Chapter XLVI: Epistles of Jesse James

Jesse James is not an educated man in the scholastic sense of that term. In this respect he differs widely from his brother Frank, who has a fair knowledge of the Latin and Greek languages, and is said to be able to converse fluently in the Spanish and German tongues. Frank was a college student when the war was commenced, and Jesse a school boy in a country place. He had made some progress, had learned to "read, write and cipher," and was wrestling with "the knotty intricacies" of English Grammar and Geography, when his career in school was stopped short by the political events occurring about him.

It cannot be expected that Jesse's literary performances should exhibit the classic finish of an Addison or an Irving, and yet barring his faulty orthography, his style is direct and pointed, and under other circumstances he might have become a very good newspaper reporter. Although Jesse is deficient in the command of language to express his views in accordance with the canons of literary criticism, yet his letters, if not elegant specimens of composition, are at least vigorous and clear. It is a matter of regret that so few specimens of his epistolary ability are available. We have succeeded in obtaining copies of a few of his letters, but unfortunately none which reveal the domestic relations and characteristics of the man. Such of Jesse's letters as we have been able to secure, which have any interest for the public, we present in this chapter.

The following note was addressed from Jesse to "a friend" in Missouri, and came into the hands of a gentleman who, for reasons which the author is bound to respect, desires his name to be withheld. The orthography alone is revised. The year, it will be observed, is not given.

COMMANCHE, TEXAS, June 10th.

DEAR JIM:

I hear they are making a great fuss about old Dan Askew, and
say the James Boys done the killing. It's one of old Pink's
lies, circulated by his sneaks. I can prove that I was in
Texas, at Dallas, on the 12th of May, when the killing was
done. Several persons of the highest respectability know that I
could not have been in Clay county, Missouri, at that time. I
might name a number who could swear to this, whose words would
be taken anywhere. It's my opinion Askew was killed by Jack
Ladd and some of Pinkerton's men. But no meanness is ever done
now but the James Boys must bear the blame for it. This is like
the balance of the lies they tell about me and my brother. I
wish you would correct the lies the Kansas City papers have
printed about the shooting of old Askew, and oblige,

Yours faithfully,

JESSE.

The date of the murder of Askew, given in the above letter, is wrong. That event occurred on the night of _April_ 12th, and not _May_, as the writer of the above note assumes.

* * * * *

The following is a characteristic note. It contains several allusions unintelligible to the uninitiated. It was written to an old comrade, who long ago abandoned a "wild life," and is living as a respectable citizen.

FT. WORTH, March 10th, 1877.

DEAR ----:

The beeves will soon be ready. As soon as the roads dry up, and
the streams run down, we will _drive_. We expect to take a good
bunch of _cattle_ in. You may look out. There will be plenty of
bellowing after the drive. Remember, it is business. The range
is good, I learn, between Sidney and Deadwood. We may go to
pasture somewhere in that region. You will hear of it. Tell Sam
to come to Honey Grove, Texas, before the 'drive season' comes.
There's money in the stock.

As ever,

JESSE J.

* * * * *

The following letter was obtained in Colorado, by a gentleman who claims to be well acquainted with the handwriting of Jesse James, and claims that it was dropped by Jack Bishop. As to its authenticity, we leave the reader to judge. It is in style much such a letter as Jesse James might have written.

REST RANCHE, TEXAS, January 23d.

DEAR JACK:

We had a little fun on the other side of the line lately. A
lot of Greasers came over and broke up several ranches. Some
of us were down that way, and "the cow-boys" wanted us to help
them and we done it. Some of our cattle had been taken, and I
don't owe the yellow legs anything good anyhow. Well, we left
some half a dozen or more for carrion-bird meat. We brought
the cattle back. I was confounded glad we met some cavalry out
after raiders. There was a big lot of them motley scamps, and
we would have had a pretty rough time, I expect. But the sneaks
got back as fast as they could. You would have enjoyed the
racket.

As ever yours,

J. W. J.

The last letter, to an individual, which we here present, is vouched for as being in the handwriting of Jesse James, by Marshal James Liggett. It was written to George W. Shepherd about two weeks after the Glendale train robbery. In this, as in the other notes given above, we have revised the orthography, without correcting the grammatical errors. The letter is without date, and runs as follows:

FRIEND GEORGE:

I can't wait for you here. I want you to meet me on Rogues
Island, and we will talk about that business we spoke of. I
would wait for you, but the boys wants to leave here. Don't
fail to come, and if we don't buy them cattle, I will come back
with you. Come to the place where we met going south that time,
and stay in that neighborhood until I find you.

Your friend,

J.

On many occasions Jesse has written, or caused to be written, exculpatory letters for publication in the public journals. We present a few of these as specimens of Jesse's epistolary style, and because of the interesting character of their allusions to his own conduct. It will be observed that the dates of outrages on banks and railways, are wrong in several instances, as given in these letters. For instance:

The following communication appeared in the Nashville (Tenn.) _Banner_, of July 10th, 1875:

RAY TOWN, MO., July 5th, 1875.

GENTLEMEN:

As my attention has been called, recently, to the notice of
several sensational pieces copied from the Nashville _Union
and American_, stating that the Jameses and Youngers are in
Kentucky, I ask space in your valuable paper to say a few
words in my defence. I would treat these reports with silent
contempt, but I have many friends in Kentucky and Nashville
that I wish to know that these reports are false and without
foundation. I have never been out of Missouri since the Amnesty
Bill was introduced into the Missouri Legislature, last March,
asking for pardon for the James and Younger Boys. I am in
constant communication with Governor Hardin, Sheriff Groom,
of Clay county, Mo., and several other honorable county and
state officials, and there are hundreds of persons in Missouri
who will swear that I have not been in Kentucky. There are
desperadoes roving round in Kentucky, and it is probably very
important for the officials of Kentucky to be vigilant. If a
robbery is committed in Kentucky to-day, detective Bligh, of
Louisville, would telegraph all over the United States that
the James and Younger Boys did it, just as he did when the
Columbia, Kentucky, bank was robbed, April 29th, 1872. Old
Bly, the Sherman bummer, who is keeping up all the sensational
reports in Kentucky, and if the truth was known, I am satisfied
some of the informers are concerned in many robberies charged
to the James and Younger Boys for ten years. The radical
papers in Missouri and other states have charged nearly every
daring robbery in America to the James and Younger Boys. It
is enough for the northern papers to persecute us without the
papers of the south; the land we fought for for four years,
to save from Northern tyranny, to be persecuted by papers
claiming to be Democratic, is against reason. The people of
the south have only heard one side of the report. I will give
a true history of the lives of the James and Younger Boys to
the _Banner_ in the future; or rather a sketch of our lives.
We have not only been persecuted, but on the night of the 25th
of January, 1875, at the midnight hour, nine Chicago assassins
and Sherman bummers, led by Billy Pinkerton, Jr., crept up
to my mother's house and hurled a missile of war (a 32-pound
shell) in a room among innocent women and children, murdering
my eight year old brother and tearing my mother's right arm
off, and wounding several others of the family, and then
firing the house in seven places. The radical papers here in
Missouri have repeatedly charged the Russellville, Kentucky,
bank robbery to the James and Younger Boys, while it is well
known, that on the day of the robbery, March 20th, 1869, I
was at the Chaplin Hotel in Chaplin, Nelson county, Kentucky,
which I can prove by Mr. Tom Marshall, the proprietor, and
fifty others; and on that day my brother Frank was at work on
the Laponsu Ranche in San Luis Obispo county, California, for
J. D. P. Thompson, which can be proven by the sheriff of San
Luis Obispo county, and many others. Frank was in Kentucky the
winter previous to the robbery, but he left Alexander Sayer's,
in Nelson county, January 25th, 1868, and sailed from New York
City, January the 16th, which the books of the United States
mail line of steamers will show. Probably I have written too
much, and probably not enough, but I hope to write much more to
the _Banner_ in the future. I will close by sending my kindest
regards to old Dr. Eve, and many thanks to him for kindness to
me when I was wounded and under his care.

Yours respectfully,

JESSE JAMES.

The following communications appeared in the Kansas City _Times_ during the excitement succeeding the great train robbery at Rocky Cut, near Otterville, Missouri. The first one appeared in the _Times_ in its edition of August 14th, 1876, and the second one came out on the morning of the 23d of the same month.

JESSE JAMES' FIRST LETTER.

OAK GROVE, Kan., August 14, 1876.

You have published Hobbs Kerry's confession, which makes it
appear that the Jameses and the Youngers were the Rocky Cut
robbers. If there was only one side to be told, it would
probably be believed by a good many people that Kerry has told
the truth. But his so-called confession is a well-built pack
of lies from beginning to end. I never heard of Hobbs Kerry,
Charles Pitts and William Chadwell until Kerry's arrest. I can
prove my innocence by eight good, well-known men of Jackson
county, and show conclusively that I was not at the train
robbery. But at present I will only give the names of two of
those gentlemen to whom I will refer for proof.

Early on the morning after the train robbery east of Sedalia, I
saw the Hon. D. Gregg, of Jackson county, and talked with him
for thirty or forty minutes. I also saw and talked to Thomas
Pitcher, of Jackson county, the morning after the robbery.
Those two men's oaths cannot be impeached, so I refer the
grand jury of Cooper county, Mo., and Gov. Hardin to those
men before they act so rashly on the oath of a liar, thief and
robber.

Kerry knows that the Jameses and Youngers can't be taken alive,
and that is why he has put it on us. I have referred to Messrs.
Pitcher and Gregg because they are prominent men, and they know
I am innocent, and their word can't be disputed. I will write
a long article to you for the _Times_, and send it to you in
a few days, showing fully how Hobbs Kerry has lied. Hoping
the _Times_ will give me a chance for a fair hearing and to
vindicate myself through its columns, I will close,

Respectfully,

J. JAMES.

SECOND LETTER.

SAFE RETREAT, Aug. 18, 1876.

I have written a great many articles vindicating myself of the
false charges that have been brought against me. Detectives
have been trying for years to get positive proof against me for
some criminal offense, so that they could get a large reward
offered for me, dead or alive; and the same by Frank James and
the Younger boys, but they have been foiled on every turn, and
they are fully convinced that we will never be taken alive, and
now they have fell on the deep-laid scheme to get Hobbs Kerry
to tell a pack of base lies. But, thank God, I am yet a free
man, and have got the power to defend myself against the charge
brought against me by Kerry, a notorious liar and poltroon. I
will give a full statement and prove his confession false.

Lie No. 1. He said a plot was laid by the Jameses and Youngers
to rob the Granby bank. I am reliably informed that there never
was a bank in Granby.

Lie No. 2. He said he met with Cole Younger and me at Mr.
Tyler's. If there is a man in Jackson county by that name, I am
sure that I am not acquainted with him.

Lie No. 3. He said Frank James was at Mr. Butler's, in Cass
county. I and Frank don't know any man in Cass county by that
name. I can prove my innocence by eight good citizens of
Jackson county, Mo., but I do not propose to give all their
names at present. If I did, those cut-throat detectives would
find out where I am.

My opinion is that Bacon Montgomery, the scoundrel who murdered
Capt. A. J. Clements, December 13, 1866, is the instigator of
all this Missouri Pacific affair. I believe he planned the
robbery and got his share of the money, and when he went out
to look for the robbers he led the pursuers off the robbers'
trail. If the truth was half told about Montgomery, it would
make the world believe that Montgomery has no equal, only
the Bender family and the midnight assassins who murdered my
poor, helpless and innocent eight-year old brother, and shot
my mother's arm off; and I am of opinion he had a hand in
that dirty, cowardly work. The detectives are a brave lot of
boys--charge houses, break down doors and make the gray hairs
stand up on the heads of unarmed victims. Why don't President
Grant have the soldiers called in and send the detectives out
on special trains after the hostile Indians? A. M. Pinkerton's
force, with hand-grenades, and they will kill all the women
and children, and as soon as the women and children are killed
it will stop the breed, and the warriors will die out in a few
years. I believe the railroad robbers will yet be sifted down
on some one at St. Louis or Sedalia putting up the job and then
trying to have it put on innocent men, as Kerry has done.

Hoping the _Times_ will publish just as I have written, I will
close.

JESSE JAMES.