Jesse James

On 28 December 1841, Robert JAMES, a Baptist preacher, married Zerelda E. COLE at the house of her uncle, Judge COLE, near Lexington, KY. Robert was poor so he had to put up a bond of 50 pounds of tobacco in order to "intermarry" Zerelda. Thus, she was known as the tobacco bride.

Robert’s mother had moved from Kentucky to Missouri so he and Zerelda went to Missouri to live.

Robert R. JAMES was born 19 Jul 1845 and only lived a month, dying on 21 Aug 1845.

Jesse Woodson JAMES came along on 5 September 1847. When grown, his friends called him Dingus because that was what he said, when in the Quantrill Band and lost the tip of a finger that had been shot off. He was never said to have used swear words. His mother called him Dave. He loved the Bible and church and singing. Jesse sang in the choir and had wanted to follow in his father's footsteps and be a Baptist preacher.

Unfortunately, SIMMS was not a good father to the children and was mean to Frank and Jesse, once actually whipping Frank. That was all the hot headed Zerelda needed and she started divorce proceedings, rare in those days. Before the divorce went through SIMMS died.

On 26 September 1855 Zerelda married Rev. Reuben SAMUEL, who was always called Samuels. They were married by Ellis WILLIAMS, justice of the peace in Clay County, Missouri. Samuels was from near Samuels Station, Kentucky.

SAMUELS was good to the boys and that made Zerelda very happy so this marriage went well.

As fate would have it, the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854 created the Border Warfare between Kansas and Missouri. It all started over whether Kansas should go into the Union free or slave. This war went on and continued through most of the Civil War.

Missouri people were basically Southern sympathizers. The Missouri people were called Bushwackers by the Kansas people, who were called Jayhawkers by the Missouri people. The Kansas leaders were General James H. LANE and General JENNESON. The military leaders of the Missourians were William C. QUANTRILL, William F. "Bloody Bill" ANDERSON and George TODD. Frank JAMES joined these ruthless men from Kansas and later on joined QUANTRILL’s guerrillas.

In June of 1863, Union soldiers went to the SAMUELS' farm looking for Frank JAMES. His step-father would not say a word so they promptly hung him and went looking for others. Zerelda ran out of the house and cut her husband down, saving his life. The Union soldiers found Jesse JAMES out in the field plowing and even though he was only a youngster, they decided to teach him a lesson and beat him up.

This, was the turning point in Jesse’s life. He hated the Union soldiers for what they did to his step-father, and for beating him, and, later on because they put his mother in jail for two weeks.

Jesse wanted to join QUANTRILL but was told only very tough and daring men were accepted and he was a mere lad. Jesse managed to join a side command under "Bloody Bill" ANDERSON and later served under George TODD. Later on, he served under George SHEPHERD out in Texas.

The war was over, the South lost and the Northerners made life miserable for Jesse and his family so they moved to Rulo, Nebraska until August 1865. Jesse was on the mend, which took a long time. On the way back to Missouri they stopped by the sister of Rev. Samuels for a visit and Jesse met his future wife, Zerelda MIMMS, his first cousin. He called her Zee.

The scene having been set for the life Frank and Jesse finally chose was only prompted on by the circumstances at the end of the war. The people were left dirt poor and the banks took full advantage of this. They called in debts and liens on farms, making much money off the misery of the people. The people came to hate the bankers. Also, the railroad builders were hated because they cut across precious farm land. That put them on the top of the "hate" list with bankers.

Enter Cole YOUNGER, who had also ridden with QUANTRILL in Kentucky. He lived near the Samuels and all he could talk about was all the money to be had in Kentucky. With Frank and Jesse, Cole put together a robbery in Russellville, Kentucky. They went in with a grain sack and a $100.00 note. Cole asked the banker to cash it as that was the only "money" they had after the war. The robbery was successful, they made off with $14,000.00 and that was the beginning of the robberies.

The Russellville bankers were none too happy to be ripped off so they hired the services of one D. T. BLIGH, a detective. D. T. worked with an assistant by the name of William GALLAGHER and together set out to find the robbers. Jesse wasn’t use to this ploy. He wasn’t comfortable with being chased by anything but a hard riding posse so he went to New York, took a boat down to Panama, crossed the Isthmus and took a steamship up to San Francisco, California. From there he rode down to El Paso de Robles, California, now called Paso Robles, which is in the San Joaquin Valley not far from Morro Bay on the coast. His uncle Drury Woodson JAMES was one of the founders of the incorporated city of El Paso de Robles and he enjoyed a carefree visit there.

It wasn’t long before Jesse, Frank, Cole and others were back to robbing the hated banks and bankers. Their modus operandi was always the same. One would walk in the bank with $100.00 and ask for change and then out came the grain sack.

They were dangerous men and killers, but, they were always kind to the poor people and often helped them. One story I like was when they stopped at a farm and asked for supper to be made. In those days that was common and the meals were paid for. The woman said she didn’t have much in the house to cook as she was just a poor widow who was about to lose her farm to the local banker. She cooked what she could find and the boys asked more about her plight. She said she owed the banker $800.00 she didn’t have and he was coming at 4:00p.m. that afternoon to get it. Jesse asked her what this man looked like and how he would be traveling to get to the farm. She told him and after the meal Jesse gave her $800.00 he said was a loan. Frank made out a receipt she was to copy in her own handwriting and told her to be sure to get the skinflint’s signature on that paper before handing over the money as that was the right way to do business of that sort.

You can see the rest coming! After the skinflint left the farm with his money the gang waylayed him and took back their $800.00. The woman had her farm and another banker had been hoodwinked.

Later on, the Pinkerton National Detective Agency was hired to catch the gang. Jack LADD of the agency had heard the JAMES boys were going to visit their mother in January 1875. Ten detectives set out to catch them, but as fate would have it, they weren’t home. A fire bomb was thrown into the house to flush all out. Zerelda tried to push it toward the fireplace and it exploded, taking her arm off at the elbow and inflicting mortal injuries on her young son, Archie SAMUELS. This family did suffer!

The gang continued to rob and continued to be blamed for robberies in other areas than where they were. The turning point is the attempted robbery of the Northfield Bank in Northfield, Minnesota.

Jesse JAMES, Charlie PITTS and Bob YOUNGER entered the town and sat on drygoods boxes outside of the bank to survey the situation. In a short time two men rode up the street who were Cole YOUNGER and Clell MILLER. Cole pretended that something was wrong with his saddlegirth just as they were by the bank so he got off the horse to fix the problem. In reality, he was there so he could check out the street both ways.

Just then Jesse, Charlie and Bob went into the bank and Clell MILLER went over to the door to make sure nobody went inside. J. S. ALLEN, a local hardware merchant walked up to go in the bank and Clell told him to stay away from the door. He was quick of mind and turned running down the street yelling that the bank was being robbed.

At this point up rode Frank JAMES, Bill CHADWELL and Jim YOUNGER. Seeing things were going wrong they rode up and down the street shooting their guns and yelling like Indians to scare the people away.

Then, a Swede, Nicholas GUSTAVSON, new to the country and speaking no English walked by and was told to get inside the bank by one of the gang. He didn’t understand, of course, and continued to walk on and was shot and killed.

Meanwhile, inside the bank things were not going well. The boys were told the cashier was away and the safe was locked and set on a timer. It was open, had they known it. The bank workers were bluffing but it worked. One bank worker, Joseph Lee HEYWOOD, tried to close the vault door on Charlie PITTS when he started to enter the vault and then shouted "Robbers, robbers!" For that he was struck with a revolver by one of the men and Charlie PITTS shot his gun to frighten the man.

Outside the others in the gang were yelling for them to get out there as their men were being killed. HEYWOOD was trying to get up off the floor at that time and Jesse, apparently in a state of frustration, shot and killed him.

Outside, Clell MILLER and Bill CHADWELL lay dead. Bob YOUNGER had his elbow shattered by a bullet and his horse had been killed. So his brother, Cole, hitched him up on his horse behind him and away all went while the citizens of Northfield kept blasting at them.

Talk about a comedy of errors! It would be funny if the situation weren’t so serious. First of all, they stole a horse from a farmer and then got a saddle from another farmer under a pretext and Bob YOUNGER had a horse again for a short time. The horse was clumsy and fell, pitching Bob off and galloping away. Bob was back behind Cole, who was a heavy man and this situation slowed the poor horse down. They got another horse from a farmer under a pretext and it would not move. Back behind Cole Bob went! Finally they just took a horse and saddle from a stable and Bob was in business!

The gang continued on their flight with more and more men following them. They needed fresh horses which were hard to come by. Eventually they decided to leave their horses and go by foot through a swamp.

In the five days that had passed since the attempted robbery, the gang now had nine hundred manhunters after them and they were only a mere 50 miles from Northfield. Also, the horses the gang left behind broke loose and the posse found them which “told” them to start looking for men on foot.

Frank and Jesse found a horse and started off on it only to be startled by a picket who wanted to know who they were. Frank spurred the horse and at the same time the picket shot, putting a bullet hole through Jesse’s hat, which had flown off and, to make matters worse, the horse got away. Back on foot! They later came on a farm and snuck up to the barn and managed to catch two horses and rode off. But, Frank’s horse acted oddly and would sometimes stumble. They finally investigated the situation and saw that Frank’s horse was totally blind and Jesse’s had just one eye. They turned the horses lose and were back on foot!

Meanwhile the YOUNGER boys and Charlie PITTS were still on foot and happened on a Norwegian farmer who was milking his cow. They spoke and passed on but were noticed by the farmer’s son, Alex Oscar SORBEL. He was sure they were some of the robbers being looked for. He wanted to go tell the sherrif and the farmer thought he was just trying to get out of his daily duties. Later, though, he did make it to town and made known what he thought. This was in Madelia and a group of men mounted horses and rode off toward the Sorbel place. To leave out more frustrated happenings Charlie PITTS was killed and the three YOUNGERs surrendered.

Let’s talk about what happened to Charlie PITTS after his death, which is too bazarre. Charlie’s body was unclaimed and it was a Minnesota law that unclaimed bodies went to the surgeon general of the state who would send them out to medical schools for dissection. Charlie, less one ear, wound up in St. Paul.

Later, Dr. Henry F. HOYT, a young medical student was home from college in Chicago and went to Dr. Frank W. MURPHY, the surgeon general, and asked if he could have what was left of the body of Charlie PITTS. He wanted his skeleton for his medical office.

Dr. HOYT was given the bones and wanted to whiten them so he got a box, placed the bones inside and weighed them down with rocks. He sealed the box and rowed out in the middle of Lake Como one night to drop the box in as this would whiten the bones. Dr. HOYT got a job in Las Vegas, New Mexico in March of 1877 so left Charlie’s bones to whiten for a year.

During the next winter a young boy, August ROBERTSON, went out muskrat hunting on the frozen lake. He was going to make a hole in the ice when he noticed something under it that looked like a box. He cut a hole in the ice and the box bobbed up to the surface. The rocks in the box had shifted allowing the box to tilt and be seen below the water. He was thrilled thinking it was a treasure box and pulled it out of the water, opened it and out rolled Charlie’s skull!

August ran into town as fast as he could to get the sheriff who got the coroner and to the lake the three went. There were marks made by 5 bullets. A murder in their territory! It went unsolved to the point that the newspapers started demanding some police action. Citizens were super upset and frightened over the fact that there was a murderer running around loose in their area.

Finally, a friend of Dr. HOYT’s, finding this mystery interesting, sent him a newspaper article all about it. Dr. HOYT read the story and didn’t waste time getting back home to see the sheriff and clear up the matter, which he did.

Clell MILLER’s body suffered the same fate as Charlie’s, less the lake event, and wound up in the office of a Dr. WHEELER in Grand Forks, North Dakota. Years later, a very elderly man went to see Dr. WHEELER and uneasily asked if he could see the skeleton he had in his office. They went in together and the man stood looking at it for a long time without speaking and on leaving he thanked the doctor and told him that was his son.

Back to Frank and Jesse. They managed to get away, Jesse being the only one of the gang who wasn’t captured or wounded. For a time, they farmed in Tennessee. Jesse raced horses and tried his hand at cattle ranching and finally he and his wife and son showed up at Frank’s farm and moved in with him. The boys moved around a lot and had a variety of jobs.

Once Jesse met Bill, the Kid, who wanted to join forces. Jesse was not impressed with this young man who did not rob banks or trains, but only stole horses and shot people for no good reason, so he declined the offer and that was that.

Some of the old gang began to show up, Jim CUMMINS, Bill RYAN, and Dick LIDDIL. On 7 Sep 1879, they robeed a train and came out with $9,400.00 with no problems this time. Jess and Bill RYAN robbed a stage on 3 Sep 1880.

Later, due to his liking for liquor, Bill RYAN found himself in jail by drinking and talking too much.

Things were getting a tad uneasy for Frank and Jesse in Tennessee so they decided it was time to leave and in different directions, which they did. Jesse and Dick LIDDIL headed west together. In Missouri, Charlie FORD joined the gang. Bob FORD became obsessed with killing Jesse around that time. Dick LIDDIL and Martha [FORD] BOLTON were living together on a farm and there came Bob FORD and Wood HITE. Wood was Jesse’s first cousin. He and Dick got into some sort of argument and started shooting at each other to no avail. Bob FORD, who had no part of the argument pulled out his gun and killed Wood!

Bob and a brother, not Charlie, hid Wood’s body in an old well and Jesse never knew what happened though he did ask where Wood went. Dick LIDDIL and Bob’s sister, Martha, were the only ones beside Bob and his brother, who knew what happened. Dick was a weak link and finally agreed with Bob to help him kill Jesse.

The story is very well known of how Bob FORD shot Jesse from behind while he was on a chair getting ready to dust a painting in his livingroom.

Frank went back to Missouri and surrendered on 5 Oct 1882. His trial ended in a not guilty verdict due to the popularity of the JAMES boys and their penchant of “robbing the rich and giving to the poor.” Alabama grapped him next and his trial there ended in a not guilty verdict. But, he was then taken to Boonville, Missouri and put on trial for a robbery there that had happened eight years before. The case against Frank was eventually dropped on 21 Feb 1855, such was his popularity with the people.

Frank was broke by this time, so he went to work as a shoe salesman in Nevada, Missouri and Dallas, Texas. He then was the doorkeeper for a theater in St. Louis, Missouri and the Assitant Manager at the fair grounds racetrack in St. Louis.

Cole YOUNGER got out of prison in Minnesota and went around to church sunday schools to preach on the fact that crime does not pay.

He went to see Frank and they both joined a Wild West Show in a carnival with Cole as the manager as he had promised not to appear in public. It was a sleazy outfit with grifters following it. They got fed up with it all and left.

Frank went back to the JAMES farm and tourists started showing up. So, Frank started charging the people 25¢ each and later upped it to 50¢ and the people kept coming. Frank died on this farm.

But Bob was a hated man by the people. He thought he’d be a big hero for gunning down Jesse JAMES. So, he and Dick LIDDIL went out to Las Vegas, New Mexico and opened a bar. Having a taste for liquor, Bob drank way to much in those days. At his bar, he would brag to the miners about how he had killed Jesse JAMES.

Bob should have kept his mouth shut because one day, Ed KELLY from Harrisonville, Missouri, ambled in. Cole YOUNGER was from near Harrisonville and some of the YOUNGER and KELLY people had married. Eventually, Ed KELLY killed Bob FORD. He was tried and found guilty and sentenced to 20 years in prison but was pardoned after serving two years.

Tucker Bassham - of Missouri was sent to jail, but was pardoned. He was killed in Kansas.

Bill Chadwell - dropped dead on the streets of Northfield with a sudden seizure.

Jim Cummins - died in the Confederate Home at Higginsville, Missouri. He was best at stealing horses.

Charlie Ford - grew more morose and finally shot himself in the heart inside his house.

Clarence Hite - was sentenced to twenty five years in prison. He contracted tuberculosis and was pardoned and later died. **

Bud McDaniels - tried to escape from jail in Lawrence, Kansas, but was shot hiding in the timber and was carried back to jail, where he died.

Thompson McDaniels - (his brother) was shot by farmers after the Huntington robbery.

Andy McGuire - was arrested and placed in jail in Richmond, Missouri. A mob broke in and that was the end of Andy.

Charlie Pitts - was killed after Northfield and ended up as a skeleton in a doctor's office as did Clell Miller.

Bill Ryan - was sentenced to twenty five years in prison in Missouri. After that, while he was riding a horse in the timber, the horse became frightened, bolted and Bill's head struck a tree limb and he died. He was probably the best of the men that rode with Jesse.

Bob Younger - got life, compliments of the State of Minnesota. He died in prison on 16 Sep 1889.

Cole Younger - after twenty five years in prison, was pardoned and came back to his old home in Missouri, where he died with seventeen bullets still inside of him.

Jim Younger - served twenty five years in the Minnesota prison, was freed, then, a few days later shot himself to death over a love affair.

John Younger - the youngest of the Younger boys, was killed by a Pinkerton detective. He was the only one they caught beside killing little Archie Samuels and maiming Zerelda Samuels.

** Wood and Clarence Hite, brothers, were first cousins of Frank and Jesse James and were the only relatives who ever rode with the boys.

These men also rode with Jesse but were mostly ex-guerrillas and didn't pursue the life of banditry for long:

Jim Anderson
Bradley Collins
Ike Flannery
Jack Hines
Bill Hulse
John Jarette
Tom Little
Allen H. Parmer (He married Jesse's sister, Susie.)
Jim White
John White

Jesse James brother, Archie P. Samuel, as noted on the headstone, was killed by a bomb thrown into the farm house by the Pinkertons. He was 9 years old. Jesse's mother remarried after his father died. Samuel was the surname. Jesse and wife are buried between his mother and step father and the brother is buried immediately to the left of the mother. That is how they appear in the cemetery.

The above photos were taken and information was submitted by Ruth Atterbury Adams. Copyright Ruth Atteberry Adams 12-03-2001

These graphics were done by an artist and are the property of the artist. They are not for the taking. If you wish to use them on your web pages, click on the above graphic to view her web pages of beautiful art and then you must contact the artist - Carla if you wish to use any them.

I would appreciate if you would keep in mind, while visiting this web site and others, that the information found within each page is not to be copied in any manner, or used for profit or public use. The information on this page is the property of the writter/submitter.