B O O K S

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01/2008. 288 pages. 33 b/w photos
0896726193
978-0-89672-619-2

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Law on the Last Frontier: Texas Ranger Arthur Hill

By S. E. Spinks
Foreword by Robert M. Utley

In a career forged in the saddle on scout duty along the Rio Grande, Arthur Hill witnessed dramatic changes in his working life as a Texas Ranger from 1947 to 1974. Whether inspecting brands, deterring smugglers of everything from cattle to candle wax, or giving horseback pursuit across unforgiving terrain, often into Mexico, Hill found himself immersed day to day in a world that straddled centuries as well as cultures.

Promotion to sergeant of Ranger Company B in 1957 took Hill to Dallas, where he brought his brush-country methods to bear on urban crimes. There Hill headed the Ranger contingency in the Lone Star Steel Strike and investigated the “Dixie Mafia,” KKK, and Dallas/Fort Worth gambling syndicates. Yet after only a year, and despite an imminent promotion to Ranger captain, Hill knew his place and his heart were back in the Big Bend, where rampant drug trade was altering the border irrevocably from what had remained the same for hundreds of years. Situating Hill’s investigations within contextual history of the Rangers and the Department of Public Safety, Spinks pays particular attention to methods and techniques employed by Rangers during that little-documented time.

S. E. Spinks has had a lifelong fascination with Texas and Western history. Law on the Last Frontier is the culmination of four years of research in archival collections across the state as well as Hill’s personal papers. An active member of the Former Texas Rangers Association, she lives with her husband and sons in New Braunfels, Texas.