ole "Cap'n" Jack's Texas popper

[padredan]

Cap'N Jack was a friend of my grandfathers. Colorfull gentleman , boastfull and allways telling tales of great feats of his days in the texas rangers. He was probably well in his seventies when i knew him. Tall in his wide brimed stetson hat and western boots. His tales of shoot outs with road agents and desperado's and no counts allways got my attention. what allways caught my eye was the pistol he carried with him most of the time, a short barreled smith n wesson. He called a snubnose .38. He allmost allways had it with him under a jacket or in a holster on his belt. I often wonder how he could go in a bank or anywhere he wanted carring a gun like that. Some said he was an old fool and made up those stories and he wasn't even a texas ranger, i allways had my doubts about what they said about him. they had to eat their words when he died, and he was buried in his ranger suit, with the lone star flag dreaped over his casket and the texas rangers as pallbears. Well he left that pistol to my grandfather and it passed to me, thanks for taking the time to read about Captain Jack, regards Padre

[GySgt1811]

Padre,

Beautiful story, and beautiful ol' Smith. I, too, have known a Ranger in my time. Vanishing breed? Thanks for sharing, and,

Best regards,

John

[padredan]

he was a dude, i only wished i had some pictures of him , his pistol has been well carried but still strong as a texas handshake.

[Douglas Jr.]

Thanks for sharing the old man story.
He sould have been a nice guy to chat.
And that's a sweety S&W.

Douglas

[padredan]

I found this old smith an wesson 38/44 heavy duty .38 special caliber in one of my gun safes. This gun was allso owned by Captn Jack and passed to my grandfather and then to me. I have no providence or proof only the hearsay of the old ranger capnt Jack that it once had belonged to texas ranger Captain Frank Hamer who was responable for the bonnie parker and clyde barrow ambush and demise not too far from here, near gibsland la. Anyway no way to prove or disprove it is or is not, but the stories the old ranger told for the most part seemed to be true. years ago while in texas i contacted one of the ranger historians to try and confirm if it might have belonged to capn. hamer. His researce led him to believe it was highly probable, from archive pictures and it was the right age to have been carried by him. the 38/44 was highly sought after by law enforcement back in the 20's and 30's before the advent of the .357 magnum. It has both the wide combat trigger and hammer and large grip. No way of knowing if it had belonged to a famous texas ranger or not, but i thought i might share this story with the forum. thanks Padre