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. 32Adjutant General Scurry tried to get the members of the Reeseclan to stay away from Columbus.But Mrs.Sam Reese  would doall in her power to inflame them and prevail on them to stay. Theadjutant general wrote that she took one Ranger to  her room andshowed him the picture of her husband and told of his courage andmany virtues.She then took a sheet off of two chairs, on which wasspread out the bloody clothes of her husband and of Dick Reese,and she said nothing would satisfy her but the heart of MarkTownsend. 33 At another time Mrs.Reese reclaimed a shotgunwhich contained two shells, state officials noted, with markings tobe used against Sheriff Burford and Mark Townsend.34Captain Bill stayed for about two weeks in Colorado Countyduring his second tour of duty in combating the feud.He handledthe usual assignments: working with local officials, keeping trackof feudists, making arrests, and staying in touch with his superi-ors.During his sojourn in Columbus, the Ranger captain keptreceiving messages from central headquarters.Scurry remindedMcDonald that the Rangers under his command must remainimpartial in their dealings with the feuding parties.The adjutantgeneral also inquired about the agreement with Burford about therole of Deputy Sheriff Clements and the whereabouts of MarkTownsend.At one point McDonald noted that in discussions withthe sheriff about Clements, he did not believe Burford was  sin-cere. On June 5, 1899, the adjutant general ordered McDonaldto go by train to Athens to investigate a lynching.Within a fewmonths the Ranger captain had to shift his thought patterns fromone major case to another in the counties of San Saba, Colorado,and Henderson.35After the shooting of Dick Reese, the Rangers of Company Eplayed a key role in the investigation.On May 18, CaptainRogers reported that he had received orders to dispatch four mento Columbus, i.e., Sergeant E.M.Dubose and Privates W.A.{ }1 6 1YOURS TO C OMMANDOld, T.C.Taylor, and W.L. Will Wright (a future captain ofnote).36 During the early summer months Taylor and Wrightkept track of the feudists, particularly the coming and going ofthe Reeses.In their rounds they sometimes did not sleep at night.At one point Wright noted that the sheriff  relied upon the twoRangers, instead of his deputies,  to do all his work. Wright alsosaid that he and Taylor were  searching every man on  bothsides of the street and  will not allow more than 2 to cometogether. Such aggressive patrols became a hallmark of the old-time Ranger service.37One incident in early summer showed just how much Colum-bus had become a tinderbox.During the evening of June 7,Ranger Taylor and Deputy Sheriff Robert W.Westmoreland, ontheir way to have dinner, heard a shot in a saloon.When theyarrived the two lawmen found several members of the Reese fam-ily inside the barroom and some Townsend backers outside thedoor.The latter individuals turned out to be Deputy Sheriff WillClements, with his gun drawn, an angry Jim Clements, and Mar-ion Hope.The Reeses explained that a boy had accidently dis-charged a weapon and put a hole in the floor.With difficultyTaylor and Westmoreland tried to get the feudists to go their sep-arate ways.At one point Taylor escorted the Reeses across astreet, while Westmoreland watched the Townsend men in astore.Then someone yelled at the Reeses that there goes the assassinating S____ o__ B______s. After the members of theReese family ran back to the saloon, the process of getting eachside to go home began again.Taylor even had to disarm StepYates who entered the scene.Finally both factions dispersed.TheRanger private ended the story by writing,  Westmoreland & Ithen went to supper. 38At this stage of the feud the Rangers of Companies B and Eused their arrest powers to intimidate and remove feudists and theirsympathizers from the streets at least temporarily.At the end ofMay Private Barker of McDonald s company took Yates into{ }1 6 2REESE-TOWNSEND FEUD AT COLUMBUScustody for carrying a pistol.39 More important, during an eleven-day period at the end of the same month, the four Rangers of Com-pany E arrested and jailed seven residents of Colorado County.Thecharges against these lawbreakers ranged from assault to murderand fighting to carrying a pistol and stealing property under fiftydollars.The Rangers had taken a stand against crime and violencein the area.40The aggressive patrols and arrests increased during the sum-mer months.In June McDonald apprehended a member of theReese family for carrying a gun.41 Then both factions felt theheavy hand of Ranger Wright during the same month.At onepoint he took Walter Reese into custody for using abusive lan-guage.Soon after, Wright collared five men of the opposite sidefor carrying weapons: Jim Clements, Marion Hope, Mark andJim Townsend, and Steph Yates.In addition, Wright arrestedfour robbers (three for stealing cattle) in Colorado County andrecovered several head of livestock [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]