The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1897-07-03
FRANK JAMEs's AMBITION.
Former Train Robbers In An Honest
Calling.

He Is Interested in Politics and Would
Like to BE Chief-of- Police-His Work
asDoorkeeper of a Theater.
If you should happen to be in st. Louis
some night during the theatrical season
and should drop into the Standard Thea
tire. at Seventh and Walnut streets, you
would see a TALL thin, rather elderly man
landing at the door, You will find him
clad in sober black, with large black
SLOUGH hat, creased in the middle and
pulled down slightly to shade the left side
of his face, which is thin almost to
enaciation. His nose is long and sharp,
his chin protruding, his lips thin and
bloodless, closing tightly over his teeth.
A slight, dropping, grayish mustache
does not serve to conceal their firmness.
Above all, his eyes will attract your at
tention. They are small and set close to-
gether. Their color is light blush gray.
Over them there seems to float film
which renders them Opaque at times, and
yet if he looks at you sharply there will
come a hard cold CLINT into them that
will tell you their owner is safe custom
er to let alone when be is reused. STILL
when the lips break into a smile, these
same eyes can twinkle and dance with
merriment that is magnetic. They say
in Missouri that this eye is typical of men
whose proudest and most truthful boast
is that they have nerve, but no nerves.
This man is Frank James. brother of
Jesse, train robber and outlaw generally,
says correspondent in the New York
Sun. He is doorkeeper, and has been for
three seasons past. Colonel James j.
Butler, politician, and son of the Demo-
c attic boss of the town, Colonel Ed But
le'- put him in this place. People focked
to ie theatre at first just to see the old
outlaw, but the story became an old one
by and by, and none but strangers in the
city took any particular notice of the
contender. He comes and goes to his
work as regularly and soberly as any man
could, and holds his head high.
When Colonel James-every one calls
him Colonel James now-surrendered
twelve years ago and stood his trials, he
settled down to face the world and earn a
living. 1t was hard tussle for long
time, but he had friends some of them
in high places, like Mayor John Edwards
OF Kansas City-and they kept him going
whenever the tide set against him. For
a time he followed the races, but as his
o ily son grew up to manhood, he deter
aimed to get more substantial employ
ment, and, with that end in view, he
came to ST. Louis and settled down with
his wife and child. 1t was then that he
secured his place as doorkeeper in the
theatre. Now his rehabilitation is COM
plete, SO far as it is possible. He has OF
late dabbled more or less in politics, but,
although he is a most pronounced Demo-
crat, he does not allow his employment
at the theatre draw him into the circle of
politicians presided over by the Buffers
At the party primaries he fights the
candidates of the old boss as earnestly and
in as outspoken a manner as though he
were thoroughly independent. In his
hopeful moments he sometimes thinks
there is a future for him in politics. He
has two ambitions. One is that he may
some day be made a police commissioner
and the other that he may be chief of
police. One day he was standing in the
theatre lobby talking with some of his
friends about the appointment of new
chief of police.
How would do for that placer" he
a lled with a smile. No one knew exact
~ what to answer. There was an EN-
..rrassing pause, and then the old outlaw
drew himself up and let that hard CLINT
into his eyes. For twenty years., he
said Il defied them all to catch me, and
l guess 1 could do little catching my
self, if / tried -
Still there are other times when James
seems to realize the forbidding handicap
under which he labors. The newspapers
of St. Louis are continually referring to
him as the ex-bandit and ex-train robber,
o I'd it angers him terribly.
Why can't they leave. me alone", he
cried one day, after reading one of these
references. "For twelve years I've been
trying to do the right thing. I've been
working as hard and as honestly as any
man alive to earn an honest living, and
they won't let me alone. They won't
give ME chance. But I'll tell you this"
and as he uttered the words he took off
his hat and raised his right hand" before
Col, never did an act in my life that l
was ashamed of and l never stole a cent.
They tried to hang me on perjnred testi-
mony, but they couldn't do it.
Colonel James believes in personal
liberty" 1t was this sentiment that
drove him under the black flag with
Quantrell in the terrible border warfare,
at which Missourians still shudder in
m emory. 1t was this sentiment that
N tde him hunted outlaw for twenty
years Now it has made him the most
r3bid free silver man and the most I'M
g compromising enemy Vi UfuStb ana cor
porations. In his eyes the country has
gone to the dogs. He can see only ruin
and revolution in the future, and when
hestalks of what he considers the encroach-
ments of clpltal on the right OF the COM
mon people his eyes blaze and his voice
rises to a shrill treble. His views on the
question even drove him back to an
iavowed loyalty to the stars and stripes.
During the last campaign, when the Re
publicans had chosen the American flag
as the emblem of their party, and the
Democrats were resisting and protesting
against their action as usurpation,
James stood one night in a hotel
haranguing d crowd of silverites He was
urging every man to display an American
flag ON the day set for this purpose by the
Oh lirmen of both the Republican and
democratic national committees.
I'm going to swing one out, - he said,
sand stand under it. It'll be the first
time in thirty years that I've let the flag
wave over me when could help it. But
it's all changed now. want to show
these people that we're just as loyal as
they are
The deepest concern that Colonel James
now has in life is over his boy, just turn
ing p. He worries considerably more
over his sons future than the average