Frank and Jesse James
The Story Behind the Legend
by Ted P. Yeatman
Cumberland House, 2000
480 pages, $26.95
To some they were Robin Hoods, mythic figures of righteous retribution, individuals wronged by corporate greed. To others they were the devil incarnate, bloodthirsty hooligans, cold-bloodied killers. the disparity between these interpretations of Frank and Jesse James is often attributed to the faded link between the marauding Missouri guerrilla bands of the Civil War and the general lawlessness that plagued the Old West for most of the mid-nineteenth century.
As it is with most legends, the beginning of the story of the James brothers is somewhat murky. When the first successful peacetime daylight bank robbery in the United States occurred in 1866, Frank and Jesse themselves were not identified as the robbers. They were, however, loosely associated with the men alleged to have committed the crime. Once their careers in crime commenced, the James brothers eluded capture for sixteen years, until 1882, when Jesse was killed by Bob and Charlie Ford while the three of them were planning to rob the Platte City (Missouri) Bank. Frank was never apprehended but surrendered his gun voluntarily and survived a series of trials, all of which acquitted him of any wrongdoing. Since that time, the legend has flourished, revived from time to time by cinematic treatments and the outrageous claims of impersonators and their descendants.
Ted P. Yeatman began his research for this book in the mid-1970s, reviewing materials in Missouri, Tennessee, Maryland, Kentucky, Virginia, West Virginia, Minnesota, Illinois, the District of Columbia. He discovered information that had never been published, particular a cache of Pinkerton letters concerning the firebombing of the James farm in 1875 (which implicated the federal government in the attack on certain "railroad bandits") and heretofore overlooked papers in the National Archives regarding the Civil War activities and later banditry of the James brothers. Yeatman also assisted in 1995 in the exhumation and forensic examination of the remains of Jesse James, compiling a significant amount of new information on the man known as the "king of the outlaws."
The result of Yeatman's study is a complete account of the James brothers during the Civil War, the ensuing sixteen years of notoriety, and the lives of those who outlived Jesse. "What I have tried to do," he says, "is to tell the James story in a popular narrative, documenting my sources extensively, so that the person who knows little or nothing bout the story, as well as the one who has ready everything, will have a greater understanding of the men apart from the legend."
In addition to the presentation of formerly unpublished papers from various archives, Yeatman's comprehensive treatment of Frank and Jesse James includes heretofore unpublished illustrations and photographs of the people, places, and artifacts associated with the famous brothers.
More than a century after he was murdered by one of his own gang, Jesse James remains one of America' aforemost folk heroes. The myths that surround Jesse, his brother Frank, and their partners in crime, the Younger Brothers, have obscured the facts of their rough lives and brazen deeds. In Outlaws - The Illustrated History of the James Younger Gang author Marley Brant sifts fact from folklore to tell the true stroy of these men whose real-life adventures were frequently more amazing than the fictionalized accounts that abounded even during their lifetimes.
Outlaws details previously unexplored motives for the Gang's decade long crime streak. In so doing, Brant brings the brothers as well as their families and associates to vivid life. Adding to the author's authoritative text are some 200 photographs of the Jameses, the Youngers, and their relatives, accomplices and victiims -- three quarters of which have never been published.
This biographical history tells the story of a American family in conflict and four brothers' attempts to regain the prestigious position their family once held. Loaded with never before published photos and little kown facts, this probing character study examines the men, the myths and the legends of the Outlaw Youngers.
The youngers- Bob, Cole, Jim, and John - tested the boundries of the violent and turbulent post Civil War society in which they lived. The author investigates events from the Border and Civil Wars, details of the Youngers attempts at legitimate ranching in Texas and the frequent and often brutal murders and robberies. Using never before published accounts from Jim and Bob Younger, Brant presents an new theory regarding the James-Younger Gang and the actual Younger involvment - a theory which opposes the one held for over 100 years. She also offers insights into the Northfield robbery and gives reasons the Youngers' parole was delayed.
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