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Alonzo Van Oden | |
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 Alonzo with his daughter Mamie around 1904-1910 | |
| Born | 15 March 1863 Tilden, Texas |
| Died | 11 August 1910 (aged 47) El Paso, Texas |
| Other names | Lon Oden |
Alonzo Van Oden (15 March 1863 – 11 August 1910) was aTexas Ranger.
Alonzo "Lon" Van Oden was born inTilden, Texas, to Aaron Van Buren Oden and Mary Jane Walker Oden. His father, ofSwedish descent, had served several times as a Texas Ranger. Four months after Oden's birth, his father and rancher George Hindes encountered Julian Gonzales (a horse thief fromStarr County, Texas). In the ensuing gunfight, both men were killed. Hindes, lacking proper tools, buried Aaron Oden at the site of the shooting, and then informed Oden's 19-year-old wife of her husband's death. Mary Jane Oden died on August 31, 1864, a year after her husband. Her father, Joe, recorded in his journal that she died of a broken heart.
Oden was subsequently raised by his grandparents; both the Walker and Oden families shared in this task. His grandmother educated him in Swedish classics,poetry, and the arts. From the Walker side, he learned shooting and survival skills. His grandfather, Joe Walker, had nineteen children. As Oden became anorphan at the age of 1, Joe Walker took special interest in the child and his upbringing, gifting him 150 head of cattle when Oden was 2 years old, registering them with the "ODN" brand.
Oden learned the cattle trade from his uncles, Tom and James. During this time, he often witnessed his family's battles against raidingComanche, who would raid the ranch for horses or cattle. OnChristmas Eve 1868, his cousin William "Buck" Taylor was killed in a shooting attributed by some as the start of theSutton–Taylor feud.[1]
Lon Oden married for the first time in 1889, but the marriage ended in divorce shortly after. On March 1, 1891, he joined the Texas Rangers. He initially worked in the region surroundingSan Antonio but was later sent west to serve with RangerJohn R. Hughes. Oden and Hughes were dispatched toShafter, because the Carrasco brothers' gang, led by Antonio Carrasco, was committingarmed robberies to steal silver being shipped from the silver mines. Assisted by Ranger and undercover agentErnest St. Leon, the Rangers surveilled a mine expected to be targeted, based on inside information obtained by St. Leon. When theoutlaws opened fire after refusing to surrender, the Rangers killed all three men.
Oden was then sent toEl Paso, where he worked for some time and became acquainted with Ranger Bass Outlaw. In 1893, after Ranger Captain Frank Jones was ambushed and killed, John Hughes took over as Ranger Captain for that area. Because Jones and his small band of Rangers were mistakenly insideMexico when ambushed, there was to be no prosecution of those responsible. However, Ernest St. Leon, still undercover, supplied Captain Jones with a list of names of those known to have participated in the killing. Accompanied by a company of Rangers, including Oden and led by Hughes, the Rangers tracked down and killed all 18 men on the list, either by shooting orhanging them.
Oden settled inYsleta, Texas during this time. He participated in several Ranger raids, and he and his fellow Rangers drastically reduced the number of robberies and instances of cattle rustling in that region. On April 5, 1894, Bass Outlaw was shot and killed byJohn Selman in El Paso. Outlaw, intoxicated and furious at what he perceived as mistreatment by a local judge, had shot and killed Ranger Joe McKidrict inside abrothel. When confronted by Selman, aconstable at the time, Outlaw and Selman engaged in a gunfight, which left Selman wounded and Outlaw dead. Two years later, on April 5, 1896, lawman and friend to Outlaw,George Scarborough, shot and killed Selman in a gunfight stemming from Selman's killing of Outlaw.
Lon Oden continued working as a Ranger and developed a reputation for his involvement in numerous encounters with outlaws and cattle rustlers, resulting in deaths, arrests, or hangings. Around 1894, he became involved with widow Annie Laura Hay. On January 17, 1897, the couple married, and he left the Rangers shortly thereafter to become a rancher and businessman. He started a successful ranch inMarfa, Texas and died on August 11, 1910, due to an unspecified lung ailment. In 1936, his daughter, Annie Laura Oden Jensen, published his diary, documenting his experiences as a Ranger.
