<v Speaker 1>I'm Jerry Broadway, and this is Anonymous America where we

<v Speaker 1>dig a little deeper into American history to find those

<v Speaker 1>unsung and unknown heroes that someone should have taught you about,

<v Speaker 1>but no one ever did. Now you know all about

<v Speaker 1>the Lone Ranger, High Old Silver, the mask, the silver bullets,

<v Speaker 1>the mysterious law man riding across the frontier, out smarting

<v Speaker 1>outlaws and riding away before anyone could even ask his name.

<v Speaker 1>You know that character, But do you know the man

<v Speaker 1>the character was based on from Hey Dad Productions. This

<v Speaker 1>is Anonymous America. His name was Bass Reeves. He was

<v Speaker 1>born into slavery, and he became the first black Deputy

<v Speaker 1>US Marshall west of the Mississippi, and his career made

<v Speaker 1>everything the Lone Ranger did look modest by comparison. Bass

<v Speaker 1>Reeves was born a slave in Arkansas around eighteen thirty eight.

<v Speaker 1>During the Civil War, he escaped into Indian Territory what

<v Speaker 1>is now Oklahoma and lived among the Creek and Seminole

<v Speaker 1>nations for years. He learned the land, he learned multiple languages,

<v Speaker 1>and he became an extraordinarily skilled horseman and marksman. When

<v Speaker 1>the war ended, Bass became a free man. In eighteen

<v Speaker 1>seventy five, Judge Isaac Parker, the famous hanging judge of

<v Speaker 1>the Western Frontier, was looking for deputies who could operate

<v Speaker 1>in Indian Territory because it was some of the most

<v Speaker 1>dangerous law enforcement work in the country. So Parker hired

<v Speaker 1>Bass Reeves. Over a thirty two year career as a

<v Speaker 1>federal marshal, bass Reeves arrested over three thousand felons. He

<v Speaker 1>killed fourteen men in the line of duty, always by

<v Speaker 1>his account, because they drew first. He was ambushed, He

<v Speaker 1>was shot at, had his hat shot off, his head,

<v Speaker 1>had his belt cut by a bullet, his bridle rein

<v Speaker 1>was shot out of his hand once, and he walked

<v Speaker 1>away every time. Bass worked in disguise regularly. He posed

<v Speaker 1>as a farmer, a cowboy, a fugitive, anything to get

<v Speaker 1>close to the wanted men. He was very famous for

<v Speaker 1>his elaborate ruses. He once spent twenty eight days tracking

<v Speaker 1>two outlaws through Indian Territory, sleeping on the ground, surviving

<v Speaker 1>off the land until he had them. He arrested his

<v Speaker 1>own son for murder. The son was convicted and served

<v Speaker 1>his sentence. After the trial, Reeves went back to work

<v Speaker 1>He was also notably illiterate for most of his life,

<v Speaker 1>but he had a photographic memory and memorized every warrant

<v Speaker 1>that was read to him, delivering them flawlessly in court

<v Speaker 1>purely from memory. Mass Reeves retired from federal service in

<v Speaker 1>nineteen oh seven when Indian Territory became the state of Oklahoma.

<v Speaker 1>He immediately joined the Muskogee Police Department and worked there

<v Speaker 1>until his death in nineteen ten. Bass Reeves was seventy

<v Speaker 1>one years old when he passed away, and he worked

<v Speaker 1>in law enforcement almost until the day he died, because

<v Speaker 1>that's what bass Reeves did. Now. The connection between bass

<v Speaker 1>Reeves and the Lone Ranger was long speculated by historians

<v Speaker 1>and became more widely documented in the early two thousands.

<v Speaker 1>The creators of the Lone Ranger never officially confirmed it,

<v Speaker 1>but the parallels, the disguises, the silver, the moral code,

<v Speaker 1>the territory, the legend, they're kind of hard to dismiss.

<v Speaker 1>As are three thousand arrests thirty two years a man

<v Speaker 1>born into slavery who died a law man. That's bass Reeves.

<v Speaker 1>That is anonymous America