Black Gun, Silver Star by Art T. Burton

Author:Art T. Burton
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Bison Books
Published: 2022-06-06T00:00:00+00:00

Charles W. Mooney wrote that the ground in the saloon town of the Corner was covered with empty cartridge shells, and looked like gravel on a modern parking lot. He also stated that the modern term “bootlegging” came from the drovers, cowboys, and ranchers who would sneak a flat bottle of whiskey in each of their boots and smuggle it back into “dry” Indian Territory, where no legal liquor could be sold. Others were bold and tied their bottles and jugs on their saddle horns under cover of darkness, sometimes swimming the river when it was swollen. The term “Last Chance” was coined here at these saloons, as it was on the border that they had their last chance to get liquor before going into dry Indian Territory.5

Mooney wrote the following for the Shawnee, Oklahoma, newspaper:

Although Deputy U.S. Marshals were getting more numerous in the old Indian Territory and in the new Oklahoma Territory during the 1890's, an extreme variance with the custom, particularly in the south, was a Negro Deputy U.S. Marshal. Bass Reeves was such a rarity.

The well known intrepid Marshal traveled extensively through what is now Pottawatomie county, and worked closely with the early day Sheriffs of the county before the turn of the century, as Sheriffs then could not pursue across the county lines, but Marshals could.

Reeves, although a quiet soft-spoken, … man, he had proved his mettle and prowess with his two big .45 caliber six-shooters, which materially enlarged his stature. He wore them butts forward for a cross handed draw. This gave him quicker access to the deadly weapons—a split second edge meant life or death. He used the pistols with deadly accuracy. A remarkable man, he was a credit not only to the Federal Court but to his race.

Reeves, was a master of disguise. Sometimes he dressed as a drover, cowboy, a gunslinger and outlaw, and he used aliases. Many times he had as many as 10 prisoners in an open wagon, handcuffed and chained together, en route to the federal jail at Pauls Valley, established in 1895. When not in disguise, he rode a big red stallion with a white blazed face. He was always neatly dressed, and was noted for his politeness and courteous manner. He carried a gourd dipper tied to his saddle bag which he used when he stopped at farmhouses for a drink of well water.

Perhaps the most famous and best remembered of all the disguises and accomplishments of the fearless early-day Marshal, was the time he dressed as an indigent tenant farmer. He drove through Keokuk Falls, then east of town in the Creek Nation. The cunning and sagacious officer had received a tip that some outlaws were holed-up in an abandoned log cabin about a mile east of Keokuk. Driving a yoke of flea-bitten, aged oxen hitched to a ramshackle wagon of outdated vintage and usage, he slowly lumbered along, approached the half hidden cabin in a cluster of trees. Driving close to the cabin, he deliberately got the wagon hung up on a large tree stump.

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