Ranger Captain Bill McDonald and the San Saba Mob

by Tom Goodman

Before the Texas Rangers became legends on lunch boxes and highway signs, they were often sent into places where local law had either failed or joined the wrong side.

San Saba, Texas, in the 1890s was one of those places. 

Today, San Saba is better known as the birthplace of Academy Award-winning actor and filmmaker Tommy Lee Jones--and, of course, the Pecan Capital of the World. But in the 1890s, its name carried a darker association.

If you remember a young Michael Douglas in The Star Chamber, the story out of San Saba sounds like a frontier version of the same temptation: secret men deciding who deserved punishment.

For years, a secretive vigilante organization held parts of the county in fear. It was known as the San Saba Murder Society, the San Saba Mob, or, more colorfully, the Buzzard’s Water Hole Gang, after one of its alleged meeting places. 

The group seems to have justified itself as frontier order-keeping, the sort of extralegal force that claimed to deal with thieves, rustlers, and men it defined as threats to the community. But over time, the gang became dominated by men who just had a private grudge against a neighbor, or wanted another's property, or just had a taste for violence under a thin veneer of justification.

The historical marker in San Saba County says the group operated with secrecy, ritual, signs, and gestures, and that by the 1880s it had killed numerous area settlers. Some accounts claim the gang included local officials and even religious leaders. 

In 1896, Texas sent Rangers into the county, and breaking up the San Saba Murder Society eventually fell to Captain William Jesse “Bill” McDonald.

One of the most famous Ranger captains in Texas history, McDonald was not a subtle man in the way he handled conflict. 

Not that he never had his private doubts about his personal safety. In a 1909 biography of McDonald, Albert Bigelow Paine noted that Captain Bill had brought his wife to San Saba while he worked the case, and one morning he appeared before her with an anonymous letter.

"Well, I've got to leave San Saba,"he said.

“Why?” she asked. “Has the governor ordered you away?”

"No, the governor hasn't, but read this."

He handed her the letter which informed him that if he did not leave San Saba in two days he would be filled so full of lead that it would require a freight train to haul him to the graveyard. 

After reading the note, Rhoda McDonald said, "Bill Jess, if you leave here on account of a thing like that, I'll leave you."

"Well," said Captain Bill, "I seem to be in a mighty bad fix. If I stay I'll be filled with bullets, and if I go I'll lose my wife. I s'pose I'll have to stay."

Working with the district attorney, McDonald helped expose the San Saba Mob’s network and push cases beyond the reach of local interference. Some trials were moved to Austin and Llano. 

By 1900, the gang’s grip on San Saba County had been broken, though justice came imperfectly. Few members paid fully for what they had done.

Still, McDonald’s reputation grew from exploits like this. In 1905, when President Theodore Roosevelt visited Texas, the governor appointed McDonald as the president’s special bodyguard through the state.

Captain Bill McDonald gets a cameo in my forthcoming novel. I couldn’t resist letting Texas’s most famous Ranger step into the frame. 

It's inspired by the remarkable true story of a man who faced down a violent bootlegging syndicate and became known as the pistol-packing preacher.

I'm giving away free copies of the ebook to a select team of Advance Readers. Join the Pistol-Packing Preacher's Posse by clicking here!

The Historical Origin Of The Terms Hillbilly and Redneck

 

My father often declared proudly he was a hillbilly. He grew up in Illinois on a farm. His siblings made the same claim. Although the media painted the hillbilly as poor white trash who lacked intelligence, that was not my family at all. Now I live in the Southwest. My pastor, who grew up in Mississippi, often declares he's a redneck, taking the insults surrounding the term to task.

That reminds me that the early believers in Jesus were first called Christians in Antioch. The new religion was so different, it was spoken as a slur. Yet the believers bore the name proudly. Look how that worked out.

Today, I want to share with you the historical origins of Hillbilly and Redneck. Both terms have taken on a negative connotation thanks to journalists and cartoonists who portray a group of farmers as ignorant buffoons. The entertainment value has evolved through the twentieth century with Lil Abner and the silly Mountain Dew commercials containing the tagline "Yahoo Mountain Dew", delivered by a bunch of bare-footed, poorly dressed men guzzling the soft drink as if it were moonshine.

 

As a lover of history and my family, I filtered through all the hype that created this image of poor white trash. I found some interesting facts dating back to the 1600s. The Scots coined the term "Billy Boys," a name given to Scottish followers of King William III. Billy being a slang term for fellow. Anthony Harkiness Hillbilly: A Cultural History of an American Icon, claims the term's origin is the link between two old Scottish expressions "hill-folk" and "Billie" another word for fellow, or guy. These people lived in the hill country on the border of Scotland and England.

It is said that Scottish and Scots-Irish people, the Scottish Low-land and Ulster Presbyterians who immigrated en masse to America during the 1700's brought their traditional music with them to the New World. Many of the songs dealt with William, Prince of Orange, who defeated the Catholic King James II of the Stuart family at the Battle of Boyne, Ireland in 1690. They preserved their history through their music.

The Scots-Irish went from the hills of Scotland and Ireland to the Appalachian and Ozark hill country.

They maintained their tight-knit, clannish social structure. We all recall the famous Hatfield and McCoy feud that lasted for years. Mark Twain had a scene in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn depicting a hillbilly feud.

These sorts of altercations are the background for our modern-day stereotype.

The Scots-Irish were often encouraged to settle in the harsh lands between the civilized areas and the wilderness. They were a buffer between the burgeoning colonies and the Natives who hated the white man encroaching on their lands. These hillbillies understood the native tribal hierarchy as it was similar to clan life, and they often existed peacefully with the Natives. Hillbillies adapted well to the rough lands in the mountains. There were many noted Americans who lived in those hills, Daniel Boone and Davey Crockett to name just two.

Daniel Boone &Davey Crockett

 

 On to the origin of Redneck

In Scotland in the 1640s the Covenanters rejected rule by bishops, often signing manifestos using their own blood. Some wore red cloth around their necks to show their position. The Scottish ruling class called them rednecks, recognizing them as rebels in what was later called The Bishop's War that preceded the rise of Oliver Cromwell as ruler of Britain after deposing Charles I.

Over time, the term came to refer to Presbyterians, especially those along the Scottish border. Some believe because of the large number of Scottish immigrants in pre-revolutionary American South, this may be the origin of the term redneck in America.

Authors Jospeh Flora and Lucinda MacKethan, noted professors of Southern culture and literature, give this stereotype description:

Redneck is a derogatory term currently applied to some lower class and working class southerners. The term, which came into common usage in the 1930s, is derived from the redneck beginnings as a "Yeoman farmer" whose neck would burn as he toiled in the fields. These yeomen farmers settled along the Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina coasts.

Here is another possible origin story.

There are those who believe the term redneck originated during the West Virginia Mine Wars in the early 1920s. Workers who wanted laborers' rights wore red bandanas around their necks and marched up Blair Mountain during the confrontation for workers' rights. Sounds like they followed the ancestors' example from the Bishops' War.

By 1900, "redneck" was used to refer to political factions within the Democratic party, setting apart the poor white farmers in the south.

As you can see, hillbilly and redneck have both evolved through the centuries. Yet, many Americans, like the early followers of Christ, wear the derogatory label proudly.

Country Music has its roots in the hillbilly culture of the Appalachian and Ozark mountains. The rednecks showed themselves as more than poor folks under the thumb of big business when they boldly fought for workers' rights.

Most Scots-Irish in American, no matter where they live geographically can trace their lineage back to those same "Billy Boys" who supported King William III for their religious freedom from James 1. Yep, my father's people were Presbyterian farmers who proudly claimed the name hillbilly.

Did you know the origin of these derogatory terms?

Cindy Ervin Huff, is a multi-published award-winning author in Historical and Contemporary Romance. She’s a 2018 Selah Finalist. Many of her Historical books have Scots-Irish characters as a nod to her ancestry.

Cindy has a passion for encouraging other writers on their journey. When she isn’t writing, she feeds her reading addiction and enjoys her retirement with her husband of 50 plus years, Charles. Visit her at www.cindyervinhuff.com. You can find all her books there.

Rescuing Her Heart

As her husband’s evil deeds haunt a mail-order bride from the grave, can she learn to trust again and open her heart to true love?

On visitation rounds as a lay preacher, the last thing rancher Jed Holt expects is to be shot at from the barn next to a burned-down homestead. But the soot-covered woman hiding inside needs protecting, and Jed is the man to do it whether she likes it or not.

Delilah James’s nightmares began when she came to Kansas as a mail-order bride. Her husband was nothing like his letters. Now that he is dead, she can’t shake his abuse from her heart. Trusting men tops her never-again list and taking a job on the Holt ranch as a housekeeper is a means to save money and bring her parents west. But her attraction to the compassionate former chaplain both angers and confuses her.

Jed has his own nightmares from a POW camp and understands Delilah better than she knows herself Can two broken people form a forever bond? Click here to buy.

 

 

FREEDOM NOT YET WON

 

By Catherine Ulrich Brakefield

In the golden crepuscule of our triumphant celebrations of America’s 250th anniversary, we often forget the high price our forefathers paid in winning that freedom not yet won. Victory wasn’t achieved until the bloody seven-year Revolutionary War concluded on September 3, 1783, with the signing of the Treaty of Paris.

    In the Washington D.C. Archives of founding documents, this plaque graces one wall: “TREATY OF PARIS 1783 In the name of the most Holy & undivided Trinity…It having pleased the Divine Providence to dispose the Hearts of the most Serene…by the Grace of God.”

Unprepared, with scant supplies, and no experience in battling the well-equipped armies of the British, farmers, clerks, wealthy planters and dignitaries determinedly fought, often to the death.

The founders and the farmers’ faith were firmly planted in Almighty God. On July 4, 1776, our framers drew up the Declaration of Independence placing their fate and the lives of the Colonists in the hands of God with these immortal words (highlighted):

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, which among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness…

“We, therefore, the Representatives of the United States of America, in General Congress Assembled appealing to the Supreme Judge of the World for the Rectitude of our Intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly Publish and Declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political Connection between them are the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do.— And for the support of this Declaration, with firm Reliance on the Protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.”

Brave words must follow with braver deeds. John Winthrop’s vision, inspired by Matthew 5:14, 16 was a pen stroke away from happening. “A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden…Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.”

Victory came at a high price: 6,800 Americans were killed in action, 6,150 were wounded, 20,000 were taken prisoner (many never returned to their families), and an unimaginable number of men died from illness and bullet wounds.

The hand of God has been displayed repeatedly to God-fearing, faith-filled men. Following Biblical principles is not for the faint-hearted; our forefathers were staunch disciples of their calling—bravely they pledged their fortunes and lives, and obeying the teachings of the Word of God, the Bible. Through America’s wars, depressions, good times, and bad times, America’s faith in its Savior, Christ Jesus has prevailed.  

It was in 1856, that Horace Bushnell spoke of this unexplained phenomenon of “the great principles of the gospel…into the order of states.” He declared that Americans “as a nation, are witnesses to all mankind of the power there is in the gospel to establish at once, equality and order, liberty and justice, and so to organize a free commonwealth.”

Alexis de Tocqueville observed upon his travels in nineteenth-century America how “notions of Christianity and of liberty were so deeply intertwined that it was “impossible to…conceive one without the other.”

Can those thoughts and words be said of the twenty-first century Americans today?

On the Jefferson Memorial in Washington, D.C. is inscribed: “God who gave us life gave us liberty. Can the liberties of a nation be secure when we have removed a conviction that these liberties are the gift of God? Indeed, I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just, that His justice cannot sleep forever.”

We often hear the term “freedom isn’t free”. Yes, every generation must fight to keep America’s independence.

America has survived for 250 years under the hand of God. The Colonists’ freedom was not yet won—but they put their faith in God and by the grace of God—freedom was won. We must believe in God’s power and wisdom. Then we must pass our beliefs on to the next generation. Our liberties to worship, vote, own property, write, and voice our beliefs are not freedoms to misuse but to protect with our lives.

“Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty,” (2 Corinthians 3:17 NIV).

Swept into Destiny: Ben (first book of the Destiny series) McConnell is a proud Irish immigrant who is determined not to give up despite hunger and deprivation. He clings to his mustard seed faith, believing that nothing is impossible.

Maggie Gatlan is a rebel disguised as a Southern belle. Bens and Maggie’s journeys delve deeply into the truth about faith and devotion.

“… Brakefield’s flowing descriptions pull you into Swept into Destiny and keep immersed in the world of the Antebellum south…This isn’t just a world of beaus, belles, and balls, but of moral ambiguity and searches for truth…” L.H. Reader

Catherine is the award-winning author of Wilted Dandelions, Swept into Destiny, Destiny’s Whirlwind, Destiny of Heart, Waltz with Destiny and Love's Final Sunrise. She has written two pictorial history books, The Lapeer Area and Eastern Lapeer, and short stories for Guideposts Books, CrossRiver Media Group, Revell Books, and Bethany House Publishers. Catherine and her husband of fifty-three years live on a ranch in Michigan and have two adult children, five grandchildren, four Arabian horses, two dogs, two cats, one bunny, and six chickens. See CatherineUlrichBrakefield.com for more information.
         https://www.monticello.org/site/research-and-collections/quotations-jefferson-memorial

https://rickchromey.com/alexis-de-tocqueville-the-french-man-who-saw-americas-past-present-and-future/

Fanny Rickets: Where Thou Goest, I Will Go

by Sherry Shindelar

Fanny Rickets

Fanny Lawrence Rickets lived by these words from Ruth 1:16, "Where thou goest, I will go. Thy people will be my people..." Neither enemy lines, blood and gore, or prison walls could stop her from being by her husband’s side when he needed her.

Fanny married the love of her life, Captain James Rickets, in January 1856. Shortly after the wedding, the young bride followed her husband to the Texas frontier, where his artillery company was stationed. She shared in the hardships of garrison life even as she brought cheer to the men and aided the sick.

When the Civil War erupted, she moved with James to his new post in the Washington, D.C. area, and that is where she awaited news of him when he fought in the Battle of First Manassas on July 21, 1861.

Reports came back that he had perished on the battlefield. An aide even brought James’s sword and last words to Fanny. For two days, she endured the belief that she had lost her beloved husband, but then word came, that although he was grievously wounded, he was still alive and a prisoner of the Confederates.

Rickets Battery at First Manassas, Painting by Sidney E. King, Public domain

Fanny immediately took action. She procured a carriage, two horses, and a pass from the Federal Army in order to travel through the lines to her husband, and set out on her own. However, the pass meant nothing once she reached the Confederate pickets, but Fanny persevered. She sent a note to Confederate Colonel J.E.B. Stuart, an old army friend of her husband’s. Stuart agreed to allow her to travel to Manassas if she’d sign a note swearing that she wasn’t there to spy. Fanny ripped up the note in front of him and said, “I am no spy, but the wife of a wounded officer, and I will go as your prisoner, but I will never sign this.”

Flabbergasted by her audacity, Stuart acquiesced and sent her on her way to the battlefield. Fanny found James at the Lewis House, a.k.a. Portici, still covered in blood five days after the battle:

No words can describe the horrors around me. Two men dead and covered with blood were carried down the stairs as I waited to let them pass. On a table in the open hall, a man was undergoing amputation of the leg. At the foot of the stairs two bloody legs lay, and through it all I went to my husband. Outside the next door was a severed arm, and my clothes brushed by blood, cloths, splint, etc. I found my dear husband lying on a hospital stretcher, still covered with blood! Downstairs, there are some forty men in the various stages of death or possible recovery. Blood runs on the floors, the smell is dreadful but no language can describe it. " Mrs. Fanny Captain Ricketts, 1861

Forsaking her own comfort, Fanny dug in and got to work caring for James, who’d been shot four times, and for the other men in the ward. Two weeks later, the Confederates transferred Rickets, who still wavered between life and death, to a prison in Richmond. Fanny was not about to let her husband go without her. She followed him to prison and slept by his bed for four months, nursing him and the other wounded officers, in a doorless room where they were gawked at by curious onlookers.

Libby Prison in Richmond, Painting by David Gilmour Blythe, Public Domain 

Fanny’s love for her husband meant more to her than her own comfort and safety. Her courage and determination enabled her to put her love into action even in the most of dire circumstances. Her sacrifices and ministrations helped save his life.

In December 1861, Ricketts was traded in a prisoner exchange and allowed to return home to finish his recovery. The ever-faithful Fanny followed.

General James Rickets and his wife Fanny

However, the war was not over. Ricketts rose to the rank of general and was seriously wounded two more times, and his wife saw him through it all.

Fanny's real-life love story inspired a plot twist in one of my Lone Star Redemption series books. I don’t want to spoil the story, so I won’t mention which novel, or whether it’s already published or yet to be released. I’ll leave it to the discerning reader to figure that out.

Originally from Tennessee, Sherry loves to take her readers into the past. A romantic at heart, she is an avid student of the Civil War and the Old West. When she isn’t busy writing, she is an English professor, working to pass on her love of writing to her students. Sherry is a multi-award-winning writer. She currently resides in Minnesota with her husband of forty years. She has three grown children and three grandchildren.

Connect with Sherry: website newsletter Amazon FB

The man who destroyed her life may be the only one who can save it.

Maggie Logan (Eyes-Like-Sky) lost everything she knew when a raid on a wagon train tore her from her family. As the memories of her past faded, Maggie adapted—marrying a Comanche warrior and having a baby. But in one terrible battle, the U.S. Cavalry destroys that life and takes her captive. Forced into a world she wants nothing to do with, Eyes-Like-Sky’s only hope of protecting her child may be an engagement to the man who killed her husband.

Captain Garret Ramsey finds himself assigned to the Texas frontier, where he witnesses the brutal Indian War in which both sides commit atrocities. Plagued by guilt for his own role, Garret seeks redemption by taking responsibility for the woman he widowed and her baby. Though he is determined to do whatever it takes to protect them, is he willing to risk everything for a woman whose heart is buried in a grave?

Rogue's Gallery, The Next Round of the Wanted Poster by Denise M. Colby

The Original Wanted Poster

In the Old West (1700 to early 1800’s) the wanted poster communicated to local lawmen that a criminal was at large. They were issued by sheriffs, state officials, or the military. Possibly with a drawing or description, unless you knew details, it made it difficult to track them down.

These bulletins didn’t go out to the public or were posted publicly. There were a tool used by local law enforcement in all sizes of towns and cities. They shared this information by mail or stagecoach (pony express too), and later by telegraph or wire and would be reproduced locally (especially if it was urgent).

With the invention of the railroad (and with it railway robbers) they too would send out bulletins, or hire agencies such as the Pinkerton Detective Agency (because if they couldn’t keep their passengers safe, who would want to ride a train?).

 

Rogue's Gallery - A New Improved Version

In 1855, Allan Pinkerton saw a need and created the The Rogue’s Gallery. It incorporated an actual photograph of the person along with more specific details. A step up from the original wanted poster.

They images were made with cheap photography mounted on card stock to capture what the criminals looked like, making it easier to identify them. Many of these criminals were bank robbers, railroad bandits, and other more localized criminals. These images were distributed to sheriffs throughout the west in a booklet.

By 1870, the agency had built the largest collection of mugshots in the world. (Although the term mugshot wasn’t used until later). The Rogue’s Gallery included a card on the back of the photograph that had detailed information related to physical descriptions, methods of how the rogue operated, hiding places, and any associates of the criminals. It might list distinguishing marks on the person, aliasas, and much more.

It was the most extensive early database around. By 1895, the Rogue’s gallery had grown to over 1500 photographs.

 

Examples of Rogue's Gallery 

I found this picture online of a printed book that was up for auction. It shows how a book looked, and gave an idea of how it could be distributed.

 

I also found a photograph of a permanent fixture In New York City, where they mounted on large wooden boards all the cards, similar to how one would look through posters at a store to purchase.

The website page where I found it is called The Rogue’s Gallery.

Reference to the Rogue's Gallery

In my book, A Whole New Plan, the local sheriff of Washton has the cards from the Rogue’s Gallery up on the wall and Lydia points out one of the criminals listed there as the person who she is trying to capture. She then shares she’s a part of the Pinkerton Agency. It was a fun way to put in this tidbit of history.

Book 4 in the Best-laid Plans Series releases May 26, 2026

California, 1870. Pastor William Baker built his life on steady faith and safe choices, but the arrival of Lydia Spencer upends everything. Independent and outspoken Lydia is unlike any woman he’s ever known. Lydia is a Pinkerton detective, undercover as a schoolteacher while tracking a dangerous crime boss. She’s determined to protect her friends in Washton even if it means keeping her distance from the kind, steadfast pastor who sees too much. But when Will and Lydia are thrown together in a search for truth they find themselves fighting not only for justice, but for a future neither had planned.

Denise M. Colby writes historical romance sweetened with faith, hope, and love. She finds history fascinating and contemplates often how it was to live in the 1800's. Her debut novel, When Plans Go Awry, is a 2025 Carol Award finalist. Sign up for her newsletter at www.denisemcolby.com or follow Denise on Facebook, Instagram, Bookbub, Pinterest, or GoodReads.