The Appeal. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. ;) 1889-19??, 1899-11-18
JESSE JAMES and HIS PALS.
A B0Y,s "REMINISCENCES OF THE
TRAN ROBBERS.

1agether with Reminder or Two
of the Memorable NOrxhfeld
aMfnnD 4said-Casual Visits Of the /
Gang TO LeavenwOrth jesse
James Presentfment.-:Cn.ue of
Wood 'Hite - Po1itesrsss OF CleII
aIiIIer-charlie Pitt.- Malice.
'':Every time read of tone of these big
train robberies,'' said a man Of thirty
who lives in New York, '"I get to think
ing Of the many occasions on which my
boyish trail was cut by various mem
bers of the James gang, the original king
bees in the business of sticking up trains.
! lived in Leavenw0rth, KAN, during the
last seven years of the seventies. While
Leavenworth was already, with popu-
lation of about $4,000, the metropolis Of
Kansas, 1t was nevertheless a pretty bad
town attthat time. 1t preserved Its iron.
tier character for good many years
after other towns farther West took on
the manners and methods of ctEiliza-
ton. It was a wide-open town, not tar
removed to the east and north of what!
used to be the great cattle trail, and the
place was always filled with hard char
acters,- genuine bad men of the type that,
has practically passed; packers. freight
ers, rQule-whackers, refugees from the
rough law of the far West. who regard;
ed Leavenworth as the extreme East,
and who considered, not Enthusiastically,
that when they got as far east las the
Missouri river they had a pretty fair
cinch that the, law would not oyertake
them. The town was frequently visited
by members Of the James gang, which,
was just about in the flower ofiits day;
at the beginning Of the period 4 speak
Of The gang never operated, In Ieayen-j
worth and for that reason its members;
were enabled to feel themselves pretty
safe there. -.e 1.a ~. ass 5<.is,lss (
- "As matter of fact, queer as 1t may
SEEM say the New York SUMS repro,
ducttnn of this narrative, the sentiment
of the town up to and after the death Of
Jesse James at the hand of Bob Ford
was always more or less 1pn the s1ce OF
the band of robbers. Desperate as ne;
was, the people Of LeavenWorth surely,
regarded Jesse James as the real Inlng';
not particularly because OF tne MN nm UNI.
Because the popu1ace of the Pl zee vas OF
a sort to be impressed by the daredeWl
recklessness of many of the EXPLOITS OF;
James and his fiery, untameu p 5 IN
The people of the place We're rather m
clined to dwell upon the negative Vli.ueo
+o,o,r manifestations, Tof = fend1shness.
MANY a story was told around LeaVen,
worth in those days of the generous ~, az
Lessee James had extended TO 'n1S " 49,
old woman, the distress arnohs pp uC
families in Missouri and Kansas when
no nod relieved during hard winters, the
wo,1ld-be cumulative lads that he LAD ao-
vised to cling to the right. and SO on.
until in the eyes of the rising :Eeneratloil
ont there, the star robber OF tnls ase
nossessed all the gallantry and tgenerosl-
ty.or Dick Turpin or Kopah 10 hl NV know1-
fDa n
edge. visited Leavenworth In BODY. ihes
came in separately, or In pairs, When
there wasn't much doing In their .nne' OF
when the gang, as a concrete -ooAy, We
living low, and they hung :aro1no lne
Town. not, of course, putting themselves
~ their chiefs, the James boys, 90 re-
hharse for some big job or .planoeline
In. much the same way members OF the
rang used, at that time, to hang "arouhu
Wichita, Lawrence, Atchison, Grasshop-
per Falls, and other places In eastern
sadalia. Independence, JEFFERSON AClty'
Easton and St. Joe, where Jesse James
.ot his finishing capsule In the back from
Fob Ford's treacherousF gun. e. .Pernaps
I.eavenworth was safer for them. IMAM any y
of those places. At any RATE tHof1e VI
them was ever molested on these occas-
ions. even when 1t was known by al
hands, including the authorities, that snch-
.and-such a member or members OF the
lanes gang temporarily sojourned In the
town, and in spite of the fact that the
rewards placed upon the heads OF tns
robbers aggregated tens or thousanos 'Ol
/. dollars. ,s,oss.
:..Now, as to, the various occasions on
which I, a barefooted urchin. got intot the
;, James gang picture, simply by reason OF
. my being a snubnosed, freckle-faced
young inhabitant of one of the towns
that was occasionally made headquart-
ers by members of that bad gang or men:
Jesse James I only saw once; and a., !
didn't know it when I was sizing the
robber chief up, or would probably have
been scared almost to death and chased
home blubbering. Oddly enough, Jesse
James, the chief, was the last man of the
gang I ever saw. A block from where
my folks lived on Pawnee street, Hhere
was "a corner grocery kept by "a man
named jeff Brunstetter, man who had
!: a record with gun in Missouri a long
while before he settled down in Leaven-
worth, and an ex-member Of QuantrelLs
gang of guerrillas. He had been a play
mate of Frank James when the two were
very young, and he had spanked Jesse
when the latter was a small boy In Mis-
:souri. One drowsy afternoon In the month
of August, 1879, was lying onFa couple
of sacks of bran in the back part OF
Brunstetter's grocery, picking sivers out
of my bare feet, when a rather tall,
thick-set, well-built man, with very broad
shoulders, a full beard, raven black in
color, tbronzed, rudy comp1e7ion where
his beard did not grow, and wearing a
linen buster that reached almost to this
heels, and wide, white sombrero. walked
into the store. Brunstetter was back of
the counter, cutting some salt meat, when
the man came In He looked up and saw
the two men exchange quick glances OF
recognition.
Hello, Jeff said the man in a hong
buster, In "a deep, rather musical voice,
How're .Naus cutting it? Haven't seen YOU
Sor five years now, have !? 2
"Howdy, pail replied Brunstetter. Yes
i guess it's about five years, winter iof
-'74. believe, since saw you. rye been
following your route, though, podner,
knocked off. iHoW's your brother?' S$
1.-THE two men walked to the extreme
end Of the store, and when the man in
the long Gassster passed by where I was
spread out on THE bran sacks he gave me
keen look. which Z returned. with Kid
like inpudense, and 4 had q good, square
gaze into his cold, bright, steely blue eyes
the eyes Of the bad man, out and out
The two men talked together in a low
tone in the after part of the store for ten
or fifteen minutes watched them idly
Finally the stranger stnetched his arms
yaWned and said he'd ne moving on
Brunstetter said something to him, and
then saw the stranger unbutton one OF
the buttons of his duster near the waist
line, reach in and ,peal from his belt a
big ball cartridge lie handed 1t to Brun-
stetter who put it in his pocket. Then
the stranger shook hands with Jen and
walked out. sfsg
..'Three days later happened to be in
the store again when friend OF Brun-
stetter's from another part OF the town
In