The Outlaw Youngers

This biographical history tells the story of an American family in conflict and four brothers' attempts to regain the prestigious position their family once held. Loaded with never-before-published photos and little-known facts, this probing character study examines the men, the myths, and the legends of the Outlaw Youngers. The Youngers - Bob, Cole, Jim, and John - tested the boundaries of the violent and turbulent post-Civil War society in which they lived. The author investigates events from the Border and Civil Wars, details of the Youngers' attempts at legitimate ranching in Texas, and the frequent and often brutal murders and robberies. Using never-before-published accounts from Jim and Bob Younger, the author presents a new theory regarding the James-Younger gang and the actual Younger involvement - a theory which opposes the one held for over 100 years. She also offers insights into the Northfield robbery and gives reasons why the Youngers' parole was delayed.

The Youngers—Bob, Cole, Jim, and John—tested the boundaries of the violent and turbulent post-Civil War society in which they lived. The author investigates the events from the Border and Civil Wars which forged their characters, their intricate relationships, the innovative train and bank robberies in which they participated, and their decades-long fight for freedom. Brant’s extensive research includes unpublished accounts from family members, the families of their enemies and victims, and hundreds of revealing historical documents. The story of the Youngers as more than the folklore figures they have grown to be demonstrates that often the truth is more fascinating than the fiction.

Sifts through the myths surrounding Jesse James and his cohorts-in-crime to document their real-life adventures.

Violence dictated the daily rhythms of Cole Younger?s life. During the Civil War he was selected to join Quantrill?s Raiders because he owned his own revolver. His participation in the brutal 1863 raid on Lawrence, Kansas, drove him and other guerrillas into hiding as Union troops sought to punish the perpetrators of atrocities including the murder of women and children. Younger met up with Jesse James in 1866. The James and Younger families cooperated in a series of bank and train robberies over the next decade that led to a feeling of invincibility. That feeling came to an end in Northfield, Minnesota, when local citizens killed two of the gang and wounded most of the others. Cole and his younger brothers were captured, tried, and sentenced to life in the Minnesota State Penitentiary. But even a life sentence could not keep Younger in prison. Despite a career that included thirty wounds, battles with Pinkerton detectives and Yankees, an affair with outlaw Belle Starr, and a near-fatal confrontation with Jesse James, Cole Younger survived to become a living legend in his home state of Missouri. He died peacefully, a free man.

Fast guns and hold-ups--the story of the James and Younger boys The Wild West frontier of the United States of America is the place of modern legends, though their origins mostly come from a comparatively short period of time following the American Civil War during the westward expansion of 'Manifest Destiny' to the dawn of modernism in the late 19th century. Nevertheless, the names heroes and villains from this era immediately caught the public imagination, and have remained with us thanks to numerous books, films and television series' featuring them. Among these outlaws, there were few more notorious than the James-Younger Gang. The gang hailed from Missouri, a bloody battleground with Kansas during the civil war, wracked by the deprivations of Union Jayhawkers and Confederate Bushwackers. It was from this latter partisan group that the James-Younger outlaw alliance grew. The end of the war brought hard times for these men, and the transition to gun-slinging, criminal killers seemed inevitable. The gang's membership changed over the years, but its notable members were, of course, brothers Cole, Jim, John and Bob Younger and the James brothers, Frank and the infamous Jesse. The gang robbed trains, stagecoaches and banks in Missouri, Kentucky, Iowa, Texas, Kansas and West Virginia between 1868 and Jesse James's death in 1882--when he was shot in the back by Robert Ford. This is the story of these violent men and their troubled times. Leonaur editions are newly typeset and are not facsimiles; each title is available in softcover and hardback with dustjacket; our hardbacks are cloth bound and feature gold foil lettering on their spines and fabric head and tail bands.

Those interested in the history of the infamous Younger Brothers of Missouri know eldest brother Cole’s story. Or at least they think they do. Cole told it enough times. Yet his autobiography, his dozens of interviews, and the stories he told to his friends and family members unfortunately tell a story quite different from researched history of the same times and events. John and Bob died young and never had the opportunity to tell their side of it all. And brother Jim remained silent. Until now. Tortured Soul: Jim Younger in His Own Words finally reveals Jim’s memories, thoughts, and opinions. Although Jim’s recollections are also mired in selective memories and a certain distortion brought about by the passage of time, a damaged psyche, and a need to protect himself and those he loved, the story Jim tells is based on his history and his desire to set Cole’s tall tales in their proper perspective.

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.

Missouri guerrilla, Confederate officer, bank robber, notorious outlaw, Wild West showman -- Cole Younger's life was the stuff of myth and legend. He tells his story in his own words after his parole from prison at the age of 59.