3 RIVERS MUSEUM-MUSKOGEE, OK

LAWMAN-BASS REEVES

Bass Reeves was a brave African American U.S. Deputy Marshal who rode for Judge Isaac Parker out of the federal court at Fort Smith, Arkansas, commissioned to hunt down and capture outlaws hiding in Indian Territory.


Reeves worked for thirty-two years as a deputy marshal--the only marshal to begin with Parker's court and last until Oklahoma statehood in 1907.



Throughout his career, he insisted that he had never started a fight, or drew first blood in a fight. Yet in the course of making arrests, his own belt was cut in two by an outlaw's bullet, his hat brim was shot through, his buttons were shot off his coat and his bridle reigns were shot out of his hands, while pursuing all kinds of bad men."



He was master of disguise--a no-nonsense lawman who helped bring justice to a region infested with killers and thieves. The truth of his life is greater than his fictional legend.

OUTLAW QUEEN-BELLE STARR

On February 3, 1889, Belle Starr was shot and killed by an unknown assailant. She was buried at Youngers Bend, near present-day Eufaula, Oklahoma.

Belle Starr, known as the Bandit Queen, was born Myra Maybelle Shirley on February 5, 1848.

She continually associated with notorious outlaws and gang members, and numerous legends about her have circulated. There are two things we know for sure:


1. During the early 1880s, Sam and Belle Starr's cabin was a hideout for outlaws.



2. Belle Starr's only documented crime was the theft of a horse in 1882.



What stories have you heard?