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Jesse James American Outlaw

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American outlaw Jesse James was born September 5, 1847. Shortly after Jesse’s birth, his father set off for the California gold fields, where he died of pneumonia. Jesse’s mother, Zerelda, remarried twice finally settling down with Dr. Reuben Samuel. He lived on his stepfather’s farm with his newfound cousins, the Younger’s. Jesse and his brother Frank’s first bank raid in American Peacetime, was February 13, 1866, at the Clay County Savings Bank. That day they stole $60’000 worth of cash, gold, and government bonds. The alarm wasn’t raised when they got done, so they thought it’d be an easy escape. One of the gang members shot a college student when he was looking towards them. So they had to make a speedy escape. A posse gave chase, but a snowstorm hit and quickly covered their tracks. That’s how the legend of Jesse James the outlaw began. Jesse’s brother Frank, was a confederate guerrilla fighter. One day union soldiers went to the Samuel’s farm. Trying to …show more content…

They then proceeded to have two children, Jesse, Jr. and Mary. On the night of January 26, 1875, a group of Pinkertons and local lawmen crept up on Jesse’s mother’s cabin, thinking the outlaw was holed up at the Samuel Farm. They tossed a smoke grenade into the house. It landed in the fireplace causing an explosion, that killed Jesse’s half brother Archie instantly and severely injuring his mother, whose arm later had to be amputated. On September 7, 1876 the James-Younger gang rode into the town of Northfield, Minnesota. That day they began the raid that would nearly destroy the James-Younger gang. Jesse and Frank and the Youngers split up so it’d be harder to catch them. Two weeks later a posse caught up with the Youngers, and a fierce showdown took place on the Minnesota prairie near St. James. Afterwards, Charlie Pitts lay dead, and the three Younger brothers severely wounded. The Youngers were later sent to Minnesota’s Stillwater State

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