Tom’s brother Dudley Credit 45Tom was overcome by the news; his brother—who was married
and had three children under the age of eight—had seemed
invulnerable to Tom. The two deserters were caught and
prosecuted for murder, and Tom’s father attended each day of the
trial until both men were convicted.
After the shooting, Dudley’s corpse was transported home. A
Ranger report noted clinically, “One wagon sheet, one bed sheet,
one pillow, used in shipping Ranger White’s body.” Tom and his
family retrieved Dudley’s possessions, including the soft-nosed,
steel-jacketed bullet that had killed him. He was buried in a
cemetery near the ranch where he was born. As the Bible said,
“For dust you are and to dust you will return.” An obelisk by his
grave read,