Jumpin' The Snake

THE LIFE AND TIMES OF RIP FORD

Part 15: Jumpin’ The Snake

by Bob Heinonen

Rip Ford learned a lot on the surveying trip to El Paso in 1849—one of them was to stop performing a particular trick.

The first thing you need to know is that Old Rip Ford wore tall boots. They are the Napoleonic style with a top flap that covers the knee cap. In other words, the entire lower half of the leg is protected by leather. This may be why he had been able to perform his trick so long.

Ford “…had found out that a snake will recoil when anything is descending upon it suddenly. A nimble person may jump with both feet on a snake, and leap off instanter, and not be bitten. It is a dangerous and foolhardy thing to do, yet Ford did it to the great astonishment of the Comanches. We reached the “Cross Timbers”---{two parallel strips of timber region that ran down the middle of Texas}. The Indians found a large diamond rattlesnake, and waited for the snakeman. He came up. There was the reptile in a huge coil, his head about three feet from the ground, eyes brilliant and scintillating with anger. His rattles were sounding the alarm of danger, and seemed to be capable of being heard at the distance of a hundred yards. The spots on his body were diamond shaped, and of a bright yellow color. He was about ten feet long. A more beautiful serpent is seldom seen, and one more able to inflict a fatal sting. The writer [Ford] was cautioned by Jim Shaw:

Don’t go any nearer, that snake can bite a man a little further from him than his length---about ten feet. He can strike you on your mule. He jumps as he strikes.

These snakes were reputed to be remarkably active and very strong. The force exerted in delivering a blow or bite was sufficient to move the whole body. The snakeman gazed at the serpent for a few minutes, rode away, and has not jumped on even a garter snake from that day to this blessed moment.”[i] Rip did a lot of things, but never jumped another snake.

When the surveying trip to El Paso was over, Old Rip had to face the decision of what to do next with his life. To date, he had been a doctor, lawyer, playwright, surveyor, Texas Ranger, publisher and journalist, military officer and congressman.

“On August 11, 1849,, General George M. Brooke called on Governor George T. Wood for three companies of Rangers who were to establish headquarters at Corpus Christi and range the country from Goliad to the Rio Grande for six months. These companies were called because of Indian depredations. H. L. Kinney reported that thirty-six people had been killed, captured, or wounded, and 1353 head of horses had been stolen in Nueces and San Patricio counties.”[ii] It was time for Old Rip to get back into battle. He quickly organized one of the 79 man companies and headed for Corpus Christi and the Rio Grande Valley as far as Laredo.

The area between the Rio Grande and the Neuces Rivers had been claimed by both the United States and Mexico. This “Neuces Strip” became a no-mans land for Mexicans. In fact, “The penalty of any Mexican found three leagues north of the Rio Grande was arrest and trial as a spy.”[iii] Mexicans who lived in this area had to flee and leave their horses and cattle. Into this breach came men to round up this valuable asset. “The men thus engaged acquired the name of ‘cow-boys.’ It was not meant as a term of reproach. War existed between Mexico and Texas at that time, and the operations of the ‘cow-boys’ were considered legitimate. The debatable land was the scene of many hostile meetings between the Mexicans and Texians.”[iv]

But Ford was after the Indians, in particular the Comanches, who raided in the area. For the next 2 years, Ford and his Texas Rangers pursued and engaged Comanches. In wild battles that included hand-to-hand combat and running gun battles, both sides lost men. Some men died quickly; others had long, agonizing deaths without medical aid. They patrolled in the hot, blazing sun of summer and the cold, wet, muddy days of winter. Ford and his mean earned the respect of the citizens they were protecting.

An article from the San Antonio Ledger upon the disbanding of Ford’s Texas Rangers on September 23, 1851:

Now that the company is disbanded, the Indians, who have so much dreaded its presence as to abandon their visits altogether to the country through which it ranged, can again carry devastation and death, with little dread of molestation, from the Neuces to the Rio Grande. Again they can resume their cattle stealing and scalping forays to Davis’s ranch, and from thence across the country to Corpus Christi. The property and lives of the citizens of Laredo, in particular, fell a daily prey to marauding bands of Indians until Capt. Ford’s company of Rangers was stationed within striking distance of town, and a short period afterwards—a very brief one indeed, as a rapid succession of bloody and victorious encounters with the Indians, soon taught them that Rangers could ride, shoot and manoeuvre rather differently from mounted infantry. It is to be hoped that Governor Bell will redeem his promise to give the frontier protection. The ranging companies have done the State good service; the abandoned farms and ranches have been re-settled during their service, and the roads have been freed from danger to the traveler and merchant. We hope Governor Bell will recall them immediately to protect the frontier, or it will be again devastated and destroyed.[v]

Old Rip Ford now needed some new excitement—something he hadn’t done before. How about a revolution?

Next Month – Part 16: Revolution and Politics, Again

Bob Heinonen is the founder of Texas Heroes and has been portraying Rip Ford since 1993.