§ 651. Appointment of person to act as sheriff in certain cases. When
a vacancy shall occur in the office of sheriff, and there be no
undersheriff to perform the duties, the county judge shall designate and
appoint some suitable and proper resident of the county to perform the
duties of sheriff until a new sheriff is elected or appointed and has
qualified. The designation shall be in writing and filed and recorded in
the office of the county clerk. The county clerk shall notify the person
so designated of such designation, and within ten days thereafter, an
official undertaking shall be furnished in the same amount and approved
in the same manner as that of the sheriff. If such undertaking be not
furnished, the county judge shall designate another person in the same
manner.