Frank Augustus Hamer

Frank Augustus Hamer. . , Frank Augustus Hamer became the Navasota City Marshal in 1908, after the Navasota City Council made a plea to the Governor of Texas for help. Grimes County had become a battleground for the decade prior to his arrival plagued with political and racial conflicts tearing the community apart. Hamer, just 24 years old, was recruited from the Texas Rangers to help end the violence. As Mance Lipscomb, a fellow Navasota historic figure, remembered from his days as a buggy driver for Hamer the City Marshal was an integral part of making Navasota safe for all members of society. At six feet five inches tall, he was often known to put away his guns and use his legs to kick and subdue suspects joking that his "feet were always loaded". Local affluent hardliners challenged him only to learn that he would arrest anyone who broke the law. After taming Navasota, Frank Hamer left in 1911 and went on to become one of the greatest lawmen of the American West, serving in the Texas Rangers most of his career. He aided Mexican authorities along the Texas border fighting gunrunners, bootleggers and Mexican banditos. Hamer participated in multiple gunfights and was shot at least 14 times. He is most famous for ending the robbing and killing spree of Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow, leading a posse in Louisiana that tracked down the two. Frank Hamer was recognized by J. Edgar Hoover and historian Walter Prescott Webb as one of the outstanding Peace Officers of his time.