Book Description
Never written about before, this Texas Ranger lived during an era rarely researched. Orphaned as a child, he and his siblings were reared by relatives. Texas in late 1800 was still on the fringes of frontier days. The clean country living fostered times when a man's word was his bond. After schooldays Ransom began working in law enforcement, soon marrying his childhood sweetheart. During the Spanish-American War, he served twice as a volunteer in the Philippines. Between bullets he wrote to his beloved daughter, "little Bee." He was one of the heroes who rescued, after a grueling six-month search in the jungle, Lt. Gilmore and his men who had been kidnapped by the savage enemy. In 1905 he joined the Texas Rangers, then served as a detective in Houston, where he was in a shoot-out downtown. Mayor Baldwin Rice appointed him Chief of Police, a career described in the newspaper as being "short but spectacular." Ransom served two more times in the Texas Rangers, captain of his company each time. He was famous for his incredible marksmanship. A devoted family man, he was loved by the law-abiding and feared by the criminals. Incorruptible, he believed no man was above the law, stepping on toes of high public officials when necessary. He was assassinated in 1918 at age 44. Although this was covered up as an accident, clues in archival records lead to another conclusion. Book jacket.
