About Rigler and Rigler's In the Line of Duty

In the Line of Duty: Reflections of a Texas Ranger Private is now available as a free e-book at the UNT Digital Library (use of this item is restricted to the UNT Community) and The Portal to Texas History.

“If you want to find out something about the life of a modern Texas Ranger, this book is a good place to start.” —Abilene Reporter-News

Growing up in Central Texas in the early part of this century as a young man from a poor farming family, Lewis Rigler decided that there must be something else out there. That “something else” turned out to be an appointment to the Texas Rangers. In a career spanning three decades, Ranger Rigler witnessed an era of great political and social turbulence and change in the state as well as within the Ranger force he had sworn to serve. His service involved investigations into kidnappings, murders, strike violence, burglary rings—all manner of cases. Some he solved; others remained elusive. Along the way, he saved a life or two; others, he could not.

“In Will Rogers-like prose… the unexaggerated reality of Rigler’s life as a Ranger… makes… compelling reading.” —Houston Post

“You won’t peg Lewis Rigler right off as a… Texas Ranger… He shuns big hats, tall boots and clenched-teeth conversations. Five-nine with a paunch, he once broke his wrist in a fall from a Shetland pony.” —Dallas Morning News

“Whether Rigler was talking about a child’s view of the Ku Klux Klan… or professional criminals, or labor troubles at Lone Star Steel, or prostitutes in Texarkana… it’s a remarkable document, adroitly put together.” —Joe B. Frantz