b"So Was He, Bass Reeves Judge Parker's Fort Smith court sometime in 1882 when she learned that Reeves was out looking to apprehend her. She was let off, only to go back to her wayward ways until an unknown bullet ended her career - and her life - seven years later.And no it wasn't Bass Reeves' bullet that finally did her in.As mentioned earlier Judge Parker tried over 13,500 cases in his 21 years dispensing justice from his Fort Smith courtroom, ordering the execution of 88 condemned criminals. For much of those 21 years and the 11 years Reeves stayed in law enforcement after Parker was forced to resign, Bass Reeves accounted for the arrest and incarceration of over 3,000 outlaws and killed at least 14 wanted men, some other sources claimed he killed at least 20 (Ibid, p. 125; Legends of the Wild West, p. 49).That is almost 1/4 of both the trials and hangings of all of Judge Parker's cases! Thats quite a legacy that bears repeating, which is what this writer will do at the end of this article.CONTROVERSY, TRAGEDY, AND RACISMBass Reeves was a dedicated lawman, but that being said, he wasn't perfect, and in one very regrettable situation sometime in 1886, Reeves was accused of murdering his cook, William Leech, or Leach.What happened, according to Reeves was that he was cleaning his Winchester, trying to extricate a stuck Colt bullet he had inadvertently placed in the breech. In doing so, Reeves failed to notice that the rifle was still loaded, and by extricating the stuck pistol bullet he managed to push a rifle bullet up into the breech. When his finger touched the trigger, the rifle went off and struck the cook in the neck. Reeves claimed he immediately sought out a doctor, the wound didn't seem serious, but for some reason, Leech got worse and soon died of his wound.Judge Parker may have been a friend of Bass Reeves, but as already mentioned he also followed the law by and to the book, and in his courtroom, the law came first. A trial jury was convened for a case that should have been cut and dry, but nine witnesses claimed they had seen Reeves argue with the cook - then shoot him. For a moment or so, no matter how Judge Parker felt about Reeves, it didn't look too good for the lawman. The nine witnesses, however, were fugitives the lawman was bringing back to Fort Smith, they had their agendas to save their necks, but one of them finally admitted he and the others had been chained and kept in a prisoner tent, that they had falsified evidence and had never even seen Reeves shoot down a cook who had been a friend. The jury deliberated, and much to the relief of both Reeves and Judge Parker found the former not guilty (Ibid., pp. 131-132; Souter and Souter, p. 93).One might have thought that the Black lawman might have been able to rest on his laurels, but just before the turn of the century, Reeves lost within one year, 1896, two very important figures who had a major impact on his life and were stabilizing factors.First, his beloved wife Jennie died. Then, just before year's end, Judge Isaac C. Parker, ill for some time with Bright's disease (kidney failure), had been unjustly dismissed by an administration eager to reconcile the North and South 30 years after Appomattox - even if it meant abandoning the rights of Blacks and Native Americans - from his jurisdiction in an Indian territory moving quickly towards statehood, a territory that had become less tolerant towards Native Americans and Blacks.The new courts, directly supervised by Congress in conjunction with a Supreme Court that had changed drastically (ex-Confederates were now Supreme Court justices), quickly sought to disenfranchise the rights of Native Americans, and in turn, Blacks. Parker's dismissal accelerated his decline, which was evident in last photos taken of him, a once robust, dark-haired, giant of a man now reduced to a frail, stone-gray haired, barely able to get out of his sickbed old man. He passed away on November 17, 1896.Bass Reeves repaid Judge Parker's trust in him many times over for the next 21 years - and even beyond as Reeves did stay on as a deputy U.S. marshal for eleven additional years after Parker was forced to resign in 1896. It would be racism, which sadly went hand-in-hand with statehood in 1907, that would eventually force Reeves to resign from the U.S. Marshals Service, though not from law enforcement.Serving in the US deputy marshal's office in Muskogee, Bass Reeves would, within the first two years of the new century face a new heart-hurting tragedy much closer to home. He had to arrest his beloved son Bennie for murdering his wife. Reeves loved all of his children but he seemed to have favored his son Bennie, who unfortunately had married a woman who had proven time and time again to be unfaithful to him. Bennie Reeves caught her in bed with another man, and troubled by the situation, went to speak with his father to seek his guidance. The aging lawman counseled his son to try and work things out with the wife, which he did. For a time all seemed well, then Bennie Reeves once more found his wife in bed with yet another man, and he shot her dead, fleeing out to the prairies and backcountry, knowing he was now a fugitive.continued on page 46ArizonaRealCountry.com April 2021 45"