Captain Ransom, Texas Ranger

Yet another biographical tribute to a Texas Ranger, this one written by the subject’s granddaughter.

Henry Ransom served as a ranger in the first two decades of the 20th century until his shooting death in 1918. The author believes Ransom’s death was a political assassination, and she presents documentation to support her theory. She paints Ransom’s career as honorable, not mentioning the controversial shootings he was involved in, as shared in Harris and Sadler’s Texas Rangers and the Mexican Revolution. Her book does contain interesting data about violent events along the Texas-Mexico border and the inside operations of the Rangers. Even though the book is awkward in its narrative style at times, it is a worthy addition to Ranger literature. —Chuck Lewis