Dac Crossley's Western Blog

The Lone Ranger Rides Again!

 On this date in 1949, The Lone Ranger TV show debuted with Clayton Moore as The Lone Ranger and Jay Silverheels playing Tonto. 

I didn’t see it. I didn’t even see TV until 1951, and that was in a department store in Kansas City. I saw a Rinso White commercial. Amazing.

Remember the  Lone Ranger radio program? “…when out of the past come the thundering hoof-beats of the great horse Silver. The Lone Ranger rides again!” It aired at five o’clock. Brace Beamer played the Ranger.  One of my entomology professors at Kansas doted on the program. Ray Beamer (no relation) would dash out of Snow Hall right at five o'clock, when The Lone Ranger came on. His wife Lucy would pick him up in their car, with the radio already blaring away. She’d drive him home and go inside and turn on the radio there. Ray waited in the car until a commercial came on, then he’d race indoors so as not to miss anything. “Who WAS that masked man?”

The Lone Ranger I remember best was from the Saturday morning serials at the Rialto Theater in Kingsville, Texas. At least twelve adventures, each ending with the Lone Ranger in deadly peril. He always escaped the next Saturday morning. We kids would whoop and holler. And help the Ranger yell, “Hi-Yo Silver! Away!” He never killed the bad guys – always shot the guns out of their hands. And left a silver bullet behind, as a souvenir. 

Now, there’s a role model that’s sadly lacking today.

 Happy trails,

Dac

9/15/2009

“Nothing is more unjust or capricious than public opinion.” – William Hazlitt 

Texas Rangers -- Horse Marines?

On the morning of June 6, 1836, the schooner Watchman, carrying supplies for the Mexican army, slipped into deep-water Copano Bay on the south Texas coast. Two men hiding on the shore sent a distress signal, and when the schooner raised the Mexican flag, they beckoned enthusiastically. The Watchman’s skipper and four crewmen immediately rowed ashore, anxious for news of the war, not knowing of Santa Anna’s surrender. They were surprised and taken prisoners. The enthusiastic “comrades” were, in fact, Texas Rangers. 

Captain Issac Burton and a 20-man Ranger patrol had been ordered by General Rusk to patrol the lower coast, watching for any attempted Mexican incursions. Supply lines were long for the Mexican army, and a water route was attempted more than once. For the most part the Texas navy (four ships) had prevented the Mexican attempts to re-supply the army. Burton’s Rangers made one of the most unusual cargo seizures in Texas history.

Rangers took the rowboat back to the Watchman and overpowered its crewmen. As expected, the ship was loaded with army supplies.

The Rangers sent word of the seizure to General Rusk. He ordered them to release the ship and its cargo, since the war had ended and sensitive negotiations were taking place. 

Either the order was never received or, being Texas Rangers, the order was simply ignored. They sailed the vessel to Port Velasco for salvage rights (and on the route, captured two additional Mexican supply vessels). In time, President David Burnet allowed Captain Burton and his Rangers a share of the booty they had seized, a total of $9,496.35, to be divided among them. 

Add this to your compendium  of Texas trivia – little-known tales of the Texas Rangers.

(Source: Steven L. Moore. Savage Frontier.  Rangers, Riflemen and Indian Wars in Texas. Volume I. 1835-1836). 

Dac

9/11/2009 

Ubi dubium ibi libertas:  Where there is doubt, there is freedom.  (Latin Proverb)