Episode Transcript
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with turbo tax. Live. From.
1:28
About ten forty five Pm. Do
1:30
about Eleven forty five Pm on
1:32
September. Eighteen, Eighteen Seventy Seven. Same.
1:35
Bass and five other members of the
1:38
Black Hills Bay and It's Robbed a
1:40
train at the tiny Big Spring station
1:42
in Western Nebraska. It
1:45
was the Union Pacific number for
1:47
Express Train and it contained a
1:49
Wells Fargo safe that held two
1:51
hundred thousand dollars inside. With.
1:53
The bandits couldn't open the safe. By.
1:56
Eighteen Seventy seven. There had been so
1:58
many train robberies across the. Three,
2:00
The banks like Wells Fargo were
2:02
outfitting. They're safe with time lox,
2:05
The save couldn't be opened until the time of
2:07
release. The law. Baited. Could
2:09
try to smash it open for that. Took
2:11
time. They. Could try to blow
2:14
it open, but that was risky and dangerous.
2:16
He didn't do much good to blow open the
2:19
safe with dynamite. Only. To discover they
2:21
had destroyed most of the money. With
2:24
the Wells Fargo save securely locked,
2:27
The Black Hills bandits had turned their
2:29
attention to a smaller safe and the
2:31
passengers. For. Most of the
2:33
our of the robbery the outlaws
2:35
hadn't edited just seventeen hundred dollars.
2:38
That. Kept they're losing streak alive. The.
2:41
Six outlaws had been robbing stage coaches
2:43
in the Black Hills for two months
2:45
before writing down to Nebraska. And.
2:47
They had very little to show for their efforts.
2:50
But. Then add quite literally the last
2:53
minute. Sam. And a couple
2:55
other men had discovered three wooden crates in
2:57
a corner of the express card. They.
2:59
Have been about to jump out of the car and
3:01
make their escape. But. They paused just
3:04
long enough to crack open one of
3:06
the boxes. They. Discovered
3:08
that each box contained twenty
3:10
thousand dollars in freshly minted
3:12
gold coins. Sixty. Thousand
3:15
dollars in gold would be worth more
3:17
than two million dollars today. Split.
3:19
Six Ways. Each man would
3:21
take home the modern equivalent of more
3:24
than three hundred thousand dollars. A.
3:26
Bomb, kills bandits and finally struck it
3:28
Lucky. They were rich. That.
3:31
Was retirement money and eighteen seventy seven
3:33
if they wanted it to be. But.
3:35
Now they had to go. It. Was
3:38
about ten minutes to midnight and they had
3:40
douse the fire in the engine that produce
3:42
the steam that was needed to power
3:44
the locomotive. The. Number for
3:46
express train was stalled on the
3:48
tracks at Big Springs. And. In
3:50
the distance they could hear the rumble of
3:53
the midnight freight train. The
3:55
freight train would arrive right on
3:57
time see the stalled express train.
4:00
The No. There was a problem. The.
4:02
Outlaws pack the gold coins on the
4:04
their horses and galloped into the night.
4:07
With. The outlaws don't George Barnhart, the
4:09
station master it Big Springs waved
4:11
his red lantern to signal to
4:13
the freight train that it needed
4:15
to stand. Thankfully.
4:18
The train was able to grind to a
4:20
hold of for it slammed into the express
4:22
train. The bandits had destroyed
4:24
the telegraph at the station, so George
4:26
and the true of the express train
4:28
rushed to the freight train and reported
4:30
the robbery. After
4:33
the crew of the freight train determined there
4:35
were no serious injuries on the express train,
4:38
They charged up the express train and
4:40
completed their run to the next station
4:42
on the line Oglala. Within.
4:44
Hours heavily armed posses formed in
4:47
Oglala and headed off to Big
4:49
Springs in pursuit of the bandits.
4:52
Once. Word of the robbery was out. Sheriffs,
4:55
In neighboring counties form their own policies
4:57
and join the hunt. By
4:59
sunrise, the bandits had dozens of
5:01
deputies and volunteers on their trail.
5:05
The following morning, Wells Fargo posted a
5:07
ten thousand dollar reward for the capture
5:09
of the bandits who were responsible for
5:12
robbing the Union Pacific number for express
5:14
train. And. Or the return of
5:16
the gold coins. Overnight.
5:19
Sam Bass and Company became the
5:21
most wanted fugitives west of the
5:23
Mississippi, at least partially because they
5:25
had made history. They. Had
5:28
committed the richest train robbery in the
5:30
west of the that time. And
5:32
now they just had to get away with it. From.
5:42
black barrel media of this is
5:44
legends of the old west i'm
5:46
your host chris swimmer and this
5:49
season were telling the stories of
5:51
to outlaws stagecoach and free robber
5:53
same bass and controversial fugitive ned
5:55
christie mrs episode three sam bass
5:58
part three of three Texas
6:00
Outlaw While
6:08
the train crews sorted out the situation
6:10
at Big Springs Station, the
6:13
Outlaws rode south toward the South Platte
6:15
River. The river was only
6:17
a couple miles from the station and
6:19
the Outlaws quickly realized they had a problem.
6:22
Their haul was incredible, but
6:24
the gold coins were really heavy on the
6:26
horses. Ironically, they had
6:28
stolen so much money that it was
6:30
now hurting their ability to escape. They
6:34
rode a few miles along the banks of the
6:36
river and then they stopped and buried the treasure
6:38
in the sand. They had
6:40
been wearing red bandanas over their faces
6:42
during the escape, so no one
6:44
at the scene of the crime knew their identity, or
6:47
so they thought at the time. In
6:49
theory, they could wait a little while, let the
6:51
heat cool down, and then return to dig up
6:53
the gold. With the
6:56
loot safely buried, Sam and
6:58
his cohorts rode east toward Ogallala and
7:00
set up camp outside town. The
7:03
bandits lazed around for a few days
7:05
and watched all the excitement of the
7:07
posses rushing around the countryside. Since
7:10
the Outlaws were right there to witness the action,
7:13
they knew better than anyone that the lawmen
7:15
had come up empty on all accounts. The
7:18
bandits figured it was safe to go back and dig
7:20
up their treasure. The
7:25
money was still safe in its hiding spot.
7:28
The Outlaws divided it equally, which gave $10,000 in
7:30
gold to each man. With
7:34
that, the six men rode off
7:36
in different directions, parrying more money in
7:38
their saddlebags than any of them had
7:40
ever seen. On the
7:42
trail, Sam Bass and Jack
7:44
Davis paired up as they both rode
7:47
toward Texas. When they
7:49
crossed the Nebraska border into Kansas, they
7:51
made a smart move and sold their
7:53
horses. Then they bought a
7:55
beat-up two-man buggy and an old mare
7:58
to pull it. With
8:00
their $20,000 in gold stashed under the
8:02
seat, they resumed their travels looking
8:05
like a couple of down and out farmers.
8:08
If they came across any lawmen, they
8:10
would look too pathetic to be taken
8:12
for newly rich outlaws. The
8:15
other four Black Hills bandits also ended
8:17
up partnering as they traveled. Jim
8:20
Berry and Tom Nixon took off for
8:22
Kansas City, where they could spend some
8:24
of their gold and get lost in the crowd,
8:26
or so they hoped. Joel
8:29
Collins and Bill Hefridge stayed in their
8:31
saddles and bought a pack horse to
8:33
haul their gold. They
8:35
were also headed to Texas. Before
8:37
they separated for an unknown length of time,
8:40
all of them vowed to meet up again when they
8:42
felt it was safe. And they
8:44
made a pact. If cornered
8:47
by the law, they would not be
8:49
taken alive. Within
8:51
a few days, they learned they might
8:53
seriously have to confront that reality. A
8:56
historic heist prompted a historic
8:58
manhunt. Hundreds of
9:00
lawmen and volunteers were scouring
9:03
Nebraska and Kansas. In
9:05
addition to sheriffs, posses, there
9:07
were bounty hunters, railroad detectives,
9:09
and the Pinkertons. The
9:12
powers that be enlisted the U.S. cavalry
9:14
to track down the six outlaws. Indian
9:17
Territory, modern day Oklahoma, was home
9:19
to some of the most well-respected
9:21
U.S. marshals in the country. And
9:24
if some or all of the outlaws made it to
9:26
Texas, the Texas Rangers were poised
9:29
to enter the fray. The
9:31
bandits would have to run a gauntlet just to make
9:33
it that far. And even if they did,
9:35
it certainly didn't mean they were
9:37
safe, as they would soon discover.
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It's auto show time and right now well qualified listies
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Grand Cherokee Laredo X4 by 4 for $429 a month for $39
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tax title to lease in section. No
11:03
security deposit required. Call 188-925-JEEP for details. Requires
11:06
dealer contribution and lease through Stellantis Financial. Extra
11:09
charge for miles over $32,500. Not all customers
11:11
will qualify. Residency
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restrictions apply. Take delivery by $229.24. Jeep
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is a registered trademark. Bass
11:22
and Davis moseyed along in their
11:24
buggy for several days until somewhere
11:27
in Kansas, a squad of
11:29
soldiers rode up behind them. The
11:31
leader of the squad asked if they had
11:33
seen two men traveling south with a pack
11:35
horse. The outlaw said they had
11:37
not. The squad leader informed
11:40
them that the two in question were two
11:42
of the men who had robbed a Union
11:44
Pacific train. Sam
11:46
with an impressive show of hubris told
11:49
the squad leader that they had heard about the
11:51
robbery and the $10,000 reward
11:53
and they were looking for the bandits themselves. The
11:57
cover story worked And Sam and Jack followed
11:59
the line. The soldiers for a few days.
12:02
They. Camped nearby and even chatted with the
12:04
soldiers from time to time. Which.
12:06
Was how they learn something? shocking? The
12:09
soldiers new the names of the men they were
12:11
after. Sam. Bass and Jack
12:13
Davis. The. Outlaws had
12:16
well practiced poker faces and they didn't
12:18
reveal their surprise right there on the
12:20
spot. But. It was clear that some
12:22
of their luck with still with them. The.
12:25
Soldiers new the names of the men they
12:27
were tracking, but they obviously didn't have good
12:29
descriptions of them. Otherwise,
12:31
The to travelers who looked like pathetic
12:33
farmers would be in chains right now.
12:36
But. That was the end of the good news. The.
12:39
Rest of the news they learned from the
12:41
soldiers was bad. Joke
12:46
Collins had been same bass his partner
12:48
in their one and only cattle drive
12:50
from Texas to Kansas a year earlier
12:52
in the summer of eighteen. Seventy six.
12:55
Collins and Bass had partner data mining
12:58
venture in a freight business in Deadwood
13:00
before giving up on attempts to make
13:02
legitimate money and embracing the outlaw life.
13:05
They. Had formed a gang known as the
13:07
Black Hills Bandits. And. Now their crimes
13:09
in the hills are coming back to haunt them.
13:13
Collins had somehow been recognized by a
13:15
passenger on the express train. And.
13:17
Gym Barry had been recognized by a
13:20
shopkeeper in Oglala. Barry
13:22
had an unpaid bill to the shopkeeper
13:24
and when Collins and Bury went to
13:26
the store before the robbery, the by
13:29
boots for Collins and Six read Bandana
13:31
the shopkeeper refused to let them by
13:33
the items on credit. The
13:36
episode further cemented Barry and then Collins
13:38
in the mind of the shopkeeper. And
13:41
now detectives worried that the red bandana
13:43
as have been purchased for use in
13:45
a robbery. Detectives
13:47
traveled up to Deadwood and learned about
13:50
the exploits of the Black Hills bandits.
13:53
It now seems likely that law I'm
13:55
in new the names of all six
13:57
outlaws. And then came the icing on
13:59
top. Joan Collins and Bill
14:01
Have fridge had been cornered one hundred
14:03
miles east of Big Springs. More.
14:06
Than a dozen soldiers were aiming rifles
14:08
at the to outlaws and the outlaws
14:10
stayed true to their path. collins and
14:13
have reached drew their pistols and opened
14:15
fire and were cut down in seconds.
14:18
They were probably dead before they hit the ground.
14:21
To of the six were now gone,
14:24
and if there was any good news
14:26
in the report it was of the
14:28
soldiers made no mention of Jim Buried
14:30
or Tom Nixon. Presumably they were still
14:32
alive and on the run. Bass.
14:36
And Davis parted ways with the soldiers
14:39
the next day and continued their journey.
14:42
They. Made it through the rest of Kansas
14:44
and an Indian Territory without trouble. They.
14:47
Crossed into Texas and arrived in
14:49
Den County on November first. Eighteen,
14:51
Seventy Seven. Forty. Four days
14:53
after the robbery. They.
14:55
Set up camp in a corner of the
14:57
county called Cove Hollow. A. Gold There
15:00
was so thick with trees it was
15:02
nearly impossible to find them. Word.
15:04
Was spreading through Denton County that Sam
15:07
Bass might be involved in the Big
15:09
Springs robbery. The. Local Sheriff
15:11
William Eden had been a father figure
15:13
to Sam for five years after. Same
15:15
finally made it to Texas from Indiana
15:17
in pursuit of his dream of being
15:19
a cowboy. Sam. Had
15:22
worked for Sheriff Eden as an assistant
15:24
in town and a ranch hand at
15:26
Eden spread outside town. Now
15:29
Sam needed to lay low. If.
15:31
There was one person in den county who
15:33
would recognize him. It was Share of Eden.
15:36
Jag Davis when into town and kept
15:38
them supplied and Sam was able to
15:40
sneak out at night to see old
15:42
friends who remained loyal. One.
15:45
Of those friends with Jim Murphy who lived
15:47
in a house next to Cove hello. Sam.
15:50
Had known gym for years and trusted
15:52
him. Through. Jim. Sam.
15:55
and jack learned the fate of another
15:57
of their partners Detectives
16:03
tracked Jim Berry to his home in
16:05
Missouri where he had rejoined his family.
16:09
At 3am one morning, lawmen
16:11
surrounded his home but refused to
16:13
open fire with Berry's wife and
16:15
kids inside. To
16:17
deflect from the potential danger to his family,
16:20
Berry made a break for it and ran to
16:22
some nearby woods. He was
16:24
shot in the leg and fell. To
16:27
honor the outlaw pact, he asked the deputy
16:29
who fired the shot to finish him off,
16:32
but the request was denied. Berry
16:34
was taken to a doctor where his leg wound
16:36
was treated. Detectives
16:39
interrogated Berry relentlessly but learned
16:41
very little. Berry
16:43
would only admit that he had been traveling
16:45
with a companion and the man had taken
16:47
a train to Chicago. Berry
16:50
wouldn't name the companion, but
16:52
by process of elimination and a small
16:54
piece of circumstantial evidence, the
16:57
detectives believed the man was Tom Nixon.
17:01
Nixon had stolen a train ticket to
17:03
Chicago from one of the passengers during
17:05
the Big Springs robbery. From
17:07
Chicago, it would have been a relatively easy
17:09
trip to his home in Canada. A
17:13
few days after Jim Berry was captured, gangrene
17:15
set into his leg wound and ended
17:17
up killing him. He
17:19
was defiant to the end and never gave
17:22
up the identities of his friends. But
17:24
with his death, three of the six
17:27
Black Hills bandits and robbers of the express
17:29
train were now in the ground. A
17:32
fourth was almost certainly out of reach in
17:34
Canada, so that left two, Sam
17:36
Bass and Jack Davis. With
17:39
the bad news mounting, Davis took
17:41
his gold, said goodbye to Bass, and
17:43
hopped a train to New Orleans. And
17:46
then there was one. Sam
17:52
Bass was one of, if not the, most
17:54
wanted man in the West. Jesse
17:57
James and his brother Frank were still wanted.
18:00
men of course, but they had been out
18:02
of sight for more than a year after
18:04
the disastrous Northfield raid. So
18:06
it was Sam Bass's turn in the
18:08
spotlight. He was now alone
18:10
in the wooded Gulch of Cove Hollow and
18:12
sitting on a fortune in gold, but
18:15
he apparently wanted more. With
18:17
all of the Black Hills bandits gone, he
18:20
started putting together a new gang. Henry
18:23
Underwood and Frank Jackson were old
18:25
friends from Denton. Henry
18:27
was a habitual criminal who was more
18:29
than happy to join Sam and start
18:31
planning some robberies. Sam
18:33
had known Frank since he was a teenager, and
18:36
Frank resisted the temptation to join the gang
18:38
as long as he could, but
18:40
Sam finally lured him in with the
18:43
shiny gold coins. On
18:45
December 21st, 1877, the
18:48
three men were returning from a pleasure
18:50
trip to San Antonio when they decided
18:52
to rob a stagecoach outside Fort Worth.
18:55
The robbery was uneventful and their
18:57
take was just $43 from the
18:59
passengers. Henry
19:01
Underwood was disappointed with the outcome and
19:04
left to spend Christmas with his family
19:06
in Denton, where he ended up getting
19:08
arrested for a different crime. The
19:11
new Sam Bass gang was down to just
19:13
two members. A couple
19:15
weeks passed and Sam and Frank were
19:17
restless. They had been bunking
19:19
at Jim Murphy's place for the winter, and
19:22
Sam decided the remedy for their
19:24
cabin fever was to rob another
19:26
stage. That robbery was more successful.
19:29
Their haul was four gold watches and $400 cash.
19:34
Sam bragged it was his ninth stagecoach robbery
19:36
and his best one yet, but
19:39
now he was ready to get back to robbing trains.
19:42
To do that, they would need more men. Sam
19:45
easily recruited a couple local
19:47
outlaws named Seaborn Barnes and
19:49
Tom Spotswood. On
19:52
February 22, 1878, the four
19:55
men held up a Texas-based train
19:57
that passed near Denton County. 10
20:00
o'clock at night and the robbery was more
20:02
complicated than the Big Springs job. The
20:05
train was bigger, there were more crew
20:07
members and more passengers. The
20:10
robbers quickly realized the job was too
20:12
big for a four-man gang and they
20:14
escaped with just $1,280. In strict financial
20:19
terms it wasn't a bad heist, each man had $320
20:21
in his pocket. But the Big Springs job had
20:26
set the bar pretty high for Sam and he
20:28
had hoped for more. The
20:31
morning after the Texas train robbery, the governor
20:33
of Texas offered $500 for the capture of
20:35
each robber. The
20:38
railroad added another $500, followed by
20:40
another $500 from the Texas Express
20:42
Company which had guarded the money
20:44
that had been stolen. Sam
20:47
and his three gang members had $1,500
20:50
bounties on their heads and
20:52
since they were now wanted men in Texas, the
20:55
governor called in the Texas Rangers to bring
20:57
them to justice, dead or alive.
21:25
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Chief is a registered trademark. While
22:09
the gang planned its next robbery at their
22:11
camp in Cove Hollow, Sam learned
22:13
that Tom Spotswood had been arrested. Tom's
22:16
mask had fallen during the robbery. He
22:19
had a unique issue where one eye was bigger
22:21
than the other. Because of
22:24
his distinctive features, a member
22:26
of the train crew easily identified him.
22:29
But that served as no deterrent for Sam
22:31
and company. On March 17, less
22:34
than a month after their last robbery, the
22:36
Sam Bass gang robbed the same railroad,
22:39
the Houston and Texas Central. This
22:42
time, the train crew and some
22:44
well-armed passengers were fed up. The
22:46
crew and the passengers opened fire on
22:48
the outlaws and the outlaws returned fire.
22:52
Two crew members suffered minor injuries,
22:54
but nobody was killed. The
22:56
gang escaped unharmed and managed to steal
22:59
about $500. But it
23:01
wasn't the amount that mattered anymore. The
23:04
public was outraged. Elected
23:06
officials, business executives, and rich ranchers
23:08
were concerned that the robberies were
23:11
putting a stain on Texas. The
23:14
governor called in more Texas Rangers to rid
23:16
the state of the Sam Bass gang once
23:18
and for all. Lawmen
23:24
caught Tom Spotswood and he was
23:26
quick to name his accomplices in
23:28
the first Texas train robbery. Now
23:31
law enforcement knew exactly who they were looking
23:33
for and where to find them. Armed
23:36
with the new information, Texas
23:38
Ranger Lieutenant Junius Peek and 27
23:40
Rangers under his command
23:42
began searching for the bandits around
23:44
Cove Hollow. But it was
23:46
the outlaws who spotted the Rangers. Sam
23:49
saw the Rangers when he and his
23:51
men were leaving Murphy's house with supplies.
23:54
Sam fired the first shot and
23:56
seconds later bullets began to fly.
24:00
amidst the chaos, Sam Bass, Frank
24:02
Jackson, and Seaborn Barnes were able
24:04
to escape back into the Hollow.
24:07
That night, they packed up and rode
24:09
to another hideout. The
24:11
next morning, Rangers came across the
24:14
bandits eating breakfast. The parties
24:16
exchanged gunfire, but again the bandits
24:18
escaped. Over the next
24:20
two weeks, the outlaws and
24:22
the lawmen skirmished repeatedly, but
24:25
Sam and his gang always avoided
24:27
capture. The potentially deadly
24:29
game of cat and mouse became known
24:31
as the Bass War, and it just
24:33
kept going. After
24:35
weeks of failing to capture the bandits, the
24:38
Rangers adopted a new strategy. They
24:41
arrested Jim Murphy and charged him with
24:43
harboring fugitives, though they quickly offered him
24:45
a way out. If
24:47
he would join up with Sam and become
24:49
a spy, the charges would be dropped. Murphy
24:52
was facing 10 years in prison if
24:54
he didn't cooperate, so he took the
24:56
deal. By mid-June,
25:00
1878, after nearly two months of being chased
25:02
by Rangers and local lawmen, Sam
25:05
and his men decided they needed to leave
25:07
Denton County. They were going to
25:09
head south, and just before they left,
25:12
Jim Murphy caught up with them and asked to
25:14
join the gang. Sam
25:17
trusted Jim and was happy to have
25:19
the extra manpower. Almost
25:21
immediately, Jim learned his first
25:23
piece of valuable intelligence. Sam
25:26
had decided to switch things up and rob
25:29
a bank. Jim needed
25:31
to get word to the Rangers, but it
25:33
was impossible to break away to send a message.
25:36
Days later, the outlaws rode into Waco,
25:39
where Sam saw a bank that he
25:41
thought needed robbing. Out
25:44
of desperation, Jim tried to convince Sam
25:46
to bypass the Waco bank and ride
25:48
another 100 miles south to
25:50
Round Rock. Jim reasoned
25:53
that Round Rock, just north of Austin,
25:55
was a more prosperous town. It
25:57
only made sense that their bank would have more money. money.
26:01
Sam agreed, and this time Jim
26:03
was able to sneak away and send a letter
26:05
with the news. As
26:08
Sam Bass and his gang rode toward Round Rock,
26:10
he had no idea he was walking into a trap.
26:18
In Round Rock, Texas, about 20
26:21
miles north of Austin, undercover
26:23
Rangers and Sheriff's deputies stationed
26:25
themselves in town. Some
26:28
stories say the gang arrived in town
26:30
as early as Sunday, July 14th. They
26:33
scouted the town and the bank and were
26:35
ready to commit the robbery, but Jim
26:37
Murphy convinced them to wait a few days. They
26:40
could do a more thorough scout and
26:42
rest their horses in advance of the
26:44
upcoming fast getaway. According
26:46
to the story, the robbery was scheduled
26:49
for the following Saturday, July 20th. By
26:53
the way, on the afternoon of July 19th,
26:55
the beginning of the end arrived for the
26:57
Sam Bass gang. That
27:00
day, Jim Murphy found an excuse to
27:02
separate himself from the gang. The
27:05
other three bandits walked into a
27:07
general store to buy tobacco. Two
27:09
lawmen, Deputy Sheriff Moore and
27:11
Deputy Sheriff Grimes, watched the
27:13
strangers with interest. The
27:16
deputies didn't yet recognize the strangers
27:18
as wanted outlaws, but Deputy
27:20
Grimes was suspicious of the man who
27:22
would later be identified as Sam Bass.
27:26
The deputies followed the outlaws into the
27:28
general store. Moore stood
27:31
in the doorway while Grimes walked up
27:33
behind Sam Bass. Grimes'
27:35
intent seemed to have been something to
27:37
do with Sam Bass' pistol. Either
27:40
it was illegal to carry a gun in town,
27:42
like it was in lots of towns in those
27:44
days, or it was illegal to
27:46
carry two guns, and Sam might
27:48
have been wearing two. Regardless,
27:51
Grimes walked up behind Sam
27:53
and asked about Sam's gun
27:55
or guns. Sam
27:57
spun around and all three outlaws
27:59
opened. opened fire. Deputy
28:05
Grimes had no time to draw his pistol.
28:08
He was killed instantly, and
28:10
Deputy Moore was badly injured, though he
28:12
was able to return fire before the
28:14
outlaws rushed outside. Some
28:17
of Moore's shots shattered Sam's right hand
28:19
and blew off two of his fingers.
28:22
Sam was bleeding badly as he and the
28:24
others ran for their horses. As
28:27
soon as they hit the street, the Texas
28:29
Rangers in town opened fire. Seaborn
28:32
Barnes was shot in the head and killed.
28:35
Frank Jackson helped Sam onto his horse
28:37
and the two galloped toward the edge
28:39
of town. During
28:41
the escape, Sam was shot in the
28:43
spine and was now gravely wounded. The
28:46
outlaws cleared the town and Frank led them
28:48
to a thicket of oak brush to pause
28:50
and catch their breath. As
28:53
dusk fell, Sam Bass was in
28:55
bad shape. He had lost a
28:57
lot of blood and he was too weak to ride
28:59
any longer. He told Frank
29:01
to save himself and keep riding. Frank
29:04
refused, but Sam convinced him to go.
29:08
Before leaving, Frank tore up some cloth
29:10
and bandaged Sam as best he could.
29:14
Sam made it through the night. In
29:16
the next morning, a contingent of Rangers
29:18
found him lying in the grass, barely
29:20
alive, but able to identify
29:23
himself as the outlaw Sam Bass. Sam
29:26
was taken into custody and examined by a
29:29
doctor in Round Rock who didn't think he'd
29:31
live long. On
29:33
Sam's deathbed, he admitted he
29:35
had been part of the Big Springs robbery
29:38
and named his accomplices. Three
29:40
of them were dead and two were long
29:42
gone, but he wouldn't give up Frank Jackson.
29:45
The Rangers tried to pry more information
29:47
from the dying outlaw, but it proved
29:50
fruitless. Sam told
29:52
his interrogators he believed a man should take
29:54
what he knew to his grave, and
29:56
he did. Sam Bass survived
29:58
long enough to save himself. to die on
30:00
July 21st, 1878, his 27th birthday. And
30:06
so the life and career of Sam
30:08
Bass passed into legend. The
30:11
Bass War and the Round Rock shootout
30:13
are ingrained in Texas Rangers lore. And
30:16
Sam Bass secured a place in American history
30:18
as a kind of folk hero. Many
30:21
saw him as a symbol of grit and courage.
30:24
In the space of just two years, the
30:26
Indiana farm boy went from Texas
30:29
cowboy to Black Hills prospector, to
30:31
Black Hills freight driver, to Black
30:33
Hills stage robber, to Nebraska train
30:36
robber, and then Texas train robber.
30:39
After the Big Springs heist, he
30:41
had enough money to retire, but he couldn't
30:43
walk away. And
30:46
his story ended with an enticing
30:48
mystery. No one knows what
30:50
happened to the $10,000 in gold coins. That
30:54
was his share of the Big Springs robbery. Next
31:03
time on Legends of the Old West, it's
31:05
the beginning of the life of Ned Christie.
31:08
He was a Cherokee statesman and a
31:10
hero to his people. And he was labeled
31:12
an outlaw by the federal government. But
31:15
was he really an outlaw or
31:17
was he misunderstood, misjudged, and set
31:19
up by his enemies? We'll
31:22
see next week on Legends of the
31:24
Old West. Members
31:27
of our Black Barrel Plus program don't have
31:29
to wait week to week to receive new
31:31
episodes. They receive the entire
31:34
season to binge all at once with
31:36
no commercials. And they also
31:38
receive exclusive bonus episodes. Sign
31:40
up now through the link in the
31:42
show notes or on our website, blackbarrelmedia.com.
31:46
Memberships are just $5 per month. This
31:49
series was researched and written by Michael
31:51
Byrne, original music by Rob
31:53
Valier. I'm your host and producer,
31:55
Chris Wimmer. If you enjoyed
31:57
the show, please leave us a rating and a
31:59
review. on Apple Podcasts or wherever you're
32:02
listening. Check out our
32:04
website, blackbarrelmedia.com for more details and
32:06
join us on social media. We're
32:08
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