DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it — the story of Hansford County Sheriff Robert E. Martin, known to folks around there simply as Bob. Now Bob Martin wasn't born to the badge.
Born in 1868, he came to Hansford in 1906 the way a lot of men came to that part of Texas — looking for something to build. He bought himself a section of land, and right away you could see what kind of man he was. He wasn't content just to work his own patch of ground.
He wanted the whole area to grow. So he ran a livery stable. And that might not sound like much until you understand what it meant out there in the northwestern reaches of Hansford County.
Land prospectors were pouring in from the north and east, men with money and ambition and absolutely no way to get out across that country and actually look at what they were thinking of buying. Bob Martin's livery stable was the only means of travel they had. The only one.
Every deal made on that land, every homestead staked, every farm that got its start — it all ran through Bob Martin's stable first. He married Sophia Snowden. They had ten children together.
A man building a life, root by root. And the community took notice. Like many frontier sheriffs before him, Bob Martin was a cowboy and a farmer — not a lawman by trade, but a man chosen for office out of plain regard for his standing as a good citizen.
That's a thing worth sitting with for a moment. They didn't pick the fastest gun. They picked the man they trusted.
He became sheriff in 1908, and he took that trust seriously. He was still carrying it in 1911. That year, out in the northwestern part of Hansford County — right where the boundary lines got disputed and tempers got sharp — a United States marshal needed assistance making an arrest.
Bob Martin rode out to help. That was the job. That was the man.
He didn't ride back. Killed while assisting that marshal, in a boundary line dispute that ended the life of a farmer, a father of ten, and a sheriff who earned his star the hard way — by being exactly the kind of man his neighbors believed he was. Born 1868.
Died 1911. The marker's been standing in Hansford County ever since, making sure nobody forgets Bob Martin's name.
What the marker says
(1868 - 1911) Killed while assisting United States marshal making arrest in boundary line dispute in the northwestern part of county. Like many frontier sheriffs, he was a cowboy and farmer chosen for office out of regard for his standing as a good citizen. Came to Hansford, 1906, bought a section of land. Eager to see area develop, he ran a livery stable. This provided for land prospectors from the north and east the only means of travel to seek out and buy property. He married Sophia Snowden; had 10 children. Was sheriff form 1908 until his untimely death. (1965)