Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1882-04-29
THE BOSS RANDHr.
The Life and Exploits OF Jesse
James.

| jesse Jd10S WIS Tie GREATEST IOL
Der of whom any account has bee
given in the entire history of crime
His operations covered the area o
several States along the Mississippi
| river, from Minnesota almost as ia
as louisiana. While his means O
plunder and destruction were sucl
as no rObber of earlier times com
manded, the facilities of bringin,
him to justice were also superior t,
/ those OF any previous period, ant
| the wonder is that he should have
lived so long a life of successful out
lawry, and that his career ShoulC
have been terminated, not by an ac
ofjudicial condemnation, but by tn,
treachery of a comrade. The story
of James life puts the old fashioned
books about Dick Turpip and Jack
Sheppard completely in the shade
and the bad eminence of Claude
Duval is inferior to that of the
American bandit who fell on the &c
of April, 1882, in the city of st. Jo
seph, Mo.
Jesse James was the son of a Bap
tist minister. He was born In the
year 1915, in the State of Kentucky
His brother Frank, who was associ
ated with him in his career of crime
is a younger man, who is reported
to be living in Texas under an as.
sumed name, and to be completely
reformed. When Jesse was year
old his father removed to Clay coun-
ty, Mo-, where he cultivated q farm
and also officiated as minister. He
died in 1949, but the widow contin-
ued to reside IN Clay county, where
in 1867, she was married to DR.. Reu-
ben Samuels, resident there. Jes-
Sc was an educated man. The col
lege which had the doubtful honor
of giving him culture was that OF
Georgetown, Scott county, Ky.
From his earliest years Jesse show
eel a preference for a romantic life.
AT the outbreak of the civil war
both he and his brother Frank vol
unteered to enter the confederate
service, but were refused on account
of their extreme youth, the elder
being sixteen. 1t is stated in ex-
tenuation of Jesse's ferocity while
afterwards a member of Quantrells
band, that he Joined it in conse-
quence of an assault upon his step
father committed by union men.
He was present at the sack of Law
renee, Kan, and boasted of the
number of persons he killed on that
occasion. When in 1865, Quantrell
was killed and his murderous band
broken up, Jesse and his brother re-
turned home to Clay county Mo-,
and lived quietly for several years.
AT any rate, no record can be found
of any further exploit performed by
him until 1868, when, in association
with the Younger brothers and
George Sheppard, who had been
with them in Quantrell's band, he
and his brother Frank went to the
races at Lexington, Ky. While on
their way home after the races they
robbed the bank at Russellville,
KY, of $14, 600 and fled tn Texas
with their booty. Jesse's next eX-
plot was that of robbing the bank
at Gallatin, Mo-, in which Frank,
the Youngers and others, who for
merly belonged to the Quantrell
band, were also concerned. They
murdered several'persons in the per-
formance of this robbery, and again
fed TO Texas for safe hiding. Six
months later the James boys return
ed to their home in Mo-, driven out
of Texas in consequence of their
having killed several of their COM
rades in a quarrel which took place
at a dance house. The peaceful
and progressive State of Iowa was
the scene of their next robbery.
at the head of party of seven,
including his brother Frank and the
Youngers, Jesse, in the spring OF
1870, robbed the bank at Corydon
in broad daylight, carrying off
thousands of dollars in sack. They
cleverly outrode q party of pursu-
ers, and no more was heard of the
James brothers until the fall of the
same year, when. after attending
the races at Lexington, KY, they
and four of the YoungerS, also
brothers, rode up to the bank at
Columbia, entered, covered the
president, cashier and a citizen in
versation with them, with piS-
tolls, gathered all the money togeth-
er they could, shot the cashier, who
made an Outcry as an alarm, and
rode on with their gains. They
were again pursued, but unsuccess-
fully, finding friendly coverts in the
Cumberland mountains. But all
the previous exploits of the Jameses
was surpassed in daring by the
next, performed by them in cOnnec-
tion with other we'll tried assOci-
ates. This was on the Goth of Sep
tember, at the Missouri State Fair,
held in Kansas City, and attended
by as many as 10000 persons.
While a race was in progress be-
tween Ethan Allen and another
noted horse, they rode up to the
Office of Mr.. Hall, treasurer of the
fair, who was counting the cash
received during the day assisted by
q young man. Both of these per-
sons were awcd by presented pis-
tolls, nearly $4,000 taken from them
and the thieves escaped. About
six months afterwards we hear of
the James gang at st. Genevieve,
Mo-, where, after they had success
fully raided the bank, they were 50
closely pushed by pursuers that
they had to abandon the proceeds
of the operation. Disguised with
this misfortune they adopted a
change of policy, starting an uneX-
succession of train robber-
ries. In June, 1872, about seventy
five miles east of Council Bluffs, on
the Chicago q Rock Island railroad,
they took up a rail in sharp curve
by which an express train was
thrown off the track. Both men in
charge of the locomotive were killed
and number of passengers badly
injured. In the confusion the out
laws took from the express car gold
bricks, specie and notes to an
amount probably larger than the
return from any of their previous
acts of brigandage, and fled with
their booty into the Indian Terri
tory, where new designed against
were planned. A number
of stage robberies preceded the
plumber Of train at Gada Hill, on
the Iron mountain road, in Wayne
county, Mo-, in January, 1874. By
this Jesse James and his associates
were made richer by $11, 900 taken
from the express car, besides money
forced from passengers. They had
the train by putting out the
flag, Gads Hill being only a flag sta
ton.
All attempts to arrest or destroy
the James brothers and their COM
panions having failed, the railroad
and express companies chiefly inter
oSted in putting q StOD to their dem