Navasota, Texas
Texas
The lawman who later hunted down Bonnie and Clyde got his start cleaning up a Texas town where a hundred men died in street shootouts in two years.
By 1908 the main street of Navasota was so violent that, by one account, shootouts killed at least a hundred men in two years. Women and children were discouraged from walking downtown even in daylight. Saloons and gaming halls served cowboys and railroad men on the loose. Lawmen hid and watched, afraid of the streets after dark. Every Sunday morning the undertaker hitched up his buggy and drove downtown to collect the bodies he expected to find from Saturday night. So the city hired a twenty-four-year-old Texas Ranger named Frank Hamer as its marshal. Hamer moved in, imposed order, and prosecuted the town's criminals until it was safe again. He stayed until 1911. Twenty-three years later he led the posse that tracked down and shot Bonnie and Clyde. A bronze statue of him, made by a local sculptor, now stands in front of Navasota city hall.
This is the first of 2 parts. The rest runs about 2 minutes and is read to you as you drive past. Hear the whole piece.
In 1908, Navasota was still a Wild West boomtown: according to one source, "shootouts on the main street were so frequent that in two years at least a hundred men had died".
Written from Wikipedia, used under CC BY-SA 4.0.