Posted by Christopher Blackwell on June 20, 2026, 2:15 pm
Old West Remembered Tales From The Old West · dsronpSeot6079huu290um6fucu299g0ghlla187uta13f09334701maf68l · Tales From The Old West oeorntspSdhm7la5u667fii9t0iu1510fh26ig56l68ca1488h361tcfllu1 · THE LEGEND OF THE LONE RANGER. Bass Reeves
Bass was born into slavery in Crawford County, Arkansas, in July 1838 under the ownership of William Steele Reeves. The family moved to the front line Grayson County, Texas, in 1846, where Bass grew up working as a water boy and field hand. By the 1850s, he was assigned as a personal servant to the owner's son, George R. Reeves, who later became a Confederate Colonel.
During this time, Bass grew to an imposing 6’2” and became a master marksman with a rifle and pistol.When the Civil War erupted in 1861, George took Bass to the front lines as his bodyguard.
Sometime during the war, George and Bass got into a heated dispute over a poker game because George cheated, leading Bass to drop him with a single punch and flee into the night.
Bass escaped north into Indian Territory, which is now Oklahoma, where he took refuge among the Cherokee, Cree, and Seminole nations. He learned to track, mastered their customs, and became fluent in multiple Indigenous languages, which were skills that changed his life forever. He is also believed to have fought for his freedom during this time with the Union Indian Home Guard Regiments.
The war ended in 1865, and the Emancipation Proclamation made him officially free. Bass left Indian Territory and bought a homestead near Van Buren, Arkansas, where he married his love, Nellie Jennie. Together, they built a highly successful farm and raised 10 children. Because he knew the dangerous Indian Territory like the back of his hand, federal marshals quickly began hiring him as a local scout and guide.
In 1875, Federal Judge Isaac Parker, the famous Hanging Judge, took over the lawless West District and ordered the hiring of 200 deputies to clean up 75,000 square miles of outlaw territory. Hearing of Bass's unique language and tracking skills, U.S. Marshal James Fagan commissioned him, making Bass the first Black Deputy U.S. Marshal west of the Mississippi River.
Bass could not read or write, so before hitting the trail, someone read him his stack of warrants. Bass memorizes every single name, charge, and location, ensuring he never arrested the wrong person.
Standing 6'2", riding a massive white stallion, and wearing two ambidextrous Colt pistols, Bass was unmistakable, so he often went undercover as a tramp, a cowboy, or a farmer to catch smart outlaws. Over a 32-year federal career, Bass arrested more than 3,000 outlaws and killed 14 men in self-defense, famously stating he never shot a man unless it was absolutely necessary. His unwavering dedication to the law was tested in 1902 when his own son, Bennie, killed his wife in a jealous fit.
While other marshals hesitated, Bass demanded the warrant, tracked his own son down, and handed him over to the court.
Oklahoma achieved statehood in 1907, which dissolved the federal courts and brought rising Jim Crow laws that stripped Black marshals of their federal badges. At 68 years old, Bass refused to quit and joined the Muskogee, Oklahoma Police Department as a street patrolman, where not a single crime was reported on his beat for two years.
Bass Reeves passed away from Bright's disease on January 12, 1910, at the age of 71. His obituary beautifully described him as absolutely fearless and knowing no master but duty.
The exact burial site of legendary Deputy U.S. Marshal Bass Reeves is historically unknown. However, historical research points to him being buried in an unmarked grave at the historically neglected Harding Memorial Cemetery (or the nearby Agency Cemetery) in Muskogee, Oklahoma.
Harding Memorial is currently being inventoried and mapped as part of a 5 year restoration plan. If/when a headstone/location for Bass is found, it will be announced when the restoration team is ready.
Many historians believe Bass Reeves’s signature style riding a white horse, using disguises, keeping a strict moral code, and using silver coins served as the direct inspiration for The Lone Ranger. But Hollywood chose to erase his name from the story for decades. Let's make sure his actual name is never forgotten. Share this to honor a true American titan! ChristopherBlackwell
You see, we had MAGA for a long time. Longer than MAGA has had Golden Gonzales. Does Zero come before Zoro? Can MAGA tell the difference?
Pikes Peak brewing its own storm
Just like MAGA, only the Pikes Peak storm is beneficial.
Saw doctor yesterday.
I twitch uncontrollably on my right side. Especially irritating and noticeable at night. When I stand, I feel like I am moving. Sometimes more, sometimes less. Sometimes almost not. Not much, but enough to concern me about my balance. I take and took steps to be extra careful. Falls at our age are for water going over cliffs.
Doctor thinks I may have early Parkinson's. Can't be certain. There are no tests per se. Only deductive observations. I am a little forgetful about some things. I get halfway through something like the Polonaise in bA and have to stop, wondering where the hell I am. Don't even know what key I'm supposed to be in. Reliant more on muscle memory. Piece after piece is like that. He watched me walk, and I did other physical exercises. Have a follow up next week.
What color is algae? Yellow and blue. Yellow and blue make green. Felon's reflecting pool is exercising and demonstrating something felon never does: science. Felon said vandals are trying to undo his reflecting pool work. When they drained the old water and added new, the algae bloomed. Without microscopic algae feeders to check it, the imbalance spiraled out of control. It will continue to do so regardless intervention by his feckless fraud companies. If he left it alone, the water would eventually move back into balance. But they're running out of time. In fact they are out of time. At this time. his pool is what it is. Yellow and blue make green. Chlorophyll. No, it ain't pisswater. Nor did felon and RFK jr bathe in it so his orange yellow face pigment dissipated into the water. It's science; something felon and his cabinet of useless compliments know next to nothing about.
What do we call it? What can we call it? His Reflecting Swamp? He's certainly draining it.
Oh yeah. The shallow depth and flag blue truckbed liner bottom both accelerate water temperature and algal bloom. He's caught in the vicious truth cycle of science.
You can look away from a painting, but you can't listen away from a symphony
I'm working on dexterity with my left hand/fingers, so I have this Cracker Barrel triangle IQ tester thing with the pegs... where you try to leave just one at the end. So now I've done that so many times with my left hand, I'm a genius now! I can do it every time. Good for your motor skills and your mind.
I've been feeling a little depressed lately, especially with my hand still needing a lot of therapy, as it stiffens up a lot and I just keep trying to work it out. I am still hoping that it will get better, but at my age... who knows? I'm glad I had the surgery, though, which was successful, and hopefully in a year from now, it will be more back to normal? Since I broke my wrist in January, I really need therapy on my whole arm, since it is so weak from not using it. But I'm working on it.
I did something foolish tonight. Woke up on the couch a little before midnight, and then of course couldn't get back to sleep. So I noticed that I had forgotten about the hummingbird feeder that needed to be refilled. So I filled it up and tried hanging it on the shepherd's hook that is just outside the office window in front of the house. I see the hummingbirds all the time while sitting at the computer. They must be nesting nearby. Anyway, when I tried to hang it on the hook, it fell apart and dropped down into the bushes. The wire that fit around the glass at the top had come undone, and I found myself with a pair of pliers and my two hands trying to fix the darn thing, and I suddenly realized that I probably shouldn't have been doing that with my thumb and fingers, but I really needed both my hands to do it, and was determined at that point! So I finally got it back together and then checked to see if my thumb was still working! Which it was, thankfully. Maybe it was just the kind of therapy I needed? Who knows?
I hope the symptoms subside and it is not Parkinson's!
Pikes Peak, have the tremors, now also in the daytime where they used to be just at night in bed. I have those periods of vagueness, quite confusing. I also lose words just before I am going to say them. Any walking without my walker requires thought before each step and balance is a strange. Eyesight and hearing continue to fade, starting to have some trouble reading my 32 inch monitor.ChristopherBlackwell
Those chronic health issues are awful. In good shape now, nearing 70, after heart and cancer scares a few years back; but with those it's kill or cure and luckily, I'm cured (for now). SAY ‘NO’ TO WAR! RESIST!
Old age is no place for sissies! Hang in there my friend!
on June 20, 2026, 2:15 pm
Good for your motor skills and your mind. 
