Ranger Dan L. McDuffie

Dan Lafayette McDuffie was born February 16, 1883 to James C. McDuffee (1844 – 1915) and Emily Mahalah Hays McDuffee (1855 – 1911). James was born in Tennessee and Emily was born in Alabama. It is not recorded how they met but they were married in 1877 in Arkansas where many of their children, including Dan, were born. By 1888, they had relocated to North Texas where all three of Dan’s younger siblings were born. Dan married Willie Lemuel “Lemmie” McCright in 1907 in New Boston, Bowie County, Texas in 1907 and a daughter was born to the couple the following year. Both of his parents had passed away by 1920 and in the federal census, Dan was living on the family farm.

Dan had gravitated to law enforcement early in life. During his career, he had first been appointed as a deputy constable at the age of eighteen, after which he next served the unexpired term of a recently deceased constable. Dan later served as a deputy sheriff of Bowie County, a special agent for the Cotton Belt Railroad, a federal prohibition officer and finally a Texas Ranger for a few months before he died. An obituary in the Longview News Journal also stated that Dan was a three time candidate for Bowie County sheriff. Law enforcement also attracted Dan’s younger brother James Edward McDuffie who was a special agent for the St. Louis Southwestern Railroad. However, James died after being injured in a 1923 railroad accident in Lewisville, Arkansas. He was aboard a moving train when he was struck by a water spout as his train passed under it. James suffered a broken back when he was knocked from the train. He was taken to the Cotton Belt hospital in Texarkana where he succumbed to the injuries about three weeks later.

McDuffie had joined the Texas Rangers in early 1931. He was first stationed in Del Rio but was reassigned to Gladewater, Texas by Captain Tom Hickman in order to assist Chief W. A. Dial, a former Ranger. At this time an oil boom was occurring in East Texas. Texas Rangers were assigned to help local law enforcement officers keep the peace. The fatal incident also occurred during Prohibition, that is, the years from 1920 to 1933 in which it was illegal to manufacture, sell and transport alcoholic beverages in the United States under the terms of the Eighteenth Amendment. In early July, Private McDuffie, Deputy Sheriff Everett Hughes and Chief Dial had stopped at a barbecue stand on the Gladewater highway near Lake Deverina. The three officers seized nine cases of beer, three cases of empty bottles and one and a half pints of liquor. Several suspects were arrested.

While McDuffie was still in the area, on Tuesday July 7th, 1931, a report was received by the Gladewater Police Department that a recently dismissed officer, Louis Jefferson “Jeff” Johnson, was firing a rifle on a downtown street. One report said he was shooting at a dog. Another said he was randomly discharging his rifle. Johnson was well known to the department, since before his dismissal from the local police force about a week earlier, he had served as the Gladewater day jailer. In addition, he had held other law enforcement positions prior to being hired at Gladewater. Johnson had worked with Chief Dial in one capacity or another for twenty-five years and was also said to have been acquainted with McDuffie. No definitive reason was made public for his dismissal, although several were suggested. There were also suggestions that the incident could have been connected in some way to the previous killing of an oilfield worker by another local officer. There had been difficulties between Dial and Johnson after the dismissal. Johnson had been held in a cell for some time and had reportedly threatened Chief Dial as he left the station. Regardless of the reason, it was a situation that needed to be dealt with immediately.

Four officers including McDuffie, Hughes, Chief Dial and J. R. Leach boarded a vehicle and headed to the scene. Several friends had come to the location and had been unsuccessful in trying to persuade Johnson to put his weapon away. A newspaper report said that when the vehicle bearing the officers rolled up, Johnson told his friends to step aside. Johnson fired first, taking at least one shot at the car from a 30-30 Winchester rifle. Johnson may not have been aiming at anyone in particular, but the bullet from his gun hit the car’s steering wheel and continued on to strike McDuffie in the wrist before becoming lodged in his groin, severing an artery. In the following seconds, Chief Dial quickly fired one shot from his weapon, striking Johnson in the abdomen. Emergency vehicles were summoned but Johnson is believed to have died at the scene; McDuffie is said to have died upon arrival at the hospital. Chief Dial turned himself in to authorities after the shooting, but there were numerous witnesses and Johnson was determined to have been the aggressor in the incident. Dial returned to his job.

Louis Jefferson “Jeff” Johnson was about fifty-seven years old at the time of his death, was married and the father of four children. He had been a law enforcement officer for twenty-three years. After his funeral service, he was interred at Rosedale Cemetery in Gladewater.

The death of McDuffie was reported in statewide newspaper articles. Captain Frank Hamer was quoted as saying that McDuffie had been a Ranger for “most of this year” and that his line of duty death was the first such occurrence in five years, likely in reference to Timothy Samuel Willard, a Special Ranger shot and killed in Travis County by a suspect during a raid on an illegal still.

McDuffie was forty-eight years old at the time of his death. He was survived by his wife and daughter, three sisters and a brother. His body was transported back to his home in New Boston. McDuffie’s services on July 9, 1931 were attended by a crowd of 2,000 people. Following services officiated by Presbyterian minister and life long friend of the family, Dr. Debos Taylor. Private McDuffie was interred at Read Hill Cemetery in New Boston. During the services, it was reported that Chief Dial collapsed and had to be taken from the scene. Officers from around the state also came to pay their respects.Seven Texas Rangers including G. M. Allen, B. Maney Gault, Captains Tom Hickman and O. C. Moore represented the state force.

In honor of the life of Private McDuffie, a Texas historical marker was placed in 1967 at Read Hill Cemetery. Continuing in the tradition of the family, a grandson, great grandson and great great grandson all pursued careers in law enforcement.

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