The Story of the Outlaw: A Study of the Western DesperadoHough, Emerson
History
The Story of the Outlaw: A Study of the Western Desperado
Hough, Emerson
Crime -- West (U.S.); Criminals -- West (U.S.); Outlaws; West (U.S.) -- History
Jesse James was about five feet ten inches in height, and weighed about
one hundred and sixty-five pounds. His hair and eyes were brown. He had,
during his life, been shot twice through the lungs, once through the
leg, and had lost a finger of the left hand from a bullet wound. Frank
James was slighter than his brother, with light hair and blue eyes, and
a ragged, reddish mustache. Frank surrendered to Governor Crittenden
himself at Jefferson City, in October, 1882, taking off his revolvers
and saying that no man had touched them but himself since 1861. He was
sentenced to the penitentiary for life, but later pardoned, as he was
thought to be dying of consumption. At this writing, he is still alive,
somewhat old and bent now, but leading a quiet and steady life, and
showing no disposition to return to his old ways. He is sometimes seen
around the race tracks, where he does but little talking. Frank James
has had many apologists, and his life should be considered in connection
with the environments in which he grew up. He killed many men, but he
was never as cold and cruel as Jesse, and of the two he was the braver
man, men say who knew them both. He never was known to back down under
any circumstances.
The fate of the Younger boys was much mingled with that of the James
boys, but the end of the careers of the former came in more dramatic
fashion. The wonder is that both parties should have clung together so
long, for it is certain that Cole Younger once intended to kill Jesse
James, and one night he came near killing George Shepherd through
malicious statements Jesse James had made to him about the latter.
Shepherd met Cole at the house of a friend named Hudspeth, in Jackson
county, and their host put them in the same bed that night for want of
better accommodations. "After we lay down," said Shepherd later, in
describing this, "I saw Cole reach up under his pillow and draw out a
pistol, which he put beside him under the cover. Not to be taken
unawares, I at once grasped my own pistol and shoved it down under the
covers beside me. Were it to save my life, I couldn't tell what reason
Cole had for becoming my enemy. We talked very little, but just lay
there watching each other. He was behind and I on the front side of the
bed, and during the entire night we looked into each other's eyes and
never moved. It was the most wretched night I ever passed in my life."
So much may at times be the price of being "bad." By good fortune, they
did not kill each other, and the next day Cole told Shepherd that he had
expected him to shoot on sight, as Jesse James had said he would.
Explanations then followed. It nearly came to a collision between Cole
Younger and Jesse James later, for Cole challenged him to fight, and it
was only with difficulty that their friends accommodated the matter.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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