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# Episode 176: Smollop: Bass Reeves
- URL: https://there-might-be-cupcakes-podcast.ghost.io/episode-176-smollop-bass-reeves/
- Published: 2017-04-25T21:22:24.000Z
- Updated: 2025-02-03T15:56:02.000Z
- Author: Carla Pettigrew
- Tags: Newsletter, #Migrated-1738597973835, #Import 2025-02-03 15:53

> Gareth: I think he was just being cute.  
> Dave: No, it’s the Death Wink!

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/6d/f5/6df583d7-3da2-455c-b104-e0c5ab8c796a/content/images/2025/02/https-3a-2f-2fsubstack-post-media-s3-amazonaws-com-2fpublic-2fimages-2f5edf08a4-df0f-466e-86af-4da5b1d8af0a_269x385.png)

Top of the mustache game. TOP. I can’t grow one and I’m still jealous.

[Black Cowboys of the Old West: True, Sensational, and Little-Known Stories from History](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004E8M0Q6/ref=as%5Fli%5Ftl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B004E8M0Q6&linkCode=as2&tag=bibliothera01-20&linkId=NMQ7RD3HEGJ72HLW) \* Tricia Martineau Wagner

Let us pause and remember Marshal Reeves’ compadre, White Crow, aka Stagecoach Mary Fields: [episode 135](http://theremightbecupcakes.com/episode-135-dollop/). And don’t let anyone ever tell you that there were no badass black people fighting for and settling the Wild West. Next time someone makes a smart remark about [Morgan Freeman](http://amazon.com/s/ref=as%5Fli%5Fbk%5Ftl/?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=Morgan%20Freeman&tag=bibliothera01-20&linkId=96c2f9d4e18d610b99782b6b80242313&linkCode=ktl)‘s role in [Unforgiven](https://bookshop.org/a/6560/0883929453108), smite them with The Dollop. Verbally. We don’t condone actual violence–head injuries tend to ruin the good learnin’ a person just received.

See? There’s even a [blackcowboys.com](https://blackcowboys.com/). Tell ’em I sent ya.

And then, of course, a shoutout to our other favorite tracker: [The Revenant](http://www.amazon.com/Revenant-Leonardo-Dicaprio/dp/B01AB7GMB2/ref=as%5Fli%5Fbk%5Ftl/?tag=bibliothera01-20&linkId=f7a416e31722344eadd726c45ff5bfa5&linkCode=ktl) himself, [Hugh Glass](http://theremightbecupcakes.com/episode-5-dollop/).

[The Art of Manliness Podcast: Best Lawman of the West](http://www.artofmanliness.com/2011/04/24/lessons-in-manliness-from-bass-reeves/)

National Park Service: [Fort Smith: Bass Reeves](https://www.nps.gov/fosm/learn/historyculture/bass%5Freeves.htm)

mental\_floss: [The Life and Times of U. S. Marshal Bass Reeves](http://mentalfloss.com/article/33537/life-and-times-deputy-us-marshal-bass-reeves)

There actually were turkey shoots where I come from–rural southern North Carolina. I just remember, on the last turn before church–which was out in the country–a sandwich-placard sign would show up every autumn announcing the local turkey shoot. I had no idea what that could be, and, to my uber-smart-kid thinking, *I should already know this* I should already know *everything* I can’t ask. So I didn’t ask. I instead envisioned turkeys thrown like clay pigeons–

“Pull!”

But no.

Turkeys are two things: creatures of habit, and birds. So they flock, and they like to return to flick in the same damn spot, no matter what might be dangerous there. So a turkey shoot started as a method of hunting the wild feathered blockheads by the hunter deliberately disturbing a flock and scattering the birds–

and now we wait. The turkeys will return, transitioning from birds to easy targets to dinner.

Sometimes, in the rural US, a turkey shoot is a contest involving [shooting at paper targets, using shotguns](http://www.turkeyshoottargets.com/turkey%5Fshoots/gun%5Fpatterns.asp), and the prize is a frozen turkey.

Colonial-era turkey shoots involved ridiculous animal cruelty and absolutely no sport, and we shall leave it at that. Shame on you, Daniel Boone. For shame.

[Buffalo Soldiers in the West](https://bookshop.org/a/6560/9781585446209): A Black Soldiers Anthology, ed. by Bruce A. Glasrud and Michael N. Searles

[Black Cowboys of Texas](http://www.amazon.com/Cowboys-Centennial-Association-Students-University/dp/0890969345/ref=as%5Fli%5Fbk%5Ftl/?tag=bibliothera01-20&linkId=f1e55e06f049ff61cadbe8fe98d31ad0&linkCode=ktl) by Sara Massey

Bright’s disease: kidney disease that involves edema, heart disease, and high blood pressure, and is basically something you do not want to have while out on a horse in Indian Territory

Speaking of which: Indian Territory, which is familiar to anyone like me who devoured [Laura Ingalls Wilder’s memoirs](http://www.amazon.com/Little-House-Volumes-Set/dp/0064400409/ref=as%5Fli%5Fbk%5Ftl/?tag=bibliothera01-20&linkId=71c289b3ff27305e23c26b419a8ea454&linkCode=ktl), at any one time contained what is now:

- Oklahoma
- Kansas
- Nebraska
- Missouri
- Colorado
- North Dakota
- South Dakota
- Montana
- Wyoming

Interesting cultural footprint: the [1921 ](https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Collier%27s%5FNew%5FEncyclopedia%5F%281921%29/Indian%5FTerritory)[*Collier’s Encyclopedia*](https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Collier%27s%5FNew%5FEncyclopedia%5F%281921%29/Indian%5FTerritory)[ article on Indian Territory](https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Collier%27s%5FNew%5FEncyclopedia%5F%281921%29/Indian%5FTerritory)

Oh! One last thing: There is back-and-forth about whether or not [the Lone Ranger](http://www.amazon.com/Lone-Ranger-80th-Anniversary-Collection/dp/B00C7QD8MC/ref=as%5Fli%5Fbk%5Ftl/?tag=bibliothera01-20&linkId=dab0dfddb2ee20aa034e80f639f5b0f6&linkCode=ktl) is [based upon Marshal Reeves](https://www.policeone.com/police-heroes/articles/6408028-Police-History-Was-U-S-Marshal-Bass-Reeves-the-real-Lone-Ranger/). (my vote is yes)

Band names from this episode:

- Hanging Judge
- Pockets Full of Warrants
- Death Wink
- Noogies with a Gun

Cultural references from this episode:

- [Freddy Krueger](http://www.amazon.com/Nightmare-Street-Deluxe-Freddy-Glove/dp/B000A0YPPQ/ref=as%5Fli%5Fbk%5Ftl/?tag=bibliothera01-20&linkId=e63f064584363e15774223cefb075c2c&linkCode=ktl)
- [Silverado](http://www.amazon.com/Silverado-Kevin-Kline/dp/B00514908S/ref=as%5Fli%5Fbk%5Ftl/?tag=bibliothera01-20&linkId=17e4af6eb8098068d893ea26a1874ca2&linkCode=ktl)