Welcome to brain Stuff production of iHeart Radio. Hey brain Stuff Lauren Vogelbaum here. He stood six ft two inches tall or nearly two meters, weighed a hundred and eighty pounds or about eighty kilos, and could reportedly two men at a time with his bare hands. He was as quick on the draw as he was deadly accurate with his Winchester rifle, capable of taking down a running target at a quarter mile that's four d. He wore a thick handlebar mustache, and spit shined boots unless he was
in one of his clever disguises. In the storied American West of the late eighteen hundreds, where lawmen pursued outlaws for high priced bounties, none deserved their fame as much as Bass Reeves. Born into slavery in eight Reeves escaped to what was then called Indian Territory during the Civil War and emerged as a skilled marksman and track who
could speak multiple Native American languages. Reeves was hired as a deputy U S Marshal, one of several black or Native American lawmen to patrol the hard scrabbled territory on behalf of the federal government. It was a notoriously hazardous profession. At least a hundred and fourteen Deputy u s Marshals were killed on duty in the territory before it became the state of Oklahoma in nineteen o seven, but Reeves
was no ordinary officer of the law. Over his three decade career, Reeves arrested more than three thousand individuals, survived countless skirmishes with armed outlaws, and only killed fourteen men while defending his life and others. For the article this episode is based on how Stuff Works, spoke with Art Burton, former history professor and author of the book Black Gun, Silver Star, The Life and Legend of Frontier Marshal Bass Reads. He said bass Reeves was the greatest frontier hero in
American history. He walked into the Valley of Death every day for thirty two years. He helped people regardless of their race, their religion, or their background his entire life. Not much is known about reeves early life, other than that he was born in Arkansas into an enslaved family owned by Arkansas state legislator William Reeves and then his son George Reeves, and the family was moved to Texas where George organized and led a cavalry regiment for the Confederacy.
Bass served alongside George in the Civil War as his servant, and the two men formed a close bond, but that bond was broken when they got to arguing over a card game and Bass punched the colonel out cold. Burton explained for a slave to hit his master in Texas was punishable by death, so Bass didn't wait around to
see what the consequences might be. Reeves spent the next few years living among the Creek, Cherokee, and Seminal people's, learning their languages, studying their hunting and tracking techniques, and, according to some accounts, fighting for the Union in guerilla regiments. After the war and emancipation, Reeves returned to Arkansas a freeman, got married and started working as a scout for federal lawmen.
In eighteen seventy five, a new judge took over the Fort Smith Federal Courthouse in Arkansas and called for the hiring of two hundred more Deputy U S Marshals to chase down lawbreakers who escaped into the unincorporated territory. Reeves was one of them. He had arresting authority over fellow freedmen and women, Native Americans and white people. Rare for a black man at the time, He even arrested some
white men for lynchings. Crimes committed by Native Americans against other Native Americans were handled in separate courts, but Reeves and his fellow deputy U. S. Marshals handled all other crimes committed in the territory, from theft to arson, to murder to the illegal trade of whiskey. Like many other formerly enslaved people, Reeves had never been taught to read or write, but he developed the uncanny ability to memorize
a pile of arrest warrants. The system worked. While other deputies would return to Fort Smith with three or four captured fugitives at a time, Reeves routinely delivered a dozen or more wanted men. The tales of Bass reeves bravery and cunning are legendary and legion. There was the time when Reeves was in pursuit of a band of outlaw brothers laying low at their mother's house in Chickasaw Territory.
Reeves had a whole posse with him, but he knew they would be spotted miles away, so Reeves disguised himself as a beggar with holes in his shoes, a big floppy hat, and a cane. He walked some thirty miles or forty five kilometers across the parched plains and arrived on the mother's porch asking for some food and water. She took him in. When her sons came home, the mother introduced Reeves like an old friend, and the group started scheming up a crime I could all pull off together.
The outlaw brothers awoke the next day handcuffed to their beds, and Reeves marched them all the way back to his camp on foot. Burton said, Mama was hot. I think she followed Bass for about ten miles, cursing at him. Then there was the time that Bass was ambushed by the three Brunter brothers, each wanted for multiple counts of horse theft, robbery, and unsolved murders. The brothers told Reeves to drop his weapons, but he played it cool and
calmly asked the men for the day's date. When asked why, Reeves said so he could market down on their arrest warrants. When he brought them the court, the Bruner brothers almost fell over laughing and Reeves seized the opportunity and outgunned them in that moment despite the odds. And there was the time that Reeves was called in by his fellow Deputy U. S. Marshals to help smoke out a stubborn fugitive. After an hour's long shootout, the outlaw made a run
for it at a quarter of a mile away. Reeves was the one who brought him down. In Burton's book, he makes the bold yet believable claim that Bass Reeves was the real life inspiration for the Lone Ranger, masked hero first created for radio in the nineteen thirties before becoming a movie and TV character. Burton said Bass is the closest thing to the Lone Ranger to exist in reality. The Lone Ranger handed out silver bullets, Bass handed out silver dollars. Bass worked with the sidekick and rode a
white horse. Bass worked in disguise throughout his career. The Lone Ranger's last name is Read, which is very close to Reeves. Also, like the Lone Ranger, Reeves was known for his strong moral compass and dedication to justice. When Reeves's own son was wanted for the murder of his wife. He solemnly requested the warrant and brought his boy in for trial. Reeves also wound up arresting the preacher who
had baptized him. In need of money, The congregation had convinced the preacher to run bootleg whiskey, but Reeves wouldn't have it. Burton believes that the city of Detroit might provide the connection between Reeves and The Lone Ranger. The original radio program was created at a Detroit radio station in nineteen thirty three, and most of the outlaws that Reeves arrested in the eighteen eighties and eighteen nineties were sent to the Detroit House of Corrections to serve out
their sentences. Did the writers of The White Lone Ranger take inspiration from local legends of this morally upright black lawman who patrolled the wild west of Burton thinks so, although he admits there's no conclusive proof. By the time Reeves retired from his long career as a federal lawman, he was famous throughout the territories. There were folk songs written about his heroics, and he could nab a fugitive
by the power of his reputational loan. The story goes that bell Star, an outlaw known as the Female Jesse James, turned herself in at Fort Smith when she heard that Reeves had her warrant. Despite being hunted by aggrieved outlaws for most of his life, Reeves died of natural causes
at the age of seventy two. One obituary published at the time wrote, no history of Frontier days would be complete no mention of Bass Reeves, and no tale of the old days of hell on the Border could be told without the old Deputy Marshal as a prominent character. A TV series based on Burton's book is currently in development. Today's episode is based on the article Bass Reeves Baddest Marshal in the Old West original Lone Ranger on how
stuff Works dot Com, written by Dave Ruves. Brain Stuff is production of I Heart Radio and partnership with how stuff Works dot Com, and is produced by Tyler Clang and Ramsey count four. More podcasts from my heart Radio visit the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.