Latest / Who Did What Now With Katie Charlwood / 137. Bass Reeves - The Real Lone Ranger

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137. Bass Reeves - The Real Lone Ranger · Who Did What Now With Katie Charlwood

0:00
Speaker 1: Hello, delicious friends, and welcome to Hooded What Now the
0:04
Speaker 1: history podcast That's not your history class? With me your
0:07
Speaker 1: host Katie Charlwood, history harlot and reader of books. So
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Speaker 1: I made a video and a man felt the need
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Speaker 1: to comment on it. Not that kind of video, Get
0:20
Speaker 1: your minds out of the gutter. No, I made this
0:23
Speaker 1: video like within the last couple of months. I'm not
0:27
Speaker 1: entirely sure when, because time is an illusion, and it
0:31
Speaker 1: was very serious, because it was a serious topic. And
0:35
Speaker 1: so I brought my voice down to a lower register.
0:38
Speaker 1: And I'm talking like this, partially because it conveys, you
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Speaker 1: know that it's a somber topic, but also because it
0:46
Speaker 1: prevents my voice from going pitchy up and down like this.
0:50
Speaker 1: And this absolute Cob Sheen had the audacity to proclaim
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Speaker 1: how wonderful it was to your my natural voice and
0:57
Speaker 1: not my pufformative one. No, No, that was the performance.
1:04
Speaker 1: I brought it down to a level which is almost uncomfortable,
1:09
Speaker 1: just so that I could definitely provide the necessary information
1:13
Speaker 1: in the tone that it required. Like I know, I've
1:17
Speaker 1: got a weird voice. My accent sort of flips and
1:19
Speaker 1: flops here and there, and you grow up with accents
1:23
Speaker 1: around you, you kind of fall into one and the
1:26
Speaker 1: other and it happens like to some people I sound Scottish,
1:30
Speaker 1: to others I sound Irish. For some I sound English.
1:34
Speaker 1: But was that one guy I thought I was Welsh
1:36
Speaker 1: and honestly love him, thank you for that. I kind
1:40
Speaker 1: of even remember his name. He works in a Jene
1:43
Speaker 1: Silent Bob secret stash. Ah, but he was lovely anyway.
1:47
Speaker 1: And every now and again people think I'm an American
1:49
Speaker 1: putting on an accent, which is like cool, I guess wonderful.
1:54
Speaker 1: I guess no one will be able to replicate me. Whatever. Oh,
1:58
Speaker 1: speaking of videos, I have to tell you about my
2:00
Speaker 1: new favorite thing, apart from the SNL sketch, the chat sketch,
2:03
Speaker 1: which I have not laughed that heartily at an SNL
2:06
Speaker 1: sketch since James McAvoy was an air traffic controller like
2:11
Speaker 1: giggling and guffaws, but no, my new favorite thing is
2:15
Speaker 1: I saw a woman on one of the apps and
2:18
Speaker 1: she decided that she was no longer using guy or
2:20
Speaker 1: dude as a gender neutral term and she was replacing
2:23
Speaker 1: them with gal, girl or lady. And honestly, it's genius
2:29
Speaker 1: because equality in it If you can use one, you
2:32
Speaker 1: can use the other. I'm one hundred percent here for it.
2:37
Speaker 1: Don't forget as well. I am on tour. So if
2:40
Speaker 1: you want to see me, get your damn tickets, because
2:43
Speaker 1: if you don't buy the tickets, you won't see me.
2:46
Speaker 1: And that's that's just how it is. But anyway, I
2:49
Speaker 1: know what you're thinking. You're thinking, Katie, quite your chibble
2:51
Speaker 1: jabble in fact me, In fact you I will. But
2:54
Speaker 1: first we've got to get our source on. Our sources
2:59
Speaker 1: are Black Gun, Silver Star, The Life and Legend of
3:03
Speaker 1: Frontier Marshall bass Reeves by Art T. Burton, Deputy US
3:11
Speaker 1: Marshall bass Reeves from the US Marshall Museum, Bass Reeves
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Speaker 1: The most Feared US Deputy Marshall by David Dairy, Bad
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Speaker 1: News for Outlaws, The Remarkable Life of bass Reeves, Deputy
3:25
Speaker 1: US Marshal by Vonda Michel Nelson. Frontier Lawman Deputy US
3:32
Speaker 1: Marshall bass Reeves by Jim Wilson. We also have articles
3:37
Speaker 1: from American Rifleman dot Org, Britannica dot Com, Biography dot com,
3:44
Speaker 1: the Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History, and the National Park Service.
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Speaker 1: I use it in comfortably vote then let's begin now,
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Speaker 1: delicious friends. As some of you may know, I made
4:01
Speaker 1: some promises to some people that I would not cause
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Speaker 1: a commotion or create any controversial content for the next
4:11
Speaker 1: month or so, you know, until I returned from my travels,
4:16
Speaker 1: you know, just to keep everything on the up and up.
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Speaker 1: That being said, I thought, what's a nice easy thing
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Speaker 1: for us to all learn about? Why not the inspiration
4:31
Speaker 1: for the Lone Ranger himself. Bass Reeves was born in
4:35
Speaker 1: Crawford County, Arkansas, in eighteen thirty eight. Now we don't
4:40
Speaker 1: have an exact day of birth for bass Reeves because
4:45
Speaker 1: he was born into chattel slavery. For those of you
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Speaker 1: who don't know, chattel slavery was frankly an evil institution
4:54
Speaker 1: in which black people were treated as property and not
4:57
Speaker 1: you know, people. And unlike other forms of forced and
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Speaker 1: unpaid labor in servitude, chattel slavery was generational. If you
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Speaker 1: were owned by a person, they also owned your children
5:13
Speaker 1: and grandchildren and so on and so forth. And just
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Speaker 1: like his parents before him, bass Reeves was born into slavery,
5:23
Speaker 1: and he was owned by state Legislator William Steele Reeves
5:29
Speaker 1: now William At one point ends up leaving politics, moves
5:34
Speaker 1: to Paris and leaves Bass Reeves and the other slaves
5:40
Speaker 1: in the care of his son, George. And when William
5:44
Speaker 1: finally does kick the bucket, Bass legally becomes the property
5:50
Speaker 1: of George Reeves. Now, bearing in mind that Bass is
5:55
Speaker 1: enslaved on a plantation, I'm not trying to suggest that
5:59
Speaker 1: he's moving in the world, but I am going to
6:02
Speaker 1: say that his life went from being terrible to being
6:07
Speaker 1: slightly less terrible because when he's younger, he starts out
6:12
Speaker 1: as like a water boy, and then he becomes a
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Speaker 1: farm hand, and then he just kind of becomes George Reeves.
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Speaker 1: Like valet is the best way I can describe it.
6:24
Speaker 1: He's like a valet.
6:26
Speaker 2: Now.
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Speaker 1: I did read somewhere that they called him a companion,
6:29
Speaker 1: but that just feels like too nice a word for,
6:33
Speaker 1: you know, the working relationship with the person who owns you.
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Speaker 1: He just feels very I don't want to say sanitized,
6:44
Speaker 1: but it's very rose tinted glasses, like I mean, i'd
6:49
Speaker 1: take manservant. And so Bass is doing general manservanty stuff, chores,
6:55
Speaker 1: sort of clothes fixing stuff, you know, the usual. And
7:01
Speaker 1: so they're living was it near Sherman in the Peter's
7:04
Speaker 1: Colony in Grayson County in Texas. So George Roberts and
7:08
Speaker 1: Reeves he's doing okay financially because he's farming. Well, he's
7:12
Speaker 1: not farming. He's got a farm, and the enslaved people
7:16
Speaker 1: are working the farm because it's easy to save money
7:19
Speaker 1: when you don't have to pay your workforce, you know
7:22
Speaker 1: what I mean. Anyhow, he also becomes a tax collector
7:27
Speaker 1: and then a sheriff, and all the while he has
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Speaker 1: Bass working for him, I want to say, shadowing him
7:39
Speaker 1: when he learns a lot from being in this environment.
7:42
Speaker 1: And so things are going as well as they can
7:45
Speaker 1: be until eighteen sixty one when the American Civil War
7:49
Speaker 1: breaks out. So let's just take a moment to just
7:53
Speaker 1: marinate in this situation for a second. Bass Reeves is
7:58
Speaker 1: being forced to battle in the American Civil War for
8:05
Speaker 1: the Confederacy who are pro slavery, while he himself is
8:11
Speaker 1: an enslaved man. Just want everybody to be clear on
8:17
Speaker 1: how incredibly awful this situation is. And so here in
8:22
Speaker 1: the midst of war is where Bass Reeves gets his
8:26
Speaker 1: chance at freedom. Now there's some debate as to like
8:30
Speaker 1: what led to this. So some argue that George and
8:34
Speaker 1: Bass got into an argument during a card game, probably poker,
8:38
Speaker 1: and it led to fisticuffs. Now, others suggest that Bass
8:45
Speaker 1: had heard the rumblings that his people himself were going
8:51
Speaker 1: to be freed, and so he decided to just take
8:55
Speaker 1: the opportunity himself while he had the chance either way,
9:00
Speaker 1: said fuck this for a game of soldiers and got
9:02
Speaker 1: the heck at a dodge with the help of his
9:05
Speaker 1: new indigenous friends. Under cover of darkness, he escaped to
9:10
Speaker 1: what was known as Indian Territory, which is now I
9:14
Speaker 1: think Kansas and Oklahoma. I have been to one of
9:18
Speaker 1: those states, Like, he really integrates with them. He learned
9:22
Speaker 1: their customs and their cultures and their language. He connects
9:25
Speaker 1: with Creek, Cherokee, Seminole. And remember he's been doing physical
9:31
Speaker 1: labor his entire life, so he's already physically strong and
9:35
Speaker 1: he's what twenty three twenty four At this point, they
9:38
Speaker 1: train him to be an expert marksman. They show him
9:40
Speaker 1: how to track in scout, and he ends up knowing
9:43
Speaker 1: the terror tories. Was it? What is? He says? He
9:46
Speaker 1: says that he knows it the same way a cook
9:49
Speaker 1: knows her kitchen, Like he has all these different forms
9:52
Speaker 1: of intelligence. He's got physical intelligence, he's got mental intelligence,
9:56
Speaker 1: he's got memory, like a ridiculously good memory. And as
10:01
Speaker 1: I said before, he's integrating. Now I don't want to
10:04
Speaker 1: say assimilating because that feels very borg star treky. But
10:09
Speaker 1: he is like connecting, he's involved, and he's also like
10:14
Speaker 1: just becoming well known and friendly to a lot of
10:19
Speaker 1: the Native people, helped by the fact that he is
10:22
Speaker 1: like speaking the languages like fluently, like he's a filthy
10:25
Speaker 1: little polyglot, which is you know, he speaks the language
10:30
Speaker 1: is fluently, not just like a couple of phrases here
10:33
Speaker 1: and there, Like he's not just a caadaga, maduga, chain
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Speaker 1: lacoris embdicien, haste clanderfu stug or like he's speaking full languages,
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Speaker 1: you know. And his relationship with Native people it is
10:52
Speaker 1: so important. Now I'm gonna have to slip into some
10:57
Speaker 1: context for a week second. So, as a result of
11:01
Speaker 1: the Indian Removal Act of eighteen thirty, the indigenous population
11:06
Speaker 1: were forcibly removed from their ancestral lands, whether it was
11:11
Speaker 1: somewhere where they stayed all the time, or whether they
11:14
Speaker 1: were nomadic doesn't matter. They were all being pushed onto
11:18
Speaker 1: these quote unquote Indian territories, which would then be whittled
11:23
Speaker 1: down further and further over the years until they were
11:26
Speaker 1: forced to live in reservations. So the thing about the
11:29
Speaker 1: Indian territory is like, so you've had the Removal Act,
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Speaker 1: They've got the territory and its borders were established like
11:36
Speaker 1: four years later in the Non Intercourse Act, and it
11:40
Speaker 1: covered areas in Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, Colorado, Missouri, North Dakota,
11:47
Speaker 1: South Dakota, Wyoming, and Montana. And it was governed by
11:52
Speaker 1: this sort of linked system of tribal courts. But these
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Speaker 1: courts could only rule over memor of the five major tribes.
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Speaker 1: So we're talking Cherokee, Chocdaw, Chickasaw, Creek, and Seminole, and
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Speaker 1: I think also displaced members of other tribes. Very indigenous
12:13
Speaker 1: people want to correct me on that, because I'm not
12:15
Speaker 1: too up on this, feel free to just fact me.
12:19
Speaker 1: So basically, the long and short of it is that
12:21
Speaker 1: tribal courts are jurisdiction over Native American people who were
12:25
Speaker 1: in the territories, but literally nobody else. So it doesn't
12:28
Speaker 1: matter whether you were an outlaw or a formally enslaved
12:33
Speaker 1: person escaping to freedom doesn't matter, only like federal agents
12:41
Speaker 1: could pursue them. Right, So what this meant was, this
12:45
Speaker 1: is where the marshals come into it. Like the marshals
12:49
Speaker 1: would be able to enter the territory in order to
12:53
Speaker 1: in order to like anyone but the Native American people
12:57
Speaker 1: who were in Indian territory. So this is where the
13:00
Speaker 1: sort of wild West really comes out of it. The
13:03
Speaker 1: world West is interesting though, because it only lasts like
13:06
Speaker 1: a really short period of time. But again that's neither
13:09
Speaker 1: here nor there. But this is this is where all
13:12
Speaker 1: of those like Western movies, they're all kind of based
13:15
Speaker 1: on these kind of stories, you know, like True Grit.
13:20
Speaker 1: Even the marshall has to go chase the criminals because
13:24
Speaker 1: that's he has to go get them, because that's how
13:26
Speaker 1: the law works. Now, see, because the Americans of the
13:29
Speaker 1: war is happening, people aren't really out there looking for
13:33
Speaker 1: Bass Reeves, and if they are looking for him, they're
13:35
Speaker 1: just not doing a very good job of it. And
13:38
Speaker 1: so he is technically on the run for like another
13:42
Speaker 1: four years until the thirteenth Amendment of the Constitution. So
13:50
Speaker 1: remember the emancipation proclamation happened in eighteen sixty three, so
13:55
Speaker 1: this is two years after that. And finally bass Reeves
13:59
Speaker 1: is a frame man. And so he finally leaves Indian Territory,
14:05
Speaker 1: moves back to Arkansas, somewhere near Van Buren, and he
14:09
Speaker 1: does like farming and ranching, and he's doing that for
14:13
Speaker 1: like a decade, and then that's when his life really
14:20
Speaker 1: takes a turn. Bass Reeves, formerly enslaved, trained by Native Americans,
14:31
Speaker 1: now a free man, farming and ranching and Van Buren,
14:36
Speaker 1: Arkansas or near Van Buren, Arkansas, because he's what thirty
14:41
Speaker 1: seven years old at this point, and Federal Judge Isaac C.
14:45
Speaker 1: Parker he's appointed to oversee the Indian Territory because over
14:50
Speaker 1: the course of the Civil War, with everything that's going on,
14:54
Speaker 1: it basically became a hideout for like everybody, like I said, outlaws, criminals,
15:02
Speaker 1: like everybody was running in there, and basically they want
15:05
Speaker 1: to start like flushing it out, and so George Parker
15:11
Speaker 1: he hires James Fagan and like, remember this is a
15:15
Speaker 1: period of time where you could just like deputize people,
15:18
Speaker 1: and so he's told Marshall. Fagan is told to just
15:21
Speaker 1: think two hundred good men and deputize them. Right, you
15:25
Speaker 1: become a Marshall and you get to be a Marshall,
15:27
Speaker 1: and so do you. And so anyway, bass Reeves hears
15:30
Speaker 1: about this, and well he knows he's perfect for the
15:33
Speaker 1: job because he knows the territory. Again like a cook
15:38
Speaker 1: knows her kitchen. He knows everywhere, he knows the people.
15:42
Speaker 1: He can get to places no one else can, partially
15:45
Speaker 1: because he's lived there for several years, but also because
15:49
Speaker 1: like he's trusted there. So he meets with Marshall Fagan,
15:54
Speaker 1: he you know, shows mouse Martia as he shows him
15:57
Speaker 1: like his marksmanship and all all the goods, and Marshall
16:02
Speaker 1: Vegan is just like, yes, ten out of ten, absolutely
16:06
Speaker 1: you are hired. And so bass Rave became an official
16:11
Speaker 1: US Deputy Marshall. Now two hundred good men. You might
16:16
Speaker 1: think that's a lot of men, which you know, in
16:21
Speaker 1: normal circumstances, I would agree with you, But it is
16:25
Speaker 1: seventy five thousand square miles ish give or take, and
16:30
Speaker 1: and yeah, spread out amongst all that it does. It
16:34
Speaker 1: does make sense to have that many people. And so
16:38
Speaker 1: he is one of the first African American US Marshals.
16:42
Speaker 1: He's not the only one. There are a few more,
16:44
Speaker 1: but he is the most prominent, partially because well, he's
16:49
Speaker 1: cool as fuck, but also because he's just he's got
16:55
Speaker 1: stage presence is probably the best way to describe it. Like,
16:59
Speaker 1: he's always well, he's got some just really like well
17:04
Speaker 1: made suits. He's riding a white horse, which I feel
17:09
Speaker 1: is very symbolic and is is kind of a dig
17:13
Speaker 1: and I'm here for it, like live your best life. Start. Oh,
17:17
Speaker 1: he's also six foot two, so he's tall. He is
17:22
Speaker 1: the definition of tall, dark and handsome actually when you
17:24
Speaker 1: think about it. Anyway, he's also got two Colt forty
17:29
Speaker 1: five peacemakers, and he's always he's always looking sharp, snazzy,
17:36
Speaker 1: sick polish shoes, like he is lah Chef's kiss. Now,
17:43
Speaker 1: apart from the fact that he's clearly physically attractive, he's
17:47
Speaker 1: also like really charming and funny. Now. The only thing
17:53
Speaker 1: that he has trouble with is well and he kind
17:57
Speaker 1: of uses it to his advantage actually, But anyway, he's illiterate.
18:01
Speaker 1: He never learns to read or write because you know,
18:05
Speaker 1: growing up enslaved, it wasn't really a necessity for him,
18:09
Speaker 1: you know, wasn't really saying as a life skill, and
18:13
Speaker 1: so he what he would do is, instead of like
18:16
Speaker 1: reading the warrants himself, he would get someone else to
18:19
Speaker 1: read it aloud to him, and he would just memorize
18:21
Speaker 1: it because remember he's got this fantastic memory, and so
18:25
Speaker 1: sometimes he would use this. This is so funny. So
18:29
Speaker 1: he'd be like chasing an outlaw, right and he'd be like, hey,
18:34
Speaker 1: can you read this, and they're like I'm sorry what
18:37
Speaker 1: and next thing, you know, poop poo like down so smart.
18:41
Speaker 1: So just I love like he's using it to his advantage,
18:45
Speaker 1: which is just gold. Speaking of gold, whenever he apprehended
18:52
Speaker 1: someone he would leave, he would leave a silver dollar behind,
18:57
Speaker 1: like it's so it's so movie magic, but he did.
19:01
Speaker 1: That was his like little calling card. And sometimes he
19:04
Speaker 1: would even disguise himself in order to catch people. He'd
19:07
Speaker 1: dress up as like a farm hand or a cowboy,
19:11
Speaker 1: which is like listen, listen, cowboys named after black people,
19:17
Speaker 1: like this this is a fact we should all know.
19:19
Speaker 1: Like he'd be literally herding horses. But in fairness, he
19:24
Speaker 1: was a rancher, so he knew how to do this anyway,
19:27
Speaker 1: and so he uses to just be like, ha, ha,
19:29
Speaker 1: caught you. Bang bang. I love that. I keep saying
19:32
Speaker 1: bang bang as if his first port of call was
19:35
Speaker 1: to just shoot people, and it wasn't. It was more
19:38
Speaker 1: like a threat. And allegedly he would just like pill
19:44
Speaker 1: his peacemakers on them and just go get down, or
19:49
Speaker 1: I'll put you down. Movie magic, Where was this man's movie?
19:54
Speaker 1: Where's this man's TV show? You could make a TV
19:57
Speaker 1: show like perfect at ten. I just love the costumes.
20:04
Speaker 1: I love that he's just always dressing up and there's
20:07
Speaker 1: a reason for it and it is logical, but I
20:09
Speaker 1: just love the drama. Right, So he's he's in disguise
20:15
Speaker 1: because he's garnering a reputation. Apart from the fact that
20:20
Speaker 1: he has a white steed, he's like very well dressed. Again,
20:23
Speaker 1: he's just this really cool dude. And on top of that,
20:29
Speaker 1: like he becomes like legendary, like the legendary bass Reeves
20:32
Speaker 1: He's coming to get you because like he knows the territory,
20:36
Speaker 1: he knows that people they're gonna tell him things he's
20:39
Speaker 1: gonna find out. And he really gets into his role,
20:43
Speaker 1: Like he dresses up as outlaws because he's like, I'm
20:45
Speaker 1: on the round too, y'all. I don't know why. I
20:48
Speaker 1: made him very Southern bell there. I don't know what
20:52
Speaker 1: that was. I don't think he dressed up as a
20:55
Speaker 1: Southern bell. I can't assume that he did not, but
21:00
Speaker 1: I do not believe he did. So. At one point,
21:03
Speaker 1: he dresses up as a beggar, Like he really he
21:06
Speaker 1: really goes method. So he dresses up as a beggar
21:10
Speaker 1: because like, this is not a great time for a
21:13
Speaker 1: lot of people financially, you know, post war rarely is.
21:17
Speaker 1: And so he tricks for like thirty miles dressed as
21:22
Speaker 1: a beggar, and he shows up at the door of
21:25
Speaker 1: these of these like outlaw brothers, and he's just like
21:30
Speaker 1: he charms the mother. He's like, I'm a poor old beggar,
21:35
Speaker 1: I'm struggling, I've got nothing. And she's like, I'm a
21:38
Speaker 1: good Christian woman. I will let you in. And so
21:42
Speaker 1: she brings them in, she feeds them, and he pretends
21:45
Speaker 1: to go to sleep, and so he waits for the
21:48
Speaker 1: brothers to fall asleep, and he gets up, he arrests
21:52
Speaker 1: them and then marches them the thirty miles back into town.
22:00
Speaker 1: And yeah, when the mother wakes up in the morning,
22:02
Speaker 1: she finds a silver dollar on her son's bed and
22:07
Speaker 1: then she is very aware of what's just happened. And
22:11
Speaker 1: Y's the thing. He's a fairly decent lawman. Now, there
22:14
Speaker 1: were loads of marshals who would get a warrant and'd
22:17
Speaker 1: be like, find them dead or alive, and they're like, well,
22:19
Speaker 1: it's easier if they're dead, and they would just like
22:22
Speaker 1: shoot them, bring the body back, get paid, right, And like,
22:27
Speaker 1: he's a decent lawman by any definition, because like there
22:31
Speaker 1: were marshals at the time who would read a war
22:33
Speaker 1: and that says like dead or alive, and they're like, well,
22:35
Speaker 1: they're easier to transport if they're dead, and so they
22:38
Speaker 1: would just go and like shoot them and bring the
22:40
Speaker 1: bodies back and get paid. Whereas Bass reeves, he would
22:46
Speaker 1: try and take them back alive if he could. And
22:50
Speaker 1: in this situation, he could have killed everybody in that house.
22:54
Speaker 1: He could have left no witnesses, and he could have
22:56
Speaker 1: just brought the bodies back. But he tell the mom
23:00
Speaker 1: was asleep and he took the boys then, which is
23:05
Speaker 1: you know, a slightly nicer scenario. At least that way
23:09
Speaker 1: they'd stand trial and you know there was a chance
23:14
Speaker 1: there's a chance they wouldn't be executed. He was very
23:19
Speaker 1: much a lawman on the side of justice, Like he
23:23
Speaker 1: would always endeavor to bring people back alive so that
23:26
Speaker 1: they could face trial for their crimes instead of just
23:30
Speaker 1: you know, making them eat some bullets. And like, over
23:34
Speaker 1: the course of his career, which lasted what thirty two years,
23:39
Speaker 1: he only killed fourteen people. I think it's fourteen, well,
23:44
Speaker 1: fourteen outlaws and also his cook who he shot accidentally,
23:50
Speaker 1: but he was acquitted of that because it was very
23:52
Speaker 1: clear it was an accident. It would just kind of
23:55
Speaker 1: I think it was a ricochet situation. And he becomes
23:59
Speaker 1: so well known over like all of these areas. Like
24:02
Speaker 1: first he's in the Western District of Arkansas, and then
24:06
Speaker 1: he's in the Eastern District of Texas and that's in Paris, Texas.
24:11
Speaker 1: And after that he ends up serving in the Muscogee
24:13
Speaker 1: Federal Court. Like it is a wild record when you
24:17
Speaker 1: think that over the course of his like entire career,
24:20
Speaker 1: like thirty two years, right, it's thirty two, Yeah, thirty
24:23
Speaker 1: two years, he apprehends around three thousand people and only
24:28
Speaker 1: kills like fourteen of them. And that's typically because a
24:32
Speaker 1: shootout happens. Like what's really interesting is that like he
24:39
Speaker 1: just he just conveniently doesn't get shot. I don't know
24:44
Speaker 1: how to explain. He's just got this magic skill of
24:47
Speaker 1: just deflecting bullets. Like his belt gets shot off at
24:52
Speaker 1: one point, his hat gets shot off, but like he
24:56
Speaker 1: never gets shot. Like he's in shootouts quite a lot,
25:01
Speaker 1: Like if your job involves you having to carry around
25:06
Speaker 1: two Colt peacemakers with which you have to apprehend you know,
25:11
Speaker 1: criminals and outlaws who also have their range of guns.
25:17
Speaker 1: Like in fairness, he didn't just have the peacemakers, he
25:19
Speaker 1: had like wind Chester rifles and all this kind of stuff.
25:22
Speaker 1: Because again, marksman, scout tracker, he's just he's just the coolest.
25:30
Speaker 1: He's just the coolest. Like now this is just my interpretation,
25:37
Speaker 1: but I'm thinking that he was just so awesome, Like
25:42
Speaker 1: he had the RIZ and everyone was just so taken
25:46
Speaker 1: by it that they just couldn't shoot straight. It was just,
25:50
Speaker 1: oh no, my bullets have gone a sander. I don't
25:53
Speaker 1: know why I'm a Southern bell. I don't know why
25:55
Speaker 1: I've made them all Southern bells. And like he takes
25:58
Speaker 1: on some pretty big hitters. He was in a gunfight
26:03
Speaker 1: with a desperado named Frank Buck, who he ends up
26:06
Speaker 1: like actually shooting and killing. So one of the fourteen,
26:12
Speaker 1: another outlaw he managed to track and kill, was Jim
26:16
Speaker 1: web now not to be confused with outlaw John Joshua Webb.
26:20
Speaker 1: Now they have similar names. And that's kind of where
26:23
Speaker 1: it ends, because like John Joshua Webb was a lawman himself.
26:27
Speaker 1: I thinking Kansas. I'm gonna say Kansas because I'm not
26:31
Speaker 1: entirely sure. And so he ends up shooting this fella
26:38
Speaker 1: who allegedly owed him like a grand like he owed
26:43
Speaker 1: him a good chunk of money, and so he ends
26:46
Speaker 1: up shooting him and then claiming that he'd drawn his
26:48
Speaker 1: pistol on him, but people were like super suspicious, and
26:51
Speaker 1: then he ends up, you know, like being hunted, and
26:56
Speaker 1: so eventually, eventually he ends up like I think, working
27:00
Speaker 1: on a railroad or something in the end. But yeah,
27:04
Speaker 1: Jim Webb, he was notorious, and I'm gonna say a
27:08
Speaker 1: bit of a hot head. So Jim Webb, I'm gonna
27:12
Speaker 1: say he becomes notorious. Right. So he's in the Chickasaw
27:18
Speaker 1: Nation and he's the foreman of this Washington mcclush ranch.
27:23
Speaker 1: It is massive, right, he is looking after this huge
27:28
Speaker 1: ranch and there's like this small farm nearby owned by
27:33
Speaker 1: a black preacher, and so he's doing like some burning
27:38
Speaker 1: at his farm and the fire, well, it gets out
27:41
Speaker 1: of control and it spreads onto like onto Washington mclush ranchland,
27:49
Speaker 1: and Jim Webb. He is pissed. He goes to the
27:54
Speaker 1: preacher and he gives out to him and like he's mad,
27:59
Speaker 1: he's livid, he's enraged, and he's just like screaming at
28:04
Speaker 1: this preacher and like this screaming Adam does not satiate
28:09
Speaker 1: his rage, and then he decides to just shoot him
28:16
Speaker 1: like dead. So he kills this black preacher. So it
28:19
Speaker 1: feels like, would he have been so angry if the
28:23
Speaker 1: preacher was white whom's to say allegedly was not the
28:28
Speaker 1: most inclusive person in the world was Jim Webb. So yeah,
28:33
Speaker 1: he ends up killing this preacher. He goes down to
28:37
Speaker 1: the Brazos River region in Texas, kills like eleven men there,
28:42
Speaker 1: and yeah, first time he comes across him, Bass Reeves
28:47
Speaker 1: just like fairly simple captures him. It's all good, you know,
28:52
Speaker 1: takes him away, but he's got a bond, right, and
28:56
Speaker 1: so he ends up skipping out of town, and in
29:01
Speaker 1: June eighteen eighty four, like Bass, Reeves manages to find
29:07
Speaker 1: Jim Webb. He tracks him down. He's he's kind of
29:11
Speaker 1: like old timey Western detective Marshal. It's fantastic, and so
29:18
Speaker 1: he ends up chasing him, only to discover him at
29:23
Speaker 1: the Bywater store at the foothills of the Article Mountains.
29:28
Speaker 1: And so this time Jim Webb, he doesn't want to surrender,
29:32
Speaker 1: He doesn't want to give in, he doesn't want to
29:33
Speaker 1: give up, and yeah, decides to pull his gun, and
29:39
Speaker 1: so a gunfight ensues, a proper wild West gunfight. Now
29:45
Speaker 1: he manages to get a few shots off, but he
29:48
Speaker 1: doesn't hit bass Raves, who completely unscathed, leaps down from
29:54
Speaker 1: his horse, pulls out his winchester and shoots Webb. He's
30:00
Speaker 1: like a quarter of a mile away, like he's he's
30:05
Speaker 1: quite far. Now. You might be thinking, geez, you're talking
30:10
Speaker 1: a you're offs a wee bit, Katie. But those witnesses,
30:13
Speaker 1: there's witnesses to the gunfight, like the guy who owns
30:17
Speaker 1: the store. There's like like cowboys working like they see
30:22
Speaker 1: it happen. And so this gets reported into the news
30:27
Speaker 1: like not only was he good with his guns because
30:30
Speaker 1: he had like his his peacemakers is Winchester. He had
30:33
Speaker 1: pistols like six shooters. He had rifles, and he was
30:37
Speaker 1: also like and he could use them with like either hand.
30:40
Speaker 1: He was like ambidexterous, like sharpshooter, you know. And on
30:46
Speaker 1: top of that, right, he was fairly decent in hand
30:50
Speaker 1: to hand combat, like he could just knock people down.
30:54
Speaker 1: He was just again, he was just amazing. Okay, So
31:00
Speaker 1: it gets better, right, So at one point he ends
31:03
Speaker 1: up bringing in seventeen horse thieves. And that's like in
31:11
Speaker 1: Comanche County. It's like near Fort Sill, and so seventeen
31:17
Speaker 1: horse rustlers from Texas who thought they could sneak their
31:21
Speaker 1: way through Indian territory. But oh no, no, bass Reeves
31:25
Speaker 1: came for them. Bass Reeves us Marshall. He's tracking his
31:34
Speaker 1: way through the Indian territory. He's grabbing bad guys left
31:38
Speaker 1: and right, and he in eighteen eighty four, because yes, again,
31:43
Speaker 1: in eighteen eighty four, he is on the hunt for
31:46
Speaker 1: four outlaws, two white men, two black men working together.
31:51
Speaker 1: He's got their warrants and he's on the seminole Whiskey
31:54
Speaker 1: Trail where he is set upon by the Brunter brothers.
32:00
Speaker 1: The Brunter brothers anyway, three brothers with a name that
32:05
Speaker 1: is Brunter or Brinter, but I'm gonna go with Brunter
32:08
Speaker 1: because it just it just rolls off the tongue better,
32:11
Speaker 1: I think. So the Brinter brothers they also had warrants
32:15
Speaker 1: out for them. They had been rustling, so like stealing horses.
32:21
Speaker 1: They had robbed some places, and they may or may
32:26
Speaker 1: not have been wanted for murder. And so they're on
32:32
Speaker 1: the trail and they see him and they just go
32:34
Speaker 1: up to him, and the Brinter brothers, who have just
32:38
Speaker 1: like so much gumption, they just straight up ask him
32:41
Speaker 1: if he is the legendary lawman Us Marshall bass Reeves.
32:47
Speaker 1: And he's just like, Nope, not I And they're like, okay,
32:51
Speaker 1: you come along with us for a bit until we
32:53
Speaker 1: can find someone who can confirm your identity to see
32:56
Speaker 1: if you are in fact legendary lawman Us Marshall bass Raves,
33:02
Speaker 1: which is an interesting thing to do because you think,
33:04
Speaker 1: being outlaws, they might just shoot him and steal his horse,
33:08
Speaker 1: but no, they take him for a bit. Now they
33:12
Speaker 1: do go on for a little while until they're like, no,
33:18
Speaker 1: this is enough. They're just done with trapsing him down
33:21
Speaker 1: the road, and so they force him to dismount at
33:24
Speaker 1: gunpoint using what I'm going to assume him is colorful
33:28
Speaker 1: and racist language. They decide that they're going to just
33:32
Speaker 1: execute him on the side of the road, and they're
33:36
Speaker 1: just like, don't get your hands near those guns because
33:39
Speaker 1: there's three of us and we'll shit you. And he's
33:42
Speaker 1: like remarkably chill about this entire situation. He's got his
33:47
Speaker 1: hands out of the way, he's not near his guns,
33:50
Speaker 1: and they're just like any last words. And he says
33:56
Speaker 1: to them that he's got a letter from his wife,
34:01
Speaker 1: but he's illiterate and can't read, so can they read
34:04
Speaker 1: it to him? I forgot to tell you he had
34:07
Speaker 1: a wife. Okay, sidebar. In the eighteen sixties, he marries
34:11
Speaker 1: Jenny Haynes, who's also known as Nellie Jenny, and so
34:16
Speaker 1: they end up moving to the ranch. I forgot to
34:21
Speaker 1: tell you he had a wife. Okay, Yes, So yeah,
34:25
Speaker 1: bass Reeves had a wife and eleven children. So he
34:29
Speaker 1: marries Jenny Haynes, who's also known as Nellie Jenny in
34:34
Speaker 1: the eighteen sixties. So by the time they moved to
34:38
Speaker 1: the ranch. They've got four kids in total, and then
34:43
Speaker 1: over the next however many years, they end up with
34:48
Speaker 1: seven more children. So they have eleven kids in total,
34:53
Speaker 1: and they are in descending order, Robert Reeves, Sally Reeves,
34:58
Speaker 1: Benjamin Reeves, Newland Reeve, Edgar Reeves, Lula Reeves, Homer Reeves,
35:03
Speaker 1: Bass Reeves Junior, Harriet Reeves, George Reeves, and Alice May Reeves.
35:11
Speaker 1: I just think it's interesting he named one of his
35:13
Speaker 1: kids George, after you know, the man who used to
35:18
Speaker 1: own him, or maybe at that point he was just
35:21
Speaker 1: over it, I guess, and was like, I like the name.
35:24
Speaker 1: Who's to say. So anyway, he's on the side of
35:27
Speaker 1: the road about be executed by the Bounter brothers and
35:31
Speaker 1: he's like, let me get this letter, and they're like sure,
35:35
Speaker 1: I guess, And so he reaches into his pocket for
35:40
Speaker 1: this letter and he looks like he's about to cry
35:43
Speaker 1: like shakespeareans skill, you know, And next thing you know,
35:46
Speaker 1: Pooh pulls out a gun and he just pooh pooh
35:51
Speaker 1: to the brothers and down they hit the ground like
35:53
Speaker 1: a sack of spuds, and he sweeps around, grabs the
35:57
Speaker 1: barrel of the gun, of the other brother who like
36:00
Speaker 1: just tries to shoot, but he just like misses three times.
36:04
Speaker 1: And then Bass just like butts him in the head
36:08
Speaker 1: with the gun and he hits him so hard he
36:10
Speaker 1: just like kills him. He's just down and like that
36:16
Speaker 1: was the closest he ever came, he says to like
36:20
Speaker 1: like being killed. And now the thing with the cook
36:24
Speaker 1: is a weird but interesting story. So they're going through
36:29
Speaker 1: the Chickasaw nation. He's there with his posse, he's got
36:33
Speaker 1: some guys, and he's also got his cook, William Leech.
36:37
Speaker 1: Now there's there's a few words being said back and forth.
36:42
Speaker 1: It seems to be banter. Bass Raves is making fun
36:46
Speaker 1: of William Leech's cooking. William Leech is just making fun
36:49
Speaker 1: of Wreeves. It's just a back and forth and it
36:52
Speaker 1: seems to be all in good fun. So content warning.
36:57
Speaker 1: Trigger warning warning warning, So if you don't like cruelty
37:02
Speaker 1: to animals, you're gonna want to skip forward about ten
37:05
Speaker 1: to twelve seconds, okay, and go. So, allegedly William leached
37:10
Speaker 1: the cook. He ends up pouring boiling grease down the
37:15
Speaker 1: throat of a puppy that they have with them. Now
37:19
Speaker 1: the puppy may have been basses, it may have belonged
37:23
Speaker 1: to someone else in the camp, but allegedly this happened,
37:28
Speaker 1: and next thing you know, a gun goes off. Okay,
37:35
Speaker 1: now that that horrific piece of information is over, thank goodness.
37:41
Speaker 1: So he's there one evening, they're in the Chickasaw Nation
37:44
Speaker 1: and he's cleaning his gun. So bass Raves's cleaning his
37:49
Speaker 1: rifle and there's still like a charge and I'm not
37:55
Speaker 1: too up on the firearm terminology because I think they're
38:01
Speaker 1: scary and so I don't, I know, really not my thing.
38:06
Speaker 1: And so he's cleaning the rifle and it goes off
38:09
Speaker 1: and boom, accidentally shoots William Leech. Now, now he does
38:15
Speaker 1: go to trial like a couple years later, but he's
38:19
Speaker 1: acquitted because he's indicted for murder. And then he's acquitted
38:22
Speaker 1: because everyone's like' twas an, accident and everyone's, like, yeah,
38:25
Speaker 1: okay because like here's the. Things he's too good of
38:29
Speaker 1: a shot to make a. Mistake and it just feels
38:34
Speaker 1: like for someone who's super into law and justice to
38:38
Speaker 1: just like randomly kill a guy just feels out a
38:41
Speaker 1: character and.
38:43
Speaker 3: Like he also has ten witnesses who say. That you,
38:45
Speaker 3: know he was cleaning the rifle and it went off.
38:47
Speaker 3: Accidentally and even though he's like acquitted of like malicious,
38:53
Speaker 3: murder the whole trial costs him so much money that
38:57
Speaker 3: he ends up having to sell his van bo and,
39:00
Speaker 3: home like it just completely depletes the. Savings so after
39:06
Speaker 3: the trial he ends up just going back on the road.
39:09
Speaker 3: Again he's out, tracking, scouting bringing, bounties bringing in. Outlaws
39:16
Speaker 3: he is just bringing in lawbreakers all over the. Shop
39:20
Speaker 3: he manages to capture the three guys who Killed Deputy
39:23
Speaker 3: Marshall Joseph, lundey so you've Got Nocus, Harjo One, prince
39:28
Speaker 3: And Bill.
39:29
Speaker 1: Wolf and then he manages to apprehend the Outlaw. Greenleaf
39:34
Speaker 1: well that's just Like. Elias his real name Was tosalona
39:38
Speaker 1: and he was on the run for eighteen. Years he'd
39:42
Speaker 1: murdered three white men and Four Native american. Men and,
39:49
Speaker 1: yeah this was the first time anybody had caught. Him
39:52
Speaker 1: and of course it Was Bass. Raves and then in
39:56
Speaker 1: nineteen oh, two things get a little close to, home
40:00
Speaker 1: and by THAT i mean they get. Home so his,
40:06
Speaker 1: Son Benny, reeves he is charged with murdering his. Wife
40:10
Speaker 1: so Bass reeves daughter in, law and so you, know
40:14
Speaker 1: it's read out like who's going to go and like
40:16
Speaker 1: take In Benny reeves and the, deputies the. Marshals nobody
40:21
Speaker 1: wants to do. It nobody wants to go after Bass reeves's.
40:25
Speaker 1: Son But bass Being, bass he does it. Himself he
40:32
Speaker 1: arrests his own. Son So Benny reeves gets convicted and
40:38
Speaker 1: he goes on to serve like twenty years At levenworth
40:42
Speaker 1: and when he comes, out he just lives like a
40:45
Speaker 1: very a very chill, life very law, abiding you. Know
40:50
Speaker 1: and So Bass reeves he continues to be A us
40:53
Speaker 1: marshall up until nineteen oh, seven not because he's like
40:59
Speaker 1: losing his edge or anything like, that But oklahoma officially
41:03
Speaker 1: becomes a. State and so the official line is, that you,
41:09
Speaker 1: know The Federal office was being, downsized when really it was,
41:17
Speaker 1: racism pure and. Simple so, effectively he was An African
41:23
Speaker 1: american man and they didn't want him, being you, know
41:27
Speaker 1: a federal. Marshal and, so like a lot of his,
41:29
Speaker 1: colleagues he went out and got another. Job he's sixty
41:32
Speaker 1: eight at this, point and he joined The Muscogee Police.
41:36
Speaker 1: Department oh, yeah and he got married. AGAIN i keep
41:41
Speaker 1: forgetting to mention the. Marriages so he gets married, again
41:45
Speaker 1: but he doesn't have any like more kids as far
41:50
Speaker 1: AS i. Know but, yes he Married Winnie sumpter in nineteen,
41:54
Speaker 1: hundred so he's been married seven years at this, point
41:58
Speaker 1: and he's just got another. Job. Now the story goes
42:03
Speaker 1: that he would just like walk through Downtown muscogee and
42:07
Speaker 1: he would have like an, assistant a, sidekick an. Accomplice,
42:12
Speaker 1: anyway they would just have like a satchel full of
42:15
Speaker 1: guns and there was just never any trouble when he
42:18
Speaker 1: was on the, street WHICH i think is just so.
42:20
Speaker 1: Funny and so after being at, war, escaping getting his,
42:27
Speaker 1: freedom getting, married having a, ranch becoming a, deputy never
42:35
Speaker 1: getting wounded in the line of, duty capturing about three
42:40
Speaker 1: thousand people while covering seventy five thousand square, miles arresting
42:45
Speaker 1: his own, son having eleven, children or his wife had eleven,
42:49
Speaker 1: children but he helped the. Process he gets accused of,
42:53
Speaker 1: murder goes to, trial gets acquitted while depleting his life,
42:56
Speaker 1: savings thus leading him to have to sell his. Ranch
43:00
Speaker 1: he goes back to working as A us. Marshall then
43:03
Speaker 1: his first, Wife, jenny she, dies he remarries and he Marries,
43:07
Speaker 1: Winnie oklahoma becomes a, state he loses his job as a.
43:12
Speaker 1: Marshal he then gains new employment as A muskegee police.
43:17
Speaker 1: Officer after a few, years he finally retires and his
43:22
Speaker 1: health begins to, decline and on the twelfth Of january nineteen,
43:27
Speaker 1: Ten Bass raves passes away from bright disease at the
43:32
Speaker 1: age of seventy, one and so ends The tale of Bass,
43:37
Speaker 1: raves the legendary lawman and real inspiration for The Lone.
43:43
Speaker 1: Ranger it deserves much more respect. Then i'm not even
43:49
Speaker 1: going to talk about the. Movie we're we're not going
43:51
Speaker 1: to bring it. Up we're gonna just pretend it didn't,
43:53
Speaker 1: happen because sometimes denial is all we. Have so, anyway
43:57
Speaker 1: if you liked my retailing of this, tale feel free
44:00
Speaker 1: to wait in review five. Stars if you didn't like,
44:03
Speaker 1: it don't say, anything because, Uh Bass reeves would not
44:08
Speaker 1: appreciate bad. Manners but, yeah so for those of you
44:13
Speaker 1: who have been listening a long time and who know what's,
44:15
Speaker 1: up there is a just in case, fund you, know
44:19
Speaker 1: because the STUFF i talk about can sometimes be seen
44:22
Speaker 1: as quote improper as it turns. Out but, yes so
44:28
Speaker 1: rate and review follow me on the socials if you,
44:32
Speaker 1: wanna if you want to help my just in case,
44:34
Speaker 1: fund you, know just in, case feel free Because i'm not.
44:39
Speaker 1: SCARED i MEAN i am. Scared i'm definitely definitely. Scared but.
44:44
Speaker 2: We're gonna do.
44:44
Speaker 1: This everything's gonna be. Fine everything's gonna be. Fine and
44:48
Speaker 1: so recommendation. Time so you know. WHAT i looked it.
44:51
Speaker 1: Up there was as was like A Bass REEVES tv.
44:56
Speaker 1: Show but, yes some of the review are really good
45:00
Speaker 1: and some of the reviews are really really. Bad So
45:03
Speaker 1: i'm gonna have to watch it. Obviously so that's on
45:07
Speaker 1: our watch. List we're gonna Watch Bass. Raves we're gonna watch.
45:11
Speaker 1: That that's, great that's our watching. Done. Perfect for, Reading
45:17
Speaker 1: i'm gonna recommend something completely unrelated to this week's, Episode
45:22
Speaker 1: Queen james By Gareth. RUSSELL i just received it this.
45:27
Speaker 1: Week it's it's. Good it's a good. Book you should
45:31
Speaker 1: be reading this book LIKE I i'm m you know.
45:37
Speaker 1: ME i love like a good, saucy saucy tale AND
45:42
Speaker 1: i am into.
45:44
Speaker 2: It.
45:44
Speaker 1: Okay so also for, listening.
45:48
Speaker 2: Ooh you know, What you're gonna laugh at, me but
45:52
Speaker 2: you know, What i've been listening To i've been playing
45:55
Speaker 2: it sort of on a loop all week because it's
45:57
Speaker 2: one of my favorite comedy.
45:59
Speaker 1: Songs it's The ballad Of bari And frida By Victoria.
46:04
Speaker 1: WOOD i JUST i love it so. Much it's. HILARIOUS
46:09
Speaker 1: i don't know if you can find it on the music,
46:11
Speaker 1: apps but you can see it on, YouTube like watch
46:13
Speaker 1: the original like nineteen eighty, five eighty four. Version this
46:18
Speaker 1: is the nineteen eighties. Version it's, great it's good. Fun
46:21
Speaker 1: and with, That i'm gonna say good, night adios au
46:25
Speaker 1: revoir ivas them my, friends ah bye bye