The Life Times And Treacherous Death Of Jesse James

Originally published weeks after his death in 1882 and accompanied by a signed authorization from his wife and mother, describes the gangs and crime sprees that James left in his wake for over a decade.

There is no western outlaw more infamous and notorious than Jesse James. A Confederate guerilla during the Civil War, he and his brother, as the leaders of numerous gangs of the Wild West, turned to a life of crime and robbery that lasted more than a decade. James’s life has been the subject of hundreds of books, films, and television shows, but none more vividly captures the actual life story of the legendary criminal than Frank Triplett’s definitive biography. The author, then an unknown writer, penned the book in just seven weeks, immediately following James’s assassination. Accompanying the book’s publication was a letter of authorization signed by James’s wife and mother, attesting to the authenticity of the book. Reproduced from one of the rare first editions published, Jesse James is printed complete with dozens of original plate illustrations. An important document for historians, and a hell of a wild story, detailing every one of the robberies and acts of violence James and his gang perpetrated, Jesse James is an essential piece of Western literature. From the Civil War to the infamous circumstances surrounding his death, James is an iconic American figure and a fascinating character.

Examines the life of Jesse James, who went from guerrilla fighter for the Confederates during the Civil War to one of the most famous bank and train robbers in United States history.

So small it had only one bank, so quiet no citizens carried guns. Hard-working, peaceful Northfield, Minnesota, was an orderly yet busy mill-town in the heart of prosperous farm country. On a serene autumn Tuesday in 1876, local shopkeepers, farmers, and citizenry went about their normal routines, little realizing that the infamous and deadly James-Younger gang had designs on tiny Northfield. The experienced robbers planned to target the single bank, which held the hard-earned money of the townsfolk. Jesse and Frank James and the Younger brothers had never experienced defeat. During a wild gun battle that raged between the outlaws and the bankmen up and down the town’s main street, two unarmed townsfolk were murdered. Northfield’s angered populace fought back. The townspeople killed two members of the James-Younger gang and wounded several more. The remaining bandits fled but were pursued across southwestern Minnesota by a posse that gradually grew to more than a thousand men. In Last Hurrah of the James-Younger Gang, Robert Barr Smith debunks the James-Younger "Robin Hood" image and shows that the real heroes of the Northfield raid were the ordinary people--the bankers who protected their depositors at their own risk, the townspeople who pitched in to chase the gang from town, and the posse members who pursued and triumphed over the retreating remnants of the gang.

A deep investigation into historical documents that prove the notorious outlaw Jesse James faked his own death • Presents the legend of Jesse James and counters it with the real story, based on family records • Provides photographic evidence, a journal of Jesse James’s, and historical records that prove James faked his death, verified by experts and civic authorities • Debunks the 1995 DNA test results of James’s supposed remains The story of the notorious outlaw Jesse James’s assassination at the hands of Robert Ford has been clouded with mystery ever since its inception. Now, James’s great-great-grandchildren Daniel and Teresa Duke present the results of more than 20 years of exhaustive research into state and federal records, photographs, newspaper reports, diaries, and a 1995 DNA test in search of the truth behind Jesse James’s demise. Explaining how the accepted version of the history of Jesse James is wrong, the authors confirm their family’s oral tradition that James faked his own death in 1882 and lived out his remaining days in Texas. They methodically unravel the legend surrounding his death, with evidence vetted by qualified experts and civic authorities. They share the journal of their great-great-grandfather, kept from 1871 to 1876 and verified to be written in James’s handwriting. They reveal forensically confirmed photographs of James before and after his supposed killing, including one of James attending his own funeral. Examining James’s life both before and after his faked death, they provide an account of where he lived and who he associated with, including his interactions with secret societies. They compare the contradictory newspaper reports of James’s death with accounts by his family and associates, which support that the man buried as James was actually his cousin, and reveal how James tricked authorities into believing he had been killed. Further supporting their claim, the authors debunk the DNA test results of the exhumation of James’s body in 1995. The Dukes detail the ways in which the test was fraudulent, an assertion supported by the deputy counselor for Clay County at the time of the testing. Backed by a wealth of evidence, the descendants of Jesse James conclusively prove what really happened to America’s Robin Hood.