I'm Frank Hamer: The Life of a Texas Peace Officer

by H. Gordon Frost, John Holmes Jenkins

Best known as the Texas Ranger captain who tracked down and killed Bonnie and Clyde, Frank Hamer was designated by Walter Prescott Webb as "one of the three most fearless men in Western history." This reprint of the 1968 edition gives the complete details of the Barrow-Parker rampage and is the only authentic account of the events leading to their deaths. With over 100 pages of illustrations, I'm Frank Hamer tells the amazing story of one of the greatest Texas Rangers of all time.

306 pages, Hardcover

First published May 1, 1993

Reviews

[Janine Southard]

The subject matter of this book is awesome. It's a biography of a man who joined (and took sabbaticals from) the Texas Rangers in the period that straddled both "frontier justice" and "modern crime lab."

Frank Hamer is most famous for his part in apprehending Bonnie & Clyde. And this book is the ONLY ONE that discusses his entire life, instead of just that popular episode from it.

Unfortunately, this book is also a slog to read.

This is uber-unfortunate because Hamer's life reads like a low-budget Hollywood flick. Seriously, there's a few pages about how when he was working on a ranch when he was, like, 10, and the ranch owner asked him to kill a competitor (because Hamer was such a good shot). Hamer, of course, refused. Then he told the potential target, at which point his own employer attempted to kill him too (presumably before he could tell the local lawmen?). And he escaped near-certain death!

So, ah, if anyone knows of a better-written Frank Hamer biography, please tell me. Because I want to KNOW EVERYTHING ABOUT THIS MAN... but not enough to read this particular book the whole way through.

[Thomas Edison · Rating 1 out of 5]

I can't say much on other portions of Frank's life, but with respect to the Bonnie and Clyde story the material in this book is full of inaccuracies. Hamer's account on the Bonnie and Clyde saga, comes across as your average pig cop, talking in generalities and exaggerating the truth to serve his use of force. Clearly Hamer and Hinton do not betray Methvin, and Hamer did not sit at the side of road for 3 days, that's plain BS. Old man Metvin set Bonnie & Clyde up and when they got killed Hamer like Hinton makes it seem like they were tireless hunters. Im sure Hamer was a tough guy, but like your average cop he is very guarded and what he does and said is clearly the Law enforcements view. Today we know Clyde did not kill J.N. BUCHER in Hillsboro, Texas but Hamer had no problem blaming the murder on Clyde. The Sherman Police Dept. also pinned the murder of Howard Hall of Sherman, Texas on Clyde Barrow without an investigation, this guilt-by-imagination became a pattern for Clyde, although he barely committed a third of the crimes he and Bonnie were accused of by the police. However I'm glad America had a person available like Frank Hamer to do the dirty jobs, but at recognizing the truth he sucked and we all know Cops are not known for their great emotional attachments to the crime perpetrators. The book reads like a police report or News Paper head line exaggerating the crimes in the police favor. Other items also make one wonder if they know what they are talking about -- the book identifies a very clear picture of W.D. Jones as Clyde Barrow! This is unforgivable and makes everything else in the book highly suspect. This book might make a good drink coaster but it's a little large.