Whatever the crimes of the boys of ill-favored reputation, they afforded no justification for this terrible assault in which innocent childhood was made the victim for the deeds of others. And the people of the state, without any exceptions, condemned the deed as wholly unjustifiable. The detectives made haste to leave the country, and the citizens who had assisted them returned to their homes and kept counsel with themselves. The dead boy was taken away, and in his little grave under the snow they left him lying, the sinless victim of sin, over whose untimely fate many hearts have swelled with emotions too big for utterance. CHAPTER XXVIII. PROPOSED AMNESTY. There can be no doubt that there was a heavy undercurrent of popular opinion in favor of the James Boys, generated by a conviction that they were the victims of cruel and uncalled-for persecution, brought upon themselves by their adhesion to a cause which was dear to the hearts of many thousands of the citizens of Missouri. Their later deeds were forgotten, while their former acts were remembered with admiration. Though the evidence seemed clear, which connected the Jameses and Youngers with innumerable daring robberies, yet many hundreds of good people refused to credit the reports, and offered their sympathy to the men whom they believed to be victims of vile slanders and unwarrantable persecutions. The sympathy openly manifested for the boys came not from the reckless and vicious elements, but from influential persons all over the state. As late as 1875, there were thousands of respectable people in Missouri who had no sympathy with the movements set on foot by the legal authorities for the apprehension of the desperadoes, simply because they did not believe them to be robbers, and that the killing done by them was a justifiable punishment inflicted on ancient enemies who richly deserved their fate.