Dub Bransom, River Oaks resident with a long career in law enforcement, gave an interesting and entertaining talk for a recent River Oaks Area Historical Society meeting. Program Chairman Mearl Ellis presented him as a man who is so well known in the area that he needed very little introduction.

Dub took the podium and after telling us how pleased he was to be there that evening, he began a story that had its start in 1966 when he graduated from the Fort Worth Police Academy. He said he had carried a gun so long that he leans to one side. Now retired, he said his wife, Sherry, who was with him that evening, called him a bum, but he was somewhat liking that life-style for the time being. He runs around with neighbor and River Oaks City Councilman Bob Minter and they have a good time.

Dub said when his career began, he had the utmost respect for police officers, but when he and a partner were assigned night duty on the North Side in the Stock Yards, he had a rude awakening. He found when he walked in the “beer joints”, he usually got involved in a fight and he tore up a lot of uniforms that way.  Before long, he was promoted to a narcotics division which was a different side of law enforcement. He and his partner, who was named Williams, let their hair and beard grow so they would appear to fit in with the drug crowd. Dub said they called the addicts back then dope fiends, a name that is kind of archaic now. Dub said his partner had a peculiar way of answering the phone with “Williams on Dope”. His partner really enjoyed going to work looking scroungy as opposed to the well dressed police officer of the day.

As they worked the streets and met drug traffickers, they also formed relationships with informants. As their time on the streets approached a year, Dub got a call from his captain that he was to be recognized at a Police appreciation dinner because he had been nominated for an award. He hadn’t seen his captain in a while and was a little reluctant to show up with his long hair and beard, but because of several drug deals working, he couldn’t afford to clean up his appearance. However, new policies and regulations came into operation shortly after the incident, and now that is standard dress for narcotics agents out on the streets trying to establish contacts with the drug pushers.

Later, Dub was promoted to sergeant, became president of the Police Officers Association and at one time, was chairman of the City Police Retirement Fund. After 18 years, he retired from the Fort Worth P.D. 

Very soon, the police chief position came open in River Oaks and he met with the city council and was offered the job. He said he had previously always had good relations with the City of River Oaks and was proud to have the job of chief, a position he held for five and one-half years. 

Dub certainly gave a lot of credit to Dan Chisholm, present chief, who was an officer back then in the River Oaks Department. Dub was told that Dan had a lot of good innovative ideas about making the department work better and he took Dan’s advice on a lot of things. Dub also commended Howard Bittle who was a city councilman and Dub Ray who was City Administrator during those years for their insistence on financial accountability. He said he was very proud of the fact that the council agreed to let the department police cars be painted black and white, a combination most departments consider the ideal look for police vehicles. Dub said that Fort Worth Police Chief Thomas Windham, now deceased, told him he would give anything to have the city cars painted black and white. 

Dub bought a home in River Oaks and was proud of his job as Chief of the River Oaks Police Department. He was River Oaks’ 13th police chief.

Dub was contacted by Representative Pete Geren one day about an offer of a presidential appointment to be a U.S. Marshal. After much investigation and checking of his background by the FBI, he was appointed by President Bill Clinton as U.S. Marshal of the Northern District, one of four districts in Texas, which covered 101 counties with primary offices in Dallas, Fort Worth, Abilene, Lubbock and Amarillo. 

The Northern District is one of 94 U.S. Marshal offices in the United States, a Federal Service that was founded in 1879, according to Dub. In 1995, he became the 14th Marshal to serve this District and the first one from the Fort Worth area. During his nearly seven year term, which he served under President Clinton and President Bush, he was able to get the District Office moved from Dallas back to Fort Worth where it was originally located.

Dub said most people don’t know what a U.S. Marshal does, but he is essentially a Federal Sheriff. They are investigators, they handle federal prisoners, handle asset forfeiture and seizures and do a lot of administrative work. the job involves travel in all areas of the district which offers the Marshal a support staff of 80 Deputy Marshals and other staff members.

 He told of speaking before the Dallas Crime Commission to tell them what U.S. Marshals do. He arrived in a dark suit, white shirt, red tie and wing-tipped shoes, but found out later that they had expected him to dress like Marshal Matt Dillon in Gunsmoke. They asked him if he had clothes like that and he said he did, so he was invited back the next month and he came in his jeans, hat, boots, belt with a big buckle and a gun in his holster. 

Dub asked if everyone remembered Marshal Wyatt Earp and the shoot­out at the O.K. Corral and reminded us that the Clantons came out on the short end of the gun fight. He said Sherry’s family was named Clanton and that her brothers had always wanted a re-match. This was one of many times that the crowd got a good laugh at Dub’s story telling.

He said one of his proudest moments was when he had only been in the Marshal’s office one month and he was contacted once again by Representative Pete Geren who had a signed request from the entire Texas Legislature concerning the need to locate a fugitive who had gunned down a Deputy Sheriff in an execution type killing in 1986.  It was known that the man came back and forth across the Texas-Mexico border and the Legislature considered it an affront to everyone who wore a badge, that the killer had not been apprehended. Dub contacted the FBI and found that they had an open file on the killer, but had not made any special effort to find him. He put together a small task force and they located the man in two weeks, took one more week to get him in custody and arrest him. Dub said it took the cooperation of the Mexican Government as well as the Fort Worth Police Department and the Tarrant County District Attorney’s Office. The FBI was a little embarrassed that what they called a bunch of “hillbillies” from Fort Worth could catch the fugitive when they couldn’t.  Dub still called the FBI one of the best investigating departments in the world, but somehow this case had not been a priority with them. 

He also spoke with great respect concerning the Texas Rangers. He worked with the Texas Legislature on another occasion to get the U.S. Marshals Offices recognized with other major law enforcement offices,  something they had not done in the past.

Dub told a lot of funny stories, but my favorite was the story about a criminal who once put out a contract on Dub and his partner to have them killed. Then the criminal disappeared and the rumor on the streets was that the two law officers had killed him and put his body in the foundation of the convention center as it was being built. He was questioned by the FBI concerning this rumor which he told them was not true. However, during more recent remodeling of the convention center, Dub worried that they might discover the body of some homeless person and the question might come up again. 

He also told the story of having duty at the Alcohol Rehabilitation Farm out Jacksboro Highway not far from Azle.  It was most often called the “Goat Farm” and even though the Reverend Cooper who managed it, did the best he could,  the place was dirty and in ill repair. Dub decided rather than regret being assigned there, he would do something about it so he and fellow police officers rebuilt the entire recreational facility, helped the men form a band called “The Goat Farm Five’, sponsored baseball games, sold Goat Farm T-shirts, took a picture of a goat and used the head as the emblem for the Fort Worth Police Association.

ROAHS President Mary Earwood asked Dub about the Bransom Hardwood Flooring business and he said his dad started it in 1937 and that as a young boy, he worked many times installing hardwood floors with his dad’s crews. They did a lot of work in River Oaks and Dub remembered fondly that they often took off for lunch and went to Dear’s Barbecue Restaurant on the Boulevard. The Bransom business still exists and is run by his two sons. 

Dub brought some memorabilia that was meaningful to him, plaques of appreciation, a petition signed by President Clinton and Janet Reno, the plaque received upon retirement from the U.S. Marshal Service, a plaque given by the VFW for his work in the Narcotics Division and a picture of him at his graduation from the Fort Worth Police Academy in 1966. He also brought a couple of items which were won by drawing names of those present. Dub reminded us that most often, what we see in the movies concerning law enforcement, is now .what happens in real life. I think Dub’s real life experiences were more exciting than the movies. He was a very enjoyable guest speaker and members and guests lingered to talk to him following the program.