That Dirty Little Coward

You may want to live a normal life, especially if you have a family to care for, but if your resumé reads "guerrilla" and "bank and train robber" you may have trouble finding non-criminal work. This was the plight of the outlaw Jesse James.

James grew up in an area of Missouri known as Little Dixie. When the Civil War broke out in 1861 Missouri remained loyal to the Union, but many of its citizens fought for the Confederacy. Jesse and his older brother Frank joined bushwhacker groups and were probably involved in the massacre of a trainload of unarmed Union soldiers. Jesse would have been 17 at the time.

After their formative years as  guerillas, it was natural that Jesse and Frank should continue as outlaws. They joined with fellow bushwhackers, Cole, Jim, and Bob Younger and others and made a good living robbing trains and banks. Unlike Robin Hood, they did not share their profits with the poor.

Things went well for the gang until their attempt to rob the bank in Northfield, Minnesota on September 7, 1876. They had chosen the first day of hunting season. Bad idea. The citizens of Northfield, mostly recent Swedish immigrants, did not appreciate having their bank deposits removed without permission. They picked up the numerous rifles laying about and poured led into the retreating gang members.

Three of the outlaws were killed and the Younger brothers were captured and sent to the Stillwater jail. Frank and Jesse had wisely separated from the Youngers, and, after several days and nights hiding in the wetlands of southern Minnesota, made their way to Nashville to lie low for a while.

The James Brothers recruited a new gang, but these new members had not fought in the Civil War and it was just not the same. In 1881 Frank decided to go straight and moved to Virginia. The remaining gang members were Jesse's cousin Wood Hite and a horse thief named Dick Liddil. They were joined by the Ford Brothers Charley and  Robert.

Wood Hite and Dick Liddil both took a fancy to the Ford brother's sister Martha and started a gunfight over her. They managed to wound each other, but Robert Ford settled things by shooting Hite in the head. Liddil and Ford realized Jesse would be angry with them for killing his cousin so they turned themselves in to the local sheriff on condition they be pardoned for killing a wanted outlaw.

The sheriff took Ford and Liddil to the newly elected governor who had made it a campaign promise to rid Missouri of the James gang. Liddil went into hiding, but the Ford brothers agreed to kill Jesse and collect the $5,000 reward.

The Fords moved in with Jesse and the three of them planned their next robbery. All the time the Fords were looking for an opportunity to take care of Jesse. On this day in 1882 Jesse read a newspaper account of Liddil's confession of killing Jesse's cousin. Jesse knew the Fords would have been present. Why hadn't they told him about this? Instead of confronting the Fords, Jesse began dusting a picture hanging on the wall. Robert took his chance and shot Jesse in the back of the head. Jesse was 34.

The Fords turned themselves in to authorities, but instead of getting the reward money, they were immediately tried for murder and sentenced to be hanged. The governor pardoned them. The Fords got a small share of the reward. Most went to law enforcement officers working on the James case.

Charley Ford, suffering from terminal tuburculosis, shot himself two years later. Robert got into the saloon business out west. One day in 1892 a homicidal psychopath named Edward O'Kelley walked into Ford's saloon in Colorado and shot him dead. No reason offered. O'Keefe served nine years in the penetentiary. Not long after his release he was shot and killed by a police officer in Oklahoma City.

Dick Liddil also went west and started a saloon. Ever the horse lover, Liddil died of a heart attack at the race track at the age of 48. Frank James got in trouble again, but eventually all was forgiven. He spent his last years giving tours of the James family home near St. Joseph. He died at age 72. Also living to the age of 72 was Cole Younger. After his release from prison in Minnesota in 1901, he toured the South in wild west shows.

As noted above, Jesse was killed in his home in St. Joseph on this day in 1882. By an interesting coincidence, this is the same day the first successful Pony Express run began between St. Joseph and Sacramento, California, though that event occurred in 1860. St. Joseph's motto is "Where the Pony Express started and Jesse James ended."

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