JAMES, ,TERSE W. (1847-S2). An American outlaw-, horn in Clay County. :Ho., where his father. P,ohert James. a preacher. owned a farm. The family were Southern in their sym pathies during the Civil War. and as it conse quence were perseented by their 'Union neighbors. in order to get revenge. .Tesse joined Quantrell's gnerrillas, and soon earned a name for reckless daring. At the conclusion of peace he sur rendered. desperately wounded. and returned to his old home. In WWI, however. he was outlawed. and from that time his death was con stantly pursued by officers of the law. During these years Ito attained it world-wide notoriety by the crimes he committed or was eharged with having committed. by his romantic adventures, and his almost invariable sueeess. Finally Governor Crittenden of 'Missouri offered a reward of $10.000 for his capture, dead or alive, and tempted by this bribe two members of his own band, Robert and Charles Ford, killed him in his home at Saint Joseph, Mo. The murderers
then surrendered to the police, and presumably received the reward of their treachery. James's funeral was attended by vast crowds of people from the surrounding country, and all the events connected with his death were chronicled by the newspapers as if of national importance. His son, in a biography of the noted outlaw, claims that James was always anxious to sur render, provided the authorities would guarantee him protection and a fair trial. Two or three months after Jesse's death, Frank James gave himself up at Jefferson City, and so ended the history of the 'James boys.' Consult: Jesse James, Jr., Jesse James, My Father (Independ ence, Mo., IS99) ; Edwards. Noted Guerrillas, or the Warfare of the Border (1877 ); and the American Lame Review, vol. xvi.