Jesse james wild west biography book
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Jesse James: The Best Writings on the Notorious Outlaw and His Gang
edited by Harold Dellinger, The Globe Pequot Press, Guilford, Conn., 2007, $16.95.
One admirer called him “this wonderful outlaw,” but others labeled him “notorious”—and a whole lot worse. What do we really know about Jesse James? Perhaps writer, historian and editor Harold Dellinger puts it best: “Contradictory, convoluted, layered, for every solid fact there are a dozen rumors and fabrications. For every champion, there’s a detractor.”
Jesse Woodson James was born in 1847 and died (shot from behind by Bob Ford, a member of his outlaw gang; see the 2007 movie The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, now out on DVD) in St. Joseph, Mo., on April 3, 1882. Yet even before his death at the hands of “that dirty little coward,” Jesse James had become a part of the American myth, sometimes hero, often villain.
Dellinger has assembled a “best of” collection of writings about Jesse James, mostly nonfiction but also fiction, poetry, folk songs and fiction that passed for nonfiction. This particular best of includes fiery James booster John Newman Edwards’ “interview” with James, first published in the St. Louis Dispatch in 1873, and accounts by fellow bushwhacker Jim Cummins and attorney W
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Jesse James
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Jesse James
American outlaw (1847–1882)
For other uses, see Jesse James (disambiguation).
Jesse Woodson James (September 5, 1847 – April 3, 1882) was an American outlaw, bank and train robber, guerrilla and leader of the James–Younger Gang. Raised in the "Little Dixie" area of Missouri, James and his family maintained strong Southern sympathies. He and his brother Frank James joined pro-Confederate guerrillas known as "bushwhackers" operating in Missouri and Kansas during the American Civil War. As followers of William Quantrill and "Bloody Bill" Anderson, they were accused of committing atrocities against Union soldiers and civilian abolitionists, including the Centralia Massacre in 1864.
After the war, as members of various gangs of outlaws, Jesse and Frank robbed banks, stagecoaches, and trains across the Midwest, gaining national fame and often popular sympathy despite the brutality of their crimes. The James brothers were most active as members of their own gang from about 1866 until 1876, when as a result of their attempted robbery of a bank in Northfield, Minnesota, several members of the gang were captured or killed. They continued in crime for several years afterward, recruiting new members, but came under increasing pressure from law enforceme