Early day Texas Rangers were never particularly concerned with international or state boundaries, but by the 1880s, they were getting downright polite in comparison to Capt. Leander H. McNelly’s South Texas reign in the mid-1870s.

When Company F left its camp at Doan’s Crossing on the Red River and rode into Indian Territory on December 1, 1885 looking for fugitives, the rangers went first to Fort Sill to get a pass from the U.S. Army. Their paperwork in order, the rangers succeeded in tracking down and arresting two wanted men on Dec. 17 in the vicinity of Anadarko.

The fugitives who thought they could escape the rangers by hiding out in Indian Territory gave up without a fight, but the winter weather was much more contentious than the outlaws had been. The rangers headed back to Texas and booked their prisoners into the jail at Vernon.

Twenty-seven years earlier, John S. "Rip" Ford had not asked anyone’s permission to cross the Red River in pursuit of Indians. He and his rangers went deep into Indian Territory, fought a decisive battle with the Comanches, and returned to Austin’s as heroes.

By the 1880s, though, things were different. Still, state-federal cooperation in the Indian Territory was not always cordial. When private John A. Brooks shot and killed a fugitive the U.S. Army had asked for Texas’ assistance in locating, a federal grand jury indicted the ranger for murder. Ranger respect for the federal system was further strained with Brooks’ conviction.

Since a convicted felon could not be a ranger, he was dismissed from the force until Governor John Ireland signed the paperwork giving him a full pardon. Then Brooks went back into the rangers.

Despite his "criminal record," Brooks went on to become one of the more famous ranger captains. Brooks County was named in his honor.