Page 11 - The Dispatch December 2019

After the war, Sterling returned to law enforcement as the Sterling’s work in Borger did not go unnoticed. Among
sheriff and justice of the peace of Mirando City, a border other changes, he would promote Sterling to captain, giv-
town near Laredo. He once again worked alongside the ing him command of the Laredo-based Company D.
Texas Rangers, whose duties had shifted from fighting
Mexican revolutionaries and seditionists to catching boot- His previous experience on the border allowed Sterling
leggers smuggling liquor across the border. to run an efficient unit far from the headline-grabbing
troubles of the booming oil towns of northern Texas. He
“Bill [Sterling] preserved order in an oil town by methods worked with his Rangers to respect the local population
learned from the Texas Rangers and other border officers. and to be sympathetic to Anglo and Tejano concerns, fairly
On an unpainted pine shake we found a large sign bearing administering justice. For a time, Sterling seemed to have
‘W.W. Sterling, Justice of the Peace, The law of the Tex- settled into a job he had always wanted. This changed af-
Mex,’” described contemporary historian Walter Prescott ter the election of Ross Sterling to governor.
Webb. “Nearby, stood a boxcar in which the judge held
his prisoners by means of a generous length of chain and Ross Sterling prepared to take office as the nation was en-
padlocks.” This method of restraint was called a “trotline.” tering the Great Depression in 1931. The economic col-
lapse of the nation would ruin many of his initiatives in
As crude oil gushed from derricks rising against the bright the legislature, but the one initiative in which he did find
Texas sky, the call went out for roughnecks seeking “black support was strengthening the Ranger corps.
gold” to move to Borger, a city centered in the Texas pan-
handle. Though every oil town had its share of card houses Ross Sterling had known Bill Sterling for years, having met
and lawlessness, a corrupt city government coupled with through Bill’s father. Both men discussed their ancestry
a population increase of more than 40,000 people in three sufficiently to decide there was no kinship, a determina-
months, allowed prostitutes, card sharks and bootleggers tion that would be important as Ross Sterling prepared to
to become nearly as common as oil workers. Lawlessness appoint his new adjutant general for the Texas Military.
in Borger reached a boiling point when murders and ex-
plosions within the city limits had become a way of life. “I called in William W. Sterling, a tall, colorful Ranger cap-
tain, and gave him the names of several men who had
“Many persons have been killed including several officers applied and asked ‘Whom would you suggest for adjutant
and two or three women. Daylight robberies, hold-ups, ex- general?’ Bill replied that he would like to see Torrance of
plosions and bootlegging continued practically unabated,” Fort Worth get it, but he could get along very well with
according to a contemporary Associated Press report. any of those mentioned” said Ross Sterling. “I told him you
won’t have to get along with any of them. I’m going to
Sterling arrived under the command of Capt. Frank Ham- appoint you.”
er, who would later become famous for putting an end to
Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow’s criminal careers in a hail
of gunfire. Working with 10 other Rangers, Sterling and
Hamer brought the town under control as Rangers arrest-
ed 124 men within the first day. Each lawbreaker found
himself shackled to a trotline awaiting removal to trial in
Stinnett, Texas. Rangers also targeted vices throughout
the city, issuing warnings to 1,200 prostitutes to leave
town or face arrest. Liquor, gambling and corruption were
additional focuses of the team as it sought to reign in the
lawlessness of the city.

“The liquor traffic was broken up, many stills being seized
and destroyed, and several thousand gallons of whiskey
captured and poured out. 203 gambling slot machines
were seized and destroyed,” said Brig. Gen Robert Robert-
son, the Adjutant General of Texas at the time. “As a result
of the demand on the part of the citizens of Borger for
administration of the law, the mayor, city commissioners
and chief of police resigned, replaced by citizens pledged Adjutant General William Sterling posing with his Texas Ranger Cap-
to uphold laws.” tains. Seated: Captain Dan Roberts. Standing left to right: Captain J. A.
Brooks, Adjutant General W. W. Sterling, former Ranger Captain Frank
A Hamer and Captain John R. Hughes taken August 8, 1932.
www.tmd.texas.gov 11