Jesse James Crime

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There were many ruthless, cold hearted outlaws from the Wild West, like Billy the Kid, Butch Cassidy, and John Wesley Hardin. The most memorable and well known gunslinger of them all, was Jesse James. Jesse was involved in many major robberies in the 1860s and 1870s. Jesse was a smart, quick witted man, who was always ready for action. Jesse’s life was full of excitement and adventure, but a dangerous kind. Jesse James was a dangerous robber and murderer.
Jesse’s life before crime was pretty ordinary for his time. Jesse James’ full name was Jesse Woodson James. He was born in Kearney, Missouri on September 5th, 1847 (“Weider” 3). He lived on a farm with his mother Zerelda, his stepfather Dr. Reuben Samuel, and his siblings (Soodalter …show more content…
During Jesse’s early years of crime, he was mainly involved in bank robberies. On June 3rd, 1871, Jesse, Frank James, Cole Younger, and Clell Miller robbed the Ocobock brother’s bank in Corydon, Iowa (Soodalter 5). The Ocobocks stirred up a posse to search for the four outlaws, but ended up empty handed when the criminals made their way to the James family home, which was considered their “lair,” (Soodalter 5-6). Another popular bank heist Jesse took part in was the robbery of the Northfield Minnesota Bank. During this robbery, the gang killed two people, and the Younger brothers were captured and imprisoned (James 1). After his years of bank-robbing, Jesse started to get into train robbery. A famous train robbery that Jesse was associated with was the Kansas Pacific Railroad robbery. No one was killed during this holdup, but shots were fired at the conductor. They successfully stole 30-55 thousand dollars (Gilmore 4). Another train robbery that Jesse James was a part of was the Winston Train Holdup. During this train holdup in 1881, people believe that is was Jesse himself that shot the conductor William Westfall during the robbery. People would either say he shot him because he was drawing a weapon, or because William was the conductor of the train that brought Pinkerton agents to rain on his family farm in 1875 (“Weider” 2). Jesse’s career was exciting, but also dangerous. There were …show more content…
The train robbery in Winston was a big reason for Jesse’s death. In 1881, Thomas Crittenden, the governor of Missouri, offered 5 thousand dollars for the delivery of Jesse James, which the money was offered from the Winston railroad (V. 1). Jesse’s assassination was done by Bob Ford. Ford and his gang tracked Jesse down to Jesse’s house at the time, which was on Lafayette Street in St. Joseph. Ford shot Jesse in the back of the head while Jesse was occupied and off guard (“Weider” 4). There was a lot of activity after Jesse’s death. Not long after his death, Frank James gave himself up to the governor, which he remained in jail for six years (V. 5). Later on, Jesse’s family found a way to make money off Jesse’s legacy. Jesse’s mother turned their farm into a tour about Jesse. She would actually continuously renew the rocks on Jesse’s gravesite so that she could sell them to tourists (“Weider” 5). Jesse also remained popular after his death, due to rumors. Some people believed that Jesse was not really killed, and that it was a substitute (“Weider”
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