This Week in Texas Prison History

November 23:   

1946 Rosebud, Texas - A 72 - year old retired farmer who was never known to have been in a fight before, became infuriated when his elderly wife was treated roughly and was credited Saturday with capturing two desperate escaped convicts who hammered to death a Huntsville state prison guard. During the scuffle with the convicts, their own gun went off, fatally wounding one man and critically injuring the second. The mild mannered farmer was T. A. Burch, who stands five feet ten and weighs 140 pounds. The convicts, identified by highway patrolmen, were Fred Wren, 23, who died in a Rosebud hospital shortly after the fight and Ralph Dunlap, 26. Hospital attendants said Dunlap might live. Authorities at Huntsville have been notified to come after him. State highway patrolmen arrived at the Burch home just as the second convict was shot. "Have you got them?" a officer shouted. "I think I've got 'em both," Butch panted. It ended a statewide manhunt that began Friday night when Wren, serving a two-year burglary sentence from Deaf Smith county, and Dunlap, of Shelby , Ohio, serving a similar sentence from Coryell county, brutally beat to death Ben La Rue of Lovelady; a guard. The three were alone in an apartment house across the street from the penitentiary. They had gone to the apartment to repair a telephone. A Negro found the guard unconscious and groaning on the floor. A bloody mechanic's hammer was nearby. The convicts threatened to kill the Negro with the guard's revolver, but instead tied him hand and foot with neckties and fled. Half and hour later the Negro crawled to a door and attracted the attention of guards on the prison wall. La Rue died in the prison hospital shortly later. The manhunt spread to Central and Southeast Texas. First reports came from the Calvert areas. This is how officer reconstructed Saturday's storybook action: The fugitives had stopped a Negro school teacher for a ride. Then they took his car at gunpoint. The Negro escaped near the city garage in Calvert and notified officers. Local officials, accompanied by state highway patrolmen, began pursuit. Texas Rangers helped in the manhunts. Other officers were flying over the area in a plane. But the convicts out distanced their pursuers. Near Rosebud their car stuck in heavy mud. They hailed a passing boy and asked him to get a tractor to pull them out. The tractor became stuck, too. One of the men walked to the Burch house and entered the front door. Burch and his wife were in the room. The elderly farmer looked up in surprise when the convict demanded the keys to his car which was in the yard outside. "I don't have the keys in my pocket," Burch said mildly. "What does this mean?" The convict Wren, pulled a gun and ordered Butch to hand over the keys. Mrs. Burch, standing nearby, shoved the gun aside. Wren roughly pushed her and she fell to the floor. Infuriated, Burch whirled on Wren and pushed him outside the door. He shouted to his wife to call for help. They were scuffling when the second convict, Dunlap ran up. Dunlap shouted to Wren to toss him the gun. Burch grabbed for it as the automatic shotgun went off. The bullet struck Dunlap in the chest. Both Burch and Wren fought for the gun which rolled free. It went off a second time, striking Wren in the head. Burch was astride Wren as officers came up and took charge of the badly wounded prisoner. They were taken to a Rosebud hospital, where Wren died about two hours later. J. R. Kilgore, Rosebud newspaperman said Burch was a mild mannered man who "had never been in a fight as far as I know." He said Burch was "very nervous now that it's over." Officers said the convicts had three guns - an automatic shotgun, pistol and revolver. Dunlap had the pistol with him during the scuffle at the farm house but did not use it. The revolver was in the car which was stuck in the mud. (Houston Post, Sunday, November 24, 1946)