Curry, Charles Boothe

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Now, some men seem like they were just born pointed toward the law, and C. B.

Curry out of Troup, Smith County, Texas, was one of those men. He came up early in life taking on law enforcement work, and he didn't waste any time proving he belonged there. Come January of 1933, he joined the Texas Rangers.

That's a sentence that doesn't need dressing up. The Texas Rangers. He served in Falfurrias and then in San Angelo, two years of that Ranger life, and then in 1935 he came to Crane.

Now, Crane in those days was knee-deep in oil boom, which if you know anything about Texas oil towns, means it was loud, it was crowded, it was complicated, and it needed somebody who knew how to keep a lid on things. Curry came in as a special investigator, and that's exactly what he did. Helped preserve order, the marker says.

I suspect those three words are doin' a lot of heavy lifting. After that he kept right on serving, moving into the role of deputy sheriff, then chief of police. When he finally stepped away from the badge, he went into private business.

He was married twice over the course of his life and had seven children. Charles Boothe Curry, born in Troup, built in Crane. The oil boom needed a steady hand, and it found one.

What the marker says

Born in the Smith County town of Troup, C. B. Curry became a law enforcement official at an early age. In Jan. 1933, he joined the Texas rangers and served for two years in Falfurrias and San Angelo. He came to Crane in 1935 as special investigator and helped preserve order during the town's oil boom days. He later served as deputy sheriff and chief of police before going into private business. Curry was married twice and had seven children. Recorded - 1977