Frank Hamer was a Texas Ranger and lawman whose decades-long career spanned the transition from Old West policing to modern law enforcement. A deadly man with a gun, Hamer was known for his marksmanship – he got into numerous gunfights, and killed dozens during his career. He was also renown for his toughness and investigative skills. Below are seventeen fascinating facts about the career of Texas’ most legendary lawman.
17. A Volatile Frontier
America relentlessly pushed its frontier westward throughout the nineteenth century in pursuit of Manifest Destiny. It steadily populated vast swathes with a relentless stream of new arrivals, who upped stakes and abandoned their homes in pursuit of greener pastures and a fresh start in the American West. Unsettled frontiers tend to attract a disproportionate number of single young men, eager for adventure and new horizons. Rowdy, rambunctious, restless, and in the absence of the social restraints typically imposed by families and neighbors in more established communities, they are frequently lawless. Such was the case in the Old West, where many years often elapsed between the settlement of new communities, and their settling down into the rut and norms of established civil society. In such a fluid and volatile environment, it took decades to establish effective law and order and finally tame the Wild West.
