The Highwaymen, and Ranger Captain B.M. Gault
The 2019 theatrical movie, The Highwaymen, is a stylized account of the hunt for Bonnie & Clyde, undertaken in 1934 by former Texas Ranger Captains Frank Hamer and B.M. “Manny” Gault. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Highwaymen_(film) . If you have an interest in Depression era law enforcement techniques and equipment, I highly recommend the movie.
In addition to robbing banks and killing people, the criminal couple murdered several peace officers, incurring the wrath of the Texas law enforcement establishment. The Governor authorized the head of the Texas Department of Corrections to hire former Texas Ranger Captain Frank Hamer, a famous manhunter, to track them down. Upon accepting the job, Hamer requested Captain B.M. Gault, who went by “Manny” to be his partner on this intensive and highly dangerous manhunt. Hamer knew Gault well from years spent together in the Texas Rangers and he knew Gault as a capable detective and a very dangerous man in perilous situations.
In the movie, Kevin Costner portrays Frank Hamer, and does a fairly good job of presenting Hamer’s quiet, dogged determination. During his lifetime, Hamer shunned publicity, and refused to talk about his 50+ gunfights in the Tex/Mex border area during the turbulent first 30 years of the 20th century. Woody Harrelson played Gault, and this is my only real criticism of the movie. Although they appear to have made an attempt to portray Hamer fairly accurately, the character of Manny Gault in the movie is an unshaven, rumpled, drunk who is well past his prime. When asked about this in an interview, Harrelson said the Gault character was a composite of several historic Ranger personalities. That’s fine, except they used Gault’s name.
I feel this does Captain Gault a real dis-service, so I decided to set the record straight. On one of my frequent forays into Texas, I stopped by the Texas Ranger Hall of Fame and Museum in Waco to do some research. Attached to the museum is the Tobin and Anne Armstrong Research Center, library and archives of the Texas Rangers. There, I was able to look through Captain Gault’s personnel file and get a better picture of the real B.M. Gault.
B.M. Gault joined the Texas Rangers in 1929. In 1937 he was promoted to Sergeant and in 1938 to Captain. Captain is the highest rank in the Rangers, under their chief, a Senior Captain. Each Captain heads up a Ranger office for a geographic area of the state of Texas. On his death in 1947, Gault was the Captain in charge of the Lubbock, Texas, district. This is an impressive record.
During the 1930’s, Texas Rangers typically worked alone, sometimes with a partner, and without mobile telephones, two-way radios, and other communication devices. Once on the trail, they were completely on their own, handling investigations involving murders, kidnappings, organized gambling and liquor operations, and other major crimes. Gault made the rank of Captain in just nine years, which indicates a dedicated, honest, and courageous lawman. At one point he was assigned to Ranger headquarters in Austin, indicating a man good at administrative tasks as well as at leading hard men in dangerous assignments. I’d like to see him get the credit he deserves.