 as chief guide and special -iod"yguaxd,-..xind . he . had served ..as-bodyguard ..as-bodyguard for President Wilson during his campaign for re-election In 101C). But it Is doubtful If he himself would care to be remembered remem-bered for being "a friend of Presidents" Presi-dents" so much as for being "Capt BUI McDonald, Texas Ranger." He Made the Bowie Knife Famous DEFORE the race of dime novel writers died out, they really should have banded together and erected a monument to James Bowie. For unless their heroes had "a huge bowie-knife," how could It have been possible for them to "carve ther nose offen ther , galoot thet laffs at me, or dissect ther in'ards o' ther pilgrim or tenderfoot tender-foot what looks crossways or puckers puck-ers a Up at me?" Yes, Indeed, the dime novelists owed a great debt to Col.' James Bowie, a native of Tennessee, who emigrated with his brother, Rezin P. Bowie, to Louisiana In the early ISOO's. Described as "a man of surpassing sur-passing vigor, headlong energy and of great ambition but reserved In manner, when his auger was aroused, he was like a tiger." On such occasions he was'accus tomed to give a good account of himself with a long-bladed, keen knife which was a fearful weapon at close quarters when handled by such a man as "Big Jim" Bowie. Whether it was James Bowie or some other man who "invented" the knife which bears their name, is a matter of dispute among historians. But whoever the "Inventor" may have been, the fact remains that It was James Bowie who made the knife famous in more than one desperate des-perate encounter. One of them was the celebrated "Sandbar Duel" near Natchez, Miss., on September 19, 1S27, a free-for-all among twelve men In which three were badly wounded and two killed. Another was Bowie's fight with three desperadoes des-peradoes who attacked him and all of. whom he killed. After that, men began saying to blacksmiths, "Make me a knife like Bowie's." It Is wholly appropriate that the last act In "Big JLm's" life should find him with such a knife In his hand. That was on March C, 183C, at the Alamo. When the Mexicans, swept over the walls of the old fortress and swarmed down upon the handful of gallant defenders there, Bowie was bed-ridden with a fever. But he left a trail of dead Mexicans from the door of his room to 'the side of his bed before they finally succeeded In bearing him down to his death. And when others oth-ers of Santa Ana's men came rushing rush-ing Into that death chamber they saw one of their fellows sprawled across the American's body with that terrible? Bowie knife buried deep In his heart I . . 1933. Wusteru Nowapapwr Union. |