The San Francisco call., 1906-07-15

Jesse James, son Of Jesse James. the
Missouri outlaw. is now a full -hedged
lawyer He recently passed a success
full examination before the Missouri
State Board Of Examiners and was en-
rolled in the courts of that State as
an attorney-at-Ta
In class of thirty seven Jesse James
stood first. His average In all branches
was 81 per cent. Henry A. Ashley,
chairman of the Board of Examiners,
said after the examination that Jesse
James had the brightest legal mind of
any young man who ever appeared be-
fore the board
Jesse James is a se1f-made man. He
was handicapped as few boys are The
son Of an outlaw. he was left an or
phan at years of age, without money
and with bad name to live down
Soon after the burial of his father his
mother went to Kansas City and made
n living for herself and her two chill
dren by sewing. Jesse went to school
until he was IL years old. when he de-
cided that he was old enough to work
for his mother. One Sunday he saw the
following advertisement in newspa-
per:
.wanted-An office boy. T. T. Crit
tenden Jr."
Jesse answered the advertisement the
next morning. twenty OlllcI OOS
swered 1t, too and Jesse was the young
est of them all. Mr.. Crittenden at his
desk looked over the crowd of boys
and beckoned to the smallest Of them.
What do you wish, my boy? he
asked.
'I want to be your office boy"
What is your name?
Jesse James Jr.
Mr.. Crittenden was surprised. he
was tile son of T. T. Crittenden ST..
Governor of Missouri, who offered a
reward of $4,000 for the capture, dead
or alive, of the outlaw, Jesse James.
To get this reward Charley and Bob
Ford killed Jesse James. And now
here was the son of the dead bandit,
asking work of the son OF that Gov
ernor.
Crittenden hired the boy and he tes-
titled that he was faithful.
few years later Jesse went to work
in Armour's packing house as a clerk
He studied at home. His mother was
his teacher. After q few years In the
packing house he oTened cigar store
in the County Courthouse He wrote
look in defense of his father, and IT
was published. 1t sold we'll. when
he was 81 years old he had $500 in the
bank and owned a cottage In which his
mother and sister lived. Then he
opened cigar store in the business
center of Kansas City.
At this period of his life. when he
was on the road to prosperity and to an
honest manhood he was arrested for
the crime of train robbery. 1t was
charged that he, with accomplices, had
held UP a Missouri Pacific train and
robbed the safe in the express car of
$4,000 1t was a dramatic train rob
berry, as much so as was any of the
robberies of a similar nature which
had made his fathers name notorious
throughout the world He was tried,
was ably prosecuted. and was acquit-
ted But the criminal charge against
him was a serious setback to his
hopes and ambitions. It had taken ali
his savings to hire lawyers to defend
himself. and the worry had caused his
mothers health to fail. Soon after
ward she died.
Jesse worked harder than ever at his
business He had a chance to sell out
and did so at good profit. Then he
opened a pawnshop and married But
he wished to be a lawyer, and he went
to the night sessions of the law school
In Kansas City, and all day long he
sat in his pawnshop reading law. He
graduated with the highest honOrs. his
preceptors complimenting him. Then
he passed the legal examination re-
ferred to in the foregoing
He has sold out his pawnshop and