The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1914-12-29
'haiisas City Correspondence Nov
York Worldly

is dying at the age of seventv-~a
OF a complication if diseases inC;aant
to old age. rue
for twenty a the criminal y
pio1ts OF Frank and Jesse .James .nd
Cole and Bob Younger filed tha
newspapers. But for several wears
Frank has lived a quiet and n~eacefnI
life, and in Clay county. and all orar
Missouri, he has won respect for
honesty and sobriety. 10
uont care to talk about those
days. he said recently, when =
visitor mentioned a noted bank rob
berry In which Frank was a leader
Jesse has beer gone these many
years. Cole Younger and ,nvsatf
ave Tor penance in prison and arc
living respectable lives. Let o
be bygones.
During late years Frank .James's
n public appearances have been as
starter of horse races at county fairs,
in which capacity he was a drawinp
card. In h last three years he has
seiood1n fe1t his farm except to go to
the annual reunion of Quantreirs vet
Grams IN a suburb of Kansas CITY two
days each fall. He owns the fine stock
farm which is his home and also proD.
erty in Oklahoma.
Frank James was born in 1S43. He
was still a boy whcn his father died
and he and his brother, Jesse, were
reared by their mother and her sec
ono sbsnd DR.. Reuben Samuels.
Joined Quantrcfl's GucriiIas.
Even in boyhood Frank James
found himself in the midst of border
trouble between the slavery sym
pathizers OF his own Clay county
Mo-. and abolitionists just across tn
line in Kansas He was eighteer
when h Civil War began, and HI
Joined the army of the Confederate
Gen. Sterling Price. At Springfield
Mo-, he became i'll with measles, anC
by the time he had recovered, Price
army was too far away for him t
reach. But Q%uantrell, the guerill;
leader, was not far away. and hi
way of fighting was more appealin;
than Prices, SO he joined Quantrell
n remained with him until Guam
trell was killed in Kentucky nea
the close Of the war. Jesse jaime
Joined Quantrell in the spring o
1863.
Mrs. Samuels has old the story o
Jesse's joining:
One day" she said, "a gang O
Home Guards' came to our nous
and tried to force DIR. Samuels to tel
where Quantrell was operating; the
thought he would know becaus
Frank was with Quantrell. DR.. San
nels and Jesse were ploughing. Tn
militiamen took DR.. SamuelS from III
plough and threw a ROPE around M
neck, and they dragged him to a tree
and demanded to know where Qual
trell was. He did not know, but tn
men would not believe him, an
strung him up four or five times. =
was almost dead when they draSge
him to the house.
The captain of the militlamen sal
they were going to take him out an
shoot him. They rod away over
hill, and soon I heard several shot
I did not know for several days TN
they had not carried out the threa
but had locked him up in the ilber'
Jail.
after they we're gone jess
showed me where they had used raw
hides on his back, and said: Ma !
going to join Quantrell.' He was on
sixteen then"
DR.. Samuels died in an asylum
1908. He never fully recovered n
mental faculties after the narrow
experience Of 1858.
Tho Ouantrcll Raids.
Frank and Jesse James soon D
came noted members Of the Quantr'
gang through their boldneSS al
craftsmanship. Frank James ols1i
guished himself at the capture
Plattsburg. Mo-. and was aware
$1,000 for obtaining 1n1orn1a'i
which made the capture possible.
The James boys mex exploit "
sackikng of Lawrence, Kan. Qus
trell and his men attacked the t0N
the m%orningof August Il, 1870. ~
ley after volley sent victims 10 III
death or left them on /.
streets. and the black nag or [.
raiders was carried triumpnaia
through the town. The loren w"
pJiaA orA v,oyu wounded DcGISlttG
the flames.
In like Independence: Le
Summit and Richfield were P1ila-
by the gang. At Rlcnneio q ~
arrison of Union soldiers were 81
down.
Near the clocc Of the war, uh.
the leadership OF Bill Anderson,
'Quantrell men at -
tralia, Mo-, where, as they I.
learned, a trainload Of Union solui
was to pass on their way bach
homes in Iowa and Illinois. Illey .
The CldlI