Legends of the Old West - BASS REEVES Ep. 2 | “The Dead Line”

Episode Date: February 24, 2021

In the 1880s, outlaws taunt lawmen who pursue them into the wilds of Indian Territory. But Bass Reeves becomes a respected lawman despite the danger. Sometimes he uses disguises and clever plans to catch outlaws. Other times, as in the case of notorious killer Jim Webb, he has no choice but to use a gun. Join Black Barrel+ for bingeable seasons with no commercials: blackbarrel.supportingcast.fm/join For more details, visit our website www.blackbarrelmedia.com and check out our social media pages. We’re @OldWestPodcast on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Fortnite created to give players of all ages, including kids and families, a safe digital space to play in. Download Fortnite on consoles, PC, cloud services, or Android and play Lego Fortnite for free. Rated ESRB E10+. Jim Webb was a cowboy from Texas who drifted into the Chickasaw Nation sometime in 1883.

He found work as a foreman for a large and successful ranch in the southern portion of the nation. The ranch was isolated, the cowboys were tough, and the cattle were wild and scattered. Webb was hired because the ranch owners knew he could run things with an iron fist. And that's an almost literal description. He beat his cowboys on a regular basis. If he couldn't whip them with his fists, he had no problem using his gun to argue his point. A Black Circuit preacher owned a smaller ranch that adjoined the one where Jim Webb worked. As people sometimes did in the area, the preacher started a small

grass fire to clear some land. The fire blazed out of control and spread onto the range of Webb's employer. As usual, Webb couldn't control his anger. He went to chastise the preacher, and a bitter argument started. It soon ended with Webb shooting and killing the preacher. Bass Reeves and another marshal were sent to arrest Jim Webb, and Reeves needed all of his skills for this one. Subtlety, courage, quick thinking, brute force, and a little bit of luck when the shooting started. And that was just his first encounter with Jim Webb. The second was even more dramatic.

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Téléchargez l'application gratuite Rakuten et ne manquez jamais un bon deal. Ou allez sur rakuten.ca pour en avoir plus pour votre argent. Sous-titrage Société Radio-Canada This is Legends of the Old West. I'm your host, Chris Wimmer, and this is a four-part series of some of the highlights in the career of one of the most respected lawmen in American history, Bass Reeves. This is Episode 2, The Deadline. Bass Reeves was an expert shooter and almost recklessly brave. He perfected the tracking skills he'd learned when he lived among the Cherokee and other tribes as a younger man, and he was crafty as hell, with the ability to assess a situation quickly and figure out the best way to capture his mark. Those attributes saved him time and again when he traveled across

the so-called Deadline, about 80 miles west of Fort Smith. The ominous nickname was given to a set of railroad tracks that ran north and south through eastern Oklahoma. When a lawman traveled west out of Fort Smith toward Indian Territory, his chances of survival decreased substantially when he crossed the deadline. As some people like to say, there were no laws out there, just outlaws. Today, Reeves is best known for bringing a few high-profile killers to justice. But first, Reeves spent a few years honing his craft, capturing criminals by force or by craftiness. He was supremely gifted at both. Reeves was particularly aggressive about doing his job and doing it well, but he was also one of the more noticeable marshals.

There were other black or biracial marshals, but Reeves stood out because of his size and dexterity with weapons. marshals, but Reeves stood out because of his size and dexterity with weapons. As his biographer Art Burton once noted, Reeves seemed like a combination of the Lone Ranger, Sherlock Holmes, and Superman. One early pioneer who knew him described him as a very big man and full of life. He liked to tell jokes, and he had a thunderous and booming laugh. He had a deep, resonant voice that could be authoritative when it had to be and reassuring at the same time. He typically wore a large black hat. Due to his size, Reeves always rode a large horse. When you get as big as me, he said,

a small horse is as worthless as a preacher in a whiskey joint fight. Just when you need him bad to help you out, he's got to stop and think about it a little bit. Another pioneer who knew him estimated that Reeves feared nothing that moved or breathed. The man also said Reeves had long arms and giant hands. The hands gracefully and easily handled revolvers. The pioneer said many a bad man had gone to his grave for refusing to halt when Reeves commanded him to. Like all young deputies, Reeves spent years learning the trade as a posseman for older deputies. Eventually, Reeves was trusted to take on cases of his own, despite the fact that he couldn't read the warrants he was serving. When Reeves was a slave, his master refused to let him learn to read or write,

and those two things seemed to be two of the very few challenges that Reeves never conquered. To compensate, Reeves developed a method of memorizing and organizing his warrants so that he knew exactly which one matched up with which outlaw, and most people never realized he wasn't literate. Reeves could be tough and direct when executing a warrant or testifying in court, but he could also be chummy and easygoing, which helped him make friends on his long trips. which helped him make friends on his long trips. In return, his friends sometimes wrote the reports that he dictated and then sent them to Fort Smith on his behalf.

And his resourcefulness really shone through when he took on cases that required subtlety. He was a big man, and he could use brute force when necessary. But lots of cases required cunning and trickery. but lots of cases required cunning and trickery. Reeves used an arsenal of disguises to catch his suspects. Sometimes he appeared as a drifter, other times as a cowboy, a preacher, a farmer, even a woman.

He outwitted people in other ways too, like riding low in the saddle so that from a distance he would look like a smaller man, a trick he learned from Native Americans. Occasionally, he switched to a lower, more inferior horse as he got closer to his marks, so they would think he was just a regular guy. In the early 1880s, he used the drifter and the farmer disguises to great effect. Reeves got a tip that some dangerous outlaws were holed up in a log cabin. He dressed in farmer's overalls and intentionally got his ramshackle wagon stuck on a nearby tree stump. When the four outlaws came out to help him, he got the drop on them and brought them to justice.

Another time, Reeves was pursuing two outlaws in the Red River Valley near the Texas border. The deputy figured the men were hiding at their mother's home, so he set up camp for his small team 30 miles away from her house. After studying the terrain, Reeves made a plan. He disguised himself as a poor drifter. He hid his handcuffs, pistol, and badge under his clothes. He set out on foot, and he arrived at the woman's house wearing an old pair of shoes, dirty clothes, and a floppy hat complete with bullet holes in it.

He pretended to limp and used a cane for added effect. Reeves knocked on the door, and when the outlaw's mother answered, he told a humble tale of being pursued by a posse. His feet were aching and he was starving. He begged her to let him in to recuperate, and she did. When he stepped inside, he didn't see her outlaw sons, but he figured they must be hiding or hunting nearby. While he was eating, the woman began to tell him stories about her two boys. She suggested that the three of them should join forces. Reeves had no idea when the outlaws might show up, so he had to keep playing his role.

He pretended to be bone tired, which earned him an invitation to spend the night. As the sun set, Reeves heard a sharp whistle coming from beyond the house. The woman went outside and responded with a similar whistle. Before long, two men rode up to the house and talked with the woman outside. Then the three of them went inside and the mother introduced her sons to Bass Reeves. They bragged about their various crimes, and Reeves joined in.

It was easy for him to make up stories, since no one knew more about the lawless behavior in the territory than he did. Finally, the three men slapped each other's backs, shook hands, and decided they would join together in a criminal enterprise. With that, they retired to their bunks. They were all in the same room, and Reeves watched the brothers carefully as they drifted off to sleep. When they were snoring deeply, he handcuffed the pair so expertly they didn't wake up.

At daybreak, he kicked the boys awake and marched them out the door as his prisoners. Their mother followed them for a full three miles, cursing Reeves the entire time. He then walked them the rest of the 27 miles back to his camp where the posse men waited. Within days, the outlaws were delivered to the authorities. Reeves collected a $5,000 reward, plus his usual pay. Many times, Bass Reeves wrangled his prisoners without a shot fired, but he was no stranger to gunplay. In 1884, he shot it out with a convicted killer, but not before he was involved in a tragic friendly fire incident.

In January of 1884, Reeves returned to Fort Smith after spending the holidays with his wife Jenny and their nine children across the river in Van Buren. He would soon make headlines for his dealings with the vicious killer Jim Webb, but before he began the pursuit in the summer, tragedy struck in the spring. The mid-1880s was a tough time for law enforcement in Indian Territory. The population grew rapidly as railroads brought waves of people west. Outlaws poured into the region. Horse thieves and bootleggers were prevalent. Alcohol was prohibited in surrounding counties, so illegal whiskey operations became highly profitable. Reeves and his fellow marshals spent a lot of time on what was referred to as the Whiskey Trail, and it was on the trail one night in the spring of 1884 that the accident happened.

The Whiskey Trail was a collective nickname for a group of trails that had been used by Native tribes for generations. The trails ran up from South Texas into Indian territory that is the state of Oklahoma today. As white settlements moved steadily westward, the U.S. Army built a series of forts along the old Native American trails. Deputy marshals relied on outposts like Fort Sill and Fort Reno for rest and resupply, but those military installations didn't dissuade bootleggers and horse thieves from using the same trails. bootleggers and horse thieves from using the same trails. Bass Reeves tracked two particularly troublesome horse thieves to the Canadian River in the Creek Nation. He found the two men and cleverly pretended he needed guides to help him go west. That night, he stayed vigilant. He saw

one of them try to draw a gun, and he shot the thief before the outlaw could even raise his arm. them try to draw a gun and he shot the thief before the outlaw could even raise his arm. Bass brought the other thief back to Fort Smith in irons, but any sense of accomplishment would have been overridden by the events of a mission later in the spring. On April 6th, 1884, Reeves was camping with five prisoners in the Chickasaw Nation when he shot and killed his cook. According to Reeves' later testimony, the story went something like this. Before he started on any trip, Reeves examined his cartridges and gun. That night, when he examined his Winchester rifle, he found that a bullet was jammed in the magazine. He was down on one knee and had his Winchester lying at

an angle while he tried to fix it. The gun accidentally went off, and he heard someone yell that he'd hit the cook in the neck. He immediately threw the gun down and told one of his prisoners to help him carry the man into his tent. Reeves sent another prisoner on his own horse to try to get help from a doctor 12 miles up the road. The prisoner rode all night, but couldn't find the doctor. At sunup, Reeves packed up the prisoners and his small posse, and they rode several miles to the home of someone he thought could provide medical attention. But it was too late.

The cook was beyond help, and he passed away later that day. The episode haunted Reeves, and three years later it landed him in court before Judge Parker. But between now and then, he had to carry the heavy burden with him as he went back out on the trail, this time to catch a killer from Texas. this time to catch a killer from Texas. About six weeks after Reeves accidentally shot his cook, he went after Jim Webb for the second time. The first time had been a year earlier, in 1883,

when Webb had been working as a foreman for a big ranch in the Chickasaw Nation. Webb had killed a black preacher who lived on a small ranch next to the one owned by Webb's employer. Reeves and another marshal were charged with bringing Webb to Fort Smith so he could face justice. Reeves and his partner made the journey to the ranch where Webb worked. As they rode up to the ranch house, they noticed only three men were there. Jim Webb, a cowboy who was a close friend of Webb's, and the ranch's cook. Reeves had never seen Webb, but he thought he recognized him from the description he was given back at Fort Smith. To make sure it was Webb, Reeves and the other deputy acted like traveling cowboys and asked for breakfast.

Webb was immediately suspicious. When Reeves and his fellow officer walked up to the porch, Webb and his friend had their hands lightly on their pistols. The message was clear. If they thought something was amiss, they would draw on the two men who may or may not be drifting cowhands. The deputies went inside, and they were told to wait until the cook could fix their breakfast. Reeves felt uneasy and cornered. He wasn't sure if the killer really believed their false identities. Reeves made a lot of small talk in the hope that Webb would eventually feel more at ease and put his gun away. Reeves then made a big production of going outside to feed their horses, still chatting amiably.

The cook eventually called the two deputies to breakfast. Reeves thought he might have been successful in convincing Webb that he meant no harm because Webb didn't follow them back into the dining room. But as the deputies were eating, they saw Webb call his fellow cowboy outside. In a mirror's reflection, they could see the cowboys gesturing toward the two newcomers inside. Reeves knew they'd been identified. Reeves carefully whispered out of the side of his mouth. identified. Reeves carefully whispered out of the side of his mouth. On his signal, his partner should jump the other cowboy while Reeves focused on Webb. When Webb and the cowboy came back inside,

Reeves resumed his small talk. Reeves waited and talked until Webb momentarily turned his attention elsewhere, and then Reeves made his move. He leapt to his feet, knocked Webb's gun away, and wrapped a huge hand around Webb's throat. Reeves drew his pistol with his right hand and shoved it into Webb's face. Webb gurgled him meek surrender. But Reeves' partner was so overwhelmed by the suddenness of the events that he was paralyzed. He made no attempt to seize Webb's buddy. As Webb surrendered, the other cowboy whirled around and fired two shots at Bass Reeves. Despite the close range, both shots missed.

Reeves never let go of Webb, even as the bullets whizzed past him. He simply returned fire and wounded the cowboy severely. Reeves and his partner handcuffed both men and set out for Fort Smith. By the time they reached the Chickasaw capital, the cowboy had died from his wound. They buried him and kept going. When they reached Fort Smith, Reeves put Webb in jail. And by all accounts, Reeves forgot about the killer, which was understandable. Webb sat in jail for a year, until shortly after Reeves had the tragic accident with his cook. About six weeks after Reeves' cook died, Reeves was back on the trail to track down Jim Webb.

Webb had spent almost a year in jail as he waited for trial, but then two of his friends managed to get him released on a $17,000 bond, which was a lot of money at the time. Webb was free to go, but he had to return for his trial, and of course he didn't. When his trial date arrived, he was nowhere to be found, and the bond was forfeited. Bass Reeves did what he did best. He asked his sources throughout Indian territory to keep an eye out and report back if they spotted Jim Webb. And they did. and report back if they spotted Jim Webb. And they did.

Reeves learned that Webb had drifted back into the Chickasaw Nation. He was camping near a general store that doubled as a saloon in the tiny community of Woodford. Reeves was familiar with the spot because it was near one of the roads collectively known as the Whiskey Trail. It was the nexus of the whiskey trade in the western part of Indian Territory. Outlaws loved cooling their heels at the rest area because they could easily escape into one of several jurisdictions in a short period of time. This particular time, Reeves brought a posseman with him named John Cantrell.

brought a posseman with him named John Cantrell. It was a hot day in June of 1884, and Reeves and Cantrell rode to within a few hundred yards of the general store. Reeves sent Cantrell ahead to see if Webb was there, and he was, sitting by a window in plain sight. Cantrell motioned for Reeves to ride up. The motion caught Webb's attention. Armed with a revolver and a Winchester, Webb jumped through the open window. He ran for his horse that stood about 100 yards away. Reeves cut him off and Webb changed direction. He ran toward a clump of bushes some distance away. Accounts of the incident give some distances that are pretty questionable,

but whatever the distance, Webb started firing. The first shot grazed the horn of Reeves' saddle. The second cut a button from his coat. The third cut the reins from Reeves' hands. As Reeves jumped from his horse, a fourth bullet tore the brim of his hat. Bullets were landing all around him, but Reeves was untouched. Reeves fired a shot of his own, and then one more. Both hit Webb, one in the stomach and one in the chest. As Webb lay bleeding on the ground, he called out for Reeves to approach him. Carefully, the deputy advanced, but kept his gun trained on Webb and told Webb to throw his revolver away. Webb obeyed and tossed the gun aside.

Cantrell and some bystanders began to gather around the dying man. When Reeves was at Webb's side, the outlaw asked him to shake hands and to have the store owner write down the declaration that he was about to make. Webb surprised everybody with his next words. He begged Reeves to take his revolver and holster as a gift. Webb confessed that he'd killed 11 men with the gun, four of them in Indian territory. He said he had expected Reeves to be the 12th, but it didn't work out that way. After Jim Webb died, Reeves and his posse men returned to their route. They had at least 12 prisoners already, and several more to collect before returning to Fort Smith. The killing of the notorious murderer earned Reeves lots of attention in the press,

but those headlines wouldn't be the last. Next time on Legends of the Old West, Bass Reeves tracks a gang of horse thieves and shoots it out with a dangerous criminal who dabbles in a little bit of everything. The outlaws who survive to be taken to jail learn why Judge Isaac Parker earned the nickname the Hanging Judge and why his court was called

the Court of the Damned. That's next week on Legends of the Old West. And members of our Black Barrel Plus program don't have to wait week to week. They receive early access in the entire season to binge all at once. Sign up now through the link in the show notes or on our website, blackbarrelmedia.com.

Memberships begin at just $5 per month. This season was researched and written by Julia Bricklin. Audio editing and sound design by Dave Harrison. Original music by Rob Valliere. I'm your host and producer, Chris Wimmer. If you enjoyed the show, please leave us a rating and a review on Apple Podcasts or you're listening check out our website blackbarrelmedia.com for more details and join us on social media we're at old west podcast on facebook instagram and twitter thanks for listening