law enforcement – Page 2 – Texas History Notebook

“Deacon Jim” Miller, Outlaw

James Brown “Jim” Miller was an outlaw who lived from 1861 to 1909. He was suspected of killing twelve to fifty people during his lifetime. He was born in Van Buren, Arkansas but his parents moved to Franklin, Texas in Robertson County when he was young. Miller’s father Jacob died in 1869 while Miller was still a youth and his mother moved with the family to Evant, Texas.

1896 Wichita Falls Bank Robbery

Captain William Jesse “Bill” McDonald was a celebrated Texas Ranger. He was born in Kemper County, Mississippi to Major Enoch McDonald and Eunice R. Durham McDonald. Enoch enlisted in the Confederate Army early in the Civil War. Bill’s father Enoch was killed in battle at Corinth, Mississippi on October 3, 1862, leaving Eunice, Bill (age 10) and his sister Mary Hana who was about three years older than Bill. The family lived on their Mississippi farm until the end of the war. The farm in Mississippi was destroyed during the war and in 1866, the three moved to Texas to be near to one of Bill’s uncles who lived near Henderson in Rusk County.

Dave Rudabaugh

Dave Rudabaugh was known as an outlaw from Dodge City, Kansas to Texas and to the New Mexico Territory. Quite possibly, he was born David Raudebaugh. At least one account says that he was orphaned when his father was killed in the Civil War, but another likely family history is that he came from a very large family who lived mostly in and around Wayne County, Ohio. Indications now are that Dave may have been born in 1854 to John A. Raudebaugh (1826 – 1910) and Susanna Soliday Raudebaugh (1830 – 1910). While the genealogy records on this family are somewhat thin at this time, the 1860 federal census showed a David Raudebaugh of the right age as the second of five children to a farming family by that last name. The 1870 federal census shows this same David as the second oldest of six siblings of what appears to be the same family unit. This particular family is mentioned later in local Ohio newspaper accounts from time to time, usually around Wooster, Ohio. Dave or David is not mentioned in newspaper accounts among the very few than refer to this family. So, the two census records indicate that Dave may have been part of that family unit at one time, but there are no obvious records that tie him as an adult back to the Ohio family.

Rex Cauble and Cutter Bill

Rex Cauble was born August 15, 1913 in the Hill County town of Vaughan, Texas. His parents were Fred C. Cauble and Lou Butts Cauble who were cotton farmers. One of his first jobs was in the oilfield where he worked as a roughneck. He tried his own hand at drilling and was successful at that, as well. Always fond of ranch life, Cauble invested in horses, was a very good competitive rider in the 1960s and came to own a prize stud named Cutter Bill. Settling in North Texas, Cauble founded two western wear stores, named after his cutting horse. The stores were branded Cutter Bill’s Western World with locations in Houston and Dallas in the late 1960s. At the opening of the Houston store, the horse was brought in and his hoof prints were imprinted in the wet cement of the sidewalk.

Jim McIntyre & Jim Courtright

As unlikely as it might seem, the Saturday, May 16, 1885 edition of the Stratfordshire (England) Sentinel Daily and Weekly carried an article with the title “A Pair of American Desperadoes” about the search for two criminals, Jim Courtright and Jim McIntyre, the latter of whom had just been apprehended.