two sons was born. Tom became a railroad detective, and the
steady wage made it possible to raise a family. Though he still
chased bandits on horseback, the work was generally less
dangerous; in many cases, it involved unmasking individuals who
had filed false claims for reimbursements. Tom found these
people cowards and, therefore, more contemptible than the
desperadoes who risked their lives to hold up a train.
Tom was a dedicated family man, but like his father he was
attracted to the darkness, and in 1917 he took the oath to become a
special agent of the Bureau of Investigation. He swore, “I will
support and defend the Constitution of the United States against
all enemies....SO HELP ME GOD.”
In July 1918, not long after Tom joined the bureau, his brother
Dudley went with another Ranger to arrest a pair of deserters in a
remote, wooded area in East Texas known as the Big Thicket. It
was during an obliterating drought, and amid the dust and heat
Dudley and his partner searched a clapboard house where the two
wanted men were believed to be hiding out. The suspects weren’t
there, so Dudley and his partner decided to wait on the porch. At
three in the morning, the darkness was suddenly ablaze with
gunfire. The deserters had ambushed them. Dudley’s partner was
shot twice, and as he lay bleeding on the porch, he could see
Dudley standing and firing one of his six-shooters. Then Dudley
was falling, as if someone had undercut his legs, his massive
frame smashing against the porch. His partner later recalled that
he “fell, and did not get up again.” A bullet had struck Dudley near
the heart.