The Blackfoot optimist. [volume] (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1907-1918, 1915-02-25
Frank James Dies
at Excelsior Springs
Last Survivor Of Notorious JAIME,
Gangs Terrorizins Tragedies
Are Again Published.

Excelsior Springs, Mo.-Frank James,
one Of the last surviving members of
the notorious James gang, died on his
farm near here last Thursday after
noon. James, who was "a years old,
had been in i'll health several months
and was stricken with apoplexy early
Thursday.
One of the last members of a motor
ious robber band, whose unparalleled
career of crime during the civil war
and the unsettled period that followed,
kept the people of a dozen states in
terror, Frank James had been living
the life of quiet farmer for more than
30 years.
The son of minister, respected
throughout the community, Frank join
ed Quantrell's guerillas in the civil
war, together with his brother, Jesse,
and took part in the sacking of Law
renee, Kan.
When the war came to an end they
We're hunted far and wide by relatives
Of those who had met death at their
hands. Driven here and there, they
soon became outlaws. Many notorious
crimes Of the decade following the war
have been laid at the door of the James
and Younger gang of which the only
surviving members were Frank James
and Cole Younger, the latter of whom
is now living at Lees Summit, Nilsson
ri. Among these raids were:
The raid on the Commercial bank at
Liberty, Mo-, in 1866. One bank de-
fender was killed and $4,000 was ia
ken.
Looting of the Russellville, KY, bank
in 1868, for $4,000.
Bank robbery at Gallatin, Mo-, in
1868, in which the cashier, Captain j.
W. Sheets, was murdered.
Robbery Of bank at Columbia, KY,
in which R. A. c. Martin, the cashier,
was killed. This was in 1872.
Raid on bank at Corydon, Ia, in
which $4,000 was stolen, in 1873.
The wrecking and robbing of the
Chicago, Roch Island & Pacific train
near Council Bluffs, Ia, in 1873. The
engineer was killed and several passen-
gers injured
Box Office in the fair grounds at Kan
sas City, Mo-, was robbed of $4,000 in
broad daylight in 1873.
Detectives surrounded the James
home near Kearney, Mo-, January 25,
1875, and threw lighted bomb into
the house thinking to kill the James
brothers. 1t exploded, tearing the
arm off their mother and killing their
brother, Archie.
Although the James boys participant,
ed 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. 10.
seph, 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.
At his own request there will be no
religious service at the funeral, to be
held on his farm
John F. Phillips, former federal
judge, who defended James when he
was tried for murder and acquitted in
Gallatin, Mo-, will deliver the funeral
address.
Several years ago, at the funeral of
General Joe E. Shelby, under whom
Frank James served in the confederate
ranks, and whose funeral address Judge
Phillips delivered, the judge promised
the former bandit to officiate at his flu
neral.
Frank James did not explain why he
preferred to have his ashes kept in a
safety deposit box instead of in the
cemetery at Kearney, Mo-, beside the
bodies of his mother and his brother,
Jesse, but relatives asserted he wished
to avoid the constant procession of NOR
bid persons who visit the grave of Jesse
James. Jesse James body was buried
in the dooryard of the old homestead
near Excelsior Springs until Is years
ago when it was removed to the ceme-
terry at Kearney.
James estate consists of the farm
near Excelsior Springs, upon which he
lived and died, and another farm of
l6O acres in Oklahoma. James fire.
quently refused to buy things on credit,
asserting that debt is one of the biggest
causes of human trouble. The estate