Great Plains Studies, Center for
Date of this Version
Spring 1999
Citation
Great Plains Quarterly Vol. 19, No. 2, Spring 1999, pp. 141-42.
Abstract
In 1878 the Texas Adjutant General issued each Texas Ranger a book listing all known fugitives from justice to assist in apprehending criminals. The book served as a blanket arrest warrant, listing more than 4,000 fugitives who were wanted in Texas for crimes such as murder, rape, serious assaults, and horse thefts. Organized by county, the list gave the name, crime, date of indictment, and occasionally the physical description of each fugitive. While on the move, Texas lawmen carried the book with them as a quick and easy reference tool whenever they located a suspected criminal.
Fugitives from Justice is a reprint of James B. Gillette's personal copy of the 1878 publication. Gillette served with the Texas Rangers from 1875 to 1881; in 1921 he published Six Years with the Texas Rangers, which chronicled his service as a Texas lawman. The original copy was donated by Gillette's grandson to the Texas Ranger Hall of Fame and Museum in Waco, Texas. State House Press published this reproduction to honor the 175th anniversary of the Texas Rangers and the 30th anniversary of the Texas Ranger Hall of Fame and Museum.
Readers should take note that this is not a history of the Texas Rangers. There is no narrative or analysis; there are only a few pictures. The publication is simply a listalthough a valuable one-of several thousand suspected criminals. In an introduction, Michael D. Morrison, the mayor of Waco, briefly discusses the history of the Texas Rangers, Gillette's life, and the physical appearance of the book itself. Unfortunately, the introduction is rather thin, failing to fully highlight the volume's significance. Readers will need to look deeper to uncover its historical value.
Fugitives from Justice, if properly used, will provide rewarding information on crime and violence in Texas during the 1870s. For example, a quantitative analysis of the data will shed light on crime types and rates, while a county-by-county breakdown of the list will allow for a geographic interpretation of criminal activity. Furthermore, the overwhelming number of fugitives within this book supports the thesis that the American West was a violent and lawless region.
Although the average reader will find little of value here, research libraries and collectors of Texas Ranger paraphernalia will want to add this volume to their collections. And, oddly enough, it could also prove useful to genealogists with Texas roots in their family trees. With thousands of names and a handy index, this list of Texas's most wanted may point the way to finding a nineteenth-century relative with a shady background.
Comments
Copyright 1999 by the Center for Great Plains Studies, University of Nebraska-Lincoln