Muskogee, Oklahoma

By 1897 Bass Reeves had transferred to the federal court at Muskogee, and it was here, in 1902, that he made the hardest arrest of his life. His own son, Bennie, killed his wife in a jealous rage. The other lawmen hesitated to go after one of their own deputies' sons, so Bass took the warrant himself and brought his boy in. Bennie was convicted in 1903 and sent to the federal prison at Leavenworth, though he was released about eleven years later and lived honestly afterward. When Oklahoma became a state in 1907, the old federal deputy system was dissolved, and at nearly seventy years old Reeves pinned on a Muskogee city police badge for a final tour of duty. He died here on January 12, 1910, of Bright's disease. The exact spot of his grave has been lost to time, though his original tombstone is preserved in a museum in town, and a bridge over the Arkansas River now carries his name. Some historians even believe this very lawman helped inspire the legend of the Lone Ranger. (Sources: National Park Service; Oklahoma Historical Society; TSHA Handbook of Texas.)