Captain Bill McDonald rangers true west magazine
Captain Bill McDonald.

In the 1880s, a vigilante group organized in San Saba, TX, to take on criminal elements.  The so-called “Buzzard’s Water Hole” assembly soon got out of hand, killing even honest citizens and assuming control of the area.

The Texas Rangers moved in to San Saba in 1896.  Led by legendary Captain Bill McDonald, the lawmen exposed several of the vigilante leaders and brought some to trial for murder—even as the Rangers were the subjects of death threats and violence.  By 1900, the power of the lynchers was done.

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