Tim Cooke - Jesse James: A Notorious Bank Robber of the Wild West

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Cooke, Tim, 1961

Jesse James : a notorious bank robber of the wild west / Tim Cooke.

pages cm. (Wanted! Famous outlaws)

Includes index.

ISBN 978-1-4824-4259-5 (pbk.)

ISBN 978-1-4824-4260-1 (6 pack)

ISBN 978-1-4824-4261-8 (library binding)

1. James, Jesse, 1847-1882Juvenile literature. 2. OutlawsWest (U.S.)BiographyJuvenile literature. 3. Frontier and pioneer lifeWest (U.S.)Juvenile literature. 4. West (U.S.)History1860-1890Juvenile literature. I. Title.

F594.J27C66 2016

364.1552092dc23

[B]

2015025044

Published in 2016 by

Gareth Stevens Publishing

111 East 14th Street, Suite 349

New York, NY 10003

2016 Brown Bear Books Ltd

For Brown Bear Books Ltd:

Editorial Director: Lindsey Lowe

Managing Editor: Tim Cooke

Childrens Publisher: Anne ODaly

Design Manager: Keith Davis

Designer: Melissa Roskell

Picture Manager: Sophie Mortimer

Picture Credits: Front Cover: Library of Congress. Alamy: AF Archive 42; Americasroof: 19, 32; Brown Bear Books: 6; Elkman: 34; Ichabod: 20; Library of Congress: 4, 7, 10, 11, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 22, 24, 26, 27, 29, 31, 35, 39, 41, 43, 45; Papershke: 23; Robert Hunt Library: 8, 30; Shutterstock: Everett Historical 5, 12, 33, 36, 37, 38, 40, 44, Marzolino 28; Thinkstock: istockphoto 25, Photos.com 9; Topfoto: The Granger Collection 18, 21.

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CONTENTS

Introduction:

A Frontier Upbringing

Focus: Bleeding Kansas

Focus: Bushwhackers

Postwar Missouri

First Robberies

Jesse Becomes Famous

I Am Innocent

The James-Younger Gang

His Reputation Spreads

Focus: The Railroads

Get Jesse!

Raid on the Homestead

The Final Raid

A New Gang

A New Recruit

Shot in the Back

Focus: Jesses Legacy

Rogues Gallery

Glossary

Further Resources

Index

INTRODUCTION

Jesse James was a bank robber, train robber, and murderer. He is famous as a feared outlaw of the Wild West. He loved publicity. He often wrote to newspapers about his crimes.

J esse James even left press releases at the scenes of some of his robberies. They told journalists how to report the crimes. Jesse saw himself as a kind of hero. He wanted others to see him as a hero, too. Jesse believed that he was standing up for the right of the states to ignore the US government in Washington, D.C. Many people agreed with him.

Jesse James was born on September 5, 1847, in Clay County, Missouri. At the time, US settlement was spreading west across North America. In 1803, the United States bought a huge region west of the Mississippi from France. The deal was called the Louisiana Purchase. It included the area that became Missouri.

This photograph, showing five generations of slaves, was taken in South Carolina.

Political change

White settlers from the East Coast soon began to move into the new territory. They were looking for land to farm or the chance to set up a business, such as a store. In 1819, Missouri asked the US government if it could become a state.

Jesse James grew up in Missouri. He and his family believed people should be able to own slaves.

The request caused a problem for the US government. The people in Missouri supported slavery. Like landowners in other Southern states, they wanted to use slaves to work on farms or plantations. However, people in northern states were against slavery.

The country was divided into slave states (orange) and free states (dark green). As territories (light green) became states, they chose whether to be free or slave states.

Free states

Slave States within the Union

Territories

Slave states that left the Union

If Missouri became a state, the slave states of the South would have more members in Congress than states that did not allow slavery. To keep the balance, Congress created the Missouri Compromise in 1820. This law separated Maine from Massachussetts to create a new free state. Missouri joined the Union as a slave state in 1821. Congress also ruled that new states that joined the Union north of a certain line would ban slavery. It seemed like the crisis had passed.

The Kansas-Nebraska Act

In 1854, the Kansas-Nebraska Act overturned the Missouri Compromise. The new law said that people living in the new states of Kansas and Nebraska could decide for themselves whether to be a slave state or a free state. In Kansas, many people opposed slavery, but many others supported it. The two sides clashed. There were violent fights.

Jesse James family farm in Missouri lay close to the border with Kansas. The family followed stories about the growing violence in Kansas. They had a great effect on Jesse and his brother, Frank.

The James family farm was home to Jesse, his brother Frank, and their sister Susan Lavenia.

A Frontier Upbringing

Jesse James grew up on the frontier. This was the very edge of the United States as white settlers moved westward across North America.

Jesses parents moved to this farm in Missouri from Kentucky in 1842. His father grew hemp, which was used for making ropes.

L ife on the Frontier was often hard. Families had to look after themselves. There were few towns or stores, or services such as plumbing. Many people were poor farmers. They worked hard to make a living. Many people in Missouri used slaves to help them work on their land.