Charlie Storm was an American outlaw and cattle rustler who was active in the Indian Territory during the Wild West era. In 1875, he was deputized by Judge Isaac Charles Parker and sent to aid Bass Reeves in apprehending the dangerous outlaw Bob Dozier.
Biography[]
Charlie Storm lived in Arkansas during the Reconstruction era, and he became a cattle rustler and spirit pusher in the lawless region west of Fort Smith. In 1875, Storm first met the posseman Bass Reeves when Reeves rescued him and his horse from a mire, only for US Marshal Chris Franks to bring Storm back to Fort Smith's jail. However, when Judge Isaac Charles Parker asked if any of the townsfolk of Fort Smith would ride with Reeves to apprehend the outlaw and murderer of Deputy Marshal Jim Bruce, Bob Dozier, Storm was the only man to volunteer, and Parker decided to pardon Storm, as Storm wouldn't be the first outlaw to redeem himself by riding with a posse. Storm was initially racist towards Reeves, using racial slurs and stereotypes until Reeves punched him and told him never to call him a "n***er" ever again. Storm and Reeves later rescued a group of Black travelers from white gunmen and camped with them that night, discovering that they were among 600 Black men from the South who, as Reconstruction came to a close, migrated to Kansas, even as the ills of the South spread into the West with Southern white settlers. The grateful Black settlers agreed to give Reeves and Storm a horse and wagon for all of their help, saying that they would be alright on Cherokee land. The party also met Reeves' old friend Sam Sixkiller, a Cherokee man who had taken him in after he left the American Civil War, and Sixkiller hosted the travelers in Muskogee, where Storm partied at the saloon while Sixkiller warned Reeves against pursuing Dozier, who was a bad man. That night, Dozier and his gang arrived in Muskogee, where he announced that he heard that a Black man was seeking his whereabouts. Reeves decided to confront the outlaws by himself, killing a few of them before one of them rode up to him, knocked him out, and threw dynamite into his shack. Sixkiller sacrificed himself to grab the dynamite and run outside, as Storm was drunk. The next day, Reeves decided to follow Dozier to Spanish Fort, Texas by himself, as Storm was old and their friend Tom Pinkerton only had one arm. Storm and Pinkerton decided that they would go with Reeves anyway, and they attacked Dozier's hideout at night. The three of them were able to kill all of the outlaws, while Reeves shot Dozier dead in the woods. Storm, Reeves, and Pinkerton then returned to Fort Smith in triumph, delivering Dozier's body; Judge Parker responded by making Reeves a US Marshal and giving Reeves and Storm 3,000 warrants to execute.