Gadzooks, it's Walker, Indiana Ranger!
Before Indiana became a state in 1816, territorial Gov. William Henry Harrison organized the Indiana Rangers in 1807 to safeguard the Buffalo Trace — the main travel route between Louisville, Ky., and Vincennes, Ind.
The Indiana Rangers were a rough and tough band of men and women who were well-trained and ready to protect new settlers and tradesmen. They were forerunners of the popular Texas Rangers, of whom I am an honorary member and on whom I based my television series “Walker, Texas Ranger.”
I think the Hoosier State and the rest of the country saw the spirit of the Indiana Rangers resurrect this past week in the Fort Wayne resident and feisty grandmother Melinda Walker.
Walker was asleep in her town house with her 5-year-old grandson this past Sunday, when she was awakened by three male robbers, who were demanding cash and her flat-screen TV, according to The Blaze.
The men said they had a gun and threatened to take it out and use it. One of the robbers kept saying, “She doesn’t think we have a gun. Take it out and clean it on her,” Walker told WANE-TV.
She feared for her grandson’s safety, she said. “All I thought of was, ‘You’re getting away from my grandson.’”
So in the midst of the assault, Walker grabbed a nearby miniature toy guitar, which accompanies her grandson’s “Guitar Hero” game, and began swinging it at the intruders.
High praise for the Hoosier state, Chuck. So the Indiana Rangers were the forerunners of the Texas Rangers. Who knew?
