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 Jesse
Woodson James was an American outlaw, whose exploits, real and
legendary, in bank and train robberies won him worldwide notoriety.
James was born in Clay County, Missouri, to Reverend Robert and Zerelda
James, on September 5, 1847. By the time Jesse was eight, his mother had
remarried twice. From the third marriage, Jesse gained two stepbrothers
and two stepsisters, in addition to the two natural brothers he had.
At the age of 15, during the American Civil War (1861-1865), James, and
his brother Frank, joined a band of Confederate raiders led by the rebel
William Clarke Quantrill. During this time, James earned a reputation
for being recklessly daring.
After the war, James organized his own gang of robbers which included
his older brother Frank, and Cole, James, and Robert Younger. An early
member of the gang was Belle Starr, who had a child with Cole Younger.
The first robbery by the gang was on February 13, 1866 in Liberty,
Missouri when they robbed the Clay County Savings and Loan Company Bank
for $15,000 in gold coin. They committed at least 10 bank robberies, 7
railroad train robberies, and 4 stagecoach robberies.
Jesse is thought to be the mastermind behind robbing railroad express
cars. Their first target was the Chicago and Rock Island express near
Adair, Iowa, on July 21, 1873. They stopped the train by removing a
portion of the track. Jesse killed the engineer during that robbery. On
December 13, 1875, the gang robbed the Kansas Pacific Railroad at
Muncie, Kansas for $60,000, their biggest jackpot.
One of their most famous bank robbery attempts occurred in 1876 at the
First National Bank of Northfield, Minnesota. When the bank clerk
refused to open the safe, the gang brutally murdered him and then tried
to escape. In the shoot-out that followed, two civilians, two outlaws,
and a horse were dead. All except one of the remaining six outlaws was
not shot at least once.
In 1882, Jesse was shot from behind by Robert Ford, a member of his own
gang, at the age of 34. Ford had been seeking the $10,000 reward offered
by Governor Thomas Theodore Crittenden of Missouri for the capture of
the James brothers, dead or alive. Soon after his brother's death, Frank
James surrendered, however, he was never convicted of anything. Ford
only got $600 out of the deed and was later assassinated.
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