← Back to the front page

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

13. A Legend’s Start

Hamer - A young Frank Hamer, left — A young Frank Hamer, left. The Navosta Current

Francis “Frank” Augustus Hamer was born in Fairview, Texas, in 1884. In his youth he was noted for keen intelligence, a photographic memory, and was a crackshot with a pistol. Raised in a devoutly religious family, he wanted to become a preacher when he grew up. When he was sixteen and employed in a ranch that belonged to a Dan McSween, the proprietor offered him $150 to shoot a business associate. He refused, and warned the marked man. In retaliation, McSween shot Hamer in the back and left side of the head, and left him for dead. He was saved by a black field hand, and never forgot it until his dying day: “A colored man was the best friend I ever had in my life. That colored man caused me to be living today“.

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.