Speaker 1: You're listening to American Shadows, a production of I Heart
Speaker 1: Radio and Grim and Mild from Aaron Manky. In the
Speaker 1: eighteen hundreds, women born to affluent families in the religious
Speaker 1: Deep South had their lives practically planned out for them
Speaker 1: at birth. They would learn to be quiet, demure, and charming.
Speaker 1: They would grow up in boarding schools, where they learned needlework,
Speaker 1: studied Bible verses, and were groomed for marriage. After becoming
Speaker 1: a suitable bride, they were expected to give their husbands airs.
Speaker 1: Their duties included child rearing, going to church, and supporting
Speaker 1: their husband's career. In their later years, they might hope
Speaker 1: to grow old surrounded by children and grandchildren, before passing
Speaker 1: away with any luck as quietly and gently as they lived.
Speaker 1: Pearl Heart wanted none of that. Born Pearl Taler in
Speaker 1: the Canadian village of Lindsay, Ontario, she originally moved within
Speaker 1: the strict guidelines expected of her, But at sixteen, when
Speaker 1: her parents sent her to boarding school, Pearl met Frederick
Speaker 1: Hart and decided her predetermined life wasn't for her. Her
Speaker 1: new beau wasn't exactly the kind of man her family
Speaker 1: approved of. He tended bar drank, heavily, gambled, and rarely
Speaker 1: missed an opportunity to sleep with any woman willing. It's
Speaker 1: unclear what Pearl saw in Frederick, but the two soon eloped.
Speaker 1: Perhaps she aimed to live an exciting life void of
Speaker 1: stuffy upper class rules. She quickly discovered it wasn't the
Speaker 1: exhilarating lifestyle she'd expected. Despite his promises, Frederick didn't change
Speaker 1: his ways, and he drank most of what he earned,
Speaker 1: leaving little for her or their two children. He became
Speaker 1: physically abusive. Pearl left a couple of times, but Frederick
Speaker 1: wooed her back. Eventually, To keep her children safe from
Speaker 1: their father, she sent them to live with relatives in Ohio.
Speaker 1: In she followed Frederick to Chicago, where he found work
Speaker 1: at the Chicago World's Fair as a sideshow barker. Pearl
Speaker 1: also took on a few jobs at the fair. One
Speaker 1: exhibit fascinated her, and so she spent her free time
Speaker 1: at the Wild West Exhibit, especially whenever Annie Oakley performed.
Speaker 1: She listened to speeches at the women's pavilion promoting equality
Speaker 1: and women's rights. Through those speeches, Pearl found the courage
Speaker 1: to leave Frederick. She headed West on a train to Trinidad,
Speaker 1: Colorado to start a new life. Pearl found work as
Speaker 1: a singer at a saloon. Frederick trapped her down and
Speaker 1: begged her to come back. Disappointed that heroes didn't walk
Speaker 1: the streets of the real wild West, she relented For
Speaker 1: a short while. Frederick changed He even found steady job,
Speaker 1: but it wasn't long before he went back to his
Speaker 1: old ways. One night in he knocked Pearl unconscious and
Speaker 1: left her alone again. Pearl drifted between her parents home
Speaker 1: and the West, taking on odd jobs to support herself. Later,
Speaker 1: she received a letter from her brother asking for money.
Speaker 1: Their mother was sick and needed medical attention. She asked
Speaker 1: the saloon patron by the name of Joe Boot for advice.
Speaker 1: She needed money and quick. Joe suggested they team up
Speaker 1: and rob a stagecoach, but to disguise her identity, Pearl
Speaker 1: cut her hair and dressed in Joe's clothing. Their first
Speaker 1: heist netted four hundred and fifty dollars. They ran but
Speaker 1: were soon captured. Pearl played up the role of Lady bandit.
Speaker 1: Before long she was signing autographs. The court was less
Speaker 1: enamored and sentenced her to five years in prison, where
Speaker 1: she maintained her celebrity status a model inmate. She was
Speaker 1: paroled in eighteen months. She faded into the sunset. Then,
Speaker 1: though there were rumors of Pearl resurfacing as a shop
Speaker 1: keep in Kansas or the wife of an Arizona rancher.
Speaker 1: Pearl became a ghost of the wild West, but some outlaws,
Speaker 1: like ghosts, hung around a while longer. I'm Lord Vogelbaum,
Speaker 1: Welcome to American Shadows. The Civil War decimated American life
Speaker 1: and livelihood, leaving many feeling lost. Financial hardships followed, and
Speaker 1: without the connections that once shared with their communities, people
Speaker 1: headed west for better or worse. Most were young men
Speaker 1: who had served in the military. Former soldiers from both
Speaker 1: North and South realized there were no winning sides when
Speaker 1: it came to war. The untamed West offered something they
Speaker 1: could create of their very own, a fresh start and
Speaker 1: a place to forget. The government pressed American citizens to
Speaker 1: colonize the new territories. Plots of land offered at low
Speaker 1: prices started a scramble to push Native Americans out. The
Speaker 1: rapid expansion left little time to establish anything but loose
Speaker 1: laws and enforcement. As you might imagine crime escalated. U
Speaker 1: s marshals and the army became the policing force when
Speaker 1: nothing else was available, But with so many colonists, the
Speaker 1: allotted law enforcement barely made a dent. So in the
Speaker 1: decades after the Civil War, the government focused on reducing
Speaker 1: what had essentially become a free for all. In Western settlements,
Speaker 1: the territorial governors were appointed. Unfortunately, for most towns, the
Speaker 1: elected officials were as corrupt as the criminals they sought
Speaker 1: to arrest. Boom towns, especially ones with profitable minds, led
Speaker 1: to an increase in gambling, saloons, and the sex worker industry,
Speaker 1: which breaked in a small fortune for the pimps and madam's,
Speaker 1: but never the workers. Mining towns grew the fastest and
Speaker 1: became highly prosperous, from pure gold nuggets to ores of
Speaker 1: all kinds, stories of striking it rich lord more people
Speaker 1: from the East Coast to places like Butte, Montana for
Speaker 1: the copper or the silver rich Virginia City, Nevada, and
Speaker 1: wherever there was money to be made. Con artists and
Speaker 1: thieves found plenty of opportunities to bandits, robbed stage coaches
Speaker 1: and trains. Though easy money wasn't without risk. Thieves often
Speaker 1: found themselves looking down the barrel of a sawed off
Speaker 1: shotgun or two. And sure, we've all heard about train
Speaker 1: and coach robberies, but no one was necessarily safe. Solitary
Speaker 1: travelers and those on foot in town after dark made
Speaker 1: easy targets. Most outlaws took refuge in remote passes, the
Speaker 1: open range or the bad lands. Yet other towns welcomed
Speaker 1: the men. At first. Most were veterans from the war
Speaker 1: and putting their violent training to use. But as dangerous
Speaker 1: as these outlawed towns where people living in cities back
Speaker 1: east romanticized them too. Urban dwellers people out west were
Speaker 1: rebels living in a free society. Poorer classes saw the
Speaker 1: towns as a united group of other less fortunates, taking
Speaker 1: what they deserved what was owed them from the wealthy.
Speaker 1: From their point of view, the rich were hoarding money
Speaker 1: in resources. If a few outlaws robbed the rich, it
Speaker 1: sounded like fairy tale justice, robbing from the rich and
Speaker 1: giving to the poor. Despite the small technicality that few
Speaker 1: of these outlaws ever spread the wealth. The story of
Speaker 1: Robin Hood had made the jump across the pond, and
Speaker 1: thanks to American author and illustrator Howard Pyle captured the
Speaker 1: public's imagination. Pyle adapted the English tale for American children.
Speaker 1: In the original telling, Robin Hood was a thief who
Speaker 1: was hardly a philanthropist. But in eighteen nineteen, Sir Walter
Speaker 1: Scott introduced the character as a kinder thief set on
Speaker 1: doing more good than harm, and Pile tweaked a few
Speaker 1: things to make the character more of a hero for
Speaker 1: the common folk. The reframing of the legend root and
Speaker 1: Americans thought of Robin Hood as the protector of the week,
Speaker 1: and since it wouldn't do for the American desperado to
Speaker 1: wear tights. The idea of the character and reality of
Speaker 1: life out West morphed a bit, and tales of icons
Speaker 1: like Jesse James and Billy the Kid softened over the years.
Speaker 1: By the eight nineties, thanks to Piles version, plenty of
Speaker 1: Wild West outlaws also believed they were modern day Robin Hoods.
Speaker 1: They built on the public's love of the idea of
Speaker 1: the anti hero, when in reality they weren't particularly giving
Speaker 1: or caring. More often than not, outlaws saw the persona
Speaker 1: as an opportunity to line their own pockets and across
Speaker 1: the bad lands. That was all the justification they needed
Speaker 1: to Outlaws were James and his brother Jesse, who had
Speaker 1: both served as bushwhackers During Civil War, both the Union
Speaker 1: and Confederate armies employed men to ambush the other side,
Speaker 1: wearing them down by attrition and guerrilla warfare. Unlike their
Speaker 1: military counterparts, though, bushwhackers didn't wear uniforms, and while they
Speaker 1: conducted well organized raids, they mostly ambushed individuals and raided homes.
Speaker 1: The goal was to demoralize and to stabilize the opponent
Speaker 1: physically and mentally. Killing, hostage taking, arson, and torture were common.
Speaker 1: They were hired to be bands of terrorists, hardly the
Speaker 1: good Samaritans James and Jesse made themselves out to be.
Speaker 1: When the war ended, Jesse and his brother continued these
Speaker 1: tactics for profit. Though the brothers didn't particularly hide the
Speaker 1: fact that the members of the James Gang were robbers
Speaker 1: and killers, they played up the romanticism of the wild West.
Speaker 1: Outlaw Jesse had on commonly good looks, and both he
Speaker 1: and his brother were polite to the townsfolk when they
Speaker 1: weren't robbing them. Together, they held up the Clay County
Speaker 1: Savings Association in Liberty, Missouri. Making off was sixty thousand dollars.
Speaker 1: The hold up was bold, the first daylight bank robbery
Speaker 1: in US history. The brothers killed one person in the heist.
Speaker 1: They robbed more banks and trains in stage coaches with
Speaker 1: increasing frequency. Finally, the local residents had enough. After a
Speaker 1: botched bank robbery, the townsfolks showed up with shotguns. The
Speaker 1: original gang disbanded after that. A new formation didn't last
Speaker 1: long either. The saying that there's no honor among thieves
Speaker 1: proved true. Member after member turned on the other's wing,
Speaker 1: caught or to line their pockets with the reward money.
Speaker 1: In one Jesse moved his family away in an attempt
Speaker 1: to quit the life of crime, lured by a handsome reward.
Speaker 1: A member of the bob Ford Gangs because fully hunted
Speaker 1: Jessie down and killed him. Outlaws lived in a cutthroat world,
Speaker 1: and men weren't the only ones choosing the lifestyle. Bell
Speaker 1: Star came from a wealthy family, and she was well
Speaker 1: educated and learned to play the piano. During the war,
Speaker 1: her family moved to Texas, where they encountered Jesse and James.
Speaker 1: Bell's brother Bud, had had something in common with the brothers.
Speaker 1: He was a Confederate bushwhacker, though he had been killed
Speaker 1: in the war. Groomed to be a proper lady, Bell
Speaker 1: soon married a family friend, Jim Reid, and the couple
Speaker 1: had three children. Living the life of the average wife
Speaker 1: wasn't exactly in her cards. Though Bell excelled at riding
Speaker 1: side saddle and was a great shot with her pair
Speaker 1: of pistols. Jim didn't mind his wife's rough around the
Speaker 1: edge's attitude. He was involved in a few gangs, including
Speaker 1: the younger James Bunch. In eighteen seventy four, Jim was killed,
Speaker 1: leaving Bell's life in turmoil. She eventually married again with
Speaker 1: a Cherokee man named Sam Starr in eighteen eighty. Together
Speaker 1: the two orchestrated the stealing and selling of horses and cattle.
Speaker 1: Bell also made and sold moonshine. All went well for
Speaker 1: three years until Bass Reeves, a Deputy marshal, arrested them
Speaker 1: for horse theft, and she served nine months in prison,
Speaker 1: remaining a model prisoner and earning her early release. Tragedy
Speaker 1: struck again when Frank West, Sam's cousin, shot and killed him.
Speaker 1: Widowed once more, Bell vowed never remarry and enjoyed the
Speaker 1: company of a variety of men. On February three, eight nine,
Speaker 1: someone ambushed Bell as she rode home one night. The
Speaker 1: killer's first shot knocked her from her horse. The second shot,
Speaker 1: allegedly with her own shotgun, killed her, but Bell's legend
Speaker 1: and near hero status still lives on. Billy the Kid
Speaker 1: lost both his parents at a relatively young age, forcing
Speaker 1: him to find ways to support him elf. After stealing
Speaker 1: clothes as a prank, he found himself in jail. Being
Speaker 1: thin and agile, he escaped through a chimney, making him
Speaker 1: a fugitive. He worked at ranches and logging camps for
Speaker 1: a while, a sporting a baby face, Billy was often
Speaker 1: bullied until one day he had had enough and he
Speaker 1: murdered one of his tormentors. A gang known as the
Speaker 1: Boys took him under their wing. After another stint in
Speaker 1: prison and another escape, he formed his own gang, called
Speaker 1: the Wrestlers. After a third prison escape that left two
Speaker 1: guards dead and placed a bounty on his head. Billy's
Speaker 1: life ended at just twenty one years of age in
Speaker 1: one when a sheriff shot him. Ever, the escape artist,
Speaker 1: some legends state Billy didn't die that night, and his
Speaker 1: body isn't the one buried at Fort Sumter. Like Belle,
Speaker 1: Jesse and James, the legend of Billy the Kid lived
Speaker 1: on long after his death. Other outlaws also found fame,
Speaker 1: though it wasn't because of how they lived their life. No,
Speaker 1: their fame came after their death and for far less
Speaker 1: glamorous reasons. Seventeen year old Sadie McCurdy refused to name
Speaker 1: the father of her newborn son, knowing the family, many
Speaker 1: speculated that her older, married cousin was the father. In
Speaker 1: eighteen eighty, children born out of Webbock, especially between a
Speaker 1: married man and a single woman, were a scandal. To
Speaker 1: save Sadie from the shame, her brother George and his
Speaker 1: wife Helen, offered to raise little Elmer, a tragedy struck
Speaker 1: in eighteen ninety though, when George died from tuberculosis, Helen, Sadie,
Speaker 1: and Elmer moved to Bangor, Maine. Though Sadie was back
Speaker 1: in the picture, the two women agreed that Helen would
Speaker 1: raise him as her son. Elmer was none the wiser
Speaker 1: until Sadie couldn't keep the secret any longer. Now a teenager,
Speaker 1: Elmer didn't take to the news in the way Sadie
Speaker 1: had hoped. Saddened that his father had abandoned him and
Speaker 1: his mother hadn't been fully honest or present with him,
Speaker 1: he took to heavy drinking and troublemaking. Within a couple
Speaker 1: of years, Elmer moved in with his grandfather, who hired
Speaker 1: him as an apprentice in his plumbing business. When the
Speaker 1: economy spiraled downward in eighteen ninety eight, he lost his
Speaker 1: job and returned home to his mother and aunt. Two
Speaker 1: years later, Sadie died from a bleeding ulcer. Now twenty,
Speaker 1: Elmer left Maine and wandered the East Coast, taking on
Speaker 1: odd jobs as a plumber or miner, though his alcoholism
Speaker 1: made it hard to hold down steady employment. In nineteen
Speaker 1: o five, he moved to Kansas. After his arrest for
Speaker 1: public intoxication, he relocated to Missouri and joined the Army
Speaker 1: in nineteen o seven. With minimal training, He was assigned
Speaker 1: to Fort Leavenworth as part of a demolition team, and
Speaker 1: when his service ended, Elmer took a few souvenirs and
Speaker 1: returned to Kansas, where he reconnected with an old army buddy.
Speaker 1: But the Army missed the chisels hack saws, funnels, nitroglycer in, gunpowder,
Speaker 1: and money sacks, and police were dispatched to arrest Elmer
Speaker 1: and his friend. The case went to court, where Elmer
Speaker 1: managed to convince the judge that it had all been
Speaker 1: a misunderstanding. He and his friend were still in the
Speaker 1: army and the supplies were needed to work on a
Speaker 1: new machine gun innovation. The lie worked and they were
Speaker 1: found not guilty. In reality, Elmer and his buddy, along
Speaker 1: with a few other former enlisted, planned to use the
Speaker 1: nitro and the gunpowder to rob a Pacific Express train
Speaker 1: carrying four thousand dollars in March of nineteen eleven. The
Speaker 1: men hopped aboard the train and planted a nitroglycer in
Speaker 1: charge in front of the safe. As the men expected,
Speaker 1: the charge went off, though unexpectedly and spectacularly larger than
Speaker 1: they had planned. The explosion blew shards of the safe
Speaker 1: into the train's walls and melted most of the silver
Speaker 1: that sought to steal. The men got away with just
Speaker 1: four hundred and fifty dollars in coins. Undeterred, Elmer set
Speaker 1: his sights on the next heist, a bank. The group
Speaker 1: broke into the bank in the middle of the night again,
Speaker 1: he used nitro. This time, the explosion blew the door
Speaker 1: off but didn't dent the safe inside the vault. The
Speaker 1: explosion woke half the town and men fled, this time
Speaker 1: with a hundred and fifty dollars in coins that found
Speaker 1: in the change trays outside the safe. The group split
Speaker 1: up after that. Two men hopped to train to the
Speaker 1: Kansas border. Elmer went to a friend's ranch. He spent
Speaker 1: most of his days hiding in the haystacks and drinking heavily.
Speaker 1: On October four, n Elmer tried robbing another train, This
Speaker 1: one's supposedly carrying four hundred thousand dollars in cash slated
Speaker 1: as a royalty payment to the O Sage Nation. Unfortunately
Speaker 1: for Elmer and his men, they robbed the wrong train,
Speaker 1: had stopped a passenger train instead. They got away with
Speaker 1: forty six dollars, some whiskey, a revolver, a coat, and
Speaker 1: the conductor's watch. A local paper reported that the men
Speaker 1: had the dubious honor of pulling off the smallest take
Speaker 1: in the history of train robbery. Depressed, Elmer returned to
Speaker 1: his friend's ranch and drank the whiskey, and by now
Speaker 1: he wasn't doing so well. He had developed tuberculosis and
Speaker 1: had mild pneumonia and a case of roundworms. Feeling poorly,
Speaker 1: he stumbled off to sleep in a hay loft. Just
Speaker 1: before dawn. A posse of three sheriffs and bloodhounds tracked
Speaker 1: him to the barn. Around seven am. Elmer awoke to
Speaker 1: the commotion outside. He and the sheriff's exchange shots until
Speaker 1: Elmer took a direct hit to the chest, cutting his
Speaker 1: life short. But it was also the moment where his
Speaker 1: true journey into fame began. Like most criminals of his day,
Speaker 1: Elmer's body wasn't claimed by family or friends. Normally, unclaimed
Speaker 1: cadavers were shipped off to medical schools. Yet some Embalmer's
Speaker 1: had other plans for bodies display. The practice was meant
Speaker 1: to market their services, and funeral director Joseph Johnson thought
Speaker 1: Elmer would make a fine advertisement. He positioned the former
Speaker 1: outlaw in the funeral home with a gun at his
Speaker 1: side and a sign that read the bandit who Wouldn't
Speaker 1: give up. Crowds paid five cents to see Elmer's body.
Speaker 1: As each person passed, they deposited the coins into Elmer's mouth.
Speaker 1: Carnivals heard about the Embalmer's fortune and offered to buy
Speaker 1: the corpse. Johnson refused to sell. The two men claiming
Speaker 1: to be Elmer's brothers demanded the funeral home handover Elmer
Speaker 1: so that they could properly bury him. In reality, they
Speaker 1: were Carney's looking to make a fast buck. Once in possession,
Speaker 1: they set Elmer up in sideshow tents. His body journeyed
Speaker 1: with the carnival from town to down. When he no
Speaker 1: longer brought in money, the brothers sold him to the
Speaker 1: Traveling Museum of Crime in nine two. For years, his
Speaker 1: body was sold from one gig to the next and
Speaker 1: traveled around the country. By nine thirty three, his courts
Speaker 1: had deteriorated quite a bit, partially bummafying Hollywood crew bought
Speaker 1: him as promotional material for a film about narcotics and
Speaker 1: the effects they had on attics. From time to time,
Speaker 1: the studio loaned him out. At one point, Elmer was
Speaker 1: strapped to the top of a car like a Christmas tree.
Speaker 1: In nineteen sixty seven, he was a prop in a
Speaker 1: horror movie. The following year, he was sold to the
Speaker 1: Hollywood Wax Museum, though they decided to store him instead
Speaker 1: of putting him on display. Two weeks before Christmas in
Speaker 1: nineteen seventy six, the crew of the hit television show
Speaker 1: The Six Million Dollar Man began filming an episode titled
Speaker 1: Carnival of Spies inside a fun house. Elmer, thought to
Speaker 1: be a wax mannequin, was spray painted glow in the
Speaker 1: dark orange jin hung from a display gallows. But when
Speaker 1: Elmore's arms snapped off, the cast and crew realized with
Speaker 1: great horror that the body wasn't made of wax at all.
Speaker 1: The corner had difficulty determining whom body had belonged to.
Speaker 1: His only clues were a pair of tickets to the
Speaker 1: Museum of Crime and a penny from Finally, in nine
Speaker 1: investigators identified Elmer McCarty. He was laid to rest in Guthrie, Oklahoma,
Speaker 1: a spectacle to the last. Over three d people gathered
Speaker 1: to watch the internment. While he wasn't a great outlaw,
Speaker 1: McCarty was laid to rest alongside the corpse of someone
Speaker 1: who was Bill doolan founder of the Wild Bunch Gang
Speaker 1: who had also once been put on display in that
Speaker 1: funeral director's parlor. There's the lord of this story stick
Speaker 1: around after this brief sponsor break to are all about it.
Speaker 1: Everyone knows Robin Hood and his rob from the rich
Speaker 1: end give to the poor routine. But on the other
Speaker 1: end of the hero spectrum there are some truly legendary
Speaker 1: law enforcement officers. Born in Crawford County, Arkansas, in eighteen
Speaker 1: thirty eight, Bass Reeves and his parents were enslaved by
Speaker 1: state Legislator William Steele Reeves. In eighteen forty six, the
Speaker 1: family was given to the legislator's son, George, a colonel
Speaker 1: living in Texas. When the Civil War started in eighteen
Speaker 1: sixty one, George sided with the Confederate Army and took
Speaker 1: twenty three year old Base with him. During a fight
Speaker 1: over a card game one night, the two got into
Speaker 1: a brawl. Base fled, knowing that as an enslaved black man,
Speaker 1: would pay with his life. He found shelter with local
Speaker 1: Native Americans who had been forced off their homeland into
Speaker 1: what was known as Indian Territory and Corporated Independent Lands.
Speaker 1: Bass was a fast learner, and they taught him their
Speaker 1: languages and customs quickly. After the war, he returned to Arkansas.
Speaker 1: A freeman. Bass took to farming, but after a decade
Speaker 1: he grew restless. Then U S. Marshal James Fagin made
Speaker 1: him an offer to return to the territories. The Marshal
Speaker 1: had heard about the intimidating man with a loud, burly
Speaker 1: voice who carried a Winchester forty four. He had been
Speaker 1: an incredible sharpshooter, and Fagin thought Bass would excel in
Speaker 1: law enforcement. He was the first black deputy west of
Speaker 1: the Mississippi and had reigned hunt down any outlaw, regardless
Speaker 1: of race. Of controversial appointment for a black man at
Speaker 1: the time. He had also worked alongside the famous hanging
Speaker 1: judge Isaac Parker, who presided over the largest criminal court
Speaker 1: in the country. The job description was simple, bring back outlaws,
Speaker 1: debt or alive. Bass accepted the badge on his chest
Speaker 1: and two Colt pistols at his side. His already imposing
Speaker 1: figure caught everyone's attention when he rode through a town
Speaker 1: on his huge white stallion. Bass was creative, frequently wearing
Speaker 1: disguises and creating new identities, and sometimes he portrayed himself
Speaker 1: as a farmer, a gun slinger, or even an outlaw.
Speaker 1: His time with the Native Americans had also taught him
Speaker 1: patience and tracking. Those skills came in a handy While
Speaker 1: hunting down a notorious horse thief, Bass deduced which trail
Speaker 1: the man had used and then hid along the river bank.
Speaker 1: Four days later, the wrestler walked right into Bass's path.
Speaker 1: He reached for his gun, but Bass fired a warning
Speaker 1: shop before the man could even draw. During another pursuit,
Speaker 1: Base and a posse tracked two brothers into the Red
Speaker 1: River Valley along the Texas border. Thinking that the men
Speaker 1: had hold themselves up in their mother's cabin, Bass came
Speaker 1: up with a plan. He disguised himself as a beggar,
Speaker 1: all the while hiding his hand ups and gun. He
Speaker 1: knocked on the door and pleaded with the woman who
Speaker 1: answered for food. Pitying the stranger, she let him in
Speaker 1: as he ate. Bass told her he was an outlaw
Speaker 1: down on his luck. Feeling a connection, she told him
Speaker 1: about her sons and suggested they banded together. He agreed.
Speaker 1: The woman stepped outside and whistled sharply. The two brothers
Speaker 1: arrived shortly after, and the three men made plans to
Speaker 1: team up. They offered him room for the night, and
Speaker 1: Bass accepted. Once the men fell asleep, he quietly cuffed
Speaker 1: the brothers together without waking them. At dawn, Bass marched
Speaker 1: them at gunpoint to the awaiting posse for three miles.
Speaker 1: The mother followed her son's cursing the man on the
Speaker 1: white Horse the entire time. Later in his career, Bass
Speaker 1: tracked Bill Dozer, jack of all trades and dangerous man.
Speaker 1: Even when it came to outlaws. He was also elusive,
Speaker 1: having escaped eleven other lawments. Those are sent Basse a
Speaker 1: message stopped tracking him, or he'd kill him. Basse sent
Speaker 1: a response. The outlaw was welcomed surrender anytime he was ready.
Speaker 1: Bass and another lawman tracked Dozer to the Cherokee Hills.
Speaker 1: When a storm broke out, the two men sought shelter.
Speaker 1: Before they found a dry place, gunfire sent them for cover.
Speaker 1: Bass clocked movement in the nearby trees and fired twice.
Speaker 1: The shots were returned, followed by laughter. Bass ordered Dozer
Speaker 1: to drop his weapon. Those are answered by raising his
Speaker 1: rifle before he could aim, Bass shot him to the neck,
Speaker 1: killing him. Throughout his thirty two year career, Bass arrested
Speaker 1: over three thousand people and killed fourteen outlaws, all without
Speaker 1: ever sustaining a single gunshot wound. Nearly a hundred years later,
Speaker 1: his heroic actions became the inspiration for a legendary character,
Speaker 1: the Lone Ranger. Yeah. American Shadows is hosted by Lauren Vogelbaum.
Speaker 1: This episode was written by Michelle Muto, researched by Ali Steed,
Speaker 1: and produced by Miranda Hawkins and Trevor Young, with executive
Speaker 1: producers Aaron Mankey, Alex Williams, and Matt Frederick. To learn
Speaker 1: more about the show, visit Grim and Mild dot com.
Speaker 1: From more podcasts from iHeart Radio, visit the iHeart Radio app,
Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.