Continued from page 8
The 14 th Posse Member
The newly formed organization needed a constitu-
tion, a charter and bylaws. Young local lawyer Jack
Borden seemed like a good fit, and became the 14 th Posse
member. He was joined by Walter Caraway, Barney
Phillips, Ferd Slocum, Ray Smyth, H.K. Wylie and S.A.
Wheeler.
The 14th Posse Member, Jack Borden. Photo Courtesy
of the Parker County Sheriff's Posse.
12
Saunders (a rancher) and Borden (an attorney) were
given the honor of writing the charter, by-laws, constitu-
tion and obtaining and filing all of the paperwork with
the state to make the formation of the organization offi-
cial. “I think they invited me to join just because they
needed a member that was a lawyer and I did the work
for them,” Jack Borden told this reporter once. He was
half-joking. “But I joined because I thought it was a good
idea and the people doing it were good men who wanted
to do good things.
“I had to make a living. If you look at the Captains,
they were bankers or people who owned their own busi-
nesses and had sons or people who could run their busi-
nesses for them. I had a law practice that I had to take
care of,” said Borden. According to published reports,
Borden helped more than the Posse organization over
the years, he also “has been called to help rambunctious
members out of minor scrapes or misunderstandings with
the law.”
Saunders had been instrumental in writing bylaws
for several other organizations so he was volunteered
to work alongside Borden on drawing up the necessary
documents and filing the vital paperwork.
They must have done something right.
“A number of groups began to spring up across the
state, patterned after our Sheriff’s Posse,” Borden said,
in an interview with Parker County Today in 2006.
Numerous counties in the southwestern United States
still hold on to the tradition by having an active sheriff’s
posse, but few possess the business acumen, community
involvement and leadership of the Parker County Sheriff’s
Posse and even fewer managed to achieve the level of
influence and prestige reached by the local Posse. “Our
Posse is about public service, coupled with an inter-
est and concentration on the history of Parker County,”
Borden said. “Knowledge and love of great horses was
part of the foundation of the Posse.”
According to its charter the Posse was created, “...
to foster interest among its members in keeping alive the
true traditions of the Old West, a sacred heritage of all
Texans; to promote good fellowship, good sportsman-
ship and a greater interest, both social and civic, in their
community; to assist the High Sheriff, upon his request,
to quell a riot, a disturbance or any emergency deemed
necessary by the sheriff in calling upon this Posse to assist
in the protection of his jurisdiction.”
While the Posse is in the process of keeping alive the
heritage of the Western lifestyle, they always look rugged-
ly dapper. During the first year of the Posse’s existence,
the leadership decided that a big part of fulfilling their
creed to keep alive the western heritage was traveling to
other communities and riding in their rodeo parades and
grand entries.
In an inspired moment, the Posse agreed on a
uniform of sorts and they agreed on a timelessly great
look consisting of a simple white western shirt with a
black ribbon tie, worn in a square knot. Pants were to
be blue denim, hats were to be a grey or silver belly hat.
Eventually, a denim jacket for winter and a straw hat for
summer were approved as well as chaps for parades.
After 70 years, the Posse uniform still looks splendid on
posse members of any age and of any body style. It never
goes out of fashion and it never looks tired.
The Posse has been called out numerous times over
the past 70 years to assist in emergencies of various
degrees.
“The KKK threatened to blow up the Parker County
Courthouse in the early 1950s and the Posse was called
to help guard the courthouse,” said Posse Member Bill
Ward. “Most recently we were called out when a young
lady was missing, a single mom from Palo Pinto County
and we went out and rode for days looking for that girl.
We helped the Palo Pinto Sheriff’s Office search for her.
The Palo Pinto County Sheriff’s Posse also came out and
searched. Combing some ranch land we rode six feet
apart from each other— 40 to 50 riders looking for any
sign of her.”
That was three years ago.
The members of the Parker County Sheriff’s Posse
have taken to heart the charge of keeping alive the tradi-
tions of the Old West and the promotion of their commu-
nity.
What began as a “civic-minded organization of ranch-
ers and businessmen” grew to mean so much more to the
residents of Parker County. The original group of 13 has
grown to 142 active members with a colorful history and
a link to Parker County’s western past. The Posse current-
ly has a membership cap of 150, according to O’Neal.