Will Becomes Sheriff and Devises a Plan to Catch the Gomez Gang (Book One, Chapter Four)

Chapter Four

“When I arrived in Roma, I met the sheriff there – Sheriff Daniel Graham. He sat down with me and said that he had been close friends with Ed Hayes, as they’d worked together in the past, and had talked to him about me. Sheriff Hayes had told him that I’d worked in the courthouse and liked to look into the details of the cases. Sheriff Graham had taken that to heart and realized that he could use a mind like that – an investigator, if you will. Before I got there he gathered the files from past and present cases for me, so that I could study their process, and perhaps help with cases that were still open.”

The man had been very forthcoming, and had let Will in on all the details of the sheriff’s office. Many of the cases Will saw were solved long ago, while some concerned criminals and outlaws currently sitting in the jail. Will didn’t see anything that looked overly complex and thought that he would find the job very straightforward. When it came to one particular case, though, the sheriff had become very serious, and even reticent.

“He told me that he wanted to talk to me about the Gomez Gang. They had been causing a lot of trouble in the area, and he wanted to get them safely into a jail, to protect the citizens of the area. That was the first time I had heard of Pedro Gomez and his gang. Sheriff Graham was very intent, so I could tell that this group was something I needed to focus on. 

“He explained to me that the Gomez Gang was a Mexican gang, but came up into Texas regularly to rob American stagecoaches, trains, and banks. They were also responsible for attacking travelers on the roads between towns, and killing those who didn’t turn over their valuables. The gang had the locals scared to death about traveling from town to town, and those who lived on isolated ranches were in particular danger. Many of the ranchers had responded by hiring their own guards for protection. Since Roma was so close to the Mexican border, the town had more trouble with the Gomez Gang than most others. Over the last three years, many people had been killed in the gang’s robberies and mischief.

“I asked about the Mexican government and their involvement in the case, and the sheriff told me that the gang fled down into Mexico after each robbery, taking shelter in the valleys and caves around the Rio Grande. The Mexican government was disorganized and decentralized, and of little help regarding tracking or catching the gang. The sheriff didn’t believe that they, the Mexican government, had any real interest in finding the gang. Texas authorities, of course, weren’t allowed to cross the border after the gang. In this way, the gang was allowed to escape each time.”