The Encyclopedia Americana (1920)/James, Jesse W.

JAMES, Jesse W., American outlaw: b. Clay County, Mo., 1847; shot to death, Saint Joseph, Mo., 3 April 1882. During the Civil War the family, sympathizing with the cause of the South, suffered greatly at the hands of their neighbors who favored the Union side. Jesse became a member of the guerilla band led by Quantrell and soon established a reputation for courage and daring second to none. At the end of the war he surrendered and returned to his home. In the following year, however, enemies of his family managed to have him declared an outlaw, and thereafter for 16 years he was hunted throughout the land, a price upon his head. His name became a household word throughout America during this long struggle with the authorities. Many romantic adventures and not a few crimes were ascribed to him. He was invariably successful in the exploits he undertook to replenish his stores of ammunition or food, usually effected by train or bank robberies. A reward of $10,000 for his capture dead or alive was offered by the Governor of Missouri, and James was betrayed by the Ford brothers, members of his own gang. Charles and Robert Ford surrendered themselves after shooting James, received the reward, and, strange to relate, were placed on trial and sentenced to death for murder. They were pardoned by the governor. Later in the same year another member of James' band, his brother Frank, surrendered, was in jail awaiting trial for over a year and finally released. He subsequently occupied a farm in the vicinity of Excelsior Springs, Mo., where he died, 18 Feb. 1915. It has been asserted that Jesse James desired to surrender if he could be given a fair trial. Jesse was far from the criminal desperado many have represented him to be. He was chivalrous to women, and during the long years of his struggle with the law committed no crime with the primary intention of taking human life, but was solely actuated by the motive of maintaining his status as a free man. Consult James, Jesse, Jr., ‘Jesse James, My Father’ (Independence, Mo., 1899).