Prime Crime: Solved Murders - Episode 1: Bass in the Wild

Episode Date: February 22, 2023

As an enslaved man, Bass Reeves fights hand-to-hand with his enslaver. Victorious, Bass escapes, becoming a fugitive in America’s most dangerous, lawless territory just before the Civil War. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Due to the graphic nature of this story, listener discretion is advised. This episode includes dramatizations and discussions of chattel slavery, murder, and gore. There's a story out there that's just incredible. Some would say too incredible to be true. But for some reason, maybe a lot of reasons. That story hasn't really been told. and it was almost lost forever. When I was approximately 11 years old,

I was watching a Wadder movie at my grandparents' home in Arcadia, Oklahoma. You're hearing the voice of Art T. Burton. Today, he's Professor Burton. But back in the 1960s, he's just a boy, sitting in front of his grandparents' television set. And after the movie went off, I asked my grandfather if he had remembered seeing any black deputy U.S. Marshals on the frontier

because my grandparents had come to the Oklahoma Territory in 1890. And so they were little kids. And he told me he had actually seen black deputy U.S. marshals ride through Arcadia when he was a young man. Then I asked him if he remember any black deputies of note. And he thought for a while and him and my grandmother both chimed in about Bass Reeves. His grandparents tell him about this man, this black deputy U.S. Marshal, who was one of the greatest heroes to ever ride in the Wild West. And if it was a true story, it was the greatest story I'd ever heard somebody tell me about. And so I became possessed at that point to find out any and everything I could about bass raised.

Karibusana, you've found your way to solved murders, true crime mysteries, a sports. Spotify original from Parcast. I'm Darnel Ishmael, temporarily seizing the reins from Carter and Wendy for this special four-part miniseries. We're exploring the life of Deputy U.S. Marshal Bass Reeves. Every day he walked in the Valley of Death for 32 years and he came out ahead. His prolific career, where he came from, all that he sacrificed. By the end of his career, he had arrested over 3,000 men and women.

It's a journey deep into the Old West. the true West. And to have emerged from this time period and never been wounded himself, oh my goodness, it's absolutely incredible. This is Bass Reeves. No master but duty. By all accounts,

the most legendary ballmen of the Wild Wild West, and it's a black man. Episode 1, Bass in the Wild. Yamava Resort and Casino at San Manuel is California's number one entertainment destination for today's superstars. Catch the Jonas Brothers return to the Yamava Theater stage on April 30th, the powerful vocals of Demi Lovato on May 17th,

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And you at least get some of your dignity, money back. Someone on Deepop wants what you've got. Start selling now. Deepop where taste recognizes taste. January 1910, a newspaper reads, Bass Reeves dead. Bass Reeves, dead. colored. For 32 years, a deputy United States Marshal in Indian Territory, who served under the

famous Judge Parker at Fort Smith and later at Muskogee. A man credited with 14 notches on his gun and a terror to outlaws and desperadoes in the old days, died at home at 816 North Howard Street late yesterday afternoon at the age of 72. Death was caused by Bright's disease and complications. There's no question that Bass Reefs should be a household name. It's hard to overstate his accomplishments. He started out his life in slavery. He took his freedom by force. He learned to shoot, to track, to survive in the wilderness.

He became one of the greatest lawmen America has ever known. But the American West is full of unsung heroes whose stories deserve to be told. The accomplishments of minority lawmen and outlaws were largely relegated to oral histories. In the case of someone like Bass, who became a local legend in Oklahoma's black communities, it can be difficult to find the line

between the man and the myth. They started telling me stories like Bass would arrest Jesse James, either rest Billy the Kid or he'd arrest Butchekers. I mean, anybody, famous and I thought this sounds very strange to me it didn't make any sense. That 11-year-old boy whose grandparents told him about Bass Reeves never stopped asking questions. Today, Professor Burton is an author and historian with a focus on the unsung heroes and

villains of the American West. So they had a historical and geological society and I called them up and there was a lady answered the phone. I told I was trying to get information on Bass Reeves. She said she had never heard the name before, and then I mentioned that he was African-American Biers Marshall and it, and she was very nice to me. She said, sir, we did not keep black people's history here. For years, Bass Reeves would be left out of history books and museums. His story might have been forgotten entirely, but Burton didn't give up. He kept digging,

scouring old newspaper articles, obituaries, and courtroom documents. He interviewed older Oklahomans and recorded some of the oral histories that had been passed down for generations. Slowly, the story of Bass Reeves came into focus. And it begins in one of the darkest chapters of American history. Northern Texas, 1846. Bass is around eight years old. He's enslaved to a man named William Steele Reeves, along with his mother, parallel and his older sister, Janie.

Bass was first put to work as a water boy, then as a blacksmith's helper. Along with his main tasks, he helped care for the ranch's mules, horses, and other animals. It was back-breaking work. The hours were awful. The West, as it has been shown by Hollywood, is a false narrative for the most part.

It was very diverse. There were many individuals, male and female, that we know nothing about and should be talked about in the future. Texas was really wild back at that time. It was the frontier. Texas was especially diverse due to bordering Mexico to the south and Native American nations to the north. And since slavery was less ingrained than in other places,

it had a sizable population of free blacks. One of them is Bass's father. Arthur, he's been free since before Bass was born. Arthur has a job as a wagon driver, delivering supplies to local settlements. But whenever he can, he stops by the ranch where Bass is enslaved to see his children. But one day, Arthur takes Bass aside, not for a story but to deliver some news. Texas has become a state, which means, that it is now subject to the Fugitive Slave Act,

a law that makes it possible for any black man or woman to be captured and forced back into slavery. Even Arthur, a man who was freed by his former enslaver decades ago, can be targeted. It means that Texas is no longer safe and that this is goodbye. Bass was once quiet. and reserved, observant, but self-contained.

But once Arthur left, something changed. His mother started overhearing him talking and singing to himself. Strange, violent songs about guns, butcher knives, robberies, and killings. It seemed that a darkness had taken root within Bass. She worried that his violent talk might draw the attention of their instillings. Slaver. Fears of slave uprisings had begun to spread throughout the southern states. A young slave boy singing about murder wasn't a good look. So as she had so many times before, Pirlily turned to her religion.

Bass found comfort in the Old Testament tales, stories where God smote the wicked evil-doers who disobeyed his law. One of his favorites was the tale of Moses who led the enslaved Israelites out of bondage. Listening to those passages, an anger began to boil inside him. And the Lord said unto Moses, stretch out thy hand over the sea, that the waters may come again upon the Egyptians. It continued to grow, even when he was promoted out of the field and, into his enslavers home. He was soon promoted to the role of companion and bodyguard to George Reeves,

William Steele Reeves' adult son. The new position gave him a window into white society. It also brought a hundred new lessons. And with them, the keys to his freedom. Then the waters returned and covered the chariots and the chariot drivers until not one of them remain. We gather here tonight

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Taxes and fees extra. See full terms at mintmobile.com. The fireplace in George Reeves' study burns low. Bass, now a lanky teenager, stands at the smoking cabinet, preparing the evening tobacco. Just one of a hundred minor tasks he's learned over the past few months. He takes the tray to his enslaver and waits while George lights his pipe. Bass's gaze drifts to the Bible on the desk, the book of his mother's stories, the root of his fantasies.

His enslaveers' eyes snap him out of it. These aren't ideas he should entertain. He collects the tray and starts to retreat. Stop. George's command is abrupt, as always. Tell me what's on your mind, boy. Bass hesitates. What he wants to ask is unheard of, but he won't have a better chance. So he summons his courage and asks for.

Permission to educate himself, Bass wants to learn to read and write. George looks at him, considering the request. Wordlessly, he stands, goes to his desk, and opens the top of him. drawer. As he takes something out, he tells Bass that he's proud of him. He's seen what a capable student he is, and he wants him to continue developing his skills. To keep learning, not to read, though. He wants the boy to learn something far more useful. He reaches out and places the object in the boy's hand. Bass feels its weight. The smooth, polished wood, the cold metal of the barrel. As he looks down at the gun, he doesn't know it yet, but he's looking at his future.

Well, if you look at the history of chattel slavery in the United States of America, it was always illegal to educate an enslaved African, period. The only ones that did get some education were maybe those who got their freedom somehow, but it was very common for enslaved Africans, to be taught to reading right because they would become a threat. And that would have been the same scenario with Bass Reeves. There's an absurd irony in it. Bass's enslaver feared what he might do with a book, but was all too happy to give him a weapon. To me, it signifies the things we want to achieve as individuals and also as a culture and a community that are are deferred. It takes time for us to get there. And sometimes the path to getting there is not

It's not what we expected. And I think that was the truth for Bass Reeves. That's the voice of Colin Mapp, president of the Bass Reeves Gun Club. It's the founding and Atlanta chapter of the National African American Gun Association, the NAAGA. As Colin sees it, being denied the opportunity to read was a defining moment for Bass, not because of what he lost, but because of what he got. in its place. I think moving from the field to the house gave him that opportunity.

He saw it as a path to get to that literacy. But putting that gun in his hand was, I think, a blessing in his guys because one, it brought another skill set to him that guaranteed a survivor, so to speak. With his enslaver's permission, Bass was trained to use a rifle and shotgun. Once again, his watchful eyes and skillful hands made him an excellent student. After mastering the weapons, he trained himself to shoot with both hands so that he was effectively ambidextrous. I'll ask anyone to go a day using their non-dominant hands, right?

So brush your teeth, wash your face, right? Com your hair, get dressed without using your dominant hand and see how difficult. that task is, right? So it took practice. It means that he was a student of the use of fine arms. He practiced religiously. And the more Bass practiced, the better he got. George Reeves started entering him into shooting competitions,

enjoying the bragging rights and the purse when Bass won. George made money off of Bass by putting him in those turkey shoots. and shooting competitions. And he made money. Bass didn't make that money. That George made that money. So, you know, George was probably very fond of Bass. There's little doubt that the men were close,

considering how much time they would have spent together. But the country was changing in ways that would soon alter their relationship forever. Resistance was high on everyone's minds as Bass came of age. He would have been around 21 years old in 1859 when John Brown led his famous raid on Harper's Ferry. Anti-slavery sentiment was spreading in the north, spurred by the efforts of black abolitionists like Frederick Douglass and Harriet Tubman. In the southern states, white slave owners threatened secession. In 1865, the country pitched headlong into the Civil War. George Rees enlisted as a colonel in the 11th Texas.

his cavalry. By some accounts, Bass went with him, serving as the officer's body servant, which is far less important than what happened next. As the story goes, Bass and George were playing cards one night when they got into a disagreement. The argument spilled over into violence. Bass struck George Reeves with his fist and knocked him out cold. According to the law, an enslaved person could only strike a white man if it was to defend his enslaver's life. He was forbidden from raising a hand against a white person for any other reason, even to save his own life. For breaking this law, Bass could be executed. Like his father before him, he had a choice to make.

Stay and hope for mercy or run. And so, just as a man. As Moses struck down the slave driver and fled into the desert, so did Bass fly into the wilderness. Or did he? There's another version of the story that's less well known. Bass's great nephew, Judge Paul L. Brady calls it Aunt Nettie's version. In this account, Bass went into town one day to run an errand for George Reeves, But he never made it to his destination.

He was caught by slave patrollers. White men who took it upon themselves to roam their antebellum south, enforcing slavery laws. They suspected Bass of working with abolitionists. Bass was strong, but heavily outnumbered. The men beat him, bound him, and dragged him back to the Reeves estate. They left him with George Reeves under the expectation that he would take him. appropriate measures. George Reeves knew that if Bass was still alive in the morning, the slave patrollers might suspect him of harboring anti-slavery sentiments. So late that night,

he went alone to the cabin where Bass was being held. He opened the door and came face-to-face with Bass. Physically, there was no comparing the two men. Bass was younger, taller, with muscles built from a lifetime of forced labor. Bass looked at George Reeves, his long-time sordid companion. Then he told George he was leaving, and that he expected no harm to come to his mother or sister. George stepped aside. Bass went straight to the stables, took two of George's prized horses, and left. We don't know which version of Bass's escape is true. To his dying day, he would neither confirm nor deny the circumstances of his liberation. But the end result is the same.

He fled into the wilderness and became a fugitive from slavery. I knew about investing, but I really didn't know how to go about it. Meet Corey, a Walthfront client. With Welfront, it could put money in, and it would automatically distribute it into a diversified portfolio. Then it starts to compound. The compounding compounds on the compounding. Just let it wrong, and it's great.

Over one million clients trust wealth. Front. Get started at wealthfront.com. Client was paid $1,000 for their testimonial, creating a conflict of interest. Outcomes vary. Investment Management and Advisory Services provided by Wealthfront Advisors' LLC and SEC registered investment advisor. Investing involves risk to principle regardless of the strategy used. Has performance does not guarantee future results. Riding hard under the cover of darkness, Bass followed the Canadian River North. His plan was probably to head for Kansas, where slavery had been outlawed since it became a state in 1861. It was an incredible.

an incredibly perilous journey. Bass would have faced roaming slave patrollers with their dogs, not to mention wild animals, weather, and the threat of starvation. Bass's route took him into the area west of the Mississippi River, known as the Indian Territory. This vast wilderness stretched from Texas to Kansas and from Arkansas to modern-day Colorado. It was populated by creeks, chick-es,

Syracos, Cherokees, Choctaws, and Seminoles. White men called them the five civilized tribes. Basically, they were called civilized because they adopted ways of the dominant population. Less than 30 years earlier, the five tribes had been spread across the southeastern United States with the Indian Removal Act. The same legislation guaranteed them independence from the U.S. government. The tribes were sovereign nations, complete with their own legislators and police forces, known as Light Horsemen.

Bass was impressed by the indigenous communities, especially their legal and faith systems. According to Professor Burton, he befriended members of the Light Horse policemen who taught him to hunt, to set traps, and to track in the wilderness. He began working as a horse breeder, relying heavily on the skills he'd gained growing up on George Reeves' plantation. Over time, Bass built relationships with all of the local tribes.

He even learned several of their languages. He learned to speak Creek. He could speak probably some Cherokee and also Choctaw Chickasaw. So he learned to communicate with the Native Americans. While he lived amongst the Seminoles, Bass. paid frequent visits to the nearby Creek tribe. It was there that he met Jenny. She was part black, part creek, and part white, a tall, proud woman with dark hair and large dark eyes. According to family lore, Bass became enamored with Jenny's grace and would watch her whenever

he visited the Creek settlement. As they got to know one another, they discovered they had much in common. Both had experienced hardship, Jenny's Creek family having been forcibly relocated to the Indian territory in 1832. But neither of them were living in the past. They dreamt of a future where their children might have freedoms and opportunities they had never known. With her chief's blessing, they prepared to wed, but their plans would have to wait. Most of the Native American tribes in the Indian Territory sided with the Confederacy. But some creeks, Seminoles, and Cherokees

chose to fight with the Union. There was a chief name Opathiaholo, who was the leader of the Union Indians, and he told Bass to stay in the territory and fight against the Confederates. He learned how to kill. He learned how to find people. That's what he did.

He learned how to scout and hunt. he learned the lay of the land as they said like a cook knows their kitchen. Well, I'll just say, oh really? That's the voice of Angela Walton Raji, author of Black Indian genealogy research. She writes about the complex relationships and politics between Oklahoma's Native American tribes and the freedmen they once enslaved. One thing about the military, everybody may not shoot straight, but the one thing they'll do, Every time they order a new set of bullets, a new set of holsters, a new set of blankets, a new set of canteens, it is documented and documented and documented again.

Likewise, everyone who enlists extremely well documented, extremely well documented. I've yet to see anything referring to Bass in the Union Army or Confederate Army for whatever Army. In this case, however, Professor Burton says he actually has found some. evidence. I did talk to a gentleman who was 99 years old, and he told me that Bass had been a sergeant in the Union Army. I didn't have enough providence to really write that down anywhere because I didn't have any proof of it, but he told me that Bass had been a soldier in the war. It would make sense for Bass to become an expert with pistol and rifle during that error because he would have to use it. And then also in terms his skills of tracking and his skills of

of being able to locate where somebody might be in the Indian territory, which, you know, the Western District of Arkansas was 75,000 square miles. It was the largest federal jurisdiction in the United States until they had annexed Alaska. And so I don't think he would have learned that if he hadn't learned it during the war. We don't know much about Bass's exact movements throughout this period, but Brady's oral history places him with the Creek forces at several. critical battles. The most important of these was the Battle of Honey Springs. Fighting alongside Bass for the Union, a Native American regiment called the Indian Home Guard,

and the first colored Kansas infantry, the first all-black unit to see combat during the Civil War. They faced a mixture of Creek, Cherokee, and Choctaw forces alongside white Confederate cavalry and artillery regiments. The Battle of Honey Springs, which July 1863 is considered the Gittesburg of the Indian Territory, where the first Kansas colored and the three Indian Home Guard regiments played a pivotal role in defeating the Confederates, and the Confederates never contested for a control of the Indian territory after that battle. The Battle of Honey Springs is major, and is very important in history of that era.

After the battle, the commanding officer Major General James G. Blunt wrote, I never saw such fighting as was done by the Negro Regiment. They make better soldiers in every respect than any troops I've ever had under my command. Two years later, the cannon smoke cleared across the country, with 620,000 total Americans dead. The Confederacy had finally broken. The Civil War was over. and Bass had changed forever.

If you look at his life, what happened to him. So Bass grew up hunting, birds, animals. You know, he grew up in Texas. Texas was really wild back at that time. It was the frontier. So that was what Bass knew. And then if you add the Civil War into the mix, he became a warrior. By this point, Bass had been a free man for years,

but now his freedom was. was undisputed. He and Jenny reunited at Fort Gibson and once again began to plan for their future. Around this time, Bass and Jenny's first children were born. A girl named Sarah, then a boy, Robert. Suddenly, Bass had many more mouths to feed. So just as he always had, he leaned on the skills he'd acquired. He started working as a horse breeder again.

He also took security jobs working the front of the railroad construction line. During one of these jobs, Bass worked alongside a former U.S. Deputy Marshal named Arch Landon. Landon was impressed with Bass's abilities, particularly his sharpshooting skills. When they returned, Bass discovered that his reputation was growing. Deputy Marshals stationed out of Fort Smith had heard that Bass could shoot, hunt, and communicate with the indigenous tribes. They wanted to hire him as a tracker for trips into the wilderness. The job was dangerous and took Bass away from Jenny and the children for weeks at a time.

But it paid too well to pass up. The marshals were impressed, and soon they wanted more of his time. Jenny Reeves sits in her room, tending to her fussing daughter. Through the window she hears the bell tolling in the recently finished church tower. She frowns to herself. Bass is late. She feeds the children, then puts them to bed, growing steadily more worried with each passing hour.

It's dark before she hears the door open. Bass stands in the doorway. Jenny starts toward her husband, not yet sure whether she's going to hug him or scold him for being late. But his expression stops her in her tracks. He's troubled, at war with himself over some decision. He wordlessly extends his hand to show her something clutched in his palm. Her heart plummets at the sight of the object.

A small silver star with the words Deputy Marshall etched around it. Their eyes meet, and Jenny already knows his decision. She knows that their lives are about to change forever and that this star will bring trouble. A badge on her husband's chest puts a target on his back as Bass Reeves heads into a world of new dangers. Solved Murders True Crime Mysteries is a Spotify original from Parkast. This special was created and developed by Derek Jennings. It was written by Andrew Kelleher and Luther Mace, with editing by Andrew Kelleher and Maggie Admeier, researched by Sapphire Williams, fact-checking by Haley Milligan, and produced by Josh Kern.

Our production manager is Michelle Kitchen, and our supervising editor is Ryan O'Leary Jones, original music by William Ryan Fritch. Our supervising sound designer is Juan Borda, with editing. Additional sound editing by Alex Button and Michael Motion. Music supervision by Liz Fulton. Nick Johnson is our head of production. Quality control by Lisa Marie Gallegos. With quality control support by Spencer Howard.

And I'm your host, Darnell Ishmael.