| Jesse James, alias J. Frank Dalton, was probably the | | | | robberies because he knew the layouts of the banks |
| most famous outlaw of the American West. Jesse's | | | | in advance. And he was an expert on scaring the |
| father was father was a popular Baptist minister and | | | | daylight out of the people that were being robbed. |
| slave owning farmer in Clay County, Missouri. Jesse, | | | | During his 16 years at large, he committed dozens of |
| born on September 5, 1847 in Kearney, Missouri, was a | | | | daring robberies. |
| charismatic, larger than life bad guy who caught the | | | | Not all bandits are gunfighters, but that wasn't the case |
| imagination of a country that was looking for | | | | with Jesse James. Although some hailed him as a |
| antiheroes. | | | | Robin Hood figure he actually killed at least half a |
| In the county where he grew up most of the boys and | | | | dozen men. At the age of 26, after courting his first |
| men went into the bush as Confederate guerillas | | | | cousin, Zerelda Mimms, for ten years, he married her |
| during the Civil War. Jesse and his brother Frank were | | | | on April 24, 1874 and tried to settle down. By that time |
| no different. They learned the art of sabotage and | | | | most of his gang was either arrested or dead. He felt |
| guerilla warfare from psychopathic killers such as | | | | that there were only two men that he could trust - |
| Willaim Clarke Quantrill and "Bloody Bill" Anderson. | | | | Charley and Robert Ford. |
| After four years of riding with Quantrell and fighting for | | | | So he let the Ford brothers moved in with his family. |
| the Confederacy during the Civil War, Jesse and his | | | | That was the biggest mistake Jesse ever made. |
| brother Frank James formed the James-Younger | | | | Robert Ford shot Jesse in the back of the head while |
| Gang. In the early years their gang was known for | | | | Jesse was cleaning a dusty picture that was hanging |
| their daring train and bank robberies. Ironically their first | | | | on the wall. Jesse was originally buried at the farm |
| attempt at bank robbery in Liberty, Missouri in February, | | | | where he grew up in Kearney, Missouri. Since then it's |
| 1866 was a complete failure. There were many | | | | come to be called the Jesse James Farm and |
| casualties. However, things changed rapidly after that. | | | | Museum. |
| Jesse masterminded a string of wildly successful | | | | |