1 00:00:02,600 --> 00:00:05,800 Speaker 1: You're listening to American Shadows, a production of I Heart 2 00:00:05,880 --> 00:00:15,800 Speaker 1: Radio and Grim and Mild from Aaron Manky. In the 3 00:00:15,840 --> 00:00:19,200 Speaker 1: eighteen hundreds, women born to affluent families in the religious 4 00:00:19,239 --> 00:00:22,120 Speaker 1: Deep South had their lives practically planned out for them 5 00:00:22,120 --> 00:00:26,240 Speaker 1: at birth. They would learn to be quiet, demure, and charming. 6 00:00:26,920 --> 00:00:29,720 Speaker 1: They would grow up in boarding schools, where they learned needlework, 7 00:00:29,840 --> 00:00:34,159 Speaker 1: studied Bible verses, and were groomed for marriage. After becoming 8 00:00:34,159 --> 00:00:37,600 Speaker 1: a suitable bride, they were expected to give their husbands airs. 9 00:00:38,320 --> 00:00:41,680 Speaker 1: Their duties included child rearing, going to church, and supporting 10 00:00:41,720 --> 00:00:45,400 Speaker 1: their husband's career. In their later years, they might hope 11 00:00:45,440 --> 00:00:48,920 Speaker 1: to grow old surrounded by children and grandchildren, before passing 12 00:00:48,960 --> 00:00:52,560 Speaker 1: away with any luck as quietly and gently as they lived. 13 00:00:53,640 --> 00:00:57,760 Speaker 1: Pearl Heart wanted none of that. Born Pearl Taler in 14 00:00:57,800 --> 00:01:01,640 Speaker 1: the Canadian village of Lindsay, Ontario, she originally moved within 15 00:01:01,680 --> 00:01:05,760 Speaker 1: the strict guidelines expected of her, But at sixteen, when 16 00:01:05,800 --> 00:01:08,920 Speaker 1: her parents sent her to boarding school, Pearl met Frederick 17 00:01:09,040 --> 00:01:14,200 Speaker 1: Hart and decided her predetermined life wasn't for her. Her 18 00:01:14,319 --> 00:01:17,199 Speaker 1: new beau wasn't exactly the kind of man her family 19 00:01:17,240 --> 00:01:22,040 Speaker 1: approved of. He tended bar drank, heavily, gambled, and rarely 20 00:01:22,080 --> 00:01:26,360 Speaker 1: missed an opportunity to sleep with any woman willing. It's 21 00:01:26,480 --> 00:01:30,280 Speaker 1: unclear what Pearl saw in Frederick, but the two soon eloped. 22 00:01:31,240 --> 00:01:34,480 Speaker 1: Perhaps she aimed to live an exciting life void of 23 00:01:34,560 --> 00:01:38,760 Speaker 1: stuffy upper class rules. She quickly discovered it wasn't the 24 00:01:38,800 --> 00:01:44,199 Speaker 1: exhilarating lifestyle she'd expected. Despite his promises, Frederick didn't change 25 00:01:44,200 --> 00:01:46,920 Speaker 1: his ways, and he drank most of what he earned, 26 00:01:47,080 --> 00:01:50,320 Speaker 1: leaving little for her or their two children. He became 27 00:01:50,360 --> 00:01:54,400 Speaker 1: physically abusive. Pearl left a couple of times, but Frederick 28 00:01:54,440 --> 00:01:58,280 Speaker 1: wooed her back. Eventually, To keep her children safe from 29 00:01:58,280 --> 00:02:01,400 Speaker 1: their father, she sent them to live with relatives in Ohio. 30 00:02:02,360 --> 00:02:06,120 Speaker 1: In she followed Frederick to Chicago, where he found work 31 00:02:06,160 --> 00:02:10,120 Speaker 1: at the Chicago World's Fair as a sideshow barker. Pearl 32 00:02:10,280 --> 00:02:13,040 Speaker 1: also took on a few jobs at the fair. One 33 00:02:13,160 --> 00:02:16,440 Speaker 1: exhibit fascinated her, and so she spent her free time 34 00:02:16,560 --> 00:02:20,400 Speaker 1: at the Wild West Exhibit, especially whenever Annie Oakley performed. 35 00:02:21,560 --> 00:02:24,720 Speaker 1: She listened to speeches at the women's pavilion promoting equality 36 00:02:24,760 --> 00:02:29,000 Speaker 1: and women's rights. Through those speeches, Pearl found the courage 37 00:02:29,040 --> 00:02:32,600 Speaker 1: to leave Frederick. She headed West on a train to Trinidad, 38 00:02:32,680 --> 00:02:36,760 Speaker 1: Colorado to start a new life. Pearl found work as 39 00:02:36,800 --> 00:02:39,720 Speaker 1: a singer at a saloon. Frederick trapped her down and 40 00:02:39,800 --> 00:02:43,800 Speaker 1: begged her to come back. Disappointed that heroes didn't walk 41 00:02:43,840 --> 00:02:47,920 Speaker 1: the streets of the real wild West, she relented For 42 00:02:47,960 --> 00:02:51,359 Speaker 1: a short while. Frederick changed He even found steady job, 43 00:02:51,880 --> 00:02:53,959 Speaker 1: but it wasn't long before he went back to his 44 00:02:54,040 --> 00:02:59,280 Speaker 1: old ways. One night in he knocked Pearl unconscious and 45 00:02:59,440 --> 00:03:03,720 Speaker 1: left her alone again. Pearl drifted between her parents home 46 00:03:03,800 --> 00:03:07,919 Speaker 1: and the West, taking on odd jobs to support herself. Later, 47 00:03:09,040 --> 00:03:11,320 Speaker 1: she received a letter from her brother asking for money. 48 00:03:11,680 --> 00:03:15,799 Speaker 1: Their mother was sick and needed medical attention. She asked 49 00:03:15,800 --> 00:03:19,119 Speaker 1: the saloon patron by the name of Joe Boot for advice. 50 00:03:19,800 --> 00:03:23,359 Speaker 1: She needed money and quick. Joe suggested they team up 51 00:03:23,360 --> 00:03:26,640 Speaker 1: and rob a stagecoach, but to disguise her identity, Pearl 52 00:03:26,680 --> 00:03:30,040 Speaker 1: cut her hair and dressed in Joe's clothing. Their first 53 00:03:30,080 --> 00:03:33,400 Speaker 1: heist netted four hundred and fifty dollars. They ran but 54 00:03:33,560 --> 00:03:37,960 Speaker 1: were soon captured. Pearl played up the role of Lady bandit. 55 00:03:38,360 --> 00:03:41,960 Speaker 1: Before long she was signing autographs. The court was less 56 00:03:42,080 --> 00:03:45,120 Speaker 1: enamored and sentenced her to five years in prison, where 57 00:03:45,120 --> 00:03:48,960 Speaker 1: she maintained her celebrity status a model inmate. She was 58 00:03:49,040 --> 00:03:53,720 Speaker 1: paroled in eighteen months. She faded into the sunset. Then, 59 00:03:53,960 --> 00:03:56,840 Speaker 1: though there were rumors of Pearl resurfacing as a shop 60 00:03:56,920 --> 00:03:59,720 Speaker 1: keep in Kansas or the wife of an Arizona rancher. 61 00:04:00,480 --> 00:04:05,480 Speaker 1: Pearl became a ghost of the wild West, but some outlaws, 62 00:04:05,680 --> 00:04:10,360 Speaker 1: like ghosts, hung around a while longer. I'm Lord Vogelbaum, 63 00:04:10,840 --> 00:04:23,679 Speaker 1: Welcome to American Shadows. The Civil War decimated American life 64 00:04:23,680 --> 00:04:28,880 Speaker 1: and livelihood, leaving many feeling lost. Financial hardships followed, and 65 00:04:28,920 --> 00:04:32,080 Speaker 1: without the connections that once shared with their communities, people 66 00:04:32,279 --> 00:04:37,000 Speaker 1: headed west for better or worse. Most were young men 67 00:04:37,080 --> 00:04:40,400 Speaker 1: who had served in the military. Former soldiers from both 68 00:04:40,440 --> 00:04:43,680 Speaker 1: North and South realized there were no winning sides when 69 00:04:43,680 --> 00:04:47,320 Speaker 1: it came to war. The untamed West offered something they 70 00:04:47,360 --> 00:04:50,359 Speaker 1: could create of their very own, a fresh start and 71 00:04:50,440 --> 00:04:54,520 Speaker 1: a place to forget. The government pressed American citizens to 72 00:04:54,560 --> 00:04:57,880 Speaker 1: colonize the new territories. Plots of land offered at low 73 00:04:57,920 --> 00:05:02,560 Speaker 1: prices started a scramble to push Native Americans out. The 74 00:05:02,640 --> 00:05:06,200 Speaker 1: rapid expansion left little time to establish anything but loose 75 00:05:06,279 --> 00:05:11,719 Speaker 1: laws and enforcement. As you might imagine crime escalated. U 76 00:05:11,839 --> 00:05:14,599 Speaker 1: s marshals and the army became the policing force when 77 00:05:14,680 --> 00:05:17,680 Speaker 1: nothing else was available, But with so many colonists, the 78 00:05:17,680 --> 00:05:21,479 Speaker 1: allotted law enforcement barely made a dent. So in the 79 00:05:21,520 --> 00:05:24,880 Speaker 1: decades after the Civil War, the government focused on reducing 80 00:05:24,960 --> 00:05:28,320 Speaker 1: what had essentially become a free for all. In Western settlements, 81 00:05:28,880 --> 00:05:33,479 Speaker 1: the territorial governors were appointed. Unfortunately, for most towns, the 82 00:05:33,520 --> 00:05:36,400 Speaker 1: elected officials were as corrupt as the criminals they sought 83 00:05:36,400 --> 00:05:41,400 Speaker 1: to arrest. Boom towns, especially ones with profitable minds, led 84 00:05:41,440 --> 00:05:45,000 Speaker 1: to an increase in gambling, saloons, and the sex worker industry, 85 00:05:45,360 --> 00:05:48,200 Speaker 1: which breaked in a small fortune for the pimps and madam's, 86 00:05:48,320 --> 00:05:53,000 Speaker 1: but never the workers. Mining towns grew the fastest and 87 00:05:53,040 --> 00:05:56,880 Speaker 1: became highly prosperous, from pure gold nuggets to ores of 88 00:05:56,920 --> 00:06:00,520 Speaker 1: all kinds, stories of striking it rich lord more people 89 00:06:00,600 --> 00:06:03,520 Speaker 1: from the East Coast to places like Butte, Montana for 90 00:06:03,560 --> 00:06:08,040 Speaker 1: the copper or the silver rich Virginia City, Nevada, and 91 00:06:08,120 --> 00:06:10,919 Speaker 1: wherever there was money to be made. Con artists and 92 00:06:11,000 --> 00:06:15,800 Speaker 1: thieves found plenty of opportunities to bandits, robbed stage coaches 93 00:06:15,839 --> 00:06:20,080 Speaker 1: and trains. Though easy money wasn't without risk. Thieves often 94 00:06:20,080 --> 00:06:22,360 Speaker 1: found themselves looking down the barrel of a sawed off 95 00:06:22,360 --> 00:06:25,960 Speaker 1: shotgun or two. And sure, we've all heard about train 96 00:06:26,080 --> 00:06:30,600 Speaker 1: and coach robberies, but no one was necessarily safe. Solitary 97 00:06:30,600 --> 00:06:33,440 Speaker 1: travelers and those on foot in town after dark made 98 00:06:33,440 --> 00:06:38,640 Speaker 1: easy targets. Most outlaws took refuge in remote passes, the 99 00:06:38,680 --> 00:06:42,640 Speaker 1: open range or the bad lands. Yet other towns welcomed 100 00:06:42,640 --> 00:06:46,200 Speaker 1: the men. At first. Most were veterans from the war 101 00:06:46,360 --> 00:06:50,240 Speaker 1: and putting their violent training to use. But as dangerous 102 00:06:50,279 --> 00:06:53,440 Speaker 1: as these outlawed towns where people living in cities back 103 00:06:53,440 --> 00:06:57,520 Speaker 1: east romanticized them too. Urban dwellers people out west were 104 00:06:57,520 --> 00:07:01,880 Speaker 1: rebels living in a free society. Poorer classes saw the 105 00:07:01,920 --> 00:07:05,080 Speaker 1: towns as a united group of other less fortunates, taking 106 00:07:05,080 --> 00:07:07,919 Speaker 1: what they deserved what was owed them from the wealthy. 107 00:07:08,400 --> 00:07:10,880 Speaker 1: From their point of view, the rich were hoarding money 108 00:07:10,880 --> 00:07:13,800 Speaker 1: in resources. If a few outlaws robbed the rich, it 109 00:07:13,960 --> 00:07:18,600 Speaker 1: sounded like fairy tale justice, robbing from the rich and 110 00:07:18,760 --> 00:07:23,320 Speaker 1: giving to the poor. Despite the small technicality that few 111 00:07:23,360 --> 00:07:26,080 Speaker 1: of these outlaws ever spread the wealth. The story of 112 00:07:26,160 --> 00:07:29,920 Speaker 1: Robin Hood had made the jump across the pond, and 113 00:07:30,280 --> 00:07:34,160 Speaker 1: thanks to American author and illustrator Howard Pyle captured the 114 00:07:34,200 --> 00:07:39,640 Speaker 1: public's imagination. Pyle adapted the English tale for American children. 115 00:07:40,320 --> 00:07:42,920 Speaker 1: In the original telling, Robin Hood was a thief who 116 00:07:42,960 --> 00:07:47,080 Speaker 1: was hardly a philanthropist. But in eighteen nineteen, Sir Walter 117 00:07:47,200 --> 00:07:50,400 Speaker 1: Scott introduced the character as a kinder thief set on 118 00:07:50,560 --> 00:07:54,320 Speaker 1: doing more good than harm, and Pile tweaked a few 119 00:07:54,320 --> 00:07:56,520 Speaker 1: things to make the character more of a hero for 120 00:07:56,560 --> 00:08:00,840 Speaker 1: the common folk. The reframing of the legend root and 121 00:08:00,920 --> 00:08:03,800 Speaker 1: Americans thought of Robin Hood as the protector of the week, 122 00:08:05,120 --> 00:08:07,600 Speaker 1: and since it wouldn't do for the American desperado to 123 00:08:07,640 --> 00:08:11,520 Speaker 1: wear tights. The idea of the character and reality of 124 00:08:11,600 --> 00:08:15,560 Speaker 1: life out West morphed a bit, and tales of icons 125 00:08:15,640 --> 00:08:19,040 Speaker 1: like Jesse James and Billy the Kid softened over the years. 126 00:08:20,520 --> 00:08:24,040 Speaker 1: By the eight nineties, thanks to Piles version, plenty of 127 00:08:24,080 --> 00:08:27,960 Speaker 1: Wild West outlaws also believed they were modern day Robin Hoods. 128 00:08:28,520 --> 00:08:30,880 Speaker 1: They built on the public's love of the idea of 129 00:08:30,920 --> 00:08:34,920 Speaker 1: the anti hero, when in reality they weren't particularly giving 130 00:08:35,080 --> 00:08:38,920 Speaker 1: or caring. More often than not, outlaws saw the persona 131 00:08:39,000 --> 00:08:43,040 Speaker 1: as an opportunity to line their own pockets and across 132 00:08:43,080 --> 00:08:46,200 Speaker 1: the bad lands. That was all the justification they needed 133 00:08:59,559 --> 00:09:03,280 Speaker 1: to Outlaws were James and his brother Jesse, who had 134 00:09:03,280 --> 00:09:07,720 Speaker 1: both served as bushwhackers During Civil War, both the Union 135 00:09:07,760 --> 00:09:11,120 Speaker 1: and Confederate armies employed men to ambush the other side, 136 00:09:11,440 --> 00:09:15,839 Speaker 1: wearing them down by attrition and guerrilla warfare. Unlike their 137 00:09:15,880 --> 00:09:20,840 Speaker 1: military counterparts, though, bushwhackers didn't wear uniforms, and while they 138 00:09:20,920 --> 00:09:26,160 Speaker 1: conducted well organized raids, they mostly ambushed individuals and raided homes. 139 00:09:27,600 --> 00:09:30,480 Speaker 1: The goal was to demoralize and to stabilize the opponent 140 00:09:30,559 --> 00:09:36,160 Speaker 1: physically and mentally. Killing, hostage taking, arson, and torture were common. 141 00:09:37,000 --> 00:09:40,240 Speaker 1: They were hired to be bands of terrorists, hardly the 142 00:09:40,240 --> 00:09:42,920 Speaker 1: good Samaritans James and Jesse made themselves out to be. 143 00:09:44,600 --> 00:09:47,440 Speaker 1: When the war ended, Jesse and his brother continued these 144 00:09:47,440 --> 00:09:51,559 Speaker 1: tactics for profit. Though the brothers didn't particularly hide the 145 00:09:51,600 --> 00:09:54,280 Speaker 1: fact that the members of the James Gang were robbers 146 00:09:54,280 --> 00:09:57,720 Speaker 1: and killers, they played up the romanticism of the wild West. 147 00:09:57,760 --> 00:10:01,840 Speaker 1: Outlaw Jesse had on commonly good looks, and both he 148 00:10:01,960 --> 00:10:04,680 Speaker 1: and his brother were polite to the townsfolk when they 149 00:10:04,720 --> 00:10:09,000 Speaker 1: weren't robbing them. Together, they held up the Clay County 150 00:10:09,040 --> 00:10:13,680 Speaker 1: Savings Association in Liberty, Missouri. Making off was sixty thousand dollars. 151 00:10:14,320 --> 00:10:17,280 Speaker 1: The hold up was bold, the first daylight bank robbery 152 00:10:17,360 --> 00:10:21,000 Speaker 1: in US history. The brothers killed one person in the heist. 153 00:10:21,960 --> 00:10:24,920 Speaker 1: They robbed more banks and trains in stage coaches with 154 00:10:25,040 --> 00:10:30,400 Speaker 1: increasing frequency. Finally, the local residents had enough. After a 155 00:10:30,440 --> 00:10:35,040 Speaker 1: botched bank robbery, the townsfolks showed up with shotguns. The 156 00:10:35,040 --> 00:10:38,800 Speaker 1: original gang disbanded after that. A new formation didn't last 157 00:10:38,840 --> 00:10:42,120 Speaker 1: long either. The saying that there's no honor among thieves 158 00:10:42,280 --> 00:10:46,160 Speaker 1: proved true. Member after member turned on the other's wing, 159 00:10:46,240 --> 00:10:49,359 Speaker 1: caught or to line their pockets with the reward money. 160 00:10:50,440 --> 00:10:53,720 Speaker 1: In one Jesse moved his family away in an attempt 161 00:10:53,800 --> 00:10:57,679 Speaker 1: to quit the life of crime, lured by a handsome reward. 162 00:10:58,080 --> 00:11:00,679 Speaker 1: A member of the bob Ford Gangs because fully hunted 163 00:11:00,760 --> 00:11:05,640 Speaker 1: Jessie down and killed him. Outlaws lived in a cutthroat world, 164 00:11:06,120 --> 00:11:10,760 Speaker 1: and men weren't the only ones choosing the lifestyle. Bell 165 00:11:10,920 --> 00:11:13,800 Speaker 1: Star came from a wealthy family, and she was well 166 00:11:13,920 --> 00:11:17,320 Speaker 1: educated and learned to play the piano. During the war, 167 00:11:17,440 --> 00:11:20,880 Speaker 1: her family moved to Texas, where they encountered Jesse and James. 168 00:11:21,640 --> 00:11:24,520 Speaker 1: Bell's brother Bud, had had something in common with the brothers. 169 00:11:24,840 --> 00:11:27,439 Speaker 1: He was a Confederate bushwhacker, though he had been killed 170 00:11:27,440 --> 00:11:31,600 Speaker 1: in the war. Groomed to be a proper lady, Bell 171 00:11:31,800 --> 00:11:34,760 Speaker 1: soon married a family friend, Jim Reid, and the couple 172 00:11:34,800 --> 00:11:38,480 Speaker 1: had three children. Living the life of the average wife 173 00:11:38,640 --> 00:11:43,160 Speaker 1: wasn't exactly in her cards. Though Bell excelled at riding 174 00:11:43,160 --> 00:11:45,199 Speaker 1: side saddle and was a great shot with her pair 175 00:11:45,240 --> 00:11:48,640 Speaker 1: of pistols. Jim didn't mind his wife's rough around the 176 00:11:48,679 --> 00:11:52,079 Speaker 1: edge's attitude. He was involved in a few gangs, including 177 00:11:52,120 --> 00:11:56,440 Speaker 1: the younger James Bunch. In eighteen seventy four, Jim was killed, 178 00:11:56,800 --> 00:12:00,680 Speaker 1: leaving Bell's life in turmoil. She eventually married again with 179 00:12:00,679 --> 00:12:04,600 Speaker 1: a Cherokee man named Sam Starr in eighteen eighty. Together 180 00:12:04,679 --> 00:12:08,000 Speaker 1: the two orchestrated the stealing and selling of horses and cattle. 181 00:12:09,280 --> 00:12:12,600 Speaker 1: Bell also made and sold moonshine. All went well for 182 00:12:12,760 --> 00:12:16,960 Speaker 1: three years until Bass Reeves, a Deputy marshal, arrested them 183 00:12:16,960 --> 00:12:20,200 Speaker 1: for horse theft, and she served nine months in prison, 184 00:12:20,480 --> 00:12:25,520 Speaker 1: remaining a model prisoner and earning her early release. Tragedy 185 00:12:25,600 --> 00:12:29,680 Speaker 1: struck again when Frank West, Sam's cousin, shot and killed him. 186 00:12:29,800 --> 00:12:33,400 Speaker 1: Widowed once more, Bell vowed never remarry and enjoyed the 187 00:12:33,440 --> 00:12:38,400 Speaker 1: company of a variety of men. On February three, eight nine, 188 00:12:38,720 --> 00:12:42,000 Speaker 1: someone ambushed Bell as she rode home one night. The 189 00:12:42,080 --> 00:12:45,600 Speaker 1: killer's first shot knocked her from her horse. The second shot, 190 00:12:45,760 --> 00:12:49,880 Speaker 1: allegedly with her own shotgun, killed her, but Bell's legend 191 00:12:49,920 --> 00:12:55,600 Speaker 1: and near hero status still lives on. Billy the Kid 192 00:12:55,640 --> 00:12:58,640 Speaker 1: lost both his parents at a relatively young age, forcing 193 00:12:58,720 --> 00:13:01,600 Speaker 1: him to find ways to support him elf. After stealing 194 00:13:01,640 --> 00:13:04,880 Speaker 1: clothes as a prank, he found himself in jail. Being 195 00:13:04,960 --> 00:13:08,200 Speaker 1: thin and agile, he escaped through a chimney, making him 196 00:13:08,200 --> 00:13:11,760 Speaker 1: a fugitive. He worked at ranches and logging camps for 197 00:13:11,800 --> 00:13:15,480 Speaker 1: a while, a sporting a baby face, Billy was often 198 00:13:15,520 --> 00:13:18,560 Speaker 1: bullied until one day he had had enough and he 199 00:13:18,679 --> 00:13:22,080 Speaker 1: murdered one of his tormentors. A gang known as the 200 00:13:22,120 --> 00:13:25,400 Speaker 1: Boys took him under their wing. After another stint in 201 00:13:25,440 --> 00:13:28,480 Speaker 1: prison and another escape, he formed his own gang, called 202 00:13:28,480 --> 00:13:32,320 Speaker 1: the Wrestlers. After a third prison escape that left two 203 00:13:32,320 --> 00:13:35,320 Speaker 1: guards dead and placed a bounty on his head. Billy's 204 00:13:35,360 --> 00:13:37,360 Speaker 1: life ended at just twenty one years of age in 205 00:13:38,040 --> 00:13:41,920 Speaker 1: one when a sheriff shot him. Ever, the escape artist, 206 00:13:42,160 --> 00:13:45,160 Speaker 1: some legends state Billy didn't die that night, and his 207 00:13:45,280 --> 00:13:49,680 Speaker 1: body isn't the one buried at Fort Sumter. Like Belle, 208 00:13:49,880 --> 00:13:52,920 Speaker 1: Jesse and James, the legend of Billy the Kid lived 209 00:13:52,960 --> 00:13:57,079 Speaker 1: on long after his death. Other outlaws also found fame, 210 00:13:57,400 --> 00:14:00,400 Speaker 1: though it wasn't because of how they lived their life. No, 211 00:14:00,960 --> 00:14:04,680 Speaker 1: their fame came after their death and for far less 212 00:14:04,720 --> 00:14:14,320 Speaker 1: glamorous reasons. Seventeen year old Sadie McCurdy refused to name 213 00:14:14,360 --> 00:14:18,160 Speaker 1: the father of her newborn son, knowing the family, many 214 00:14:18,280 --> 00:14:22,280 Speaker 1: speculated that her older, married cousin was the father. In 215 00:14:22,400 --> 00:14:25,680 Speaker 1: eighteen eighty, children born out of Webbock, especially between a 216 00:14:25,720 --> 00:14:29,760 Speaker 1: married man and a single woman, were a scandal. To 217 00:14:29,840 --> 00:14:32,560 Speaker 1: save Sadie from the shame, her brother George and his 218 00:14:32,600 --> 00:14:36,520 Speaker 1: wife Helen, offered to raise little Elmer, a tragedy struck 219 00:14:36,520 --> 00:14:41,480 Speaker 1: in eighteen ninety though, when George died from tuberculosis, Helen, Sadie, 220 00:14:41,480 --> 00:14:45,440 Speaker 1: and Elmer moved to Bangor, Maine. Though Sadie was back 221 00:14:45,480 --> 00:14:47,880 Speaker 1: in the picture, the two women agreed that Helen would 222 00:14:47,920 --> 00:14:51,120 Speaker 1: raise him as her son. Elmer was none the wiser 223 00:14:51,360 --> 00:14:56,520 Speaker 1: until Sadie couldn't keep the secret any longer. Now a teenager, 224 00:14:56,640 --> 00:14:59,160 Speaker 1: Elmer didn't take to the news in the way Sadie 225 00:14:59,160 --> 00:15:02,920 Speaker 1: had hoped. Saddened that his father had abandoned him and 226 00:15:03,000 --> 00:15:06,040 Speaker 1: his mother hadn't been fully honest or present with him, 227 00:15:06,080 --> 00:15:10,440 Speaker 1: he took to heavy drinking and troublemaking. Within a couple 228 00:15:10,440 --> 00:15:13,200 Speaker 1: of years, Elmer moved in with his grandfather, who hired 229 00:15:13,280 --> 00:15:16,600 Speaker 1: him as an apprentice in his plumbing business. When the 230 00:15:16,640 --> 00:15:20,000 Speaker 1: economy spiraled downward in eighteen ninety eight, he lost his 231 00:15:20,080 --> 00:15:23,920 Speaker 1: job and returned home to his mother and aunt. Two 232 00:15:24,000 --> 00:15:28,120 Speaker 1: years later, Sadie died from a bleeding ulcer. Now twenty, 233 00:15:28,120 --> 00:15:31,440 Speaker 1: Elmer left Maine and wandered the East Coast, taking on 234 00:15:31,560 --> 00:15:34,920 Speaker 1: odd jobs as a plumber or miner, though his alcoholism 235 00:15:34,920 --> 00:15:39,320 Speaker 1: made it hard to hold down steady employment. In nineteen 236 00:15:39,320 --> 00:15:42,560 Speaker 1: o five, he moved to Kansas. After his arrest for 237 00:15:42,600 --> 00:15:46,560 Speaker 1: public intoxication, he relocated to Missouri and joined the Army 238 00:15:46,640 --> 00:15:50,600 Speaker 1: in nineteen o seven. With minimal training, He was assigned 239 00:15:50,600 --> 00:15:54,120 Speaker 1: to Fort Leavenworth as part of a demolition team, and 240 00:15:54,160 --> 00:15:57,520 Speaker 1: when his service ended, Elmer took a few souvenirs and 241 00:15:57,640 --> 00:16:01,240 Speaker 1: returned to Kansas, where he reconnected with an old army buddy. 242 00:16:01,800 --> 00:16:06,360 Speaker 1: But the Army missed the chisels hack saws, funnels, nitroglycer in, gunpowder, 243 00:16:06,440 --> 00:16:10,160 Speaker 1: and money sacks, and police were dispatched to arrest Elmer 244 00:16:10,240 --> 00:16:14,000 Speaker 1: and his friend. The case went to court, where Elmer 245 00:16:14,080 --> 00:16:16,240 Speaker 1: managed to convince the judge that it had all been 246 00:16:16,280 --> 00:16:19,440 Speaker 1: a misunderstanding. He and his friend were still in the 247 00:16:19,560 --> 00:16:21,920 Speaker 1: army and the supplies were needed to work on a 248 00:16:21,960 --> 00:16:25,720 Speaker 1: new machine gun innovation. The lie worked and they were 249 00:16:25,720 --> 00:16:30,280 Speaker 1: found not guilty. In reality, Elmer and his buddy, along 250 00:16:30,280 --> 00:16:33,360 Speaker 1: with a few other former enlisted, planned to use the 251 00:16:33,440 --> 00:16:36,640 Speaker 1: nitro and the gunpowder to rob a Pacific Express train 252 00:16:36,800 --> 00:16:41,440 Speaker 1: carrying four thousand dollars in March of nineteen eleven. The 253 00:16:41,480 --> 00:16:44,240 Speaker 1: men hopped aboard the train and planted a nitroglycer in 254 00:16:44,320 --> 00:16:47,640 Speaker 1: charge in front of the safe. As the men expected, 255 00:16:47,680 --> 00:16:52,080 Speaker 1: the charge went off, though unexpectedly and spectacularly larger than 256 00:16:52,080 --> 00:16:55,640 Speaker 1: they had planned. The explosion blew shards of the safe 257 00:16:55,640 --> 00:16:58,240 Speaker 1: into the train's walls and melted most of the silver 258 00:16:58,360 --> 00:17:01,200 Speaker 1: that sought to steal. The men got away with just 259 00:17:01,320 --> 00:17:06,520 Speaker 1: four hundred and fifty dollars in coins. Undeterred, Elmer set 260 00:17:06,520 --> 00:17:09,520 Speaker 1: his sights on the next heist, a bank. The group 261 00:17:09,560 --> 00:17:11,879 Speaker 1: broke into the bank in the middle of the night again, 262 00:17:12,040 --> 00:17:16,000 Speaker 1: he used nitro. This time, the explosion blew the door 263 00:17:16,040 --> 00:17:19,800 Speaker 1: off but didn't dent the safe inside the vault. The 264 00:17:19,840 --> 00:17:23,399 Speaker 1: explosion woke half the town and men fled, this time 265 00:17:23,400 --> 00:17:25,840 Speaker 1: with a hundred and fifty dollars in coins that found 266 00:17:25,840 --> 00:17:29,439 Speaker 1: in the change trays outside the safe. The group split 267 00:17:29,520 --> 00:17:32,040 Speaker 1: up after that. Two men hopped to train to the 268 00:17:32,119 --> 00:17:35,879 Speaker 1: Kansas border. Elmer went to a friend's ranch. He spent 269 00:17:35,920 --> 00:17:39,000 Speaker 1: most of his days hiding in the haystacks and drinking heavily. 270 00:17:40,560 --> 00:17:45,280 Speaker 1: On October four, n Elmer tried robbing another train, This 271 00:17:45,320 --> 00:17:48,960 Speaker 1: one's supposedly carrying four hundred thousand dollars in cash slated 272 00:17:49,080 --> 00:17:52,760 Speaker 1: as a royalty payment to the O Sage Nation. Unfortunately 273 00:17:52,840 --> 00:17:55,720 Speaker 1: for Elmer and his men, they robbed the wrong train, 274 00:17:56,680 --> 00:17:59,879 Speaker 1: had stopped a passenger train instead. They got away with 275 00:18:00,040 --> 00:18:03,520 Speaker 1: forty six dollars, some whiskey, a revolver, a coat, and 276 00:18:03,640 --> 00:18:07,240 Speaker 1: the conductor's watch. A local paper reported that the men 277 00:18:07,359 --> 00:18:10,240 Speaker 1: had the dubious honor of pulling off the smallest take 278 00:18:10,320 --> 00:18:14,480 Speaker 1: in the history of train robbery. Depressed, Elmer returned to 279 00:18:14,480 --> 00:18:17,720 Speaker 1: his friend's ranch and drank the whiskey, and by now 280 00:18:17,840 --> 00:18:21,280 Speaker 1: he wasn't doing so well. He had developed tuberculosis and 281 00:18:21,440 --> 00:18:25,959 Speaker 1: had mild pneumonia and a case of roundworms. Feeling poorly, 282 00:18:26,119 --> 00:18:28,919 Speaker 1: he stumbled off to sleep in a hay loft. Just 283 00:18:29,040 --> 00:18:32,600 Speaker 1: before dawn. A posse of three sheriffs and bloodhounds tracked 284 00:18:32,640 --> 00:18:36,399 Speaker 1: him to the barn. Around seven am. Elmer awoke to 285 00:18:36,440 --> 00:18:40,440 Speaker 1: the commotion outside. He and the sheriff's exchange shots until 286 00:18:40,480 --> 00:18:43,199 Speaker 1: Elmer took a direct hit to the chest, cutting his 287 00:18:43,280 --> 00:18:47,159 Speaker 1: life short. But it was also the moment where his 288 00:18:47,280 --> 00:19:00,480 Speaker 1: true journey into fame began. Like most criminals of his day, 289 00:19:00,720 --> 00:19:05,520 Speaker 1: Elmer's body wasn't claimed by family or friends. Normally, unclaimed 290 00:19:05,520 --> 00:19:09,600 Speaker 1: cadavers were shipped off to medical schools. Yet some Embalmer's 291 00:19:09,680 --> 00:19:15,360 Speaker 1: had other plans for bodies display. The practice was meant 292 00:19:15,359 --> 00:19:19,160 Speaker 1: to market their services, and funeral director Joseph Johnson thought 293 00:19:19,160 --> 00:19:23,359 Speaker 1: Elmer would make a fine advertisement. He positioned the former 294 00:19:23,400 --> 00:19:25,480 Speaker 1: outlaw in the funeral home with a gun at his 295 00:19:25,560 --> 00:19:28,359 Speaker 1: side and a sign that read the bandit who Wouldn't 296 00:19:28,400 --> 00:19:32,399 Speaker 1: give up. Crowds paid five cents to see Elmer's body. 297 00:19:32,960 --> 00:19:36,400 Speaker 1: As each person passed, they deposited the coins into Elmer's mouth. 298 00:19:37,320 --> 00:19:40,440 Speaker 1: Carnivals heard about the Embalmer's fortune and offered to buy 299 00:19:40,440 --> 00:19:44,840 Speaker 1: the corpse. Johnson refused to sell. The two men claiming 300 00:19:44,840 --> 00:19:48,080 Speaker 1: to be Elmer's brothers demanded the funeral home handover Elmer 301 00:19:48,160 --> 00:19:51,120 Speaker 1: so that they could properly bury him. In reality, they 302 00:19:51,119 --> 00:19:55,240 Speaker 1: were Carney's looking to make a fast buck. Once in possession, 303 00:19:55,440 --> 00:19:58,800 Speaker 1: they set Elmer up in sideshow tents. His body journeyed 304 00:19:58,800 --> 00:20:01,399 Speaker 1: with the carnival from town to down. When he no 305 00:20:01,480 --> 00:20:03,560 Speaker 1: longer brought in money, the brothers sold him to the 306 00:20:03,600 --> 00:20:08,520 Speaker 1: Traveling Museum of Crime in nine two. For years, his 307 00:20:08,600 --> 00:20:10,800 Speaker 1: body was sold from one gig to the next and 308 00:20:10,840 --> 00:20:14,679 Speaker 1: traveled around the country. By nine thirty three, his courts 309 00:20:14,680 --> 00:20:19,400 Speaker 1: had deteriorated quite a bit, partially bummafying Hollywood crew bought 310 00:20:19,480 --> 00:20:22,359 Speaker 1: him as promotional material for a film about narcotics and 311 00:20:22,400 --> 00:20:26,160 Speaker 1: the effects they had on attics. From time to time, 312 00:20:26,240 --> 00:20:29,320 Speaker 1: the studio loaned him out. At one point, Elmer was 313 00:20:29,359 --> 00:20:31,560 Speaker 1: strapped to the top of a car like a Christmas tree. 314 00:20:32,600 --> 00:20:35,080 Speaker 1: In nineteen sixty seven, he was a prop in a 315 00:20:35,119 --> 00:20:38,119 Speaker 1: horror movie. The following year, he was sold to the 316 00:20:38,119 --> 00:20:41,400 Speaker 1: Hollywood Wax Museum, though they decided to store him instead 317 00:20:41,400 --> 00:20:45,320 Speaker 1: of putting him on display. Two weeks before Christmas in 318 00:20:45,440 --> 00:20:48,800 Speaker 1: nineteen seventy six, the crew of the hit television show 319 00:20:48,880 --> 00:20:52,040 Speaker 1: The Six Million Dollar Man began filming an episode titled 320 00:20:52,200 --> 00:20:56,600 Speaker 1: Carnival of Spies inside a fun house. Elmer, thought to 321 00:20:56,640 --> 00:20:59,399 Speaker 1: be a wax mannequin, was spray painted glow in the 322 00:20:59,440 --> 00:21:03,760 Speaker 1: dark orange jin hung from a display gallows. But when 323 00:21:03,760 --> 00:21:07,399 Speaker 1: Elmore's arms snapped off, the cast and crew realized with 324 00:21:07,560 --> 00:21:10,720 Speaker 1: great horror that the body wasn't made of wax at all. 325 00:21:12,119 --> 00:21:15,359 Speaker 1: The corner had difficulty determining whom body had belonged to. 326 00:21:16,359 --> 00:21:18,399 Speaker 1: His only clues were a pair of tickets to the 327 00:21:18,480 --> 00:21:23,879 Speaker 1: Museum of Crime and a penny from Finally, in nine 328 00:21:25,119 --> 00:21:30,439 Speaker 1: investigators identified Elmer McCarty. He was laid to rest in Guthrie, Oklahoma, 329 00:21:30,800 --> 00:21:34,320 Speaker 1: a spectacle to the last. Over three d people gathered 330 00:21:34,320 --> 00:21:38,040 Speaker 1: to watch the internment. While he wasn't a great outlaw, 331 00:21:38,240 --> 00:21:41,119 Speaker 1: McCarty was laid to rest alongside the corpse of someone 332 00:21:41,160 --> 00:21:44,760 Speaker 1: who was Bill doolan founder of the Wild Bunch Gang 333 00:21:45,160 --> 00:21:47,800 Speaker 1: who had also once been put on display in that 334 00:21:47,960 --> 00:21:57,920 Speaker 1: funeral director's parlor. There's the lord of this story stick 335 00:21:58,000 --> 00:22:00,720 Speaker 1: around after this brief sponsor break to are all about it. 336 00:22:06,640 --> 00:22:09,280 Speaker 1: Everyone knows Robin Hood and his rob from the rich 337 00:22:09,359 --> 00:22:12,480 Speaker 1: end give to the poor routine. But on the other 338 00:22:12,640 --> 00:22:15,800 Speaker 1: end of the hero spectrum there are some truly legendary 339 00:22:15,920 --> 00:22:20,719 Speaker 1: law enforcement officers. Born in Crawford County, Arkansas, in eighteen 340 00:22:20,760 --> 00:22:24,400 Speaker 1: thirty eight, Bass Reeves and his parents were enslaved by 341 00:22:24,520 --> 00:22:28,960 Speaker 1: state Legislator William Steele Reeves. In eighteen forty six, the 342 00:22:29,000 --> 00:22:32,119 Speaker 1: family was given to the legislator's son, George, a colonel 343 00:22:32,240 --> 00:22:36,119 Speaker 1: living in Texas. When the Civil War started in eighteen 344 00:22:36,160 --> 00:22:39,680 Speaker 1: sixty one, George sided with the Confederate Army and took 345 00:22:39,760 --> 00:22:43,400 Speaker 1: twenty three year old Base with him. During a fight 346 00:22:43,480 --> 00:22:45,920 Speaker 1: over a card game one night, the two got into 347 00:22:45,960 --> 00:22:50,280 Speaker 1: a brawl. Base fled, knowing that as an enslaved black man, 348 00:22:50,680 --> 00:22:54,360 Speaker 1: would pay with his life. He found shelter with local 349 00:22:54,440 --> 00:22:57,120 Speaker 1: Native Americans who had been forced off their homeland into 350 00:22:57,200 --> 00:23:01,679 Speaker 1: what was known as Indian Territory and Corporated Independent Lands. 351 00:23:02,920 --> 00:23:05,320 Speaker 1: Bass was a fast learner, and they taught him their 352 00:23:05,400 --> 00:23:10,399 Speaker 1: languages and customs quickly. After the war, he returned to Arkansas. 353 00:23:10,400 --> 00:23:14,399 Speaker 1: A freeman. Bass took to farming, but after a decade 354 00:23:14,480 --> 00:23:19,200 Speaker 1: he grew restless. Then U S. Marshal James Fagin made 355 00:23:19,240 --> 00:23:22,520 Speaker 1: him an offer to return to the territories. The Marshal 356 00:23:22,560 --> 00:23:25,679 Speaker 1: had heard about the intimidating man with a loud, burly 357 00:23:25,800 --> 00:23:29,240 Speaker 1: voice who carried a Winchester forty four. He had been 358 00:23:29,280 --> 00:23:33,040 Speaker 1: an incredible sharpshooter, and Fagin thought Bass would excel in 359 00:23:33,119 --> 00:23:37,080 Speaker 1: law enforcement. He was the first black deputy west of 360 00:23:37,080 --> 00:23:40,920 Speaker 1: the Mississippi and had reigned hunt down any outlaw, regardless 361 00:23:40,960 --> 00:23:44,119 Speaker 1: of race. Of controversial appointment for a black man at 362 00:23:44,119 --> 00:23:48,040 Speaker 1: the time. He had also worked alongside the famous hanging 363 00:23:48,119 --> 00:23:51,560 Speaker 1: judge Isaac Parker, who presided over the largest criminal court 364 00:23:51,600 --> 00:23:56,280 Speaker 1: in the country. The job description was simple, bring back outlaws, 365 00:23:56,400 --> 00:24:00,960 Speaker 1: debt or alive. Bass accepted the badge on his chest 366 00:24:01,040 --> 00:24:04,320 Speaker 1: and two Colt pistols at his side. His already imposing 367 00:24:04,359 --> 00:24:07,240 Speaker 1: figure caught everyone's attention when he rode through a town 368 00:24:07,400 --> 00:24:12,639 Speaker 1: on his huge white stallion. Bass was creative, frequently wearing 369 00:24:12,680 --> 00:24:16,720 Speaker 1: disguises and creating new identities, and sometimes he portrayed himself 370 00:24:16,720 --> 00:24:19,480 Speaker 1: as a farmer, a gun slinger, or even an outlaw. 371 00:24:20,720 --> 00:24:22,959 Speaker 1: His time with the Native Americans had also taught him 372 00:24:23,040 --> 00:24:26,760 Speaker 1: patience and tracking. Those skills came in a handy While 373 00:24:26,840 --> 00:24:31,280 Speaker 1: hunting down a notorious horse thief, Bass deduced which trail 374 00:24:31,400 --> 00:24:34,120 Speaker 1: the man had used and then hid along the river bank. 375 00:24:35,480 --> 00:24:38,640 Speaker 1: Four days later, the wrestler walked right into Bass's path. 376 00:24:39,359 --> 00:24:41,679 Speaker 1: He reached for his gun, but Bass fired a warning 377 00:24:41,720 --> 00:24:45,600 Speaker 1: shop before the man could even draw. During another pursuit, 378 00:24:45,960 --> 00:24:48,440 Speaker 1: Base and a posse tracked two brothers into the Red 379 00:24:48,520 --> 00:24:51,840 Speaker 1: River Valley along the Texas border. Thinking that the men 380 00:24:51,880 --> 00:24:54,920 Speaker 1: had hold themselves up in their mother's cabin, Bass came 381 00:24:54,960 --> 00:24:57,919 Speaker 1: up with a plan. He disguised himself as a beggar, 382 00:24:58,320 --> 00:25:01,919 Speaker 1: all the while hiding his hand ups and gun. He 383 00:25:02,000 --> 00:25:04,000 Speaker 1: knocked on the door and pleaded with the woman who 384 00:25:04,080 --> 00:25:07,640 Speaker 1: answered for food. Pitying the stranger, she let him in 385 00:25:08,880 --> 00:25:11,320 Speaker 1: as he ate. Bass told her he was an outlaw 386 00:25:11,400 --> 00:25:14,879 Speaker 1: down on his luck. Feeling a connection, she told him 387 00:25:14,880 --> 00:25:18,760 Speaker 1: about her sons and suggested they banded together. He agreed. 388 00:25:20,040 --> 00:25:23,520 Speaker 1: The woman stepped outside and whistled sharply. The two brothers 389 00:25:23,600 --> 00:25:26,600 Speaker 1: arrived shortly after, and the three men made plans to 390 00:25:26,640 --> 00:25:30,080 Speaker 1: team up. They offered him room for the night, and 391 00:25:30,160 --> 00:25:34,399 Speaker 1: Bass accepted. Once the men fell asleep, he quietly cuffed 392 00:25:34,400 --> 00:25:39,560 Speaker 1: the brothers together without waking them. At dawn, Bass marched 393 00:25:39,600 --> 00:25:43,400 Speaker 1: them at gunpoint to the awaiting posse for three miles. 394 00:25:43,400 --> 00:25:46,000 Speaker 1: The mother followed her son's cursing the man on the 395 00:25:46,000 --> 00:25:50,800 Speaker 1: white Horse the entire time. Later in his career, Bass 396 00:25:50,840 --> 00:25:54,480 Speaker 1: tracked Bill Dozer, jack of all trades and dangerous man. 397 00:25:54,680 --> 00:25:57,879 Speaker 1: Even when it came to outlaws. He was also elusive, 398 00:25:58,119 --> 00:26:02,639 Speaker 1: having escaped eleven other lawments. Those are sent Basse a 399 00:26:02,680 --> 00:26:06,760 Speaker 1: message stopped tracking him, or he'd kill him. Basse sent 400 00:26:06,840 --> 00:26:10,600 Speaker 1: a response. The outlaw was welcomed surrender anytime he was ready. 401 00:26:12,240 --> 00:26:15,520 Speaker 1: Bass and another lawman tracked Dozer to the Cherokee Hills. 402 00:26:16,240 --> 00:26:18,560 Speaker 1: When a storm broke out, the two men sought shelter. 403 00:26:19,440 --> 00:26:22,440 Speaker 1: Before they found a dry place, gunfire sent them for cover. 404 00:26:23,720 --> 00:26:26,679 Speaker 1: Bass clocked movement in the nearby trees and fired twice. 405 00:26:27,000 --> 00:26:31,679 Speaker 1: The shots were returned, followed by laughter. Bass ordered Dozer 406 00:26:31,800 --> 00:26:35,119 Speaker 1: to drop his weapon. Those are answered by raising his 407 00:26:35,200 --> 00:26:38,720 Speaker 1: rifle before he could aim, Bass shot him to the neck, 408 00:26:39,080 --> 00:26:43,640 Speaker 1: killing him. Throughout his thirty two year career, Bass arrested 409 00:26:43,680 --> 00:26:47,919 Speaker 1: over three thousand people and killed fourteen outlaws, all without 410 00:26:47,960 --> 00:26:52,120 Speaker 1: ever sustaining a single gunshot wound. Nearly a hundred years later, 411 00:26:52,400 --> 00:26:56,080 Speaker 1: his heroic actions became the inspiration for a legendary character, 412 00:26:57,400 --> 00:27:12,600 Speaker 1: the Lone Ranger. Yeah. American Shadows is hosted by Lauren Vogelbaum. 413 00:27:13,160 --> 00:27:17,320 Speaker 1: This episode was written by Michelle Muto, researched by Ali Steed, 414 00:27:17,520 --> 00:27:21,119 Speaker 1: and produced by Miranda Hawkins and Trevor Young, with executive 415 00:27:21,160 --> 00:27:25,880 Speaker 1: producers Aaron Mankey, Alex Williams, and Matt Frederick. To learn 416 00:27:25,880 --> 00:27:28,800 Speaker 1: more about the show, visit Grim and Mild dot com. 417 00:27:28,840 --> 00:27:32,200 Speaker 1: From more podcasts from iHeart Radio, visit the iHeart Radio app, 418 00:27:32,440 --> 00:27:35,600 Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.