OUTLAW  

The legend of Jesse James is famous around the world.  His life has been captured in movies, books, songs, and TV shows, including the Brady Bunch!  Jesse’s early years, however, were exactly opposite of the life he would assume as a killer and outlaw.

His family had deep roots in the Baptist Church. They even took part in the founding of one of the most prestigious private universities in the Midwest. He went down in history as a brutal killer. But, his life of crime started with noble intentions, fighting for a cause he believed in.

THE EARLY YEARS

Jesse Woodson James was born on September 5, 1847, near the town of Kearney, not far from Kansas City. His father was a Baptist minister and very active in the community. Jesse had a strict religious upbringing in the church, and religion was a major part of his daily life. His family was so ingrained in the Baptist Church that his father even helped found William Jewell College in Liberty.

He and his older brother, Frank, spent their early years on the family farm. The remote area taught them how to live off the land. When the Civil War broke out, the family joined up with Confederate soldiers. That was a decision that laid the foundation that would impact the rest of their lives.

The Civil War pitted family against family and brother against brother. But in the case of the James clan, both brothers believed in the Southern cause and joined up with like-minded fighters. Frank James took off to fight with Cole Younger and his Confederate guerrillas. 16-year-old Jesse James joined up with Bloody Bill Anderson’s band of fighters.

Legend has it that Jesse was shot by Federal soldiers while trying to surrender near the end of the war. That action stirred up resentment in the young man and is likely one of the key incidents that led him to become an outlaw. The hatred ran even deeper as he began to feel that his family was under constant attack for standing up for the cause they believed in.

SHOW ME “INFAMY”

Jesse and Frank were reunited after their gangs dissolved at the conclusion of the war. Missouri was right in the middle of the conflict, with the state divided between the North and the South. The South’s surrender led to tensions among citizens in all parts of the state, where many Confederate sympathizers say they were persecuted long after the war was over. This led the James brothers to take drastic steps that made an impact on American history like few others.

The outlaw career for Jesse officially began in 1866 when he and Frank joined with eight other men to rob a bank in Liberty. That robbery was just the beginning. Soon, their string of violent hold-ups spanned from Iowa to Alabama, and Missouri to Texas. The group became more brazen and more famous with every robbery. Eventually, they turned their attention to robbing stores, stagecoaches, and even people on the street.

The gang’s wild times began to wind down after they were decimated during a botched robbery in Minnesota. Jesse and his brother were the only two of the gang who escaped the First National Bank, where the rest were captured or killed. The brothers regrouped with a new gang, only to have Missouri Governor Thomas Crittenden offer a large reward for their capture.

The End

Jesse’s wild life came to a violent but unceremonious end. One of his henchmen shot him in the back of the head as he was hanging a picture at a home in St. Joseph. That shooter, Robert Ford, did it for a $10,000 reward.

Jesse was buried at the Mount Olivet Cemetery in Kearney. His epitaph, selected by his mother, read; “IN LOVING MEMORY OF MY BELOVED SON, MURDERED BY A TRAITOR AND COWARD WHOSE NAME IS NOT WORTHY TO APPEAR HERE.” The body was exhumed in 1995 to prove it was actually his. DNA analysis gave a 99.7 percent match to Jesse James, which largely put an end to the legend that his death was staged.

Jesse’s brother, Frank, was captured a short time after Jesse was killed. He was tried in court in numerous states on a number of charges. Each time, Frank was found not guilty. He spent the rest of his life in solitude on the family’s farm and died in the same room where he was born.

Even though Jesse James was wanted for murders and robberies throughout much of his adult life, many people in Missouri saw him as a heroic figure. Many people even said his actions were justified because of their allegiance to his causes and the Southern resistance.

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EXTRA, EXTRA!

• Numerous actors have portrayed James over the years. They include fellow Missourian Brad Pitt, Roy Rogers, George Reeves, Lawrence Tierney, Clayton Moore, Audie Murphy, Macdonald Carey, Lawrence Tierney, Robert Wagner, Christopher Lloyd, Kris Kristofferson, and Rob Lowe.