Jesse James was a bank and train robber in the American Old West, best known as a leading member of the rebel gang James-Younger.He was born on September 5, 1847 in Kearney, Missouri.
Jesse and his brother Frank James were educated and came from a prestigious farming family. Their father, the Rev. Robert James, was a Baptist priest who married Zerelda Cole James and moved from Kentucky to Missouri in 1842.
In the summer of 1863, James' farm was brutally attacked by Union soldiers.
Jesse was 16 when he and Frank became Confederate guerrilla soldiers, riding alongside William Quantrill and “Bloody Bill” Anderson.
Some historians describe Jesse and Frank as cruel to Union soldiers, while others argue to the contrary that the brutal treatment of their brothers turned them into criminals. Either way, they rebelled against the harsh post-war civil legislation and took the law into their own hands. They began looting trains, stagecoaches, and banks that were owned or operated by an institution from the north.
There has been speculation that they and their gangs were like Robin Hood, robbing the rich and giving to the poor, but there is no evidence of that. Most likely they kept the money for themselves. From 1860 to 1882, the James Gang was the most horrific group of outlaws in American history, responsible for more than 20 bank and train robberies and the killings of countless individuals who stood in their way. They stole about $ 200,000. They were legends in their time, popular in Missouri because they were actively trying to promote the Confederacy thing.
Since 1873, the gang has also robbed railway trains. What was special was that they usually not only stopped trains, but let them jump straight off the tracks. Many people were afraid to take the train around Missouri. Soon the railway companies had plenty of it. They hired special agents to catch James Younger's gang. Jesse James has become one of the most sought after people in America.
On December 7, 1869, a gang robbed the Gallatin Bank, Missouri. Jesse asked to change the $ 100 bill, and thinking the banker was responsible for Bloody Bill's death, he shot the man in the heart. Local newspapers called the actions vicious and bloodthirsty and called for the gang to be captured. From that robbery to the end of their careers, James Gang members had a price on their heads, alive or dead.
In 1874, Jesse married his longtime sweetheart and first cousin Zerelda and had two children. Both James brothers were known as good family people who loved their wives and spent time with their children but still continued their criminal life.
Although protected by their community, they were always on the move. Even after other gang members were killed and their Younger friends were sent to prison for 25 years,
In 1879, the James brothers planned another robbery with Charlie and Bob Ford. They did not know that Governor Crittenden of Missouri had put together a prize fund so large that the Fords turned into traitors to earn it. In 1880, Robert Ford joined the gang. He was a big fan of the heroic stories that were told about Jesse James. However, Ford later cooperated with police. He shot Jesse James in the back in 1882. Before that, he climbed into a chair to wipe the dust off the painting. Many thought the way Robert Ford killed Jesse James pretty cowardly shot Jesse in the back of the head. Jesse died immediately at the age of 34.
A few months after his brother's death, Frank surrendered. He was tried for murder in Missouri and found not guilty, he was tried for robbery in Alabama and found not guilty, and he was eventually tried for armed robbery in Missouri and released again. A free man, he retired to a quiet life on the family farm, died in 1915 in the room where he was born.
