The Death of Jesse James

One hundred twenty-four years ago, on April 3, 1882, legendary Western outlaw Jesse James was betrayed by gang member Robert Ford. While adjusting an off-kilter picture on a wall in his house, Jesse James was shot in the back of the head and fell to the ground dead.

Born in 1847 in Missouri, Jesse James was a farmboy. When the Civil War broke out in 1861, Jesse's older brother Frank (born 1843) joined the Confederate Army. Jesse later joined a band of quasi-outlaws headed by William Quantrill. When the war ended, Jesse's band surrendered, but the Federal troops fired upon it anyway, and Jesse was wounded.

This incident helped spur Jesse James's hatred for the Federal government. He and his brother Frank met Cole Younger during the war, and after the surrender Jesse formed a gang which included brother Frank as well as Cole Younger and his three brothers. Before the Younger brothers joined the gang, Jesse and Frank headed a bank robbery in 1866. Thus was the beginning of a legend.

Jesse's gang were bank robbers, highwaymen, store robbers, and stagecoach hold-ups. In other words, they did everything that the classic Western outlaw is portrayed as doing in popular culture. Jesse's gang even popularized robbing trains, which shocked authorities due to the crime's boldness.

Jesse's gang was nearly decimated on September 7, 1876. While attempting to rob a bank in Northfield, Minnesota, Jesse's gang was discovered by the townspeople, who took up arms. Only Frank and Jesse James escaped; the Youngers were captured, and three gang members met their deaths.

Jesse and Frank returned to Missouri and formed a new gang, provoking a warrant from Governor Crittenden. It was this "Wanted: Dead or Alive" warrant (with promise of a reward) that led Bob Ford to shoot Jesse James. Jesse had yet to see his 35th birthday.

Frank James surrendered shortly thereafter. At Frank's trials (which occurred in three different states), he was acquitted of murder, bank robbery, and armed robbery charges, a testament to his popularity with the majority of citizens in those areas. Frank James lived out his final years near the town of his birth, dying in 1915 at the age of 72, thirty-three years after his brother's murder.

In his day, Jesse James was both revered and hated. Many lower class citizens viewed him as a Robin Hood-type figure, robbing from the rich and giving to the poor. Indeed, Jesse had good PR skills, and it was this very belief that he cultivated by using persecution as his excuse for crime. Native Americans saw him as a hero due to his ability to escape Federal authorities (who were persecuting the Native Americans at the same time).

Today, James is a legend. Whether one views him as a hero or a petty criminal (the truth probably lies somewhere in between), one thing is for certain: Jesse James will continue to live on in our romanticism of the Old West.

Sources: Encyclopaedia Britannica