Bio & Incident Details
Age: 34
Tour: 12 years
Badge # Not available
Cause: Gunfire
Incident Date: 9/13/1905
Weapon: Rifle; Winchester
Suspect: Augustine Garcia
· Leave a Reflection
· Add to My Heroes
· Update this memorial
Share this memorial:
On the evening of September 13, 1905, Ranger Private Tom Goff arrested Augustine Garcia for creating a disturbance in a saloon in Terlingua, which is located in the Big Bend area of Brewster County. There was no jail in the town. Ranger Goff was on horseback and the prisoner headed up a steep mountainside back to the ranger camp. The prisoner started down a different trail and the ranger tried to move his horse in front of him. The horse fell on him and the prisoner grabbed the ranger's Winchester rifle from the scabbard. Garcia missed with the first shot. Goff rose to his feet and reached for his pistol. Garcia fired a second shot which struck the ranger in the spinal column. Goff rolled down the mountainside. He was later rescued but died 24-30 hours later. Garcia escaped into Mexico and was never prosecuted.
Goff had been with Company C for 12 years. He was buried in the Throckmorton Cemetery in Throckmorton County. He has a Texas Ranger marker with the date of death as September 13. The Texas Ranger Hall of Fame and Museum list date of death as September 13, the biography of John H. Rogers reports the incident as happening on the 14th, Roger's official report stated it occurred on the 15th, but reconciling with newspaper articles indicate he was shot on the 13th and died on the 14th.
