Frank Hamer Biography

Francis “Frank” Augustus Hamer was a Texas Ranger who garnered immense fame for leading the posse that hunted down and killed the criminal duo, Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow. At the height of his career, he was regarded as “the archetypal Texas Ranger”. In 1922, he helmed several operations against the Ku Klux Klan and reportedly saved 15 people from being lynched. He was born in Texas and helped his father at his smithy while growing up. Later, he worked as a wrangler on a local ranch and became a law enforcement official in 1905 after catching a horse thief. At the local sheriff’s recommendation, he joined the Texas Ranger the following year. While Hamer served as a Ranger on and off throughout his adult life, he often left the agency to work on other jobs, including some in other branches of law enforcement. By the time he accepted the job of tracking down the Barrow gang in 1934, he had worked in law enforcement for nearly three decades. Their hunt lasted about three months before Barrow and Parker were killed in May. During the 1930s, Hamer worked on behalf of various oil companies and shippers. In his long and illustrious career, he was believed to have killed somewhere between 53 and 70 people.