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Frank Hamer, Legendary Texas Lawman Who Bagged Bonnie and Clyde

Khalid Elhassan December 27, 2024 12 min

Hamer - Frank Hamer — Frank Hamer. Free Range America

3. Thwarting KKK Lynch Mobs

Hamer - Frank Hamer, legendary lawman of the American West — Frank Hamer, legendary lawman of the American West. The Waco Tribune Herald

Throughout his career, Hamer saved at least 15 people from lynch mobs led by the KKK, often by threatening to shoot the baying rioters. By then, his reputation as a deadly lawman you don’t want to mess with had been solidly established not just in Texas, but throughout the entire West. Hamer’s only failure occurred in 1930, when he and a handful of Rangers were tasked with protecting a black rape suspect in Sherman, Texas. A huge mob stormed the courthouse, and although Hamer shot two of them, they set the building on fire and forced the Rangers to retreat.

Written by

Khalid Elhassan

A lifelong history buff, I developed a particular passion for WW2 history as a child, when I spent hours listening to my grandfather, enraptured, as he recounted his wartime experiences in the British East African Campaign and with the British 8th Army in North Africa.

I graduated with a history BA from George Mason University, then went on to get a JD from the University of Virginia School of Law. After lawyering for a decade, I moved to sunny Rio de Janeiro and a less demanding career, opening a tourism agency in Copacabana.

A big chunk of my free time is spent blogging (you can follow me on Quora https://www.quora.com/profile/Khalid-Elhassan ) or freelance writing, mostly about my favorite subject, history.