Evening star., 1915-02-19
OUTLAW STUCK
TOVOW TOBE STRAIGHT
Frank James Spurned Offer Of
$4,000 for Data for Book
on His Exploits.

KANSAS CITY. February 1s.-Many
stories of the tenacity with which
Frank James. the former outlaw and
member of the notorious Jesse James
gang, who died at his home near Ex-
celsior Springs yesterday, clung to his
determination to live AN upright life
after his surrender. were told here
today. A writer. long a friend of the
former bandit, in company with a pub
Usher. visited James several years ago
to get information to be used in a
book.
Il promised the Governor of Mis-
souri, when 7 surrendered to him."
never write a book about myself or
permit it to be written"
spurned Offer of $4,000.
Though he was said to have been
Use, and his knowledge of the details
be buried with him.
Much has been written about the
James boys, but. according to Frank,
no word of how they robbed ever
came from him. Nor did he ever tell
what became of vast amounts Of
money they we're supposed to have
stolen.
One of the last members of a notori-
Gus robber band whose unparalleled
career of crime during the civil war
and the unsettled period that followed
kept the people of dozen states in
terror, Frank James had been living
the life of quiet farmer for more
than thirty years
throughout the community. Frank
James Joined Quantrelle's guerilias in
the civil war. together with his broth
of Lawrence, Kan.
When the war came to an end they
were hunted far and wide by relatives
of those who had met death at their
soon became outlaws. Many notorious
crimes of the decade following the war
have been laid at the door of the
James Younger gang, of which the
surviving members were Frank James
and Cole Younger, the latter of whom
is now living at Lees Summit, Mo.
Among these deeds were:
Deeds of the James-Younger Gang.
The raid on the Commercial Bank
at Liberty. No, in 1866. One bank de-
fender was killed and $4,000 was
stolen.
LOOtlnS Oh the ftuSScllNlllc, ny. DdHh
in 1863 for $1,000.
Bank robbery at Gallatin, Mo-. in
1868, in which the cashier, Capt. John
W. Sheets. was murdered.
Robbery of a bank at Columbia. Ky,
in which r A. g. Martin. the cashier,
was killed. This was in 1872.
Raid on a bank at Corydon. Iowa, in
which $4,000 was stolen. in 1873.
The wreCking and robbing of the Chi
cago. Rock Island and Pacific train near
Council Bluffs, Iowa, in 1873. The en-
gineer WIS killed, the fireman wounded
anu several passengers injured.
Box Office in the fair grounds at
Kansas City. Mo-. was robbed of $4,000
in daylight in 1873.
Detectives surrounded the James
home near Kearney. Mo-. January %.
ISIS, and threw a lighted bomb into
the house, thinking to kill the James
brothers. II exploded. tearing the arm
off their mother and killing their
brother Archie.
Although the James boys partici-
pated in hundreds of robberies, it is
now generally believed that there were
also hundreds of robberies charged up
to them of which they were innocent.
In 1882, after Jesse James had been
shot and killed in his home, in St.
Joseph, Mo-, by Bob Ford, also bandit.
for reward of $4,000. Frank James
surrendered in jefferson City, Mo. He
was sentenced to life Imprisonment in
the penitentiary, but after a few years
he developed symptoms of tuberculosis
and was pardoned by the governor.