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.On theway to their headquarters in the Panhandle by train, Sullivan andtwo other Rangers stopped off at Wichita Falls on the twenty-fourth, with two more members of Company B doing the same atBowie.As the Rangers left these towns, word reached them andMcDonald at Bellevue on the twenty-fifth that the City National{ }1 2 2A BANK ROBBERY I N WI CHI TA FALLSBank in Wichita Falls had been robbed and several people killedand injured.Captain Bill and five Rangers, Harwell, McCauley,McClure, Queen, and Sullivan, rode the rails to the town, arrivingabout four o clock in the afternoon.They mounted horses providedby the townspeople and the chase was on.10In retrospect, the manhunt by the Rangers occurred in threestages.Initially McDonald and his men had to ride hard to catch upto the fleeing fugitives and their pursuing parties.Then theRangers, after reaching the place where the bandits left their horses,had to move through rough country on foot at night to find the hid-ing place of Crawford and Lewis.Three Rangers went into thethicket and forced the outlaws to surrender without a shot beingfired.Finally, the prisoners had to be brought back to Wichita Falls,placed in the jail, and guarded until the court trial.To the surpriseof some, the final step became the most difficult to carry out.During the manhunt the members of Company B traveledapproximately sixteen miles.Around five o clock the Rangers reachedthe place where the robbers quit their horses.Then they followed thetrail afoot for three miles through brush and water up to theirarmpits.Although McDonald gave credit to the armed citizens forfollowing and cornering the bandits, only McDonald, McCauley, andMcClure went into the thicket in the darkness, covered Crawford andLewis with their guns, and forced them to surrender.One news storyhad McDonald saying,  Throw up your hands, or I will bore a holein you that will let the moon shine in. With the capture of the twooutlaws around ten or ten-thirty in the evening, the Rangers alsorecovered the stolen money and horses.Captain Bill was  proud ofthe way the Rangers carried out their duties.11In communications with his superiors and interviews withnewspapermen, McDonald filled in the details of the capture.Atone point the Ranger captain said:.you can imagine that it is a little more comfortable in otherplaces I can name than in a dense thicket at night with now and{ }1 2 3YOURS TO C OMMANDthen a stray moonbeam straggling through and the expectation thatevery moment two desperate men known as good shots would con-front you.We were not long in finding our game sitting downacross a small lake, about ten steps from us.Before we saw them upcame the guns, but Crawford called me by name and said theywould surrender if I would protect them.I can t shoot a man whenhis hands are up, so we waded the lake, keeping our game covered,secured their pistols and the sack of booty and were ready for themarch to Wichita Falls.It is always the case that when danger ismost imminent the amusing happens.The robbers were willing todo most anything but wade that lake, which myself and my twoboys had just enjoyed, and it took muscle to get them in it, and asI may be churched I will not give you the mild language I used tourge them to take to the water.12Sergeant Sullivan played an important-but-limited role in thisaffair.Deputy United States Marshal Chris Madsen of the Okla-homa Territory did request information from Sullivan about therobbery and the location of the outlaws so that appropriate actioncould be taken in conjunction with the Rangers and local peace offi-cers.13 But, as McDonald noted,  It was during the run that Sergt.Sullivan was thrown from his horse on account of a broken stirrupand had a rib broken. 14 In his memoirs Sullivan maintained that allthe Rangers went into the thicket, McDonald and four men fromone side and the sergeant from the other side.Together they forcedthe surrender of the robbers.15 But that was not so.Sullivan had adeep-seated need to be recognized as a Ranger whose abilitiesmatched those of his captain.After their capture, Crawford and Lewis had to be transportedto Wichita Falls and put in the jail.In the wee hours of October26, the Rangers and the armed citizens brought their prisonersback to the town.The shackled robbers were placed in a wagondriven by John Hester with deputized Tony Thornberry beside thedriver.Several Rangers also occupied seats in the wagon, while{ }1 2 4A BANK ROBBERY I N WI CHI TA FALLSother members of Company B accompanied the conveyance.Thejourney ended around two o clock a.m., when the wife of DeputySheriff Hardesty locked the cell door behind the desperadoes.Withtheir incarceration the duties of the Ranger captain did not end.Atone point he and others went looking for a third robber withoutsuccess.At another time McDonald faced armed townspeople at thejail.He told them that the Rangers would protect the prisoners.Captain Bill ordered the crowd to disperse which they did [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]