Jesse Woodson James was born on September 5, 1847 to a Missouri farmer, Robert James, who was also a Baptist minister. He fought for the Confederate Cause during the Civil War, riding for Bloody Bill Anderson. At the war’s conclusion, he attempted to surrender under a white flag of truce and was shot on sight because he was a guerrilla. Seriously wounded, he was nursed back to health by Zerelda Mimms, his first cousin and soon to be his wife.
Jesse James' First Robbery
Veterans of the Civil War and Quantrill’s Raiders, Frank and Jesse James robbed their first bank on Tuesday, February 13, 1866 in the small town of Liberty, Missouri. Riding with a gang of twelve men led by former guerrilla leader Arch Clements, the brothers withdrew $70,000 in bonds, currency, gold from the Clay County Association Bank. This marked only the second time in United States history that a bank had been robbed, the first time having been when Confederate officer Lieutenant Bennant H. Young robbed three banks in St. Albans, Vermont in 1864.
After the robbing the bank in Liberty, Missouri, the Clements gang participated in several disastrous ventures. Clements himself was shot in a failed venture in Lexington. Another failed holdup at Richmond resulted in three dead citizens and several of the gang members being lynched by angry townsmen. One of the men who escaped lynching was Thomas Coleman “Cole” Younger. Gradually, Younger introduced his three brothers, John, James and Robert into the outlaw business.
The James-Younger Gang
The first robbery where the James brothers were positively identified was in Gallatin, Missouri, when they robbed the Davies County Bank on December 7, 1869. After this robbery, Jesse James wrote to the Kansas City Times and proclaimed his innocence in the matter.
After this hold-up, the James-Younger Gang began criminal acts from Alabama to Iowa. Not limiting themselves to bank robbery only, the gang also robbed stores and stagecoaches. Train robbery became a specialty of the gang. Typically, they would pose as passengers and would holdup the train from within.
The high point for the James-Younger gang occurred in 1874. The gang robbed three stagecoaches and two trains, as well as the bank in Corinth, Mississippi. In Lexingon, Missouri, they robbed two omnibuses, relieving the passengers of their valuables. And in Point Jefferson, Louisiana, the gang robbed a steamboat.
Jesse James and the Pinkertons
Public sentiment swung heavily in favor of the James-Younger gang when Pinkerton agents surrounded Frank and Jesse at their mother’s house. A metal object was hurled inside; the Pinkerton’s claimed it was a flare and the James family insists it was a grenade. Nevertheless, the object exploded, killing Jesse’s half-brother Archie Samuel and costing Jesse’s mother her arm.
The state legislature nearly voted in favor of amnesty for the entire James-Younger gang as a result of the public outcry against the Pinkertons. Regardless, the Pinkertons continued to harass the gang in their home of Clay County. A $25,000 reward was placed on Jesse James, $15,000 on Frank James and $5000 for any known member of the gang.
The Last Raid of the James-Younger Gang
Because of the uncomfortable nature of their home, Jesse decided to raid the bank in Northfield, Minnesota on September 7, 1876. Eight gang members rode into town and only the two who returned to Missouri were Frank and Jesse James.
The James brothers lived for several years under assumed names until returning to the outlaw business in 1879. A reward of $10,000 was placed on both Frank and Jesse James by a railroad they had robbed.
In order to claim the reward, Bob Ford, a member of the James-Younger gang, shot Jesse James in the back of the head as he stood in a chair to straighten a picture on the wall of his house.
Source:
Lewis, Jon E., The Mammoth Book of the West. New York. Carroll & Graf Publishers, Inc. 1996
