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From
1919 until 1933 the United States was in the throes of one of the
worst mistakes it has ever made—prohibition. The passage of an amendment
to the Constitution forbade the consumption of alcoholic beverages
unless prescribed by a physician. It was a crime to sell any alcoholic
beverage except by physician’s prescription, to transport any alcoholic
beverage, or even to make for personal consumption any alcoholic
beverage.
Texas has the longest border with Mexico
of any state. Mexico
had no prohibition. It was perfectly legal to make, sell, transport,
and consume alcohol in Mexico.
Just across the Rio Grande was a very thirsty state. There was no
question money was to be made in smuggling liquor across the border.
In fact there was a lot of money to be made—but smuggling liquor
had its dangers. One of those dangers was a group called the Texas
Rangers.
Will L. Wright was commissioned Captain of Company B, Texas Rangers,
in 1918. In 1919 Co. B was assigned to the lower border, from Brownsville
to Laredo.
This was the hotbed of smuggling. Above Laredo
there was little along the border at the time until you got to El
Paso. Acuña
was a wide spot in the road, Del
Rio little more than that. What is now US 90 was a dirt cowpath.
Presidio was
almost completely isolated and the terrain between Presidio
and anywhere else made smuggling heavy cans of alcohol by mule—or
man—entirely impractical.
Liquor smugglers used pack trains of mules—or human carriers—to
bring across rotgut alcohol in 10-gallon cans. Customarily they
would attempt to cross the river on moonless nights, swimming and
pushing their cans of liquor on makeshift rafts before them. Their
clothing and shoes, if human carriers were being used, were placed
on the rafts along with the liquor. A mule
could carry up to sixty gallons—six 10-gallon cans—but a man carried
only two. However, it was easier to trail mules
than it was men, so many smugglers used human ‘mules.’
What came across was by no means good liquor. It was distilled from
anything distillable, then cut with any number of substances once
it reached the American buyers.
While excellent liquor sometimes came across the Canadian border—though
Canada also had a form of prohibition, there was no Canadian law
forbidding the making of liquor for export—that which came out of
Mexico was
often pure poison.
Federal authorities tried to stem the tide of the imports, but there
were few Federal agents, the ones there were, were usually underpaid,
and many of them were corrupt. The major force along Texas’
lower border was Captain Will Wright and Co. B, Texas Rangers.
Will
was a salty character. He looked like he might have been Teddy Roosevelt’s
twin brother. There is, in fact, a photo of Will on horseback, taken
near Cotulla during a freak snowstorm, that’s often been published
as a photo of Roosevelt. On one occasion, when he brought in a prisoner
across a saddle, Will had to contend with a new form the Rangers
adopted for reports. Formerly the Rangers had simply written narrative
reports, but the new one had blocks to fill in. One of the blocks
was labeled ‘Disposition of Prisoner.’ Will scratched his head,
thought about it a while, then wrote “Mean as Hell. Had to kill
him.”
To give an idea of how effective Wright’s Company B was, in five
short days in November of 1921, the company captured 4,200 quarts
of alcohol, along with 63 pack horses and mules. This took place
on November 17 in Zapata County, on November 18 in Webb County,
and on November 22 in Duval County. Needless to say, the smugglers,
their suppliers in Mexico,
and their clients in Texas were none
too happy about this.
The pack trains, whether animal or human, were guarded. Most of
the guards were noted pistoleros—men of considerable reputation
on both sides of the border. Many of them were wanted in Texas
or other border states for murder. There were few captures without
a gunfight. Exactly how many pistoleros died—or were captured,
though most died—there seems to be no exact record. Since many of
the pistoleros were facing the noose or electric chair north
of the border, they usually elected to shoot it out with Wright’s
Rangers rather than submit to capture. The carriers, who were always
unarmed save for perhaps a machete, usually either shed their cargoes
and took to the brush or surrendered. A few Rangers lost their lives
in the desperate shootouts, but many, many more pistoleros
fell to Ranger gunfire. It was called ‘naturalizin’ ‘em.’
When the amendment was finally repealed, beginning in 1933 with
the legalization of the sale of 3.2% beer, the Rangers breathed
a sigh of relief. They didn’t consider interdiction of alcohol to
be their primary purpose. However, since the Federal authorities
along the border were almost entirely ineffective in doing it, the
Rangers filled the gap. For the record, they’re still ‘filling the
gap.’ This time it’s narcotics, not liquor. If the Ranger record
in interdicting narcotics traffic is ever publicized, it will again
outstrip that of the Federal authorities.
© C.
F. Eckhardt
"Charley Eckhardt's Texas"
September 4, 2010 column
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