VOICE 1:
People in America, a program in Special English by the Voice ofAmerica.
(Theme)
Two of the most famous outlaws of the old American West werebrothers. I’m Tony Riggs. Today, Maurice Joyce and I tell aboutFrank and Jesse James. We begin their story on a cold day inFebruary eighteen-sixty-six.
VOICE 2:
Liberty, Missouri. Two o’clock in the afternoon.
((Sound of horses))
Twelve men on horses ride slowly into town. Their hats are low ontheir faces. They stop in front of the Clay County Savings Bank. Twoof the men get off their horses and enter the bank. The bank managerasks if he can help them. The two men pull out guns from under theirheavy coats. They demand money.
In less than two minutes, theyreturn to the street. Now the gang is in a great hurry. All twelvemen begin shooting.
((Gunshots, shouting, horse sounds)
Several people are wounded. A young college student is killed.
VOICE 1:
What happened on that day was the first bank robbery, duringbusiness hours, in peacetime, in the United States.
History books say the two men who went into the bank were FrankJames and his younger brother Jesse. But this was never proved.Frank and Jesse James told lawmen they were home that day. Severalof their friends confirmed the story.
True or not, during the next sixteen years, the James brothersdid become two of the most famous outlaws in America.
VOICE 2:
History experts say they robbed at least twelve banks, perhapsmany more. They stopped seven trains, taking money from passengersand the United States Postal Service. They robbed as many as sevenstagecoaches, the horse-pulled vehicles used back then as publictransportation.
They traveled from their home in Clay County, Missouri, toMinnesota in the north and to Texas in the west. Hundreds of lawmenhunted them. But the James brothers were never caught. Much later,their story was told in songs.
((“Jesse James”))
Who were Frank and Jesse James? Why were they so famous?
VOICE 1:
Frank and Jesse were the sons of Robert James, a religiousminister who owned a farm in Clay County, Missouri. People who knewthe family said the James boys were polite and friendly. At leastuntil the time of America’s Civil War.
Many people in Missouri believed in the cause of the Southern, orConfederate, states during the Civil War. However, Missouri was onthe border between the North and the South. Almost as many peoplethere supported the Union as the Confederacy. Terrible fighting tookplace in Missouri and in other border states.
Guerrilla groups from both sides were responsible for thefighting.
VOICE 2:
History experts say much of the violence in the American West wasa result of the situation after the Civil War. Many formerConfederate soldiers returned home, but did not put down their guns.They continued to fight what they saw as symbols of Northernoppression. These included banks and railroads.
Many local people agreed with the former soldiers and supportedthem.
A lack of government control in the West also led to increasedviolence after the war. Records show that violent crime increased atthat time by as much as fifty percent.
VOICE 1:
Frank and Jesse James are perhaps the most famous examples of thesoldier-turned-outlaw.
During the Civil War, the James family suffered attacks by unionguerrillas. As a way of fighting back, Frank and Jesse becameConfederate guerrillas. They rode with two of the most violentguerrilla groups. After the war, they continued their violent ways.
The James brothers were extremely successful. Their gang rode forsixteen years. Hundreds of government lawmen tried to catch them.Agents of the private Pinkerton National Detective Agency tried,too. But no one did. Most lawmen did not even know what the twobrothers looked like.
VOICE 2:
Jesse James enjoyed being famous. He often wrote letters tonewspapers denying that he was guilty of any crime.
Once, he ate dinner with a well-known Pinkerton detective who wassearching for him. The detective got a big surprise later when heopened a letter from Jesse James. Jesse said how much he enjoyedtheir dinner together. He also wished him “good luck”!
Stories like this were printed in newspapers all over thecountry. They helped make the James brothers famous. People likedthe stories. Those who had been robbed did not. Soon, large amountsof money were offered for the capture of Frank and Jesse James. Thestate of Missouri offered as much as ten-thousand dollars for thebrothers … dead or alive.
VOICE 1:
It was easy for the James brothers to hide in their home area.Yet most often they hid in large cities. Many years later, FrankJames told reporters that it was easy to hide in a city, becauseeveryone there looked like everybody else.
When one place became too dangerous, the James brothers moved toanother. That was one reason they decided to go to Minnesota. Therethey planned to rob the bank in the town of Northfield.
Frank and Jesse rode to Northfield with six friends. Three of thefriends were brothers: Cole, Jim and Bob Younger. Like the Jamesbrothers, the Youngers were former Confederate guerrillas, nowoutlaws.
VOICE 2:
From the beginning, their attempted robbery of the bank inNorthfield was a failure. First, when Jesse demanded money from bankworkers, they said the safe could not be opened.
Next, the gang decided to get out of town fast. But the people ofNorthfield knew something was wrong. Many had gone to their homes oroffices for their guns. Then the shooting began.
Two members of the gang were killed in town. Another was killedlater. And Cole, Jim and Bob Younger were captured. Only two menescaped — Frank and Jesse James. Frank was wounded, but he stayedon his horse. Lawmen chased him and his brother for more than a weekbefore they lost their trail.
In the years that followed, the James brothers tried again toform another gang. They were never very successful.
((cut 7: music bridge))
VOICE 1:
In eighteen-eighty-two, Jesse James was living in Saint Joseph,Missouri, with his wife and children. People knew him as MisterHoward. One day, another outlaw, Bob Ford, shot him in the back ofthe head. He killed Jesse James for the money that had been offeredfor his capture. Bob Ford never collected the money. He was triedfor murder, instead.
Several months later, Frank James surrendered to the governor ofMissouri. He was charged with several crimes and tried two times.Both juries refused to find him guilty.
VOICE 2:
Cole, Jim and Bob younger spent many years in prison for theirpart in the Northfield, Minnesota, raid. After Cole was releasedfrom prison, he and Frank James earned money by speaking to groups.They told about their days as outlaws — and the evils of crime.
Frank James lived to be seventy-two years old. He died in thesame room in which he was born, on the James family farm in ClayCounty, Missouri. Today, that farmhouse is a museum that tells thestory of the two most famous outlaws of the American West.
((music))
VOICE 1:
This Special English program was written and produced by PaulThompson. Your narrators were Maurice Joyce and Tony Riggs. Listenagain next week to another People in America program on the Voice ofAmerica.