Huntsville gazette., 1883-03-31
FRANK JAMES.
corr..,o,dsnee Of the Courier Journal.l

that Frank James relatives are trying to
effact loan of S75. 600 from the Louisville
Conrier Company, recent talk with that
notad desnerado will not be without inter
.st visited him in his cell, and through
the courtesy of the Sheriff bad an .pportu-
nitv for quite a long interview. DE SEEM
al Somewhat reticent until alluded to a
time in 81 when with company OF raw
racrnits destined to Southern service, was
rsscned from imminent peril by band OF
Gallant fellows under Clark. He brighten
ed quickly and said "Quantrelfs men
were with Clark and was with them, and
a cooler man than Quantrell never lived
He then went on to relate many accidents
that occurred when he soldiered with Qlan
trell. said he had never received any Sc
we're wounds though in many close places,
dne tn the fact that he was SO small and
thin. ..They called me Pewee," said he,
sand some of the men wanted Quantrell to
send me back home, calling me boy; but
Ouantrell said: sLet that boy alone he'll
take care of himself He loves to recount
incidents of his soldier life, but of course,
is quiet as to those daring and terrible
things that have more recent date.
When said that to him had generally
been accorded tho brains that planned and
to Jesse to execute, he quickly inieraupt-
ed me by. saying {:
They do me honor over much, had
nothing to do with the planning of the bold
enterprise to which you allude.
/ must confess to degree OF disappolnt-
ment in the personal appearance and gen
eral make up of the man. 1t is true had
not formed extravagant opinions concern
ing him, but he fell below even the medi-
ocre character | had conceived to belong
to him, except, perhaps, III that look which
betokens quickness, alertness, and physi-
cal activity. One of his ears, the right,
''laps' forward in peculiar manner and
seems much larger, externally. than the
other. He says this condition grew out of
the habit of pushing that part of the ear
forward with his right hand to listen, and
inclining the upper part of the body to-
ward the earth. AS evidences of his men
tai ability are his fine renderings of por-
tions of Shakespeare, particularly the
Merchant OF Venice" and
HIS LETTER to cRITrExDEN,
negotiating for a surrender.
told him doubted his ability to write
such letter, and attributed it to the fer.
tile brain of Maj. Edwards, editor of the
Seda liza Democrat. To remove any offen-
siveness from this remark L said that one
has little leisure for the cultivation of the
mind engaged in such pursuits as those to
which his life had mainly been devoted.
He said that though he had small l.isu .
for the cultivation of his mind an ocial
amenities. yet he hoped that would not
conclude that lac had, during the last We :
ty years, been excluded from mltg Iii 8
freely and famliArIy with the refn a
cultivated ut times, und qul.e ot,en, a. d
in addition to this, Il have, said he, ''the
finest library in the world Surprise was
expressed that one shoald be able TO COLI
lect and use any sort of library compelled
to make such frequent and rapid changes
of base. II carry it with ms, or find it
when whiting among my friends, 1t con-
sists OF three books: the Bible, Shakespeare
and Plutarch's Lives. prizs them," COL
tirued he ''in the order named. From
Shakespeare and the Bible l learn human
nature, and from Plutarch | get a knowl-
edge Of some Of the grandest characters in
history" A man told him, when in Jail at
Independence, that his head Was teo small
to contain much. ''Small as it is" said
he, lit contains enough to enable me to
have escaped the vengeance of all the big
railroad companies and express compa-
MES of the country for the last twenty
years. as well as to have eluded the vigi-
lance of Pinkerton's detectives during that
time, and Pinkerton, after having hunted
me fifteen years and spent $40, 900 in the
vain effort, gave it up in disgust, declaring
that he hadn't lost any James boys. and if
any one else desired the job, he would
cheerfulIy yield the honor of emoluments
in it, beside supplying whatever informa-
ton he had been able to collect"
HIS OPINION OF THE FoRDs.
When reference WIS made to the Fords,
all the contempt and scorn of his nature
seemed to express themselves in his coun-
tenance. believe he really locks on the
Fords as low, miserable ours, ready to en-
gage in the meanest and lowest work that
the meanest aud lowest mind coald de-
wise. beneath the contempt of decent
highwayman even, the stain of whose
blood he could never have blotted out if he
had imbrued his hands in it. He seems to
contemplate with horror, the thought that
he SO narrowly escaped under the excite
ment of the moment the commission of a
crime, which, viewed from his present
standpoint, seems so horrible. ''What good
would it have done me, " said he, .sto have
sent the Bloody corpse of that miserable
wretch home to his mother, as be sent that
of Jessee James home, mangIed and bloody
to his mother ?" Besides" continued he.
81 read that the greatest punishment the
Author of our being could irhict was N