Jesse James' Tale

Jesse James, Jesse James, Jesse James – the very name sings of adventure. Jesse James robbed the rich and gave to the poor. Jesse James was never really assassinated but cheated death and lived to a ripe old age – in California, Texas or some other place.

So goes the legend, at any rate. But here are some facts and dates regarding Jesse's career:

Jesse Woodson James was born September 5, 1847, and raised on his family's farm, just outside Kearney, Missouri.

In April, 1850, his father – Robert, a Baptist minister – left for the California gold fields, never to return.

Jesse's family had Southern sympathies and when the Civil War began, his brother, Frank, joined the Home Guard to resist the Federals. He fought in the Battle of Wilson's Creek in August, 1861 and eventually fell in with an infamous band of guerrilla fighters known as Quantrill's Raiders.

In the Spring of 1863, Federal militia, seeking information, invaded Jesse's farm, tortured his step-father, whipped Jesse and threw his mother and sisters into jail. A year later, Jesse joined a band of guerrilla fighters, himself, and in September, 1864 participated in a massacre of unarmed Federal troops at Centralia, Missouri.

In April, 1865, at war's end, Jesse was badly wounded when he attempted to surrender. He was nursed back to health by his family and especially by Miss Zerelda Mimms, who eventually became his wife.

On February 13, 1866 ex-guerrillas robbed a bank in Liberty, Missouri, just south of Jesse's farm and escaped with $60,000 in cash and negotiables. More banks were robbed and, a year later, the James Farm was attacked by ex-militiamen, seeking vengeance. In March, 1868, another bank was taken and, soon, detectives were on the trail of the robbers, whose identities were still uncertain.

In May, 1869, Jesse journeyed to California to search for his father's grave. Returning to Missouri, he and Frank robbed the bank at Gallatin in December. The cashier was murdered, and Jesse was identified, but his career in crime had only begun.

In the early 1870's, Jesse began writing letters to various newspapers proclaiming his innocence for the many crimes of which he had been accused.

Among the more spectacular of these robberies were the September, 1872, robbery of the Kansas City Fairgrounds, the wrecking and robbing of a Rock Island train in Iowa in July, 1873, and a curious stagecoach robbery which occurred in August, 1874.

In April, 1874, Jesse married Zerelda Mimms, the young woman who had nursed him after the War.

Prior to this, in March, the body of a Pinkerton detective, who had been poking around the James Farm, was found in a roadside ditch not far from Independence, Missouri. A few days later, one of the Youngers and two detectives killed each other in a shoot-out near Monagaw Springs. In January, 1875, Pinkertons surrounded the James Farm and threw an incendiary device through a back window causing the death of Jesse's young, half-brother Archie, and seriously wounding his mother.

In August, 1875, Jesse's first child, Jesse Edwards James, was born.

A year later, in September, 1876, the gang perpetrated the infamous Northfield, Minnesota, bank robbery. The manhunt that followed – in rain, mud and confusion – resulted in the capture of the Younger Brothers but, somehow, Frank and Jesse managed to escape.

For three years following Northfield, the James brothers did their best to earn honest livings near Nashville, Tennessee. Jesse may even have sung in the church choir and taught Sunday school.

In July, 1879, his daughter Mary, was born, but in October Jesse returned to a life of crime.

The Chicago & Alton train was robbed near Glendale, Missouri, and more robberies followed – a sightseers' stage near Mammoth Cave, Kentucky, a government paymaster at Muscle Shoals, Alabama and, in July, 1881, a Rock Island train near Winston, Missouri. But Jesse's end was drawing near.

By this time, a big reward was on his head and it was partly this that caused gang members Bob and Charlie Ford to conspire with the governor and the Kansas City police to bring about Jesse's destruction.

In April, 1882, while Bob and Charlie were staying at Jesse's house in St. Joseph, the news of the capture and confession of another member of the gang was leaked in the newspapers. This, the Fords claimed, caused Jesse to grow suspicious of them, and when he did they knew they either had to kill Jesse or be killed by him.

They saw their chance when Jesse straightened a picture on the wall – of a favorite racehorse of his, it is said. The Fords got behind him, pulled their guns, and Bob Ford killed Jesse James with a single shot to the back of the head.

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