The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1894-06-10

any fellow would peach on me?" he
asked. He'd be in hell in a, second
:" I don't know how / stood it, for l
Thought he was going to bore me right
then and there. He eyed me for what
seEmeS lil5a hours, but gllsss they were
only seconds Evidently he didn't dis
! trust me. or at least concluded he was
safe. or else the thought came to him
that it wouldn't exactly do to kill me
right there in st. Joe, for he'd have the
whole neighborhood down on him in a
minute. So he concluded to wait until
that night when he went out after the
horses. That ne determined to kill me
then was just as plain as any hole
THAT he ever put in a man. But he
saw how frightened I was and he
doubtless saw that it wouldn't do to
tscare me too much, and he remarked
with a laugh that he guessed anybody
hadn't peached on him-that it was
only another of those cock and bull
stories which the newspapers were al
ways printing about him.
8" was only a boy. Of course, and
he wasn't afraid of me there. He went
on eating, as cool as a. cucumber, but
You couldn't have got anything into
my mouth with a ramrod. I made up
my mind to take the risk and kill him
1.-THE first chance got. Mrs. James was
in the kitchen and Charlie was out in,
the yard. Jess then did something L
level hIIGW VI Ills QOluS HUSIOIe, dlQ L
think it was just to show me that I
needn't be so scared as 1 looked, or
perhaps to throw me off my guard.
SHOT HIM FROM BEHIND.
1t was q hot day in the summer
and he got up and walked over toward
1.-THE bed in the corner and unbuckled
his belt, saying the pistols were heavy
land that it was too-hot to wear
them. Never before, summer or winter,
ht2d hi NIT Ii e
/ As he took them off and tossed them
lover on the bed I made UP my mind
THAT it was now or never. AS he
turned away, a picture on the wall that
was crooked attracted mis- attention
and he climbed up on a chair to put
it straight pulled my guns Just as
ICharlia came into the room and shot
him back of the ear. He dropped like
la, rock. for he never knew what hit
him.
That's the way Jesse James died.
They buried him up in Kearney, and
1.-THE funeral he mad gave you an linking
as to why it was that for twenty years
The had been able to terrorize the
west and never been captured. There
were in attendance some of the best
people in the western part of the state,
: Including Major John N. Edwards, a
great character whereabouts, and editor
of the Kansas City Times Gen. joe
Shelby, another Missouri hero of the
war
The truth is that western Missouri
was about the last part of the con-
federacy to ever own UP that it was
licked. The James gang grew directly
out of old Quantrell's guerilla band, and
there were lots of Missourians that
simply looked upon the gang as keep
grown up in the state; they had wide
family connections, and indeed some of
their family stood very high. They
were very well known; they had an
immense number of friends; they never
robbed any but northern people, and
good share of the community, if they
didn't exactly approve of the bandits
methods. were tolerant of them, and as
for the rest of the people, they knew
it was a great deal healthier to keep
some of their opinions rather to them
selves. The result of it was that the
boys came and went freely without
being disturbed, and there wasn't any
one around who ever dared inform on
them. There was a current belief
aroundabout that men who knew toe
much about the gang or ever had any
news about it found the country, very
malarial. They moved away or they
disappeared somewhere. So the boys
could ride clear across the country
and you would never hear a word of it,
and if they happened to get into close
quarters there were plenty of houses
open to shelter them or hands willing
y to help them cover up their tracks.
"Then, too, there was an especial
difficulty when Governor Crittenden
! started in to break up the gang. The
? governor, you know, was a red-hot
union man. He was a fighter and
everybody knew his opinions. SO there
were a great many who sided with the
. James boys just from the fact that
they had sympathized with the South
and the governor had fought with the
: North. 1t was a curious state of affairs
i but it explains the existence of such q
gang of cut-throats and murderers ir
{ an otherwise peaceful, law-abidine
. state.
; BROKE UP THE GANG.
: well of course, the death of Jesse
a really broke up the gang. He was al
;. | ways their leader and the daring, &C
! tive spirit among them. Some of tbs
a gang were killed others captured, and
9 others gave themselves up and served
= short terms The last to surrender
4 and, curiously enough, about the only
4 one of any prominence who is still alive
. was Frank James. Only last week
. saw a little paragraph in one of the
ST. Louis papers about how Franz
James THE notorious reformed outlaw,
e had tainted on being vaccinated in tha-
s CITY. Strange for I don't think that
n cooler, nervier man ever lived.
e Jesse was much of a coward a
t heart, but I don't think that Franz
e James ever knew what it was to BIZ
e afraid in his life. He was at Jesse.
|, funeral, and there were many peopl,
= who knew it But they were most O.
t them his friends. and then, too, l dom
n think that any one would have cared Il
r mention the fact at that time.