27. A Law Enforcement Legend Amidst The Slaughter
Frank Hamer’s first stint with the Texas Rangers lasted for two years, which he spent along the Mexican border. He resigned in 1908 to become City Marshal of Navasota, TX. A boomtown, Navasota was wracked by out-of-control violence, and shootouts on its main street were so frequent that in a two-year stretch more than a hundred people were killed. 24-year-old Hamer took over as the town’s top cop, and within a short time, he had re-established law and order. It was a feat helped in no small part by his willingness to add to the town’s body count.
After a few shootouts in which he killed some miscreants, Hamer established his reputation as a law enforcement officer that bad guys did not want to mess with. After order was restored in Navasota, he moved on to a few more law enforcement stints, including Houston, before he rejoined the Texas Rangers in 1915. He was sent to patrol the border near Brownsville and arrived at the height of one of the Rangers’ most controversial stretches. It was La Matanza (“The Slaughter”) – a time of intense anti-Mexican violence that lasted from 1910 to 1920.