Jesse James/Frank James

Jesse James
Frank James

Biography
Jesse Woodson Dames was born on September 5, 1847 in Missouri. His older brother, Alexander Franklin James, commonly known as Frank, was born on January 10, 1843. These two brothers had two other siblings; Robert and Susan. On April 12, 1850, their father, Robert James, left their farm in Missouri and went to California to preach to the eager miners during the California gold rush. The James family soon learned of Reverend Robert’s death from poisoning on August 18, 1850. Zerelda James, Jesse’s and Frank’s mother married Benjamin Simms, a neighboring farmer, on September 30, 1852. However, due to the lack of compassion from Benjamin to her children, Zerelda divorced Benjamin. She then married Dr. Reuben Samuel, and this marriage, unlike the last, was a complete success. The boys became very fond of their new stepfather, and he also brought four more children into the James family. Jesse and Frank eventually became members of William Quantrill’s Raiders. This group was sympathetic to the Confederate army during the civil war, even though the Confederates denounced Quantrill’s Raiders. They hated “Yankees” and they raided money and goods for their “Cause”, hence the name Quantrill’s Raiders. Eventually, the James brothers left the Quantrill’s Raiders group along with a few followers and formed their own outlaw society.

Murder
On February 13, 1866, Jesse James, Frank James, and their cousin were successful in robbing Clay County Savings Bank in Liberty, Missouri. They stole about $72,000 dollars, and considering the time period, that was a huge amount of money. In the process of this robbery, seventeen year old George Clifford Wymore was killed, and the James brothers became official outlaws. For the next eight years, the James gang robbed banks throughout the south. However, the bank security began to become more advances, and the James gang agreed to lay low for a few years. They then got the idea to rob trains. On their first train robbery, they stopped a train that was going full speed, and someone ended up getting crushed by the train. The James gang had thought that this train was carrying $100,000 dollars, but when they learned that the train carrying that large sum of money had passed before sun set, they became angry. They then boarded the passenger cars and began to rob the passengers and the gang rode away. Although their first train robbery was not much of a success, they continued to rob trains for the next few years. After those years, the James gang was broken apart and after many years a new gang was formed, one of its members being Bob Ford. The new James gang did not leave nearly as much of a legacy as the original, and when the governor of Missouri offered ten thousand dollars for Jesse James’ head, Bob Ford shot Jesse James in the back in his own home. Frank James was eventually put to trial and was acquitted by sympathetic jurors.

-page author: Anna
-photos courtesy of http://en.wikipedia.org/