Legends of the Old West - BASS REEVES Ep. 3 | “Court of the Damned”

Episode Date: March 3, 2021

As Bass Reeves and other deputies haul in loads of prisoners, the conditions in the Fort Smith jail become hellish even beyond the poor standards of the day. The Western District court, and “Hanging Judge” Parker, quickly become feared throughout the West. Then Reeves tangles with a gang of horse thieves and then settles the score with an old enemy in dramatic fashion. 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

This episode is brought to you by Lego Fortnite. Lego Fortnite is the ultimate survival crafting game found within Fortnite. It's not just Fortnite Battle Royale with minifigures. It's an entirely new experience that combines the best of Lego play and 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+. Make your nights unforgettable with American Express. Unmissable show coming up? Good news.

We've got access to pre-sale tickets so you don't miss it. Meeting with friends before the show? We can book your reservation. And when you get to the main event, skip to the good bit using the card member entrance. Let's go seize the night. That's the powerful backing of American Express. Visit amex.ca slash yamex.

Benefits vary by card. Other conditions apply. In the early fall of 1884, after the accidental death of the cook in the spring and the killing of Jim Webb in the summer, Bass Reeves was back on the whiskey trail. He was looking for seven criminals, three of whom were brothers. But the brothers found Reeves first. They caught him on the trail and ordered him to dismount. Reeves reached inside his coat where he had warrants for their arrest. One of the brothers thought Reeves was going for a hidden gun. The brother pistol-whipped the deputy marshal. Reeves fell to the ground. He tried to get up, then fell back down.

But he pretended to be unconscious to buy himself some time to assess the situation. The brothers holstered their guns, which was the momentary edge Reeves needed. He whipped out his Colt revolver and shot two of them dead. The third brother fired but missed, and before he could fire again, Reeves killed him with a blow to the head. Reeves couldn't collect fees on outlaws who didn't make it to jail, but at least there were three fewer desperados on the whiskey trail. And the three brothers probably didn't put up a fight entirely because of the natural instinct to avoid capture.

When Bass Reeves took them to jail in Fort Smith, they were entering one of the dirtiest, harshest, and most depressing places in America. And if they survived the dungeon jail, they were rewarded with a trip to the courtroom of the hanging judge, Isaac Parker. As a podcast network, our first priority has always been audio and the stories we're able to share with you. But we also sell merch, and organizing that was made both possible

and easy with Shopify. Shopify is the global commerce platform that helps you sell and grow at every stage of your business. From the launch your online shop stage, all the way to the did we just hit a million orders stage. Whether you're selling scented soap or offering outdoor outfits, Shopify helps you sell everywhere. They have an all-in-one e-commerce platform and in-person POS system, so wherever and whatever you're selling, Shopify's got you covered. With the internet's best

converting checkout, 36% better on average compared to other leading commerce platforms, Shopify helps you turn browsers into buyers. Shopify has allowed us to share something tangible with the podcast community we've built here, selling our beanies, sweatshirts, and mugs to fans of our shows without taking up too much time from all the other work we do to bring you even more great content. And it's not just us. Shopify powers 10% of all e-commerce in the U.S. Shopify is also the global force behind Allbirds, Rothy's, and Brooklinen, and millions of other entrepreneurs of every size across 175 countries. Because businesses that grow, grow with Shopify. Sign up for a $1 per month trial period at shopify.com slash realm, all lowercase. Go to shopify.com slash r-e-a-l-m now to grow your

business, no matter what stage you're in. Shopify.com. From Black Barrel Media, this is Legends of the Old West. I'm your host, Chris Wimmer. 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 of the career of one of the most respected lawmen in American history, Bass Reeves. This is Episode 3, Court of the Damned. In August of 1884, Bass Reeves and his posse men were wrangling 15 prisoners on yet another long, dry trip through Indian territory before heading back to Fort Smith. It had been a few months since Reeves had accidentally killed his cook, an event that wasn't done yet, and two months since he'd won a long-distance shootout against a killer named Jim Webb. As usual, the current bunch of prisoners was a motley crew of murderers,

horse thieves, whiskey runners, and tax dodgers. Some of the arrestees fell into more than one category. One of the last warrants that Reeves had to serve was for a man named Chubb Moore, and this time, Reeves' pos serve was for a man named Chubb Moore, and this time, Reeves' posseman got the drop on the suspect. Chubb Moore was a full-blood Chickasaw who was wanted for lynching a black man seven years earlier. Reeves and his posseman had tracked Moore to a saloon, and the posseman went inside to find the accused. The posse men walked up to Moore and Moore was instantly suspicious. He got spooked and tried to run. The posse men shot him in the right thigh. The lawmen put Moore onto a mattress in the wagon and carried him back to Fort Smith.

They were in the middle of the Chickasaw Nation, so the trip was about 265 miles. In spite of his pain and suffering, Moore was fairly silent on the trip. He knew that if he survived his wound, his future in the jail of Fort Smith could be a death sentence. It was filthy, crowded, and even more demoralizing than a normal jail, however you might define normal. There was a reason people called it Hell on the Border, or Hell on Earth. Chubb Moore might have been considered lucky that he didn't live long enough to experience the jail. When Moore reached Fort Smith, the jailhouse doctor tried to relieve his suffering. The bones in Moore's leg were shattered, and the wound was

badly infected. The doctor decided he had to amputate the leg to save the prisoner's life. The doctor took Moore's leg off at the hip joint, but Moore never recovered from the shock of the operation, and he died on the table. Moore was not the first prisoner to die in the Fort Smith jail, nor was he the last. It was never meant to house so many prisoners, and for such long periods of time. Because court was only in session at certain times of the year, people could be warehoused in the jail for months at a time, often when it was sweltering hot or freezing cold. Unfortunately for those caught by Bass Reeves or his fellow deputies, the Fort Smith Courthouse and the jail were a destiny to be feared.

The Fort Smith Courthouse took up the first floor of what used to be an army barracks during the Civil War. The jail used to be the basement, which had served as a mess hall for the soldiers. Originally, the space was used to safeguard Confederate prisoners. The Union Army had outfitted it with window gratings. There was a wall that divided the space into two large rooms. There were no individual cells, just the two big rooms, which left prisoners free to mingle with each other. big rooms, which left prisoners free to mingle with each other. In other words, there was nothing to prevent fighting or stealing the meager rations of food and water. There was little light or ventilation in the basement. Sanitation measures in the Fort Smith jail were practically non-existent.

There were usually 45 to 85 prisoners squished into the two rooms. Guards set urinal tubs in unused fireplaces in hopes that the flus would carry the odor out of the building. It didn't work. The stench got so bad that it was often present in the courtroom on the first floor. During the hot months of spring and summer, workers tamped sawdust into the floorboards of the courtroom in an effort to keep the smell from filtering in, and it rarely helped. There were few jails, if any, that were more feared than the one in Fort Smith, Arkansas, and the same held for the man who presided over its courtroom. Isaac Parker replaced the first judge at the Western District, whose tenure had been marred by corruption. At the age of 36, Judge Parker was the youngest federal judge in the West.

He held court for the first time on May 10, 1875, the day he swore in Bass Reeves. Over the next few months, juries found 15 people guilty of murder and sentenced eight of them to death. One was killed trying to escape from the jail, and another had his sentence commuted to life in prison because he was a teenager. In the fall of 1875, the remaining six were executed on the same day. Reporters from Little Rock, St. Louis, and Kansas City flocked to Fort Smith to observe. A week before the hanging, the city began to fill with strangers from all over the country who were anxious to view the hangings. On the day the prisoners were to be condemned, more than 5,000 people watched as the six men were marched from the jail to the gallows.

Parker's critics dubbed him the Hanging Judge and called his court, Court of the Damned. Even for the majority of the accused, who were not sentenced to life in prison or execution, jail was the worst thing they could imagine. There was a single sink in each of the two rooms. The jail staff ordinarily did not allow bathing, and of course, there were no showers or bath facilities anyway. Prisoners wore the same clothing for weeks at a time, without even wiping down with a washcloth.

Prisoners slept on the rough flagstone floor. Dampness caused their blankets and straw-filled mattresses to become soaked and moldy. There was no separation of types of prisoners. Murderers and robbers were housed with those who might have only sold a pint or two of whiskey. There was no separation by age or race either. The only thing that most of Fort Smith's prisoners had in common was that they were from Indian territory, and they were men. Female prisoners typically had their own rooms elsewhere in the building, with slightly better conditions. But they were at the mercy of the all-male guard staff,

who sometimes took advantage of them. The dark, claustrophobic conditions earned the jail a reputation as a dungeon or a black hole. Parker sentenced people for their crimes almost exactly to the letter of the law. Most of the locals approved of Parker's judgments. They felt like the punishments were warranted because of the utter viciousness of the crimes. Besides the first six hangings in 1875, there were 73 more during Parker's time on the bench. The judge was keenly aware that politicians in Washington, D.C. were getting pressure from their constituents to open lands within Indian territory for white settlement. Though it wasn't his intent, the fact that he hanged so many people by the mid-1880s gave ample support for the message. People argued that the hangings proved

Indian territory was barbaric. If whites were allowed to make it an organized territory, it could be civilized. Parker understood that his judgments were being used for propaganda, but he vehemently opposed leaders who made decisions from more than a thousand miles away. They didn't know the people who lived in his jurisdiction. They didn't fully understand the complexities on the ground. Judge Parker felt confident that he and his group of deputies, including Bass Reeves, could handle the rugged lands of western Arkansas

and Indian Territory. But they could forestall Washington's plans for only so long. Shop with Rakuten and you'll get it. What's it? It's the best deal. The highest cash back. The most savings on your shopping. So join Rakuten and start getting cash back at Sephora, Old Navy, Expedia, and other stores you love. You can even stack sales on top of cash back.

Just start your shopping with Rakuten to save money at over 750 stores. Join for free at rakuten.ca or get the Rakuten app. That's R-A-K-U-T-E-N. On October 16th, 1887, Bass Reeves stood in front of Judge Parker in the Court of the Damned and awaited his fate. A jury had carefully deliberated the case of the death of Reeves Cook. Three years earlier, Reeves had shot the man while trying to fix his Winchester rifle. Reeves said it was a tragic accident, and now he awaited the opinion of the jury. The all-white jury agreed that it had been an accident, and that Reeves acted appropriately by trying to get medical help for the jury. The all-white jury agreed that it had been an accident and that Reeves acted

appropriately by trying to get medical help for the man. The jury also noted that in the years since his indictment, Reeves had continued to perform his assigned duties with his usual efficiency. As always, those duties were to spend weeks on the road rounding up killers and thieves. Those duties were to spend weeks on the road rounding up killers and thieves. As the population of Indian Territory increased, so did the number of criminals and the acts of crime. Reeves and the other deputies were sent out into the territory to collect literal wagon loads of wrongdoers. In October of 1885, Reeves spent five weeks on the trail and rounded up 17 prisoners and dragged them back to the jail in Fort Smith. As usual, their transgressions were a mixed bag of vice and vengeance. Some had killed others, only because the others had stolen their

horses. Some were members of a tribe who'd wronged others, and for whatever reason, whites were involved. Several people had been caught selling alcohol to the tribes. Reeves was used to these large-scale collections of prisoners, but in the mid-1880s, this was becoming more of the norm for him and his fellow marshals. With more people in the territory and more arrests being made, the jail at Fort Smith became more crowded. By mid-1885, there were usually well over 100 prisoners in the jail at any given time,

according to newspaper reports. That was three times more than the usual number that had been housed there in years prior. Congress finally took notice of the Hellish Jail in 1886. It started making plans for new and improved quarters, and in 1887, construction started on a new building and hospital. Inmates relocated to the new quarters in 1888, but the only improvement was separation of prisoners by type of crimes committed.

Lack of sanitation and overcrowding remained huge problems for another 10 years. For Reeves, the conditions in the jail were part of a vicious cycle. As the conditions became more crowded and more horrible, outlaws went to greater lengths to avoid capture. But by 1887, Reeves was spending less time at the jail. Congress passed the Dawes Severalty Act. Among many other things, it created divisions among Native Americans and eliminated the social cohesion of the tribes. It also cleared the way for nearly 50,000 settlers to dash into the territory two years later and claim two million acres of so-called unassigned lands. It was the first of several land runs, where settlers of different races absorbed thousands of acres of land that

had been previously held by Native Americans. New people had been flooding into Indian territory over the past decade anyway, but the land rushes were organized waves of humanity surging into the region. And with all the new people in the territory, a new court was established in Paris, Texas. In short order, Bass Reeves started receiving assignments from the new court. One of Reeves' first assignments from the Texas court was to take down the Tom Story gang. It was one of the first well-organized bands of horse thieves to operate in Indian territory. Gangs were always a problem, but they were becoming increasingly violent and mobile. Reeves' associate deputy, Frank Dalton, the law-abiding older brother of the soon-to-be-famous Dalton gang,

had recently been shot and killed by horse thieves. From 1884 to 1889, Tom Story and his gang were devoted exclusively to stealing horses in Indian territory and selling them in Texas. They made their headquarters on the banks of the Red River in the Chickasaw Nation. The strategic location allowed them to move in all directions to fully cover the territory. But in 1889, Story and his gang decided to try something else. They stole a herd of horses and mules from a man on the Texas side of the Red River. Then they drove the animals into Indian territory in search of a market. When the owner figured out that his herd had been stolen, he made a complaint

to the marshal's office and Reeves got the warrant for Tom's story. The owner was understandably upset about his stolen herd, but Reeves calmed him down and convinced him that the best thing to do was to use some logic. Reeves knew that story would have to come back across the river at some point and estimated the number of days he thought it would take. Reeves asked some of his sources what they thought. The consensus was that Story would likely cross the Red River back into Texas at a particular junction. So Reeves and the owner of the horses camped deep in the brush at that junction. Sure enough, four days later, Tom Story came riding across the ford.

He was leading two of the owner's finest mules that he'd failed to sell. When he got close enough, Reeves stepped out of the brush, pistol in hand. He told Story he had a warrant for his arrest and to get down. Story was probably an example of a desperate criminal in the

territory. Reeves already had his gun out, but Tom Story tried to draw and fire anyway. His gun never cleared leather. Reeves fired, and Story was dead before he hit the ground. Reeves' capture and unplanned killing of Tom Story was dramatic, but not as dramatic as his encounter with a killer named Bob Dozier. According to Reeves' daughter, the Dozier case was one of the high points of Reeves' career with the court in Texas. But it almost went fatally wrong. In December of 1890, Bass Reeves swore out a warrant for the arrest of a black man named Bob Dozier.

Like half a dozen others, Dozier was an outlaw who'd bedeviled Reeves for several years, even though they'd only met face-to-face once. Dozier was once a prosperous farmer, but for reasons lost to history, he turned to a life of crime. He didn't specialize in any one category of criminal behavior. He operated on the theory that diversification was more profitable. It also made him less likely to get caught, because criminals who specialized in one type of crime tended to be the first to snitch on each other. in one type of crime tended to be the first to snitch on each other.

People said Dozier always remembered a favor and never forgot a traitorous act. He stole cattle, robbed stores and banks, and hijacked cattle buyers carrying large sums of money. Dozier also liked to hold up stagecoaches, ambush travelers as they crossed Indian territory, act as a fence for stolen jewels, and stick up large poker games, which he was good at finding. It isn't known exactly when Reeves decided to go after Dozier in earnest, but sources say it was in the early 1890s. Dozier had avoided arrest for years, and it bothered Reeves to no end. Reeves had a description of Dozier from Dozier's victims, and Reeves felt he understood Dozier's lone wolf mentality. The lawmen decided it would be better to go after the outlaw with a very small team, just a single posseman, so they wouldn't arouse suspicion and tip off Dozier.

Reeves was two steps behind Dozier for several months, but he never gave up. At one point, Dozier sent a message to Reeves that was succinct and direct. It basically said, stop chasing me or I'll kill you. The marshal just laughed and sent a message back. Reeves said, if you want to kill me, you'll at least have to quit running. But Dozier stayed on the move, and Reeves got closer and closer. Finally, in the Upper Cherokee Nation, Reeves found Dozier's trail. He tracked Dozier deeper and deeper into the wilds, knowing he was only an hour or two behind him. In addition, he learned Dozier was riding with an unknown partner. Later that afternoon, a heavy rain started to fall and it blotted out the tracks.

To make matters worse, heavy lightning and thunder started, which made the already eerie Cherokee hills seem even more foreboding. As darkness settled, Reeves and his posse men lost all hope of tracking Dozier any further. They began to look for a dry place to camp that night. They rode down into a heavily wooded ravine, using the lightning flashes to find their way down its slopes. The second they reached the bottom of the ravine, they heard the blast of a gunshot. A bullet whined past Reeves' head, barely missing him. The marshal and his assistant left their horses and hurried for cover in the trees, expecting more shots from the hidden bushwhackers.

and hurried for cover in the trees, expecting more shots from the hidden bushwhackers. After a few minutes, Reeves saw the dim shadow of a man slipping from tree to tree. He waited until the shadow was between two trees, and fired two quick shots. He knew he hit his mark because the shadow fell, but Reeves didn't know who he'd hit. He knew there were at least two men out there, and he'd just given away his position. That was when one of the men stepped in front of Reeves and opened fire. The burly lawman was a quick thinker, as always. He threw himself face down in the gushing mud and rain.

He was playing dead, and he was fully exposed. After a few moments, a man stepped out from behind a tree. He laughed loudly, clearly thinking he'd killed the famous Bass Reeves and scared the posse men away. When lightning struck again, Reeves opened one eye for a split second. It was enough to see that the man who was laughing at him was none other than Bob Dozier. Dozier walked toward Reeves. Reeves waited until the outlaw was just a few yards away. Then he raised his pistol while still laying on the ground and ordered Dozier to drop his gun.

Dozier stopped laughing and his eyes opened wide with surprise. He hesitated for a moment, then dropped into a crouch and tried to fire again. But before he could level his gun, Reeves fired. He hit Dozier in the neck and killed him instantly. It was a long pursuit, but Bass Reeves finally stopped the menace that was Bob Dozier. And the scenes at the end, with the good guy and the bad guy in a gunfight during a thunderstorm, would become classics to movie-going and TV-watching audiences in about 50 years. But for Bass Reeves, the scenes

were real. Next time on Legends of the Old West, Bass Reeves is tasked with keeping violence out of saloon towns more than wide-open frontiers. But it didn't mean he faced any less danger. He remained laser-focused, even as his own family suffered several traumas. That's next week on the season finale of Bass Reeves, here 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 five dollars per month

this season was researched and written by juliaickley. 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 wherever 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.