05/27/2026
Frank Hamer: Del Rio Ranger and the End of Bonnie & Clyde
Before Frank Hamer became the Ranger who brought down Bonnie and Clyde, he cut his teeth in the rough border town of Del Rio, Texas. Back in the early 1900s, Del Rio was wild country — smugglers crossed the Rio Grande under moonlight, cattle rustlers drifted through the brush country, and a lawman had to be tough enough to stare down trouble without blinking.
Young Frank Hamer fit the bill.
Joining the Texas Rangers in 1906, Hamer quickly earned a reputation as a hard-riding Ranger who could track a man across rock, dust, and thorn scrub like a Comanche scout. One of his first deadly encounters came near Del Rio when he faced outlaw Ed Putnam in a gunfight, cementing Hamer’s reputation as a fearless border Ranger.
The lessons he learned in Val Verde County stayed with him for life — patience, tracking, and knowing the habits of desperate men.
Years later, when Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow tore across the Southwest robbing banks and killing lawmen, Texas turned once again to Frank Hamer. Calm and methodical, Hamer tracked the outlaw couple for more than 100 days across dusty backroads and small towns.
On May 23, 1934, near Gibsland, Louisiana, Hamer and his posse waited along a lonely roadside beneath the pines. When Bonnie and Clyde rolled into the ambush in their stolen Ford V-8, the long chase came to a violent end.
To this day, Frank Hamer remains one of the most legendary Texas Rangers ever to pin on a badge — and part of that legend was born right along the rugged banks of the Rio Grande in Del Rio, Texas.
