The Breckenridge news. (Cloverport, Ky.) 1876-1955, 1894-06-27

Jesse James died every foot OF real es
tate in Western Missouri was worth
well, ! should say, at least forty per cen
more than the day before.
"Thegang which was made mp OF tn,
James boys, the Younger brothers, ant
a crowd of survivors of the old guerilla
days, had so long terrorized the western
half of the state that despite its natura
resources and the cheapness of all sorts
of property, Northern man would about
as soon have contemplated emigration
to Patagonia as to those barbarous wilds
They went through it on the railway
train in fear and trembling, or timidly
around it, and settled in the less favored,
but more peaceful, Kansas. This state
of affairs had existed for well nigh twenty
years. -..........-..
"The Governors first step was to issue
proclamation offering reward OF $780,
600 for the capture of the gang or the de-
| livery of Frank or Jesse James to the
Sheriff of Jackson or Daviess counties
But there was no clause of dead or alive'
at all, and, moreover, this reward was
not, as is commonly supposed the direct
cause of the death OF Jesse James. |
had the whole story, not only from Bob
Ford, who did the killing, but from Bob's
brother, Charlie, who was with him at
the time, and also Sheriff Timberlake
and Police Commissioner Craig, OF Kan
sas City, all of whom we're directly con-
cerned The truth about the transaction
as have it from these direct sources,
was about this lin the James gang was
Dick Iidlle, who afterward became a
successful horse dealer.over here in Pas
sale, N. j. He was with the James boys
on many raid, and although he was a
thin, slender fellow, he was as game as
any man who ever lived.
"Well, along in the beginning of the
SOS, while Jesse was absent in Tenness-
see, trouble broke out between Liddle
and Wood lIite, another notorious men,
Der of that delicious crew. 1t was over
a woman, and Liddle seemed to be the
favorite in the race. He was calling
on the family, which lived on a lit
tie Missouri farm, when Wood Hite
came around looking for him with gun
Affairs in that region were settled in
short order, and the family conviently
vacated the house while the two discuss
ed their differences over pair of quick
acting pistols. The family returned to
find IIite killed and Liddle slightly
wounded. There was quiet consulta.
ton, and the dead man was buried in
the bed of a neighboring creek. The
stream told no tales, and the world was
no wiser as to the whereabouts of the
once famous Wood Hite.
VOWED TO KILL LIDDLE.
"When the news reached Jesse, in
Tennessee, he promptly returned to the
scene of the difficulty. He was Hite's
friend, and he gave it out quite uncere-
moniously that he would shoot Liddle st
sight. James was a boaster, and as
rule little attention was paid to his word.
But promises of this sort he usually kept
to the letter. This Liddle knew we'll,
and he knew that the wide earth was
quite too small for the two of them to
inhabit comfortably. Merry as he I'M
questionably was, he had no taste for
meeting. Jesse had bad record for
killing his own people. He had probably
killed more of the latter than OF any
other.
"Jesse James was probably the quick
est man who ever handled a gun. He
could get into action and get good
ways in while the other men were
thinking about it. And he could shoot
faster than Calling gun. Liddle knew
this, and as desperate resolve he de-
to give up the gang. One day
a woman called on Governor Crittenden.
She told the Governor that she came
straight from Dick Liddle and she want
ed to know on what terms he might give
himself up and inform on the rest. The
Governor told her that he could have no
other guarantees than the law would
give, and that was fair and impartial
trial and that his efforts toward breaking
up the gang would count in his favor.
"Jesse James was then living in st. Joe
under the alias OF Howard. He had
with him his wife and little boy, and
although the latter was seven years old