The Legend of Jesse

No evidence of Robin Hood that legend sometimes attributes this to Jesse James and his gang. There was no dime to widows, orphans or any kindness to the deserving poor.

It is said that Jesse and his group invented the Train Robbery, but this was not the case as that was in Indiana in 1866 by the Reno Brothers. (As born Hoosier, I take pride in the fact that we loved train robbers so much that we once lynched 9 of them in a couple of weeks!)

However hanging out with Cole and Bob Younger as Jesse did, he soon became quite proficient at robbing the railroad. In fact, ALL train robberies west of the Mississppi and North Texas were attributed to Jesse and his pals, even if the style wasn't the James Gang style.

A train robber's usual method was to stop the train with 4 men with 10 weapons, shooting the crew and then blowing up the strong box which contained the money. All done in a couple of minutes.

Jesse lived a tabloid movie star like reputation and reported died on a weekly basis. Actually his desmise was at the hands of Bob Ford at St. Joseph, MO.

Supposedly, Jesse was distracted when Bob Ford took his shot. After time the legend is that he was killed in a respectful manner. But there is no proof of how he died, except that Bob Ford was responsible.

His body was viewed by the public in a funeral parlor as a movie star would be, while his mother stood nearby lamenting aloud about her poor Jesse, calling him "now a saint in Heaven".

It was reported that on the way to the gravesite, a raging creek just about did away with Jesse's remains and carried them downstream.

Whatever legend lives on - The James Gang were notorious criminals in the Wild West.