There are a set of desperadoes in Missouri known as the James and Younger brothers. They live by robbing railroad trains, stages, stores, banks and individuals, and are known to have killed a large number of men. During the war they were bushwhackers, and now their old comrads in arms, aid them to escape arrest.
The James brothers live not far from Kansas City, and being surrounded by friends and sympathizers, have thus far escaped. Last week, however, an attack was made on teir mother's house, in which they were supposed to be stopping, and a desperate fight ensued, in the course of which a something was exploded, shattering the arm of Mrs. Samuels (the mother) and killang a ten year old son.
She and her husband respresented that the men sought for were not there, and that the house was fired and a hand grenade thrown in among women and children, but a variety of circumstances go to show that their version is not correct.
The probabilites are that some of Pinkerton's detectives, incensed at the murder of their comrads, by these scoundrels, and ascertaining they were at home, made a decent for the purpose of capturing them. It is feared that they did not succeed and it is probably that they will ultimately be killed but never taken.
The chief difficulty is that a large element in Missouri want these men to escape and actively assist them whils law-abiding citizens do not assit the officers of the law. As a proof of what we say we have only to refer to the following from the St. Louis Dispatch-one of the leading dailies of St. Louis:
"Men of Missouri, you who fought under Anderson. Quantrelle, Todd, Poole and the balance of the borderers and guerrillas, you who live in Clay county, and Jackson, and wherever these detectives have to leave the railroad to go into the country, recall your woodscraft and give up these scoundrels to the Henry rifle or the Colt's revolver. It is not for the robberies they are accused of that Pinkerton hates the James brothers. It is because like you, they were at Lawrence and Centralia, and Fort Lincoln, and upon the Canadian, and wherever else the black flag floated and men neither knew nor wanted quarter."
What is to be thought of a state that will support a paper which expresses such atrocious sentiments? Its editors and proprietors should be sent to the penitentiary for incity to murder. ...................................................Manhattan Nationalist.
Was there a date on that story, romaj1?
If there was, could you post it?
Thanks.
I'd like to make a page on www.GenuineKansas.com (http://www.genuinekansas.com) for that one, too. That's great stuff!
The story is in the paperof Feb 17, 1875. I don't know the exact date the attack took place on the James Family place.
One of the things I enjoy as I go through the microfilms to find info on family, is reading the stories about what was happening at that time and knowing that I am reading the same information they were reading all those years ago. What I'm entering now, are things that are on pages I have copied that have some family info. I'm just going to pick out things and post them. I have the story from the June 2, 1876 Courant about Mrs Lincoln being declared insane. I'll add that as well. I also have an article from that same paper that lists all of the major battles of the Revolution. There is a lot in those earlier papers about moving the Indians. So interesting to look back on those times Glad you enjoyed the article.
I find them fascinating for the same reasons that you do. First, I think about my reaction as I read them today. Then I try to put myself into the mindset of the time (something which I undoubtedly do incompletely and poorly) and ponder how this news must have struck them. These are from an era where news traveled slowly and there were many fewer people. Imagine how long it must have taken for news to reach someone in a sod house or dugout 50 miles from any town with a newspaper!
Thanks for getting back with the date!
I looked in a source book and it said the raid happened on January 25, 1875.
Wow, thanks, Marty! I appreciate it!
;D
I began driving during high school in Independence, Missouri, during the mid 1950s. Many Sunday dates were spent just driving several hours in the country and stopping somewhere to have a coke or a hamburger.
My girl friend and I were both sixteen years old. We had just about driven Jackson County out over so many Sundays, so we ventured north into Clay County to see if the countryside was any different.
On one Sunday we drove down a lonely unmarked dusty road and passed a locked gate with a sign that said "James Farm." A long dirt roadway leading from the gate disappeared into a hilly area. We kind of wondered if we might have stumbled onto the Jesse James place but we kept driving and soon forgot about it.
Several weeks later we drove down the same road and the gate was open. We decided to drive in and see what we might find. We were very apprehensive and thought we might be unwelcome guests at wherever we were going. The house could not be seen from the main road and we drove perhaps a quarter mile until we came to a farmhouse with a fence and a parking area for several vehicles. There were no other cars.
A smiling old man came out of the farmhouse to meet us and shook our hands. The first thing we asked was this the Jesse James place? He said it sure was and wondered if we would like to look around. We sure did. This man said he was 79 years old and he was being the personal guide for two sixteen year olds—quite a generation gap. I will never forget how nice he was and how he answered every question we had.
Inside the house were all kinds of old stuff from the 19th century including the mirror, shaving gear, and straight edge razor of Jesse, himself. There was also a fragment from the bomb on display. His mother had lost her arm as a result of the explosion. As I recall, the farm had been opened to tourists several years earlier but had been closed down for some time. This man was now trying to open it again. We were the first visitors and there was no charge.
We were in an addition added in the 1890s. It was well preserved and housed the James family artifacts. We could not go in the part Jesse and Frank James lived in because that part had been condemned. It was the portion the bomb was thrown in.
The man eventually identified himself as Frank James, Junior. We were floored to say the least. No one at school believed we had met Frank James' son.
The bombed portion of the house with its covered porch was not very big and has now been restored.
A photo of the house is at http://www.jessejames.org/
Now that's what I call a personal connection to the story, W. Gray! Would it be okay if I added this at the end of the GenuineKansas page I'm going to build on this?
No objections. Thanks.
This newspaper story and the personal experience connected to it are now on line on the GenuineKansas Website at:
www.genuinekansas.com/tidbit_the_james_brothers_mother_1875_kansas.htm (http://www.genuinekansas.com/tidbit_the_james_brothers_mother_1875_kansas.htm)
Thanks to you three!
I'm excited about the site, but I can't get the link above to open. Should it be html at the end instead of htm? I can't wait to see it.
Nope, silly me forgot to type in the dot.com part of the URL. You'd think after all these years I would get good at that, but I don't seem too.
I fixed the link in the previous post, so it works now.
:-[
My grandmother Rebecca Tabor Davis told me that Jessie James came to their farm when she was little . She lived in Holden, Mo.
This only remotely has a connection to Jesse James.
Does anyone else remember the last act of secession to occur in the United States? In the overall scheme of things, it happened only recently 150 miles from Elk County.
On April 9, 1961, McDonald County in southwest Missouri notified the capitol at Jefferson City the county was seceding from the state. At first, citizens in the sparsely settled area drafted a petition to the state government asking McDonald County be given back to the Indians. But then they determined secession was their best recourse.
Residents of McDonald County (which incidentally has an Elk River) were hopping mad at the state believing they were in danger of losing their livelihood. These people were not militia types but were dedicated in what they were doing. Most everyone, however, believed they were joking. That is, until the situation got out of hand and the federal government decided to step in.
About fifty agitators met in Noel, Missouri, and created a provisional entity out of the county land area renaming it McDonald Territory. They elected Z.L. McGowan president of the provisional territorial government.
The provisional government discussed asking Arkansas to annex the territory. An idea seemingly welcomed by Orval Faubus, Arkansas governor. However, no one could tell if Faubus was serious or only wanted to rankle the Missouri government. Also discussed was joining with next door Delaware County, Oklahoma, to ask for admission to the union as the 51st state. Delaware County apparently went along for the publicity.
By April 11, 1961, McDonald Territory began issuing passports and national identity cards to its citizens.
Quickly after that, the provisional government set up a process to issue visas to non-citizens. They then made visas a requirement for getting into the new Territory.
A 300-man territorial border patrol was set up checking motorists coming into the territory. People who were not Territorial citizens or did not have the necessary visas were provided with one. This made big news and I recall watching the story on the NBC nightly news. A news clip showed a highway into McDonald Territory with a typical border guard house and an up and down movable barrier to stop traffic. Cars were backed up at highway entrances. I also recall shotguns were carried by the guards. These events caused a sensation and the secession became international news.
Next the provisional government began printing its own 2 cent postage stamps. They also started minting their own wooden coins.
Next the provisional government asked the United Nations for $4 billion in aid.
At this point the federal government stepped in and advised the foolishness had to stop. The state of Missouri followed by issuing a proclamation rejecting the secession.
********
So why were these folks so agitated?
Trouble began when McDonald County with its principal but tiny towns of Noel, Pineville, and Southwest City were left off a family vacation guide printed on the back of the official 1961 Missouri state highway map. The area had very little population but was an Ozark mountain resort area with river rafting a popular attraction.
After McDonald County complained to the Missouri highway department about the omission, the department refused to apologize for any error. The department then added insult to injury by saying the omission was actually intentional because the area was just not developed enough to justify inclusion on an official map. Inhabitants became outraged at this intentional slight since tourism was their principal income. Additionally, Pineville thought itself important enough in its own right because it had been the shooting location for the 20th Century Fox 1938 motion picture, Jesse James, starring Henry Fonda and Randolph Scott. It still uses that event in advertising.
Weels were set in motion for secession and the events that were to follow.
McDonald County and its main towns were back on the map the following year.
This story caught my eye! I guess because I spent my childhood in Longton & now for the past 25 years have made my home in McDonald County (Pineville MO) And yes we do have a beautiful Elk River here that we love to canoe down!
Goodness gracious, W. Gray, that is a wonderful story wonderfully written. If I could figure out some way to work it into my GenuineKansas website, I would do it. Thanks for sharing that with us!
:)
If I can remember some of the books I have read about sheriffs, I believe that McDonald County, Missouri was one of the crookedest (is that a word?), in Missouri. They had a sheriff there that would take money from the marijuana growers so that they could keep planting. I think that was in the 70's.
The sheriff in Mendocino County, California got put away for a considerable time for doing exactly that. By the time the State and Feds figured it out, there was acre after acre of it growing almost year around, and had been for quite a while.