From: firstinitiallastname@texas.net   
      
   Cineshock wrote:   
      
   > Were town marshals in the West typically elected or appointed? City   
   constables   
   > (or chiefs) were appointed while county sheriffs were elected, right?   
      
   Depends on where you might be. Town marshals might be elected or hired.   
   Likewise, city constables. Various states use different titles, and   
   within one state, different types of cities (four different types in   
   Texas) may operate under different rules.   
      
   In Texas, each precinct within a county has an elected constable, an   
   indepenant head of agency, even if an it's often an agency of one   
   officer. Cities may appoint police officers. Some classes of city may   
   appoint marshals, who generall serve writs and warrants but who are full   
   peace officers. In a Class B General Law City, the Marshal is also the   
   tax assessor/collector. Cities may also appoint watchmen, who are not   
   peace officers. (A lot of cities had only a watchman in the first half   
   of the 20th century, there being little crime in small towns, and the   
   Sheriff took care of what there was.) The mayor of a Type A General Law   
   City may appoint special police.   
      
   This is current law but hasn't changed much for a long time, but in the   
   19th century, town marshals and town constables were frquently elected.   
   As time went by, cities began abolishing the elected office of town   
   marshal, conferring most of his duties on the police. Not all were   
   elected. San Antonio appointed its town marshals, and duties included   
   shooting stray dogs and picking up trash. Usually the lowest paid city   
   employee.   
      
   In 1856, San Antonio divided the city into precincts to be patrolled by   
   volunteer citizens to try to keep down robbery and murder. In 1875, the   
   Marshal got a uniformed force, although they were required to keep their   
   pistols concealed under their uniform coats. They were titled "police",   
   rather than deputy marshals. The marshal's title changed to Chief of   
   Police in 1911. Things got formal after that. Police had to shave every   
   day, could not smoke before 11pm and could not sit while on duty.   
      
   In Texas, Sheriff has always been an elected office, although during   
   reconstruction, the Yankee military governor frequently tossed out the   
   sheriff when he refused the oath of allegiance and appointed another.   
   They often ran through quite a few before they found a taker.   
      
   In the territories, US Marshals were the defacto lawmen, although a   
   number complained that they had little idea what laws were to be   
   enforced, how and how much they were to be paid and how to deal with the   
   frequent evaporation of courts when judges moved on out of the territory.   
      
   --   
                          Gerald Clough   
       "Nothing has any value, unless you know you can give it up."   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)