Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1881-09-23

q Determined Oatn when anCN
Father was HuDg-TheBrOther
Believed TO be Ineapacitated
for the Work Charged TO them.
Chicago Times.l
There is a prevalent opinion to the
effect that the James boys of Missouri
have only to sound their horn from
some of the jet black jungles Of Mis-.
souri,, and before the echoes have died
away they are greeted by a band of
confederates as quickly as was Clan
Alpine when the bugle sounded TO
show King James his warriors true.
There are some people who hold TO
the opinion that when the rations of
the bandits run low, and the camp
fires burn dimly in the forest, they
plan a train robbery with the ease Of
packing a caucus; make a dash and
gallop away with their booty under
the still twinkle of the stars. There
is no doubt about the evil which these
riders of-the might have inflicted upon
the community where they have been
permitted to try the cunning of their
hands and the speed Of their horses;
but that they have had a royal time of
it, is not borne out by the facts. A
reporter Of the Times, who has been
assigned to digging out the facts con-
nected with the adventures Of the
border terrors, submits them on the
authority Of those who ought to know
That the James brothers have no
excuse for the darings they have done,
is a universal concession. But, on
the principle that the devil himself is
entitled to his due, the James boys are
clearly entitled to their version at
least, no matter if the hanging occurs
Immediately after.
THEIR FATHER WAS A PREACHER.
In the good old days he was a pious
man and walked with God" though
it must be confessed that his sons
took a very different kind of prone
made. In the dark days of Missouri,
Jesse and Frank James espoused the
cause which Haunted the bars. They
were never soldiers; in this they were
not alone. The woods were their
haunts and in their barbarian code
there was no such thing ever known
as a white flag; their bugles, if they
ever had any, never were turned to the
peaceful notes Of truce. The only
camp stories that were ever told about
their retreats were those which they
told of the way in which the last man
died, and then they drank from their
tin cups to the next one who was to
60. In all probability they never
thought Of the day when there was to
be a dawn of peace. 1t is said their
first determined oath to live their days
out as terrors was when their father
was taken from his home by some of
Tennison's gang and hung to a tree,
where he was soundly thrashed until
his pious limbs danced a hornpipe
between heaven and earth. Their
first attempt to avenge this fancied
injury was in their own county seat,
Liberty, Mo-. This was in the shape
of a bank robbery in which they were.
assisted by Andy Mcclure. Archie
Clements and Dick Burns. 1t may
not generally be known that one Of
this gang, in a very short time after
this first attempt to get even, paid for
the "pastime'' by being
CHoKED TO DEATH,
suspended from a tree almost in sight
, of the spot where the robbery took
place. This was Mcclure. When he
had been given his portion of the
"swag," his thoughts were immediate
ly diverted from the darings Of the
james brothers TO something exactly
antipodal-love. With his gains he
attired himself in ~broadcloth and
7 went to independence, the county
|, seat of Jackson, where he planned
and carried out the capture Of a wo.
man who had given him her approval.
They we're united while on horseback.
and Immediately made for the first
railroad station, where they boarded
E the first eastward bound train. which
carried him into st. Louis. While he
) was occupied in making such reassur-
/ ances, as young men in like positions
are wont to make, waiting for the
E next train, he was arrested and taken
back to Liberty. A few weeks later
the people of hat section, who
evinced a better spirit then than they
have since toward such characters.
went to the Jail one evening aud called
for MIR" McGuire. In spite Of the
fact that he was fresh from the nuptial
altar, they went with him to the
woods, and
HIS BRIDE
went the next day to the funeral of a
groom with a broken neck.
Not many months after this little
event Archie Clements sauntered into
toe %aristocratic town of Lexington for
the purpose Of airing himself. when
he fell in with a squad from Bacon,
Montgomery's noted militia. There
was an evident desire on the part Of
the latter folks to settle up an old
score, for that night Clements friends
took him out of a house dead. The
. buckshot that entered his body we're
never counted, but there we're enough
to bring out a large funeral.
1t was not many weeks later that
some Of the ~neighbors in an adjacent
county, who went out 10 help in q
harvest field. had their DAVIS lahnr
interrupted by a "burying," which
they were called upon to attend. in
) which Dick Burns took the role Of a
corpse. No effort was ever made TO
learn who split his head open, or who
hid him in the hay stack. In the
meanwhile it behooyed the Clay eoun-
ty pair TO recruit their service and