From: firstinitiallastname@texas.net   
      
   Coalbunny wrote:   
      
      
   > You have a good point.  I feel that if the posse system of back then was in   
   > effect today, then there would be no prison overcrowding and crime just may   
   > decrease.   
      
   I really wonder how much there was of the Hollywood-type "everybody get   
   your horses and let's go get 'em" posse. It was certain formally   
   authorized under law and still is. I imagine that that sort of thing was   
   more often done to handle trouble in town, rather than riding off on the   
   chase. What comes up fairly often is a group of citizens night-riding   
   annonymously to deal dirt to the local bad actors. Or, a variation, the   
   bandits were known to retreat to a hideout, and the local law might   
   muster enough adventurous souls to go surround the place and smoke them   
   out. I suspect that, if more than two bad guys had to be chased very   
   far, many felt that, since they were headed out of the area, it might be   
   worth seeing if they just kept going, in lieu of taking the chance of   
   getting shot trying to bring them back.   
      
   The last time I recall anyone being prosecuted (unsuccessfully) for   
   failing to come to the aid of an officer when called was back in the   
   1970's, and the law here went away not too long after.   
      
   The rather old-fashioned language remains in the Texas Code of Criminal   
   Procedure to put together a "posse":   
      
   "When any officer authorized to execute process is resisted, or when   
   he has sufficient reason to believe that he will meet with   
   resistance in executing the same, he may command as many of the   
   citizens of his county as he may think proper;  and the sheriff may   
   call any military company in the county to aid him in overcoming the   
   resistance, and if necessary, in seizing and arresting the persons   
   engaged in such resistance."   
      
   I had the privilege of meeting the old Spanish-born Ranger, Manuel T.   
   (Lone Wolf) Gonzaullas, at the opening of the Ranger Museum in Waco in   
   about 1967 or 8. He was about 78 at the time and one of the last of the   
   old ones who had actually ridden after bandits for days on horseback   
   down on the border. Small man, even considering his age and high   
   mileage, typical of the sort of man who could handle riding for days.   
   One of those who bracketted both ends of Ranger history, going from wild   
   old days to being head of Intelligence for DPS and helping move it to   
   scientific analysis. He eventually left Intellgience and went back to   
   the Rangers to be Captain of Ranger Company B.   
      
   As his wife was helping him hobble out to the car, a reporter asked him   
   how many men he'd killed. He got a little smile and said, "Well, son,   
   you kinda lose track of things like that."   
   --   
                          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)