The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1899-10-22
JESSE JAMES AND HIS PALS.
4 BOYS REMINIsCEvCES CT THE
TRAIN ROBBERS


robberies," said a man Of thirty who lives in Ne'
York, Il get to thinking OF the many occasion
on which my boyish trail was cut by variou
members Of the James gang. the original king
boos in the business OF sticking up trains live
In Loavenworth kan, during the last seve
years Of the seventies While Leavenworth wa
already, with a population Of about 10000 tn
metropolis OF Kansas, it was never theleas prett!
bad town at that time II preserved Its frontie
character for good many years after other town
farther west took on the manners and method
Of civilization. II was wide -open town, not ia
removed to the east and north Of what used Il
DO tho great cattle trail. and the place was Away
filled with hard characters, genuine bad mel
OF the type that has practically passed. packers
froghters, mule .whackers refugees from the rough
law Of the Far West who regarded Leavenwortt
as the extreme East and who considered not I'm
iustifiady that when they got as far east as thu
Missouri River they had pretty fair cinch tina
the law would not ovcrtake them. The towr
was frequently visited by members OF tho j James
gang. which was Just about in the flower OF "a
day at the beginning Of the period speak Of
The gang never operated in Leavenworth. and
for that reason Its members were enabled to feel
themselves pretty safe there.
As a matter of fact queer as II may soem.
the sentiment Of the town to and after the death
OF jesse James at the hand Of Bob Ford al ways
moro or less on tho side OF the band OF robbers
Desperate as ho was, the people OF Ieavenworth
surely regarded Jesse James as the real thing,
not particularly because Of tho immunity the
town enjoyed at his hands. but because tae popu-
lace OF the place was Of sort TO be impressed by
the daredevil rccklessness OF many of the eS poits
OF James and his fiery, untamed bunch The
people OF the place wer, rather inclined - dwell
upon the negative virtues of the James boys
d, late ,atr
OF hendishness Many story was told arouni
Leavenworth in those days Of the generous aid
JossoJ ames had extended to this or that old woman
tho distress among poor families in Missouri and
Kansas which he had relieved during hard winters
tho wouldbe cumulative lads that he had advised
TO cling TO the right and so on, until in the eyes
OF the rising generation out there, the star robOer
Of this age Possessed ell the e"Ilantry and gen
eroslty OF DICK Turpin or Robin Hood.
Tho James gang never, to my knowledge,
visited Leavenworth in body. They came
In separately. or in pairs when there wasn't much
doing in their line, OF when the gang, a con
crete body. was lying low, and they hung around
tho town, not, OF course. putting themselves par
ticularly in evidence, until called away bv their
chisfs Tho lance ho,,a A., ..,,,o,-s. -. 49, ~.
- inc oUyS' " ,'I,ooi'o ioi SOME ois
)oD OF plunderlng. In much the same way mem
bers OF the gang used at that time to hang around
Wichita, Lawrence. Atchlson Gra.sboppr, EaIIs
and other places in eastern Kansas, and in various
Missouri towns Sedalia Indepepdence Jefferson
(Y,v E.s,o, 80 c, Loo - i.,aa -
10y, 1ao'ou' anu -" ooo' "heie Jesse James
got his finishing capsule in the back from Bob
Ford's treacherous gun Perhaps Icayenworth
v.ss,tsr 10, ,b.,, u.n.r, - ,L,,.. So.
was o"4ei io' 'neni 'hah any oi uose places Al
any rate, none OF them was ever molcsted on these
occasions, even when il was known by all hands
t,c,,din, ,h ,,k,i,i, IT,. , -,
AA'iuuins 'ho au'nof'uos mat such- and-s
a member or members OF the James gang tenn
porarily sojourned in the town and in spite Of The
fact that The ,swo,ds nIcod ,,,,,,, d. 49,, a.,
~ NV 'e""iu' p'n'.u upon INC hcadS Oh inc
ropoers aggregated tens OF thousands of dollars.
Now as 10 the various occasions nm which
. b.,.foo,.d ,h;, ,, L., A., -
ui''''' s'' INV VIC JAMES gang
picture, simply by reason OF my being snub-
nosed, freckle faced young inhabitant Of one of
III, town. that v.s occ.sionnII,, - H..
"' 10" ~. a'o."''s ninuo heau-
quarters oy members OF that bad gang of men.
Jesse James only saw once and didn' know
IL when WAS sizin., the robhe, chief nm -, a,,I
-.at.h,- r .'0 >.,'' w. vi "ouiu
piooooiy nave oeen scared almost 10 death
and chased home blubberinE. Oddly enough
Jesse lanes the chief yss tho lao, 49,. - ~
80, !. ,' ~, 90 Hal' y, 'ho
gang ever saw DOCK from where my folks
lived on Pawnee street. there was a corner grocery
kent nv A man named left Rrupste,ter . r,, ,,h
- -. ,, o''I =, man VIM