[Illustration: SERGEANT J.B. GILLETT, TEXAS RANGER IN 1879] SIX YEARS WITH THE TEXAS RANGERS 1875 TO 1881 BY JAMES B. GILLETT Ex-Sergeant Company "A," Frontier Battalion [Illustration] Von Boeckmann-Jones Co., Publishers Austin, Texas Copyright 1921 by James B. Gillett TO MY OLD RANGER COMRADES WHEREVER THEY MAY BE FOREWORD To write a true and complete history of the Texas Rangers as a state organization would require much time and an able historian. I am not a historian and could not undertake such an exhaustive treatise, which would fill several volumes the size of this, and it is only at the earnest solicitation of my children, frontier friends, and old comrades that I have undertaken to write a short history of the rangers during the years I served with them. This little volume, then, has only the modest aim of picturing the life of the Texas Rangers during the years 1875-1881. I cannot, at this late date, recount in detail all the scouts that were made while I was in the service. I have, therefore, confined myself principally to the description of those in which I was a participant. Naturally, I remember those the best. It has been said that truth never makes very interesting reading. Of the accuracy of this dictum I leave my readers to judge, for I have told my story just as I remember it, to the very best of my ability and without any effort to embroider it with imagination. If I can interest any of my old ranger comrades or even just one little boy that loves to read about a real frontier, I will feel amply repaid for all the time, trouble and expense expended in presenting this work. I wish sincerely to thank Miss Mary Baylor for placing at my disposal all the books and papers of her distinguished father, Captain G.W. Baylor. And I would be an ingrate, indeed, did I fail here to record my obligation to my wife without whose inspiration and sympathetic encouragement this book had never been written. That I might show the training of the typical Texas Ranger, I have ventured to include a short biography of my own life up to the time I became a ranger, June 1, 1875. TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter Page I The Making of a Ranger 11 II The Texas Rangers 29 III I Join the Rangers 41 IV My First Brush With the Indians 55 V The Mason County War 72 VI Major Jones and His Escort 81 VII The Horrell-Higgins Feud 103 VIII Service With Reynolds, the Intrepid 118 IX Sam Bass and His Train Robber Gang 155 X A Winter of Quiet and a Transfer 183 XI The Salt Lake War and a Long Trek 192