Albert Beren "Texas" Ritchie was born on August 12, 1881 in Mt. Pleasant, Iowa, to Marlin and Margaret Ritchie (Ottumwa Daily Courier, Ottumwa, Iowa, 25 August 1942). Richie was a performer, strongman, and serial grifter from about 1905 until his death in 1942.

It's hard to separate fact from fiction when attempting to research Ritchie's background. He widely used newspaper advertisements and interviews to spin his own narrative, one that usually sought to gin up the maximum publicity for his shows via outlandish mythmaking. Claims of working in Chicago as a newspaperboy or attending Stanford in California appear to be outright lies; in fact, Ritchie grew up in his father's house in Ottumwa, Iowa, where he labored as a farmer up until at least 1900. At some point before 1905, he adopted the stage name "Texas Ritchie" and began touring the country, putting on a variety of entertainment attractions, including boxing matches, musical programs, and vaudeville acts; his strongman routine seems to have always been positioned as the highlight of the show.

The first public indications of criminal mischief on Ritchie's part came in Chattanooga, Tennessee in 1908, when Ritchie, under the guise of organizing an athletic club, bilked several local citizens out of large sums of money. Following a much publicized boxing match with professional boxer Mike Schreck, Ritchie simply skipped town with all of the match's revenue and the money locals had invested in the athletic club. In September 1915, the State Fair Association of Oklahoma took out an ad to declare that Ritchie had "never been and never will be employed" by them, a strong indication that he was using a fake association with them to steal money. (Muskogee Times Democrat, 29 September 1915)

By the summer of 1918, Ritchie lands in Concord, North Carolina, where he takes up the cause of selling War Savings Stamps and joining the Loyal Order of Moose, undoubtedly to siphon money from both efforts. During the war period, Ritchie adopts a whole new history, claiming to be a mercenary who fought in several wars, a captain in the Texas Rangers, a Rough Rider during the Spanish American War, and a secret service agent in Europe during the First World War. Ritchie often goes a step further, claiming to be an agent of the government in order to secure funding, resources, or other support for his shows from local businessmen. This behavior lands him on the radar of the FBI, which opens a case file on him and begins an investigation.

In June 1919, he begins a new grift, fundraising via newspaper ads for the creation of the "Loyal Order of Klansmen, Inc." The wide circulation of the advertisement shocked many and grabbed the attention of a formidable opponent: Gov. Thomas W. Bickett. Bickett took to the press immediately in response, denouncing Ritchie's scheme as an appeal to race prejudice. Bickett's willingness to take on Ritchie so openly in the press most likely threw too much light on Ritchie's schemes, and he shortly thereafter left the state.

In the mid-1920s, Ritchie pops up again with a rebranded act in which he falsely claims to be the original inspiration for the cartoon character Popeye, an act he continues up through the 1930s. Ritchie died on August 20, 1942 in a hospital in Atlanta, Georgia. (Ottumwa Daily Courier, Ottumwa, Iowa, 25 August 1942)