Captain Bill McDonald, Texas ranger; a story of frontier reform

William Jesse McDonald, known as Captain Bill McDonald (September 28, 1852- January 15, 1918), was a Texas Ranger who served briefly as a bodyguard for both U. S. Presidents Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson, opponents, along with incumbent President William Howard Taft, in the bitter 1912 United States presidential election. Early years, family, education McDonald was born in Kemper County near Meridian, Mississippi, but relocated with his mother, the former Eunice Durham, and other relatives, his sister Mary T. McDonald (McCauley), to east Texas after the American Civil War. His father, Enoch McDonald, had been killed in 1862 in the battle of Corinth, Mississippi. The McDonalds settled on a farm near Henderson in Rusk County. At the age of sixteen, McDonald quarreled with federal officials during Reconstruction and was tried for treason but acquitted through the intervention of future U. S. Representative David B. Culberson. He graduated in 1872 from Soule Commercial College in New Orleans, Louisiana. As a young man, McDonald taught penmanship in Henderson until he opened a small store at Brown's Bluff on the Sabine River in Gregg County, Texas. He later established a grocery store in Mineola in Wood County, Texas..... Theodore Roosevelt Jr. (October 27, 1858 - January 6, 1919) was an American statesman, author, explorer, soldier, naturalist, and reformer who served as the 26th President of the United States from 1901 to 1909. As a leader of the Republican Party during this time, he became a driving force for the Progressive Era in the United States in the early 20th century.... Edward Mandell House (July 26, 1858 - March 28, 1938) was a powerful American diplomat, politician, and presidential advisor, commonly known by the courtesy title Colonel House, although he had no military experience. He was a highly influential back-stage politician in Texas before becoming a key supporter of the presidential bid of Woodrow Wilson in 1912. He did not hold office but was Wilson's chief advisor on European politics and diplomacy during World War I (1914-18) and at the Paris Peace Conference of 1919. In 1919 Wilson broke with House and several other top advisors, believing they had deceived him at Paris........ Albert Bigelow Paine (July 10, 1861 - April 9, 1937) was an American author and biographer best known for his work with Mark Twain. Paine was a member of the Pulitzer Prize Committee and wrote in several genres, including fiction, humor, and verse.......