The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1879-11-20
THE JAMES BROTHERS.

Denver Tribune: In the early part OF
last summer two men, one about 30 and
the other about 80 years of age, joined
the busy crowd that built the town OF
| Cleora, Col. They spont their time al
| most entirely about the saloons, being
apparently professional gamblers. The
oldest one went by the name of Tom
Smith, and the youngest one Billy
| Green, and they claimed to be hall
brothers. They went well dressed, and
| were never seen without being thorough
ly armed, and always carried their revol-
vers in plain sight. They were remark
ably good shots with the pistol, always
being ready to shoot for money, giving q
man the odds, at fifty yards range, OF
shooting with rife or revolver. as he
chose. There was nothing of the bully
or rough about them. Ii they were no.
| ticeable for anything, it was for beng
more than ordinarily quiet. When
Cleora got It's growth and passed into a
state of decay, which it did in about SIX
weeks, Tom and Billy, as they were gen.
orally known, moved to Monarch. now
known as Chaffee City. Here they
| bought mine, and spent their time
about evenly between working it and
gambling. Seven miles below Chatfee
City is the town of Maysville, which
boasted of about twenty citizens that
came from Texas, and from the class
known as COW boys. For the most part
they were fair examples of their class.
They wore broad -brimmed hats, carried
revolvers, and talked about 'ge tting the
drop" on fellows. Maysyille, as might
be supposed, was pretty fair place for
gambling, and was considerably fre-
quented by Tom and Billy. One night
Tom was there when the Texans got on a
general drunk, swore they would clean
out the place, and proceeded to carry
their threat into execution by firing their
revolvers at tents, houses, windows, aud
| doors. without any regard to the rights
of other people. One of these bullets
passed pretty near Tom Smith, when he
Jumped up and started down tho street,
saying: "That's ID bully game, but
| these sons of BIS don't know how to
play it, Just at that time the Texas
crowd went into saloon, and were close
Iy followed by Tom. He had scarcely
entered the door when firing began, and
in about three minutes Tom was boss Of
that saloon. and three men were curled
up on the floor in a condition where the
subsequent proceedings were likely to
interest them no more. The Texas fever
then subsidized, and there was no more
shooting that night. The next morning
one of the Texans, who was slightly
wounded, hunted for Smith, found him,
and probably regretted having done SO.
Smith was too handy with the revolver
and laid the Texan out. Then mount
ing his horse he rode up to crowd of
excited Texans and said, ''Do any of you
ID sons of BIS want mel". They did
not want him, for some one had let out
the secret that Tom Smith was the cele-
brated Jesse James.
Jesse then turned his horse, and rode
to Chaffee City, and informed Billey
Green-who was none other than Frank
James-what had happened. Each OF
the boys added another revolver to his
belt, and coolly loafed about the town,
waiting the turn of events. Pretty soon
squad of fifteen or twenty mounted
men, armed with revolvers, rifles, and
shotguns, put in an appearance, looking
for Tom Smith. If they looked hard,
they saw him, for he had gone about
three rods from the road and sat down on
log, facing the crowd. His brother
Frank took a position about two or three
rods on one side, leaning up against a
log blacksmith shop. Here they waited
for half an hour, and the pursuers then
not making any attack, Jesse walked
slowly off up the mountain side, into a
thick second growth Of pine, where he
remained hidden the balance of the day.
Several times after that Jesse rode
through Maysville alone, and never met
any of the Texans without taunting them
or insulting them, and he was never mo-
lested. The reason given was that there
were others of his band there, and no
man knew whom to trust or from whom
to expect q shot. But it is probable
that the James brothers were alone.
Frank James told a gentlemen who
had done him some favors, that they
were waiting for pardon for offenses
committed in Missouri, and that if they
got one they would return home and
live as others live. But the latter part
of September they received letter from
their mother containing the information
that pardon was refused. Frank then
said, bitterly: ''The world is against US.
and by Cd we'll fight it out The
next day the two boys left Chaffee A
few days afterward came the news that a
train had been robbed in Kansas by the
the James brothers.
Soon afterwards q gentleman in
Charles City received letter signed
"Billy and Tom," giving thanks and
something more substantial for favors
| they had received.