THE SITUATION AT BROWNSVILLE. RANGERS MCDONALD AND MCCAULEY DEFY THE U.S. ARMY. CAPTAIN BILL HOLDS A COURT OF INQUIRY
Captain McDonald had been serving as Sergeant-at-Arms for the Democratic State Convention at Dallas when the Brownsville attack occurred. Brownsville was in his district and he had expected to be ordered there at once, but was counseled by Governor Lanham to remain in Dallas until Adjutant-General Hulen, of the State troops, then maneuvering at Austin, should be advised to act. On the morning after the outbreak, General Hulen had been implored by the mayor and citizens of Brownsville to come to their relief, and Captain McDonald supposed that Hulen would promptly respond, with troops from the Austin encampment. A few days later, when the convention ended, the Ranger Captain hurried to Austin and found that no action of any kind was in progress, or contemplated. The State troops were still at Camp Mabry, maneuvering, and firing blank cartridges. Captain Bill went out there.
"Give me some of the men that are over there bombarding the hills, and I'll go down and settle that Brownsville business," he said.
General Hulen replied that he had no authority to investigate any action of Federal troops; to do so would be to invite a charge to treason.
"Treason!" said Captain Bill, "Why, them hellions have violated the laws of the State, shooting into people's houses and committing murder. I don't care what else they are, they're criminals. It's my sworn duty to investigate such business as that, and I'm going to do it, if I have to go there alone!" And Captain Bill might have added, "If this be treason, make the most of it."
Certainly he did not consider that he needed other authority to hunt down criminals than that invested in him as Captain of Company B, Ranger Force. The Commonwealth of Texas and its laws had been for a quarter of a century—first, last and all the time—his chief consideration. To him, Texas was the biggest thing under the sky. Without further discussion, now, he proceeded immediately to his headquarters at Alice, picked up McCauley and Ryan, and hurried to Brownsville. At Corpus Christi, District Judge Stanley Welch, who had an office at Brownsville, boarded the train. He greeted Captain McDonald and his Rangers with enthusiasm, and spoke feelingly of the fact that nothing had been done by either State or Federal authorities. He assured the Rangers that they had full power to take such steps and to use such means as were necessary to identify and punish the offenders.
It was about six o'clock in the evening of Tuesday, August 21, that Captain Bill and his little force of two reached Brownsville. The Captain immediately paid a visit to Mayor Combe, and to Chairman of the Citizens' Committee Kelley. He learned that a Major Blocksom, under orders from Washington, had arrived at the fort, to join Major Penrose in his investigations, but that neither these officers nor the Citizens' Committee had made any progress toward the identification of the criminals. Members of the committee further informed the Captain that in spite of some existing prejudice among the townspeople, Major Penrose was an estimable gentleman, doing all in his power to bring the offenders to justice. He had stated, they said, that he would get to the bottom of the mystery if it took him ten years to do it.
"Ten years!" said Captain Bill. "What does he need all that time for! He could do it in ten minutes, if he wanted to and tried. He knows his men, and he could find out who was absent during the shooting. And he knows just about who would be likely to get into a gang like that. I'll find them out, myself, and I won't be ten years about it—nor ten days, neither."
They applauded Captain Bill, then, and added him to the Citizens' Committee. They knew the sort of thing he had done, time and again, and that he was not given to vain boastings. Also, they denounced their chief State officials and the country generally for indifference and inaction.