1 00:00:01,920 --> 00:00:07,120 Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff production of iHeart Radio. Hey brain 2 00:00:07,160 --> 00:00:11,520 Speaker 1: Stuff Lauren Vogelbaum here. He stood six ft two inches 3 00:00:11,560 --> 00:00:14,640 Speaker 1: tall or nearly two meters, weighed a hundred and eighty 4 00:00:14,640 --> 00:00:18,200 Speaker 1: pounds or about eighty kilos, and could reportedly two men 5 00:00:18,239 --> 00:00:21,200 Speaker 1: at a time with his bare hands. He was as 6 00:00:21,280 --> 00:00:23,919 Speaker 1: quick on the draw as he was deadly accurate with 7 00:00:24,000 --> 00:00:27,479 Speaker 1: his Winchester rifle, capable of taking down a running target 8 00:00:27,480 --> 00:00:31,000 Speaker 1: at a quarter mile that's four d. He wore a 9 00:00:31,120 --> 00:00:34,839 Speaker 1: thick handlebar mustache, and spit shined boots unless he was 10 00:00:34,880 --> 00:00:39,159 Speaker 1: in one of his clever disguises. In the storied American 11 00:00:39,240 --> 00:00:43,040 Speaker 1: West of the late eighteen hundreds, where lawmen pursued outlaws 12 00:00:43,080 --> 00:00:47,000 Speaker 1: for high priced bounties, none deserved their fame as much 13 00:00:47,159 --> 00:00:53,960 Speaker 1: as Bass Reeves. Born into slavery in eight Reeves escaped 14 00:00:54,040 --> 00:00:56,960 Speaker 1: to what was then called Indian Territory during the Civil 15 00:00:57,040 --> 00:01:00,400 Speaker 1: War and emerged as a skilled marksman and track who 16 00:01:00,400 --> 00:01:04,400 Speaker 1: could speak multiple Native American languages. Reeves was hired as 17 00:01:04,400 --> 00:01:07,160 Speaker 1: a deputy U S Marshal, one of several black or 18 00:01:07,240 --> 00:01:10,920 Speaker 1: Native American lawmen to patrol the hard scrabbled territory on 19 00:01:10,959 --> 00:01:15,200 Speaker 1: behalf of the federal government. It was a notoriously hazardous profession. 20 00:01:15,680 --> 00:01:18,440 Speaker 1: At least a hundred and fourteen Deputy u s Marshals 21 00:01:18,440 --> 00:01:21,000 Speaker 1: were killed on duty in the territory before it became 22 00:01:21,040 --> 00:01:25,480 Speaker 1: the state of Oklahoma in nineteen o seven, but Reeves 23 00:01:25,520 --> 00:01:29,119 Speaker 1: was no ordinary officer of the law. Over his three 24 00:01:29,120 --> 00:01:33,960 Speaker 1: decade career, Reeves arrested more than three thousand individuals, survived 25 00:01:33,959 --> 00:01:38,080 Speaker 1: countless skirmishes with armed outlaws, and only killed fourteen men 26 00:01:38,160 --> 00:01:41,840 Speaker 1: while defending his life and others. For the article this 27 00:01:41,880 --> 00:01:45,160 Speaker 1: episode is based on how Stuff Works, spoke with Art Burton, 28 00:01:45,440 --> 00:01:48,680 Speaker 1: former history professor and author of the book Black Gun, 29 00:01:48,840 --> 00:01:53,240 Speaker 1: Silver Star, The Life and Legend of Frontier Marshal Bass Reads. 30 00:01:53,800 --> 00:01:57,120 Speaker 1: He said bass Reeves was the greatest frontier hero in 31 00:01:57,160 --> 00:02:00,360 Speaker 1: American history. He walked into the Valley of Death every 32 00:02:00,440 --> 00:02:03,960 Speaker 1: day for thirty two years. He helped people regardless of 33 00:02:03,960 --> 00:02:07,280 Speaker 1: their race, their religion, or their background his entire life. 34 00:02:08,960 --> 00:02:11,720 Speaker 1: Not much is known about reeves early life, other than 35 00:02:11,760 --> 00:02:14,800 Speaker 1: that he was born in Arkansas into an enslaved family 36 00:02:14,840 --> 00:02:18,440 Speaker 1: owned by Arkansas state legislator William Reeves and then his 37 00:02:18,560 --> 00:02:22,320 Speaker 1: son George Reeves, and the family was moved to Texas 38 00:02:22,440 --> 00:02:26,280 Speaker 1: where George organized and led a cavalry regiment for the Confederacy. 39 00:02:26,560 --> 00:02:29,640 Speaker 1: Bass served alongside George in the Civil War as his servant, 40 00:02:29,919 --> 00:02:32,640 Speaker 1: and the two men formed a close bond, but that 41 00:02:32,720 --> 00:02:35,320 Speaker 1: bond was broken when they got to arguing over a 42 00:02:35,360 --> 00:02:40,400 Speaker 1: card game and Bass punched the colonel out cold. Burton 43 00:02:40,440 --> 00:02:43,079 Speaker 1: explained for a slave to hit his master in Texas 44 00:02:43,120 --> 00:02:46,440 Speaker 1: was punishable by death, so Bass didn't wait around to 45 00:02:46,480 --> 00:02:52,119 Speaker 1: see what the consequences might be. Reeves spent the next 46 00:02:52,160 --> 00:02:55,760 Speaker 1: few years living among the Creek, Cherokee, and Seminal people's, 47 00:02:55,880 --> 00:02:59,360 Speaker 1: learning their languages, studying their hunting and tracking techniques, and, 48 00:02:59,560 --> 00:03:03,000 Speaker 1: according to some accounts, fighting for the Union in guerilla regiments. 49 00:03:04,240 --> 00:03:08,440 Speaker 1: After the war and emancipation, Reeves returned to Arkansas a freeman, 50 00:03:08,880 --> 00:03:12,120 Speaker 1: got married and started working as a scout for federal lawmen. 51 00:03:13,080 --> 00:03:15,720 Speaker 1: In eighteen seventy five, a new judge took over the 52 00:03:15,760 --> 00:03:18,600 Speaker 1: Fort Smith Federal Courthouse in Arkansas and called for the 53 00:03:18,680 --> 00:03:21,720 Speaker 1: hiring of two hundred more Deputy U S Marshals to 54 00:03:21,919 --> 00:03:26,720 Speaker 1: chase down lawbreakers who escaped into the unincorporated territory. Reeves 55 00:03:26,880 --> 00:03:30,440 Speaker 1: was one of them. He had arresting authority over fellow 56 00:03:30,520 --> 00:03:34,280 Speaker 1: freedmen and women, Native Americans and white people. Rare for 57 00:03:34,360 --> 00:03:37,040 Speaker 1: a black man at the time, He even arrested some 58 00:03:37,080 --> 00:03:41,000 Speaker 1: white men for lynchings. Crimes committed by Native Americans against 59 00:03:41,080 --> 00:03:44,680 Speaker 1: other Native Americans were handled in separate courts, but Reeves 60 00:03:44,680 --> 00:03:47,400 Speaker 1: and his fellow deputy U. S. Marshals handled all other 61 00:03:47,480 --> 00:03:51,080 Speaker 1: crimes committed in the territory, from theft to arson, to 62 00:03:51,280 --> 00:03:56,040 Speaker 1: murder to the illegal trade of whiskey. Like many other 63 00:03:56,120 --> 00:03:59,280 Speaker 1: formerly enslaved people, Reeves had never been taught to read 64 00:03:59,360 --> 00:04:03,279 Speaker 1: or write, but he developed the uncanny ability to memorize 65 00:04:03,280 --> 00:04:07,360 Speaker 1: a pile of arrest warrants. The system worked. While other 66 00:04:07,400 --> 00:04:10,200 Speaker 1: deputies would return to Fort Smith with three or four 67 00:04:10,360 --> 00:04:14,320 Speaker 1: captured fugitives at a time, Reeves routinely delivered a dozen 68 00:04:14,400 --> 00:04:19,400 Speaker 1: or more wanted men. The tales of Bass reeves bravery 69 00:04:19,560 --> 00:04:25,279 Speaker 1: and cunning are legendary and legion. There was the time 70 00:04:25,320 --> 00:04:28,080 Speaker 1: when Reeves was in pursuit of a band of outlaw 71 00:04:28,160 --> 00:04:32,040 Speaker 1: brothers laying low at their mother's house in Chickasaw Territory. 72 00:04:32,320 --> 00:04:34,520 Speaker 1: Reeves had a whole posse with him, but he knew 73 00:04:34,560 --> 00:04:38,960 Speaker 1: they would be spotted miles away, so Reeves disguised himself 74 00:04:39,000 --> 00:04:41,400 Speaker 1: as a beggar with holes in his shoes, a big 75 00:04:41,440 --> 00:04:44,960 Speaker 1: floppy hat, and a cane. He walked some thirty miles 76 00:04:45,040 --> 00:04:48,599 Speaker 1: or forty five kilometers across the parched plains and arrived 77 00:04:48,640 --> 00:04:51,480 Speaker 1: on the mother's porch asking for some food and water. 78 00:04:52,040 --> 00:04:55,400 Speaker 1: She took him in. When her sons came home, the 79 00:04:55,440 --> 00:04:58,280 Speaker 1: mother introduced Reeves like an old friend, and the group 80 00:04:58,360 --> 00:05:01,080 Speaker 1: started scheming up a crime I could all pull off together. 81 00:05:01,880 --> 00:05:05,479 Speaker 1: The outlaw brothers awoke the next day handcuffed to their beds, 82 00:05:05,520 --> 00:05:07,599 Speaker 1: and Reeves marched them all the way back to his 83 00:05:07,680 --> 00:05:12,560 Speaker 1: camp on foot. Burton said, Mama was hot. I think 84 00:05:12,600 --> 00:05:17,120 Speaker 1: she followed Bass for about ten miles, cursing at him. 85 00:05:17,320 --> 00:05:19,600 Speaker 1: Then there was the time that Bass was ambushed by 86 00:05:19,640 --> 00:05:23,039 Speaker 1: the three Brunter brothers, each wanted for multiple counts of 87 00:05:23,080 --> 00:05:27,279 Speaker 1: horse theft, robbery, and unsolved murders. The brothers told Reeves 88 00:05:27,279 --> 00:05:29,880 Speaker 1: to drop his weapons, but he played it cool and 89 00:05:29,960 --> 00:05:33,279 Speaker 1: calmly asked the men for the day's date. When asked why, 90 00:05:33,680 --> 00:05:36,400 Speaker 1: Reeves said so he could market down on their arrest warrants. 91 00:05:36,400 --> 00:05:39,480 Speaker 1: When he brought them the court, the Bruner brothers almost 92 00:05:39,480 --> 00:05:43,440 Speaker 1: fell over laughing and Reeves seized the opportunity and outgunned 93 00:05:43,480 --> 00:05:48,000 Speaker 1: them in that moment despite the odds. And there was 94 00:05:48,000 --> 00:05:50,440 Speaker 1: the time that Reeves was called in by his fellow 95 00:05:50,480 --> 00:05:53,800 Speaker 1: Deputy U. S. Marshals to help smoke out a stubborn fugitive. 96 00:05:54,440 --> 00:05:57,120 Speaker 1: After an hour's long shootout, the outlaw made a run 97 00:05:57,160 --> 00:06:00,200 Speaker 1: for it at a quarter of a mile away. Reeves 98 00:06:00,320 --> 00:06:04,560 Speaker 1: was the one who brought him down. In Burton's book, 99 00:06:04,560 --> 00:06:07,440 Speaker 1: he makes the bold yet believable claim that Bass Reeves 100 00:06:07,520 --> 00:06:10,920 Speaker 1: was the real life inspiration for the Lone Ranger, masked 101 00:06:10,960 --> 00:06:13,880 Speaker 1: hero first created for radio in the nineteen thirties before 102 00:06:13,920 --> 00:06:18,880 Speaker 1: becoming a movie and TV character. Burton said Bass is 103 00:06:18,920 --> 00:06:21,880 Speaker 1: the closest thing to the Lone Ranger to exist in reality. 104 00:06:22,480 --> 00:06:26,039 Speaker 1: The Lone Ranger handed out silver bullets, Bass handed out 105 00:06:26,080 --> 00:06:29,040 Speaker 1: silver dollars. Bass worked with the sidekick and rode a 106 00:06:29,080 --> 00:06:32,840 Speaker 1: white horse. Bass worked in disguise throughout his career. The 107 00:06:32,880 --> 00:06:36,000 Speaker 1: Lone Ranger's last name is Read, which is very close 108 00:06:36,200 --> 00:06:40,640 Speaker 1: to Reeves. Also, like the Lone Ranger, Reeves was known 109 00:06:40,680 --> 00:06:44,719 Speaker 1: for his strong moral compass and dedication to justice. When 110 00:06:44,760 --> 00:06:47,440 Speaker 1: Reeves's own son was wanted for the murder of his wife. 111 00:06:47,680 --> 00:06:50,760 Speaker 1: He solemnly requested the warrant and brought his boy in 112 00:06:50,839 --> 00:06:54,680 Speaker 1: for trial. Reeves also wound up arresting the preacher who 113 00:06:54,720 --> 00:06:58,160 Speaker 1: had baptized him. In need of money, The congregation had 114 00:06:58,200 --> 00:07:01,799 Speaker 1: convinced the preacher to run bootleg whiskey, but Reeves wouldn't 115 00:07:01,800 --> 00:07:06,000 Speaker 1: have it. Burton believes that the city of Detroit might 116 00:07:06,000 --> 00:07:09,640 Speaker 1: provide the connection between Reeves and The Lone Ranger. The 117 00:07:09,680 --> 00:07:12,960 Speaker 1: original radio program was created at a Detroit radio station 118 00:07:13,040 --> 00:07:15,680 Speaker 1: in nineteen thirty three, and most of the outlaws that 119 00:07:15,720 --> 00:07:18,800 Speaker 1: Reeves arrested in the eighteen eighties and eighteen nineties were 120 00:07:18,840 --> 00:07:21,600 Speaker 1: sent to the Detroit House of Corrections to serve out 121 00:07:21,640 --> 00:07:25,200 Speaker 1: their sentences. Did the writers of The White Lone Ranger 122 00:07:25,440 --> 00:07:29,679 Speaker 1: take inspiration from local legends of this morally upright black 123 00:07:29,760 --> 00:07:33,400 Speaker 1: lawman who patrolled the wild west of Burton thinks so, 124 00:07:33,800 --> 00:07:37,840 Speaker 1: although he admits there's no conclusive proof. By the time 125 00:07:37,880 --> 00:07:40,720 Speaker 1: Reeves retired from his long career as a federal lawman, 126 00:07:41,200 --> 00:07:44,520 Speaker 1: he was famous throughout the territories. There were folk songs 127 00:07:44,560 --> 00:07:47,360 Speaker 1: written about his heroics, and he could nab a fugitive 128 00:07:47,400 --> 00:07:51,000 Speaker 1: by the power of his reputational loan. The story goes 129 00:07:51,000 --> 00:07:54,440 Speaker 1: that bell Star, an outlaw known as the Female Jesse James, 130 00:07:54,720 --> 00:07:57,040 Speaker 1: turned herself in at Fort Smith when she heard that 131 00:07:57,120 --> 00:08:01,520 Speaker 1: Reeves had her warrant. Despite being hunted by aggrieved outlaws 132 00:08:01,600 --> 00:08:04,800 Speaker 1: for most of his life, Reeves died of natural causes 133 00:08:04,880 --> 00:08:08,880 Speaker 1: at the age of seventy two. One obituary published at 134 00:08:08,880 --> 00:08:12,480 Speaker 1: the time wrote, no history of Frontier days would be 135 00:08:12,520 --> 00:08:15,680 Speaker 1: complete no mention of Bass Reeves, and no tale of 136 00:08:15,720 --> 00:08:18,160 Speaker 1: the old days of hell on the Border could be 137 00:08:18,200 --> 00:08:21,640 Speaker 1: told without the old Deputy Marshal as a prominent character. 138 00:08:22,880 --> 00:08:26,680 Speaker 1: A TV series based on Burton's book is currently in development. 139 00:08:33,360 --> 00:08:36,600 Speaker 1: Today's episode is based on the article Bass Reeves Baddest 140 00:08:36,640 --> 00:08:39,360 Speaker 1: Marshal in the Old West original Lone Ranger on how 141 00:08:39,400 --> 00:08:42,200 Speaker 1: stuff Works dot Com, written by Dave Ruves. Brain Stuff 142 00:08:42,240 --> 00:08:44,040 Speaker 1: is production of I Heart Radio and partnership with how 143 00:08:44,080 --> 00:08:46,240 Speaker 1: stuff Works dot Com, and is produced by Tyler Clang 144 00:08:46,240 --> 00:08:49,280 Speaker 1: and Ramsey count four. More podcasts from my heart Radio 145 00:08:49,480 --> 00:08:52,320 Speaker 1: visit the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you 146 00:08:52,360 --> 00:08:53,640 Speaker 1: listen to your favorite shows.