[Congressional Record Volume 162, Number 133 (Tuesday, September 6, 2016)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1185]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                TUESDAY'S IN TEXAS: MANUEL T. GONZAULLAS

                                  _____
                                 

                              HON. TED POE

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, September 6, 2016

  Mr. POE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, the year was 1906 when a young, 
fifteen year old was staying in Texas with his family. He was a forced 
to watch as both of his brothers were murdered by bandits, and his 
parents barely escaped with their lives. It was then and there that 
this young man decided to use his life to fight crime. And that man is 
Manuel T. Gonzaullas, the ``Lone Wolf.''
  Within the next fourteen years, he trained in law enforcement and 
joined the Texas Rangers. One look at him and you wouldn't think of him 
as an intimidating man. He only stood about five foot, nine inches. 
``He was soft-spoken man,'' one of his friends said of him. He was 
known as quite the dresser, always impeccably groomed and styled, loved 
fancy cars and guns and always carried his pocket Testament. But don't 
let his appearance fool you. He viewed all lawbreakers, criminals and 
felons with an instinctual hatred, granting those who dared to cause 
trouble no mercy. The legend states that Gonzaullas worked alone. He 
recalls ``I went into a lot of fights by myself, and I came out by 
myself, too.'' The dastardly Mexican bandits began to call him ``El 
Lobo Solo'' or the ``Lone Wolf.'' The name stuck.
  In another famous lore occurring in 1930, Gonzaullas rushed into the 
town of Sherman, Texas when a field hand brutally raped his employer's 
wife. When a mass riot broke out and the courthouse was set on fire, 
Gonzaullas took his position in front of the county jail. Texas Ranger 
historian Robert Utley writes ``With a pistol holstered on each hip, a 
Thompson submachine gun conspicuous by his hide, and a sawed off shot-
gun in hand, he confronted the crowds advancing on the jail.'' His 
aggressive style and larger than life attitude protected the people of 
Texas from the lawbreakers of society.
  Not to be left out, Texas legend holds that, at the time, the oil-
boom town of Kilgore was ``the most lawless town in Texas.'' But when 
Gonzaullas rode into town on his black stallion, everyone knew he meant 
business. There were several gangs and bandits running about the town 
and its new booming oil economy, but within the first few weeks 
Gonzaullas had already shot three men and was on the road to cleaning 
up the town. ``He'd give you a warning,'' one Kilgore resident said. 
``And if you didn't heed it, he'd shoot you.'' It was said that at one 
point he had arrested three hundred men suspected of various crimes. He 
paraded them down town, and had them all handcuffed. He then told them 
they could all go free . . . if they left town within the next four 
hours. They were all gone within ten minutes.
  These, and many of his other bold brave deeds earned him the 
reputation in the Texas country side of riding into town on his black 
stallion Tony. Then he would singlehanded rid the town of outlaws, 
bandits and troublemakers. Although he was usually outnumbered by the 
bad guys, he fearlessly fought hard to keep the Texas land safe for law 
abiding citizens. In a time when the oil boom was bringing all types of 
people to the Texas frontier, Texas Ranger Manuel Gonzaullas--The Lone 
Wolf--was making sure they followed the Law, or face unpleasant 
consequences.
  And that's just the way it is.

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