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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

9. Establishing Law and Order in a Lawless Town

Hamer - Frank Hamer, left, as Navasota City Marshall — Frank Hamer, left, as Navasota City Marshall. Pinterest

Hamer’s first stint with the Texas Rangers lasted for two years, which he spent along the Mexican border. He resigned in 1908 to become City Marshal of Navasota, TX. A boomtown, Navasota was wracked by out of control violence, and shootouts on its main street were so frequent that in a two year stretch more than a hundred people were killed. 24-year-old Hamer took over as the town’s top cop, and within a short time, he got things under control and managed to reestablish law and order. It was a feat helped in no small part by his willingness to add to the town’s body count.

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.