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Jesse James Research Paper

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Jesse James was a well known gang leader, bank robber, and train robber. He was a member of the notorious gang named the James-Younger gang. Jesse James was born on September 5, 1847 in Clay County, Missouri. Jesse and his older brother Frank lost their father in 1849. The father, Reverend Robert James, abandoned his family and disappeared and was thought to go to the California gold fields. Their mother quickly remarried, but people rumors have stated that their new stepfather treated Jesse and Frank in a bad way and after that a third husband soon followed. It might have been that the violent and unstable family life that made the young Jesse and Frank into the criminals they were. “Regardless, it is certain that the brothers first learned …show more content…

In letters that Edwards published, Jesse simultaneously proclaimed innocence for specific crimes while wearing the general outlaw's mantle. "We are not thieves," he wrote, "we are bold robbers. I am proud of the name, for Alexander the Great was a bold robber, and Julius Caesar, and Napoleon Bonaparte." It was indeed the stuff of legend; while Jesse certainly stole from the rich, there was no evidence he ever actually gave his gains to the …show more content…

James and his brother served in favor of the confederate army and after that made their life as criminals. Not accepting defeat after the war Jesse became like the Robin Hood by robbing the Radical Republicans and giving it to the poor. Him being like Robin Hood does not cover up the fact that Jesse was a cold blooded killer who continued to hurt and kill people. Jesse’s robberies were not so innocent for example when he robbed one of the banks in Gallatin, Missouri. One report of the robbery says, “Shortly after noon on December 7, 1869, Frank and Jesse James walked into the Daviess County Savings Association in Gallatin, Missouri. There were two men inside the modest one-story building; the bank cashier and a lawyer named William McDowell. One of the robbers, possibly Jesse, walked up to the cashier and asked to have a $100 banknote changed. As the cashier wrote out a receipt, the robber drew his revolver and fired two shots, one into the man's chest and another into his forehead. As McDowell ran for the door, he was shot in the arm. Jesse grabbed a portfolio of bank paper and raced outside.” He and Frank rode out of town pursued by a posse, but they eventually escaped. The Gallatin robbery set the pattern for others to come. It was daring. It had motives beyond simple robbery, in this case the killing of the man who had hunted down Jesse's fellow bushwhacker "Bloody Bill"

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