IRA ATEN JOINED the Texas Rangers when he was twenty. A farm boy who became a cowboy, son of a Methodist minister, well-known for his skill with weapons, he served as a Ranger for approximately six years. Later he was a sheriff and then the manager of the XIT Ranch in west Texas. It was Aten who persuaded John R. Hughes to join the Rangers after the young rancher had helped him trail down and kill Judd Roberts, an escaped murderer.
Aten took part in the Fence Wars and many gun battles, always on the side of the law. Finally, after moving to California, he died in 1953. He was ninety years old.