46 Facts About Frank Hamer

Francis Augustus Hamer was an American lawman and Texas Ranger who led the 1934 posse that tracked down and killed criminals Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow.

Frank Hamer was inducted into the Texas Ranger Hall of Fame.

Frank Hamer has been described by biographer John Boessenecker as "one of the greatest American lawmen of the twentieth century".

Frank Hamer was born in 1884 in Fairview, Wilson County, Texas, where his father operated a blacksmith shop.

Frank Hamer grew up on the Welch ranch in San Saba County, and later spent time in Oxford, Llano County, which is a ghost town; he later joked about being the only "Oxford-educated Ranger".

Frank Hamer excelled at mathematics and developed a deep interest in history, particularly that of the Texas Rangers and the region's Native American tribes, such as the Comanche, Kiowa, and Kiowa Apache.

Frank Hamer worked in his father's shop as a youth, and as a wrangler on a local ranch.

Frank Hamer began his career in law enforcement in 1905 while working on the Carr Ranch in West Texas, when he captured a horse thief.

The local sheriff was so impressed that he recommended that Frank Hamer join the Rangers, which he did the following year.

Frank Hamer was at home on the open Texas prairie and understood the signs and patterns of nature.

Frank Hamer was a Ranger off and on throughout his adult life, resigning often to take other jobs.

Frank Hamer joined Captain John H Rogers' Company C in Alpine, Texas, on April 21,1906, and began patrolling the Mexican border.

Frank Hamer rejoined the Rangers in 1915 and was assigned to patrol the South Texas border around Brownsville during the Bandit War and La Matanza.

Frank Hamer left the Rangers and was commissioned as a Special Ranger for the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association.

In 1917, Frank Hamer married Gladys Sims, the widow of Ed Sims of Snyder, Texas; she and her brother, Sidney Arthur Johnson, had been charged in 1916 with murdering Sims.

McMeans was a former Texas Ranger and sheriff of Ector County, and he and Frank Hamer "were clinched"; McMeans died of a shot to the heart and Frank Hamer was wounded.

Frank Hamer's service was brief but eventful while stationed in El Paso, the scene of countless gunfights during the Prohibition era.

Frank Hamer transferred to Austin in 1921 where he served as Senior Ranger Captain.

In 1918, Frank Hamer physically threatened State Representative Jose Tomas Canales, who was leading an investigation into Texas Rangers accused of abusing residents of the Rio Grande Valley.

Canales reported the threat to the governor, but Frank Hamer was not disciplined.

In 1928, Frank Hamer put a halt to a murder for hire ring, and his extraordinary means of accomplishing this made him nationally famous.

Frank Hamer retired in 1932 after almost 27 years with the Rangers.

Frank Hamer left one week before Miriam "Ma" Ferguson recaptured the governor's office for a second term.

Frank Hamer had first been elected after her husband "Pa" Ferguson had been impeached and forced to resign as governor, and at least 40 Rangers resigned rather than serve again under her.

Frank Hamer was commissioned as an officer of the Texas Highway Patrol, then seconded to the prison system as a special investigator charged with apprehending Barrow and his colleagues.

Frank Hamer balked at the compensation of $180 a month, less than half his current pay, but Simmons reiterated that Frank Hamer would collect his fair share of the reward money.

Frank Hamer further added to the deal by authorizing Hamer to take whatever he wanted from among the Barrow Gang's possessions when he caught them.

Frank Hamer examined the pattern of Barrow's movements, discovering that he essentially made a wide circle through the lower Midwest, skirting state borders wherever he could to take advantage of the fact that law officers could not pursue suspects across state lines.

Frank Hamer was tracking the Barrow gang's murders as well as the bank robberies.

Frank Hamer posted their names at the top of the Campbell murder warrants, issued against Barrow, Parker, and John Doe later that week.

Frank Hamer was a lone wolf by nature, but he eventually formed an inter-jurisdictional posse and created a plan to ambush the gang.

Frank Hamer brought in fellow former Ranger Maney Gault who had resigned from the Ranger force when "Ma" Ferguson was elected and now worked for the Texas Highway Patrol.

Frank Hamer asked Dallas County Sheriff Smoot Schmid to assign his deputy Bob Alcorn full-time to the case; Schmid sent Alcorn and Ted Hinton, another Dallas County deputy.

Accounts differ only slightly concerning the last moment before gunfire erupted: Sheriff Jordan said that he was calling out to Barrow to halt as the shooting started, Deputy Alcorn said that Captain Frank Hamer was calling out, and Deputy Hinton wrote that Alcorn called out.

Frank Hamer was shipped serial number 10045; at least two Model 8s were used in the ambush.

Frank Hamer had learned a great deal about the lives of Barrow and Parker in the preceding months, and he told reporters that, under other circumstances, he "would have gotten sick" to see a woman's perforated body in the car; as it was, he did not get sick because he remembered Parker's crimes.

Frank Hamer headed a force of 20 ex-Rangers and sheriffs to prevent sabotage and looting.

Frank Hamer was active the following year during the 1936 Gulf Coast maritime workers' strike.

In September 1948, Frank Hamer was called back to Ranger duty to play a small role in the notorious 1948 United States Senate election in Texas.

Frank Hamer got out of the car, approached the first group, and said "git" and they left.

Frank Hamer retired in 1949 and lived in Austin until his death.

In 1953, Frank Hamer suffered a heat stroke; he lived two more years but never regained his health.

Frank Hamer was buried near his son Billy, who was killed in action during WWII at Iwo Jima in 1945, in Memorial Park Cemetery in Austin.

Frank Hamer was wounded 17 times during his life and left for dead four times.

Frank Hamer is credited with having killed between 53 and 70 people.

Frank Hamer is depicted as incompetent, while the Barrow gang is shown capturing, teasing, and humiliating him.