“Truth to tell”: Austin Weekly Statesman, Nov. 22, 1894.
“hung by the neck”: Austin Weekly Statesman, Nov. 16, 1893.
“Let the law”: Austin Weekly Statesman, Jan. 11, 1894.
“Sheriff White has been”: Dallas Morning News, Jan. 13, 1894.
“Ed Nichols is”: Ibid.
“He kicked”: Adams, Tom White, 8.
“Every school boy”: Quoted in Parsons, Captain John R. Hughes, 275.
“Get all the evidence”: Leonard Mohrman, “A Ranger Reminisces,” Texas Parade, Feb.
1951.
“the same as a cowpuncher”: Transcript of interview with Tom White, NMSUL.
“Here was a scene”: Quoted in Robinson, Men Who Wear the Star, 79.
Tom learned to be a lawman: Tom White practiced firing his six-shooter. It was the
Rangers who had recognized the revolutionary power of these repeat revolvers, after
long being overmatched by American Indian warriors who could unleash a barrage of
arrows before the lawmen could reload their single-shot rifles. In 1844, while testing out
a Colt five-shooter, a group of Rangers overran a larger number of Comanche.
Afterward, one of the Rangers informed the gun maker Samuel Colt that with
improvements the repeat revolver could be rendered “the most perfect weapon in the
world.” With this Ranger’s input, Colt designed a lethal six-shooter—“a stepchild of the
West,” as one historian called it—that would help to irrevocably change the balance of
power between the Plains tribes and the settlers. Along its cylinder was engraved a
picture of the Rangers’ victorious battle against the Comanche.
You picked up: To hone his aim, White practiced shooting on virtually any moving
creature: rabbits, buzzards, even prairie dogs. He realized that being an accurate shot
was more important than being the fastest draw. As his brother Doc put it, “What good
is it to be quick on the draw if you’re not a sure shot?” Doc said a lot of the legends
about Western gunmen were “hooey”: “All that business about Wyatt Earp being a quick
draw artist is exaggerated. He was just a good shot.”
“You don’t never”: Adams, Tom White, 19.
“the lawless element”: Ben M. Edwards to Frank Johnson, Jan. 25, 1908, TSLAC.
“We had nothing”: Hastedt, “White Brothers of Texas Had Notable FBI Careers.”
“avoid killing”: Adams, Tom White, 16.
“An officer who”: Quoted in Parsons, Captain John R. Hughes, xvii.
“the Sheriff has”: Thomas Murchinson to Adjutant General, March 2, 1907, TSLAC.
“I am shot all”: Quoted in Alexander, Bad Company and Burnt Powder, 240.
“Tom’s emotional struggle”: Adams, Tom White, 24.
“proved an excellent”: Adjutant General to Tom Ross, Feb. 10, 1909, TSLAC.
“fell, and did not get up”: Beaumont Enterprise, July 15, 1918.
“One wagon sheet”: Adjutant General to J. D. Fortenberry, Aug. 1, 1918, TSLAC.
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(Frankie)
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