Sam Bass [outlaw]

Calvin

“Welcome to the infamous edition of the Headstones and Microphones where we use AI to step into the past through a researched, first-person simulation done through creative story telling of history's most infamous people. Now, let’s meet our guest.”

Calvin

Welcome to the podcast. Let’s start at the absolute beginning, where the public narrative hasn’t yet distorted who you were. When and where were you born, and what was your given name?

White Male Guest

My given name was Samuel Bass, and I was born on July 21, 1851, on a farm out near Mitchell, Indiana.

Calvin

What was your hometown and home life like as a child?

White Male Guest

I grew up as one of ten children in a big family working our own farm in Indiana. It started out alright, but tragedy hit us hard and fast. Two of my older brothers died when they were real young, and another older brother, George, was killed in the Civil War when I was only eleven. My mother passed away from childbed fever when I was ten, and though my father remarried, he caught pneumonia and died when I was thirteen. After that, I was orphaned and went to live with a stern, strict uncle on his farm. It was a hard, daily drudgery, and the disagreements with him made things pretty tough.

Calvin

Was there a story behind your name, or a nickname that stuck with you?

White Male Guest

Folks just called me Sam, but later on, because of my racing days in North Texas, folks associated me with my prized horse, the Denton Mare. The newspapers eventually just labeled me the notorious train robber or the leader of the Bass Gang.

Calvin

What were you like as a child, and how many years of schooling did you actually attend?"

White Male Guest

I was mostly just a regular farm boy trying to get by after losing my folks. I didn’t get a proper school education to speak of because I was working the fields and dealing with the strict rules at my uncle's place. By the time I was eighteen, I couldn't take the daily routine anymore and decided it was time to roam.

Calvin

What’s a decision that changed everything for you, but felt small at the time?

White Male Guest

Back in 1869, I ran away from my uncle’s farm. It felt like a simple escape at the time, just a young man heading out to find his cowboy dream. I worked for about a year at a sawmill down in Rosedale, Mississippi, before drifting west to Denton, Texas, in the fall of 1870. I tried honest work as a freighter, a laborer, and a ranch hand, but the hard work and low pay left me unfulfilled. That small choice to leave home eventually led me to buy a racehorse, gamble, and fall into a rough crowd.

Calvin

Let's talk about your early run-ins with the law. Before the world knew your name for your most infamous actions, what was your very first arrest or interaction with law enforcement, and what were the consequences?

White Male Guest

My early days in Texas weren't actually spent running from the law—in fact, I worked for a time for Sheriff Egan of Denton. But the real turning point into crime happened after my partner, Joel Collins, and I took a herd of cattle up to Nebraska for some San Antonio ranchers in 1876. We squandered all the proceeds gambling in the gold rush town of Deadwood. Flat broke and thousands of dollars in debt, we formed an outlaw gang and started sticking up stagecoaches in the Black Hills just to make a living.

Calvin

At what moment did you realize your name would never be forgotten?

White Male Guest

That would be September 18, 1877, at Big Springs, Nebraska. My gang intercepted and robbed a Union Pacific Railroad gold train coming from San Francisco. We marched off with over sixty thousand dollars in freshly minted twenty-dollar gold pieces. That heist made national headlines and put a target right on our backs.

Calvin

Did fame make you more dangerous, or did it simply expose who you already were?

White Male Guest

I think the pressure of being hunted just accelerated things. After the Union Pacific robbery, the gang split up. I headed back to Texas, recruited old acquaintances from Denton, and went on a real crime spree. In early 1878, we held up stagecoaches and four different trains within twenty-five miles of Dallas, including the Texas Central at Allen Station, which was the first train robbery in Texas history. We didn't even get much money from most of those Texas hold-ups, but the media frenzy made us the prime targets of the Pinkerton Detective Agency and a special company of Texas Rangers. It forced us to live in the swamps of Denton County, constantly on the move.

Calvin

Who do you believe betrayed you first: a person, society, or your own instincts?

White Male Guest

It was a person, plain and simple. Jim Murphy, a member of my own gang, turned informant for the law. The authorities had taken his sick father into custody, withheld medical treatment, and used that to force Jim into striking a deal. He reluctantly agreed to betray us and fed our movements directly to Major John B. Jones of the Texas Rangers.

Calvin

Did you have any known rivalries that defined your career?

White Male Guest

Our primary adversaries were Captain Junius Peak's company of Texas Rangers and the lawmen out of Dallas and Denton. We spent months playing a high-stakes game of hide-and-seek with them through the Cross Timbers area, dodging thirty or forty lawmen at a time because our horses were faster than their jaded animals.

Calvin

When the law finally closed in, how exactly were you brought to justice? Walk me through the final arrest, the charges that ultimately stuck, and the legal outcome of your trials?

White Male Guest

We rode into Round Rock, Texas, on July 19, 1878, planning to look over the Williamson County Bank for a daylight robbery. Jim Murphy was with us, leading us right into an ambush. While we were buying tobacco at a store, Williamson County Deputy Sheriff A.W. Grimes noticed a suspicious bulge under a coat and approached us, asking if we were carrying guns. A gunfight erupted on the street, and Deputy Grimes was killed. As we tried to flee, Texas Rangers opened fire, and I was mortally wounded. Frank Jackson helped me hide out in a cedar break and bound my wounds before leaving. The next morning, I staggered out to seek help and the Rangers found me lying helpless under a tree in a pasture north of town. I never faced a trial or a prison cell.

Calvin

When, where, and how did you pass away?

White Male Guest

I was brought back into Round Rock after they found me. I died right there from my gunshot wounds on July 21, 1878. It was my twenty-seventh birthday.

Calvin

What past regrets did you carry with you to the end? If you could erase one decision from your life, would you—or was it necessary to become who you were?

White Male Guest

To the very end, while I was lying there dying, I refused to talk or give up the rest of my men to the lawmen. As the days passed, I actually started to feel a bit better and thought I might recover before my condition took a turn for the worse.

Calvin

Do you have any closing remarks about the interview or the stories you shared that you would like to share with the listeners before signing off?

White Male Guest

I'd just say that a man's life can change fast when he gets a taste for easy money and fast horses. Once you cross that line and the law is on your trail, there aren't many ways out except the way I went.

Calvin

And that wraps up another conversation from beyond the grave. Thanks for joining us on The Headstones and Microphones Podcast. Remember—Do better with the life you have been given and choose to do good in this life. Please help spread the word by sharing and following the pod.