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- White Pine News Weekly Mining Review, Ely, Nevada, Sunday, 5 August 1923
Mrs. Bassett Pioneer Beauty And Good Samaritan Is Dead
Mrs. W.R. Bassett, widow of a former sheriff of White Pine county and a woman remembered among old-timers of Nevada as one of the most philanthropic souls that over blest the state by her presence, passed away a few days ago at Salt Lake at the age of 73 years.
Mrs. Bassett is first remembered by Ely pioneers as a reside3nt of Pioche, far back in the early ?70s. According their recollection she met and married Mr. Bassett at Candelaria and they returned here, first to Ward and then to Taylor, to reside, locating in Ely in the middle of the ?80s. They remained here until a few years before Mr. Bassett?s death, when they removed to Salt Lake, where he died about five years ago. Since that time Mrs. Bassett lived with her husband?s nephew, Joe Bassett, who gave her the same loving care in her last years as if she had been his mother. Since her husband?s death she gradually lost her sight and according to local belief she must have been totally blind when she died.
In her younger days and throughout her life Mrs. Bassett was a noted beauty. She had a stage career of several years in the troupe of John McCullough and her memory of State was marvelous. When she was first known here she had a fortune in diamonds and jewelry equal to that of many of the wives of the millionaires of the country. Yet with her remarkable talents and personal attractiveness she was the most democratic of women and in sickness or need she was one of the most generous persons known in those days of prodigious wealth in mining camps, and everything she had belonged to the lowliest and most needy person she knew. With these heart outpourings went her personal attentions as well.
Mr. Bassett came here about 1872, locating first at Robinson, above Lane City, and engaging in the saloon business. From there he went to Ward, where he remained a few years, removing to Candelaria during the boom of the Esmeralda camp. Returning and bringing his handsome bride with him he located first at Ward, then removed to Taylor and later to Cherry Creek. He next came to Ely. In 1888 he sold the Capitol to Dan C. McDonald, who with a partner ran the place for several years. Not long after that Bassett erected a large building on about the site of the present Western Club and opened his second saloon in Ely. The name of the place is forgotten.
In the middle of the ?80s Bassett was elected sheriff, succeeding Ross Humphrey. He held the office when the county seat was removed from Hamilton to Ely and was the only sheriff who ever hanged a murdered in the county. He executed Crutchley at Hamilton, as recently related in the White Pine News. At that time there was no jail in Ely and it is now believed here that while the records had been removed or were about to be removed the execution took place there. When the county seat was removed here the court house was the present county hospital, which stood on the site of the present courthouse and, as also told in the News, it was back of that building on its former site that Bassett erected a scaffold and Hank Parish, a Lincoln county murdered who had been tried here on a change of venue, was hanged. Just what period Bassett held the office is not clear, but it appears that he was sheriff four years in all though there was an interim between his terms. In 1894 while incumbent he ran for another term and was defeated by Ben Payne. Bassett was a lifelong republican and Payne a democrat.
Bassett bought a ranch adjoining the Lusetti place in Steptoe valley and lived there for some years. It was next to the Huesser ranch and Heussers and he sold to the Federal-Ely people, the buyers hoping to get a corner on the water. Bassett received $20,000 and he made other thousands in mining deals.
He was interested with Bert Brown and others in the Ely-Rochelle group near Giroux, which they sold during the boom in about 1908, realizing a considerable fortune for each of the owners.
About that time he was stricken with a sort of sleeping sickness, from which he would fall asleep while sitting in a chair but would awaken after a few minutes. From this he never recovered and died four or five years after removing to Salt Lake.
Mrs. Bassett had a daughter and son by a former marriage, Mrs. J.B. Simpson, wife of ?Big Sim,? who was a deputy sheriff in Ely during the terms of Bassett as sheriff, and Bert Brown, now a resident of Boise. While living on their Steptoe ranch she adopted a child, who now is Mrs. J.B. Hale Jr. of Salt Lake.
In her latter years Mrs. Bassett is understood to have been in reduced financial circumstances.
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Bassett Family Association Database
d. 1907, Salt Lake City, Utah