- [Narrator] News is the first draft of history.
It is immediate and takes place in real time.
Legends take longer to develop
and are sometimes based on myth.
This Fox News series looks at the truth behind the legend.
(horse neighing)
(dramatic music)
(horse neighing)
(sign buzzes)
(radio whistling)
(upbeat music)
- With his faithful Indian companion,
the daring and resourceful rider led the fight
for law and order.
For out of a time when the West needed a hero
come the thundering hoof beats of the great silver horse
and the true story of the legendary law man.
(gunshot)
The fictional character of radio captured the hearts
and minds of people of all ages.
But now for the first time, from the pages of history,
overriding the legends and lies, we bring you the true story
of the Wild West's greatest champion of justice,
the real Lone Ranger.
(horse neighing)
♪ My country, 'tis of thee
♪ Sweet land of liberty
♪ Land where my fathers died
♪ Land of the pilgrims' pride
♪ From ev'ry mountainside
♪ Let freedom ring
(slow music)
- [Narrator] On the North American plains,
opportunity calls men of courage
to chase the sun west into a new frontier.
They would shape a nation, lay hold of their destiny,
and birth a new mythology.
But with the passing of time, every myth has its reckoning.
The Lone Ranger, the pure and righteous law man,
a symbol of truth and justice in an untamed land.
For nearly a century,
this enduring icon has shaped our image of law and order
in the Wild West.
But behind every mask stands a man
and behind every legend lies the truth.
- A Lone Ranger, made famous on radio and TV,
is a straight shooting hero
in the black and white world of good and evil
and a fictional idealized version of a real Western legend.
But the truth is, a Lone Ranger is likely based on a man
who fights for law and order on the Western frontier.
This remarkable man lives by the same unshakable code,
rides a white horse,
and even works with a Native American sidekick.
But many have never heard
of this true hero of the real West,
a Deputy US Marshal named Bass Reeves.
(upbeat music)
- [Radio] Nowhere in the pages of history can one find
a greater defender of the law.
Return with us now to those thrilling days of yesteryear,
when from out of the past...
- [Narrator] 10 years after the Civil War,
as the nation stitches itself back together,
chaos rules the Indian territory,
the most dangerous place in the Wild West.
But Deputy US Marshal Bass Reeves fights
for the rule of law.
(man groaning)
- [Bass] What's it gonna be?
Come on here, boy.
- The Lone Ranger symbolizes the protagonist
of the American Western.
- [Man] Get in there.
- But yet people don't know who he is.
The Lone Ranger closely resembles the career of Bass Reeves.
- [Narrator] Like the Lone Ranger,
Bass Reeves is a figure of mystery.
But where the fictional hero chooses
to hide his identity with a mask,
Bass Reeves's name and face have been overlooked
and obscured by history.
- Bass Reeves, the new deputy?
- [Bass] Yes, sir.
- [Narrator] Bass Reeves is one
of only a few dozen deputy marshals
who serve the federal court and jail
in Fort Smith, Arkansas,
a place that more than earns the name hell on the border.
These men are charged with keeping the peace
in the new home of the so-called five civilized tribes
forced out of the Southeastern states.
- The Indian Removal Act took place.
A lot of the tribes were removed to Oklahoma.
Indian territory is what it was called at the time.
It was a diseased and awful place to be.
- It was a very dangerous area.
There were criminal elements that would go into that area
simply to escape the law.
And the law wouldn't follow,
unless you were Deputy US Marshals.
- Here's a new warrant for ya.
That there's a bad man.
You best take a couple Injuns with ya.
- [Bass] Won't need but one.
- No other place at any time is as deadly to US Marshals
as the Indian territory in the late 19th century.
It's estimated that outlaws outnumber marshals there
more than 300 to one.
Just like the Lone Ranger,
Bass Reeves frequently rides into this dangerous land.
With just one man to back him up,
a member of the Light Horse, a mounted police
of the five civilized tribes.
- [Narrator] Like the Lone Ranger and Tonto,
Bass Reeves and his Light Horse posse man patrol
a vast wild country teaming with outlaws.
Whiskey is illegal in the Indian territory,
but smuggling is rampant and profitable.
As a Deputy US Marshal,
Reeves is often tasked with bringing bootleggers to justice.
- Whoa.
- [Narrator] Like the Lone Ranger,
Bass Reeves tries to apprehend criminals without violence.
- I got a powerful thirst.
- [Narrator] He depends on the cunning Light Horse
to help him gain an advantage using surprise.
- I've got a cure for what ails ya.
12 bucks.
(dramatic music)
- [Bass] Hold it right there!
(gunshot)
- Bass Reeves was the law man
that all outlaws did not want to meet.
Reeves was a cunning man.
He was a wildly intelligent man
and able to do things that no other Marshal was able to do.
Like the Lone Ranger,
he was determined to always get his man.
- There are many parallels
between Bass Reeves and the Lone Ranger.
They were for justice, law and order.
The Lone Ranger was on a mission to bring in the bad guys.
And there's something about the man behind the mask.
This gave him a little bit of an aura of mystery, I think.
- [Narrator] Though Bass Reeves doesn't wear a literal mask,
his identity remains a mystery for many.
Few outlaws see him for who he truly is until it's too late.
- Yeah, we got you now, boy!
- That's my horse, what are you doing?
- Quit moving, boy!
(shouting)
- You're gonna hang!
(dramatic music)
- Let me go!
I didn't do anything!
I already told you, I bought this horse.
I didn't know that it was stole.
- Well, he say you stole it.
We're the only law around here.
- [Narrator] When the West desperately needs
the strong arm of the law,
a man with a badge stands up for justice,
revealing a true American hero.
- Whoa.
- And who the hell are you?
- [Narrator] And unmasking a legend.
- US Marshal Bass Reeves.