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Monday, December 18, 2017
Texas History Minute expanses of the Indian Territory. He came to live with the different Native American tribes, learning their languages and cultures and gaining their respect. After the Civil War, Reeves became a farmer and father of ten, briefly returning to Arkansas as a free man and a landowner. In 1875, Judge Isaac Parker, the notorious “hanging judge,” became the federal judge based in Fort Smith, Arkansas, overseeing the Indian Territory. Parker named James F. Fagan as U. S. Dr. Ken Bridges Marshal and ordered him to start hiring deputies to bring law and Dr. Bridges is a Texas native, writer, and history professor. He order to the area. Fagan had heard of Reeves and his gift for language can be reached at and sought him out. The appointment of Reeves as Deputy drkenbridges@gmail.com. U.S. Marshal was an almostunheard of position for an AfricanFor generations, the Lone Ranger American at the time. has charged the imaginations of millions around the world with Reeves energetically took on the tales of western adventure and the responsibilities of the position. He pursuit of justice. But a number of went to extraordinary lengths to historians now believe that the capture fugitives, including using Lone Ranger was possibly based his expert tracking skills over long on a real person, an escaped Texas distances and wearing a variety of slave turned U.S. Marshal named disguises. His skills as a horseman Bass Reeves. Regardless of any allowed him to outride virtually possible link to the Lone Ranger anyone. He routinely enlisted the stories of the twentieth century, the help of Native Americans to help story of Reeves is as remarkable as track outlaws. He became known any western legend. for his sense of honor and fair treatment of victims and the Reeves was born in Crawford accused alike. He was generous to County, in Northwest Arkansas, the needy, sometimes giving them around 1838. His family was money. owned by the prosperous and politically well-connected family In his long career, he brought more of William Reeves, an early than three thousand criminals to Arkansas legislator. While Bass justice. He found himself in Reeves was still young, the family shootouts with several suspects but left Arkansas for Texas. They was never wounded himself. settled in Grayson County, not far Judge Parker often praised Reeves from Sherman, around 1846. and his skills. In 1893, Reeves George Reeves, the son of William returned to Texas to serve as U. S. Reeves, would grow up and serve Marshal for the federal district as Grayson County Tax Collector court in Paris. He never learned to by 1848 and county sheriff by 1850 read, but he was able to memorize and would play an important role warrants read to him and could in the future lawman’s life. almost always track down suspects with his dogged determination and Bass Reeves eventually became the respect for the law. After 32 years property of the younger son and as a federal law officer, he stepped adopted the last named of Reeves, down. neither of which was unusual among slaves and slave-owning Reeves served for two more years families at the time. When the with the Muskogee Police Civil War began, his owner took Department in Oklahoma before Reeves with him to serve as a retiring in 1909 at age 70. His valet. The cavalry unit which health in decline, he passed away George Reeves commanded often in January 1910. He was widely fought in areas of the Indian celebrated across the West before Territory (modern-day Oklahoma) his death and in the years as Confederate forces attempted to afterward. Stories sprang up and convince the Native American expanded based on his legendary tribes of the area to side with the exploits, apparently inspiring the South. Lone Ranger stories, though other lawmen may have been At one point, Reeves saw his responsible. The Lone Ranger chance to escape. Several first appeared on radio in 1933 in biographers suggest that an Detroit, Michigan, just a argument over a card game erupted generation after his death, into a huge fight between George followed by the popular TV series and Bass Reeves in which Bass got that ran from 1949 to 1957 as well the better of him and decided his as several movies and comic days as a slave were over. He books. Today, a statue in Fort escaped, disappearing into the deep Smith commemorates the amazing life of Reeves.
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