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diff --git a/24585.txt b/24585.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 49b119e..0000000 --- a/24585.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,4873 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Story of Cole Younger, by Himself by -Cole Younger - - - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no -restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under -the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or -online at http://www.gutenberg.org/license - - - -Title: The Story of Cole Younger, by Himself - -Author: Cole Younger - -Release Date: February 12, 2008 [Ebook #24585] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: US-ASCII - - -***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE STORY OF COLE YOUNGER, BY HIMSELF*** - - - - - - [Illustration: Cole Younger] - - Cole Younger - - - - - -The Story of Cole Younger, by Himself - -Being an Autobiography of the Missouri Guerrilla Captain and Outlaw, his -Capture and Prison Life, and the Only Authentic Account of the Northfield -Raid Ever Published -By Cole Younger - -Chicago -The Henneberry Company - -1903 - - - - - -CONTENTS - - -Why This Book Is Here -1. Boyhood Days -2. The Dark and Bloody Ground -3. Driven from Home -4. The Trap That Failed -5. Vengeance Indeed -6. In the Enemy's Lines -7. Lone Jack -8. A Foul Crime -9. How Elkins Escaped -10. A Price on My Head -11. Betrayed -12. Quantrell on War -13. The Palmyra Butchery -14. Lawrence -15. Chasing Cotton Thieves -16. A Clash with Apaches -17. The Edicts of Outlawry -18. Not All Black -19. A Duel and an Auction -20. Laurels Unsought -21. The Truth about John Younger -22. Amnesty Bill Fails -23. Belle Starr -24. "Captain Dykes" -25. Eluding the Police -26. Ben Butler's Money -27. Horace Greeley Perry -28. The Northfield Raid -29. A Chase to the Death -30. To Prison for Life -31. Some Private History -32. Lost--Twenty-five Years -33. The Star of Hope -34. On Parole -35. Jim Gives It Up -36. Free Again -37. The Wild West -38. What My Life Has Taught Me -An Afterward - - - - - -ILLUSTRATIONS - - -Cole Younger -Nannie Harris and Charity Kerr -John Jarrette -William Clarke Quantrell -William Gregg -Jim Younger -Jesse James (top) and Frank James (bottom) -John Younger -Bob Younger -Illustration: Wild West Show advertisement - - - - - - -WHY THIS BOOK IS HERE - - -Many may wonder why an old "guerrilla" should feel called upon at this -late day to rehearse the story of his life. On the eve of sixty, I come -out into the world to find a hundred or more of books, of greater or less -pretensions, purporting to be a history of "The Lives of the Younger -Brothers," but which are all nothing more nor less than a lot of -sensational recitals, with which the Younger brothers never had the least -association. One publishing house alone is selling sixty varieties of -these books, and I venture to say that in the whole lot there could not be -found six pages of truth. The stage, too, has its lurid dramas in which -we are painted in devilish blackness. - -It is therefore my purpose to give an authentic and absolutely correct -history of the lives of the "Younger Brothers," in order that I may, if -possible, counteract in some measure at least, the harm that has been done -my brothers and myself, by the blood and thunder accounts of misdeeds, -with which relentless sensationalists have charged us, but which have not -even the suggestion of truth about them, though doubtless they have had -everything to do with coloring public opinion. - -In this account I propose to set out the little good that was in my life, -at the same time not withholding in any way the bad, with the hope of -setting right before the world a family name once honored, but which has -suffered disgrace by being charged with more evil deeds than were ever its -rightful share. - -To the host of friends in Minnesota and Missouri who have done everything -possible to help my brother and myself during the last few years, with no -other object than the love of doing good and aiding fellow creatures in -suffering, I wish to say that I shall always conduct myself so that they -will never have the least cause to regret having championed our cause, or -feel any shame in the friendship so generously proven to us. Nothing lies -deeper in my heart than the gratitude I feel to them all, except a desire -to prove myself worthy. - -In the two states named these friends are too numerous for me to mention -each of their names, but among those in Missouri who traveled long -journeys to Minnesota to plead my cause, even though they knew it to be -unpopular in many quarters, I wish to especially thank Col. W. C. Bronough -of Clinton, Capt. Steve Ragan, Colonel Rogers of Kansas City and Miss Cora -MacNeill, now Mrs. George M. Bennett of Minneapolis, but also formerly of -Kansas City. - -In concluding these remarks, I wish to say that from cover to cover there -is not a statement which could not be verified. - -Yours Truly, - COLE YOUNGER -Lee's Summit, Mo. - - - - - -1. BOYHOOD DAYS - - -Political hatreds are always bitter, but none were ever more bitter than -those which existed along the border line of Missouri and Kansas during my -boyhood in Jackson county in the former state from 1856 to '60. These -hatreds were soon to make trouble for me of which I had never dreamed. - -Mine was a happy childhood. I was the seventh of fourteen children, but my -father had prospered and we were given the best education the limited -facilities of that part of the West then afforded. - -My people had always been prominent, politically. It was born in the -blood. My great grandmother on my father's side was a daughter of -"Lighthorse Harry" Lee, whose proud memory we all cherish. The Youngers -came from Strasburg, and helped to rule there when it was a free city. -Henry Washington Younger, my father, represented Jackson county three -times in the legislature, and was also judge of the county court. My -mother, who was Bursheba Fristoe of Independence, was the daughter of -Richard Fristoe who fought under General Andrew Jackson at New Orleans, -Jackson county having been so named at my grandfather Fristoe's -insistence. Mother was descended from the Sullivans, Ladens and Percivals -of South Carolina, the Taylors of Virginia and the Fristoes of Tennessee, -and my grandfather Fristoe was a grand nephew of Chief Justice John -Marshall of Virginia. - -Naturally we were Southerners in sympathy and in fact. My father owned -slaves and his children were reared in ease, though the border did not -then abound in what would now be called luxury. The railroads had not -reached Jackson county, and wild game was plentiful on my father's farm on -Big Creek near Lee's Summit. I cannot remember when I did not know how to -shoot. I hunted wild geese when I could not have dragged a pair of them -home unaided. But this garden spot was destined to be a bloody battle -ground when the nation divided. - -There had been scrimmages back and forth over the Kansas line since 1855. -I was only a boy, born January 15, 1844. My brother James was born -January 15, 1848, John in 1851, and Robert in December, 1853. My eldest -brother, Richard, died in 1860. This was before the conflicts and -troubles centered on our home that planted a bitterness in my young heart -which cried out for revenge and this feeling was only accentuated by the -cruelties of war which followed. I refer in particular to the shameful -and cowardly murder of my father for money which he was known to have in -his possession, and the cruel treatment of my mother at the hands of the -Missouri Militia. My father was in the employ of the United States -government and had the mail contract for five hundred miles. While in -Washington attending to some business regarding this matter, a raid was -made by the Kansas Jayhawkers upon the livery stable and stage line for -several miles out into the country, the robbers also looting his store and -destroying his property generally. When my father returned from -Washington and learned of these outrages he went to Kansas City, Mo., -headquarters of the State Militia, to see if anything could be done. He -had started back to Harrisonville in a buggy, but was waylaid one mile -south of Westport, a suburb of Kansas City, and brutally murdered; falling -out of his buggy into the road with three mortal bullet wounds. His horse -was tied to a tree and his body left lying where it fell. Mrs. Washington -Wells and her son, Samuel, on the road home from Kansas City to Lee's -Summit, recognized the body as that of my father. Mrs. Wells stayed to -guard the remains while her son carried the news of the murder to Col. -Peabody of the Federal command, who was then in camp at Kansas City. An -incident in connection with the murder of my father was the meeting of two -of my cousins, on my mother's side, Charity Kerr and Nannie Harris -(afterwards Mrs. McCorkle) with first my father and then a short distance -on with Capt. Walley and his gang of the Missouri Militia, whose hands are -stained with the blood of my father. - - [Illustration: Nannie Harris and Charity Kerr] - - Nannie Harris and Charity Kerr - - -Walley afterwards caused the arrest of my cousins fearing that they had -recognized him and his men. These young women were thrown into an old -rickety, two-story house, located between 14th and 15th streets on Grand -avenue, Kansas City, Mo. Twenty-five other women were also prisoners -there at that time, including three of my own sisters. The down-stairs -was used as a grocery store. After six months of living death in this -trap, the house was secretly undermined and fell with the prisoners, only -five of whom escaped injury or death. It was noted that the groceryman -had moved his stock of groceries from the building in time to save it from -ruin, showing that the wrecking of the house was planned in cold blood, -with the murder of my sisters and cousins and the other unfortunate women -in mind. All of my relatives, however, were saved from death except -Charity Kerr, who was helpless in bed with the fever and she went down -with the wreck and her body, frightfully mangled, was afterwards taken -from the ruins. Mrs. McCorkle jumped from the window of the house and -escaped. This cousin was the daughter of Reuben N. Harris, who was -revenue collector for many years. A Virginian by birth, and a school -teacher for many years in various parts of Missouri, he was well known -throughout the state as an active sympathizer with the South. His home -was friendly to every Confederate soldier and scout in the West. -Information, newspapers, and the like, left there, were certain to be kept -for the right hands. - -In September 1863, soldiers ransacked the Harris home, stole everything -they considered valuable, and burned the house. A daughter, Kate, who was -asleep upstairs, was rescued from the flames by her sister. As the raiders -left, one of them shouted: - -"Now, old lady, call on your protectors. Why don't you call on Cole -Younger now?" - -Among the women who lost their lives was Miss Josephine Anderson, whose -cruel death simply blighted her brother's life and so filled him with -determination to revenge that he afterward became the most desperate of -desperate men. "Quantrell sometimes spares, but Anderson never," became a -tradition of the Kansas line. Before he died in a skirmish with Northern -troops in 1864, he had tied fifty-three knots in a silken cord which he -carried in his buckskin pouch. - -Every knot represented a human life. - -Anderson was then ripe for the raid on Lawrence. - -All this was cruelty, indeed, and enough to harden and embitter the -softest of hearts, but it was mild compared with the continuous suffering -and torture imposed upon my mother during the years from 1862 to 1870. - -After the murder of my father she was so annoyed at her home in -Harrisonville that she sought peace at her country residence eight and a -half miles north of town. But she failed to find the comfort she sought, -for annoyances continued in a more aggravated form. She had with her only -the youngest children and was obliged to rely wholly for protection upon -"Suse," the only remaining servant left to the family, who proved her -worth many times over and in every emergency was loyalty and devotion -itself. Nothing could have proved her faithfulness more effectually than -an incident connected with one of my stolen visits home. I went home one -night to get medicine for the boys wounded in the battle of Lone Jack whom -I was nursing in the woods some miles away. As I sat talking with my -mother two of my brothers watched at the windows. There was soon the -dreaded cry, "the militia are surrounding the house," and in the -excitement which followed, "Suse" dashed open the door to find a score of -bayonets in her face. She threw up her hands and pushed aside the guns. -Her frantic screams, when they demanded that she deliver me up to them, -caused a momentary confusion which enabled me to gain her side and -together we made for the gate, where I took for the woods amid a shower of -lead, none of the bullets even so much as skinning me, although from the -house to the gate I was in the full glare of the light. - -Two months after this incident the same persecutors again entered our home -in the dead of the night, and, at the point of a pistol, tried to force my -mother to set fire to her own home. She begged to be allowed to wait -until morning, so that she and her children and "Suse" would not be turned -out in the snow, then some two or three feet deep, in the darkness, with -the nearest neighbor many miles away. This they agreed to do on condition -that she put the torch to her house at daybreak. They were there bright -and early to see that she carried out her agreement, so, leaving her -burning walls behind her, she and the four youngest children and "Suse" -began their eight mile trudge through the snow to Harrisonville. - -I have always felt that the exposure to which she was subjected on this -cruel journey, too hard even for a man to take, was the direct cause of -her death. From Harrisonville she went to Waverly, where she was hounded -continually. One of the conditions upon which her life was spared was -that she would report at Lexington weekly. It was during one of her -absences there that our enemies went to the house where she had left her -family and demanded that they turn over the $2,200 which had been -overlooked when my father was murdered. She had taken the precaution to -conceal it upon the person of "Suse," and although they actually hung this -faithful servant to a tree in the yard in their determination to force her -to divulge the hiding place of the money, she never even hinted that the -money at that very moment was secreted in her garments. She was left for -dead, and except for the timely arrival of a friend, who cut her down and -restored her to her senses, she would in a few moments have been as dead -as her would-be-murderers hoped. - -One of the numerous books purporting to be a history of my life states -with the utmost soberness that, as a boy, I was cruel to dumb animals and -to my schoolmates, and, as for my teachers, to them I was a continual -trouble and annoyance. A hundred of my friends and schoolmates will bear -me out in the statement that, far from being cruel to either dumb animals -or human beings, I was always regarded as kind and considerate to both. - -One of my old school-teachers, whom I have never seen since the spring or -summer of 1862, is Stephen B. Elkins, senator from West Virginia. - -July 4, 1898, Senator Elkins wrote: "I knew Cole Younger when we were boys -and also his parents. They were good people and among the pioneers on the -western border of Missouri. The Younger brothers maintained a good -reputation in the community where they lived and were well esteemed, as -were their parents, for their good conduct and character. In the spring -or summer of 1862 I was taken prisoner by Quantrell's men and brought into -his camp by the pickets who had me in charge. On reaching the camp the -first person I saw whom I knew was Cole Younger. When I was taken -prisoner, I expected to be shot without ceremony. As soon as I saw Cole -Younger I felt a sense of relief because I had known him and his parents -long and favorably, and as soon as I got a chance I told him frankly what -I feared and that I hoped he would manage to take care of me and save me -from being killed. He assured me he would do all he could to protect me. -Cole Younger told Quantrell that my father and brother were in the rebel -army and were good fighters, and that I had stayed at home to take care of -my mother; that I was a good fellow and a non-combatant. This occurred -just before I entered the Union army, and it was generally known, and I am -sure Cole knew, that I was strongly for the Union and about to enter the -army. Cole Younger told me what to do to make good my escape and I feel -that I owe my life to his kindness." - -Another old school-teacher is Capt. Steve Ragan, who still lives in Kansas -City, Mo., and will bear testimony to the fact that I was neither cruel -nor unmanageable. - - - - - -2. THE DARK AND BLOODY GROUND - - -Many causes united in embittering the people on both sides of the border -between Missouri and Kansas. - -Those Missourians who were for slavery wanted Kansas admitted as a slave -state, and sought to accomplish it by the most strenuous efforts. -Abolitionists on the other hand determined that Kansas should be free and -one of the plans for inviting immigration from the Eastern Northern states -where slavery was in disrepute, was the organization of an Immigrant Aid -Society, in which many of the leading men were interested. Neither the -earnestness of their purpose nor the enthusiasm of their fight for liberty -is for me to question now. - -But many of those who came to Kansas under the auspices of this society -were undesirable neighbors, looked at from any standpoint. Their ideas on -property rights were very hazy, in many cases. Some of them were let out -of Eastern prisons to live down a "past" in a new country. They looked -upon a slave owner as legitimate prey, and later when lines became more -closely drawn a secessionist was fit game, whether he had owned slaves or -not. - -These new neighbors ran off with the horses and negroes of Missouri people -without compunctions of conscience and some Missourians grew to have -similarly lax notions about the property rights of Kansans. These raiders -on both sides, if interfered with, would kill, and ultimately they -developed into what was known during the war as "Freebooters," who, when -they found a stable of horses or anything easily transportable, would take -it whether the owner be abolitionist or secessionist in sympathy. - -It was a robbery and murder by one of these bands of Kansas Jayhawkers, -that gave to the Civil war Quantrell, the Chief of the Guerrillas. - -A boy of 20, William Clarke Quantrell, had joined his brother in Kansas in -1855 and they were on their way to California overland when a band of -Jayhawkers in command of Capt. Pickens, as was afterwards learned, raided -their camp near the Cottonwood river; killed the older boy, left the -younger one for dead, and carried off their valuables. - -But under the care of friendly Indians, Charles Quantrell lived. - -Changing his name to Charley Hart, he sought the Jayhawkers, joined -Pickens' company, and confided in no one. - -Quantrell and three others were sent out to meet an "underground railroad" -train of negroes from Missouri. One of the party did not come back. - -Between October, 1857, and March, 1858, Pickens' company lost 13 men. -Promotion was rapid. Charley "Hart" was made a lieutenant. - -No one had recognized in him the boy who had been left for dead two -summers before, else Capt. Pickens had been more careful in his -confidences. One night he told the young lieutenant the story of -a raid on an emigrant camp on the Cottonwood river; how the dead man had -been left no shroud; the wounded one no blanket; how the mules were sold -and the proceeds gambled for. - -But Lieut. "Hart's" mask revealed nothing. - -Three days later Pickens and two of his friends were found dead on Bull -Creek. - -Col. Jim Lane's orderly boasted of the Cottonwood affair in his cups at a -banquet one night. - -The orderly was found dead soon after. - -Quantrell told a friend that of the 32 who were concerned in the killing -of his brother, only two remained alive, and they had moved to California. - -The fight at Carthage in July 1861, found Quantrell in Capt. Stewart's -company of cavalry. I was there as a private in the state guard, fighting -under Price. Then came Gen. Lyon's fatal charge at Wilson's creek, and -Gen. Price's march on Lexington to dislodge Col. Mulligan and his command. - -Here Quantrell came into the public eye for the first time. His red shirt -stood out in the first rank in every advance; he was one of the last when -the men fell back. - -After Lexington, Quantrell went with the command as far as the Osage -river, and then, with the consent of his officers, came up the Kansas line -again to settle some old scores with the Jayhawkers. - - - - - -3. DRIVEN FROM HOME - - -I was only seventeen when Col. Mockbee gave a dancing party for his -daughter at his home in Harrisonville which was to terminate seriously for -some of us who were there. - -The colonel was a Southerner, and his daughter had the Southern spirit, -too. Probably this was the reason that inspired the young Missouri -militiamen who were stationed at Harrisonville to intrude on the colonel's -party. Among them was Captain Irvin Walley, who, even though a married -man, was particularly obnoxious in forcing his attentions on the young -women. My sister refused to dance with him, and he picked a quarrel with -me. - -"Where is Quantrell?" he asked me, with a sneer. - -"I don't know," I answered. - -"You are a liar," he continued, and as he went down in a heap on the -floor, he drew his pistol, but friends came between us, and at their -solicitation I went home and informed my father of what had taken place. -He told me to go down to the farm in Jackson county, and to keep away from -the conflict that Walley was evidently determined to force. Next morning -I started. That night Walley and a band of his scouts came to my father's -house and demanded that he surrender me, on the ground that I was a spy, -and in communication with Quantrell. Father denounced it as a lie. - -Though a slave-owner, father had never been in sympathy with secession, -believing, as it turned out, that it meant the death of slavery. He was -for the Union, in spite of his natural inclinations to sympathy with the -South. - -A demand that I surrender was conveyed to my father by Col. Neugent, who -was in charge of the militia at Harrisonville, again charging that I was a -spy. I never doubted that his action was due to the enmity of Walley. My -parents wanted me to go away to school. I would have liked to have stayed -and fought it out, and although I consented to go away, it was too late, -and I was left no choice as to fighting it out. Watch was being kept for -me at every railroad station, and the only school I could reach was the -school of war close at home. - -Armed with a shot-gun and revolver, I went out into the night and was a -wanderer. - -Instant death to all persons bearing arms in Missouri was the edict that -went forth Aug. 30 of that year from Gen. John C. Fremont's headquarters -at St. Louis, and he declared that all slaves belonging to persons in arms -against the United States were free. President Lincoln promptly overruled -this, but it had added to the bitterness in Missouri where many men who -owned slaves were as yet opposed to secession. - -It was "hide and run for it" with me after that. That winter my -brother-in-law, John Jarrette, and myself, joined Capt. Quantrell's -company. Jarrette was orderly sergeant. He never knew fear, and the forty -that then made up the company were as brave men as ever drew breath. - - [Illustration: John Jarrette] - - John Jarrette - - -We were not long quiet. Burris had a detachment raiding in the -neighborhood of Independence. We struck their camp at sunset. We were -thirty-two; they eighty-four; but we were sure shots and one volley broke -their ranks in utter confusion. Five fell at the first fire, and seven -more died in the chase, the others regaining Independence, where the -presence of the rest of the regiment saved them. That day my persistent -pistol practice showed its worth when one of the militiamen fell, 71 yards -away, actual measure. That was Nov. 10, 1861. - -All that winter Independence was the scene of a bloody warfare. One day -early in February Capt. Quantrell and David Pool, Bill Gregg and George -Shepherd, George Todd and myself, charged in pairs down three of the -streets to the court house, other members of the company coming through -other streets. We had eleven hurt, but we got away with ammunition and -other supplies that were badly needed. Seven militiamen died that day. - -Another charge, at daybreak of Feb. 21, resulted badly. Instead of the -one company we expected to find, there were four. Although we killed -seventeen, we lost one, young George, who fell so close to the guns of the -foe that we had considerable difficulty in getting him away for burial. -Then we disbanded for a time. Capt. Quantrell believed that it was harder -to trail one man than a company, and every little while the company would -break up, to rally again at a moment's notice. - - - - - -4. THE TRAP THAT FAILED - - -In March Quantrell planned to attack Independence. We met at David -George's and went from there toward Independence as far as Little Blue -church, where Allen Parmer, who afterward married Susie James, the sister -of Frank and Jesse, told the captain that instead of there being 300 -Jayhawkers in Independence, there were 600. The odds were too strong, and -we swung around to the southwest. - -Thirteen soldiers who guarded the bridge at the Big Blue found their -number unlucky. The bridge was burned and we dined that day at the home -of Alex. Majors, of Russell, Majors & Waddell, the freighters, and rested -for the night at Maj. Tale's house, near New Santa Fe, where there was -fighting for sure before morning. - -A militia command, 300 strong, came out to capture us, but they did not -risk an attack until nearly midnight. - -Capt. Quantrell, John Jarrette, and I were sleeping together when the -alarm was given, the sentry's challenge, "Who are you?" followed by a -pistol shot. - -We were up on the instant. - -So stealthy had been their approach that they had cut the sentry off from -us before alarming him, and he fled into the timber in a shower of lead. - -There was a heavy knock on the outer door, and a deep voice shouted: "Make -a light." - -Quantrell, listening within, fired through the panel. The visitor fell. - -While we barricaded the windows with bedding, the captain polled his men. -"Boys," he said, "we're in a tight place. We can't stay here and I do not -mean to surrender. All who want to follow me out can say so; all who -prefer to give up without a rush can also say so. I will do the best I can -for them." - -Four voted to surrender, and went out to the besieging party, leaving -seventeen. - -Quantrell, James Little, Hoy, Stephen Shores and myself held the upper -story, Jarrette, George Shepherd, Toler and others the lower. - -Anxious to see who their prisoners were, the militiamen exposed themselves -imprudently, and it cost them six. - -Would they permit Major Tate's family to escape? Yes. They were only too -glad, for with the family out, the ell, which was not commanded by our -fire, offered a tempting mark for the incendiary. - -Hardly had the Tales left than the flames began to climb the ell. - -There was another parley. Could we have twenty minutes? Ten? Five? - -Back came the answer: - -"You have one minute. If at its expiration you have not surrendered, not -a single man among you shall escape alive." - -"Thank you," said I; "catching comes before hanging." - -"Count six then and be d--d to you!" shouted back George Shepherd, who was -doing the dickering, and Quantrell said quietly, "Shotguns to the front." - -There were six of these, and behind them came those with revolvers only. -Then Quantrell opened the door and leaped out. Close behind him were -Jarrette, Shepherd, Toler, Little, Hoy and myself, and behind us the -revolvers. - -In less time than it takes to tell it, the rush was over. We had lost -five, Hoy being knocked down with a musket and taken prisoner, while they -had eighteen killed and twenty-nine wounded. We did not stop till we got -to the timber, but there was really no pursuit. The audacity of the thing -had given the troops a taste of something new. - -They kept Hoy at Leavenworth for several months and then hanged him. This -was the inevitable end of a "guerrilla" when taken prisoner. - - - - - -5. VENGEANCE INDEED - - -Among the Jackson county folks who insisted on their right to shelter -their friends was an old man named Blythe. - -Col. Peabody at Independence had sent out a scouting party to find me or -any one else of the company they could "beat up." Blythe was not at home -when they came but his son, aged twelve, was. They took him to the barn -and tried to find out where we were, but the little fellow baffled them -until he thought he saw a chance to break through the guard, and started -for the house. - -He reached it safely, seized a pistol, and made for the woods followed by -a hail of bullets. They dropped him in his tracks, but, game to the last, -he rolled over as he fell, shot one of his pursuers dead, mortally wounded -a second, and badly hurt a third. - -They put seventeen bullets in him before he could shoot a fourth time. - -A negro servant who had witnessed the seizure of his young master, had -fled for the timber, and came upon a party of a dozen of us, including -Quantrell and myself. As he quickly told us the story, we made our plans, -and ambushed at the "Blue Cut," a deep pass on the road the soldiers must -take back to Independence. The banks are about thirty feet high, and the -cut about fifty yards wide. - -Not a shot was to be fired until the entire command was in the cut. - -Thirty-eight had started to "round up" Cole Younger that morning; -seventeen of them lay dead in the cut that night and the rest of them had -a lively chase into Independence. - -To this day old residents know the Blue Cut as "the slaughter-pen." - -Early in May, 1862, Quantrell's men were disbanded for a month. Horses -were needed, and ammunition. There were plenty of horses in Missouri, but -the ammunition presented more of a problem. - -Capt. Quantrell, George Todd and myself, attired as Union officers, went -to Hamilton, a small town on the Hannibal and St. Joseph Railroad, -undetected by the company of the Seventh United States Cavalry in camp -there, although we put up at the principal hotel. Todd passed as a major -in the Sixth Missouri Cavalry, Quantrell a major in the Ninth, and I a -captain in an Illinois regiment. At Hannibal there was a regiment of -Federal soldiers. The commander talked very freely with us about -Quantrell, Todd, Haller, Younger, Blunt, Pool and other guerrillas of whom -he had heard. - -While in Hannibal we bought 50,000 revolver caps and such other ammunition -as we needed. From there we went to St. Joseph, which was under command -of Col. Harrison B. Branch. - -"Too many majors traveling together are like too many roses in a bouquet," -suggested Todd. "The other flowers have no show." - -He reduced himself to captain and I to lieutenant. - -Our disguise was undiscovered. Col. Branch entertained us at his -headquarters most hospitably. - -"I hope you may kill a guerrilla with every bullet I have sold you," said -one merchant to me. "I think if ever there was a set of devils let loose, -it is Quantrell, Todd, Cole Younger and Dave Pool." - -From St. Joseph we went to Kansas City in a hack, sending Todd into -Jackson county with the ammunition. When within three miles of Kansas -City the hack was halted by a picket on outpost duty, and while the driver -argued with the guard, Quantrell and I slipped out on the other side of -the hack and made our way to William Bledsoe's farm, where we were in -friendly hands. - - - - - -6. IN THE ENEMY'S LINES - - -Col. Buell, whose garrison of 600 held Independence, had ordered that -every male citizen of Jackson county between 18 and 45 years of age should -fight against the South. - -Col. Upton Hays, who was in Jackson county in July and August, 1862, -recruiting a regiment for the Confederate army, decided that it was the -time to strike a decisive blow for the dislodging of Buell. In -reconnoitering the vicinity he took with him Dick Yager, Boone Muir and -myself, all of whom had seen service with Capt. Quantrell. - -It was finally decided to make the attack August 11th. Colonel Hays wanted -accurate information about the state of things inside town. - -"Leave that to me," said I. - -Three days remained before the battle. - -Next morning there rode up to the picket line at Independence an old -apple-woman, whose gray hair and much of her face was nearly hidden by an -old-fashioned and faded sun-bonnet. Spectacles half hid her eyes and a -basket on her arm was laden with beets, beans and apples. - -The left rein was leather but a rope replaced the right. - -"Good morning, grandmother," bantered the first picket. "Does the rebel -crop need any rain out in your country?" - -The sergeant at the reserve post seized her bridle, and looking up said: - -"Were you younger and prettier, I might kiss you." - -"Were I younger and prettier, I might box your ears for your impudence." - -"Oh, ho! You old she-wolf, what claws you have for scratching!" he -retorted, and reached for her hand. - -The quick move she made started the horse suddenly, or he might have been -surprised to feel that hand. - -But the horse was better than apple-women usually ride, and that aroused -some suspicion at Col. Buell's headquarters, so that the ride out was -interrupted by a mounted picket who galloped alongside and again her -bridle was seized. - -The sergeant and eight men of the guard were perhaps thirty paces back. - -"What will you have?" asked the apple-woman. "I am but a poor lone woman -going peaceably to my home." - -"Didn't you hear the sergeant call for you, d--n you?" answered the -sentinel. - -A spurred boot under the ragged skirt pierced the horse's flank; the hand -that came from the apple basket fired the cocked pistol almost before the -sentry knew it, and the picket fell dead. - -The reserve stood as if stupefied. - -That night I gave Quantrell, for Col. Hays, a plan showing the condition -of affairs in Independence. - -The morning of the 11th the attack was made and Col. Buell, his force shot -to pieces, surrendered. - -The apple-woman's expedition had been a success. - - - - - -7. LONE JACK - - -It was in August, 1862, nearly a year after the party at Col. Mockbee's, -that I was formally enrolled in the army of the Confederate States of -America by Col. Gideon W. Thompson. I was eighteen, and for some little -time had been assisting Col. Hays in recruiting a regiment around my old -home. - -It was within a day or two after the surrender of Buell at Independence -that I was elected as first lieutenant in Capt. Jarrette's company in Col. -Upton B. Hays' regiment, which was a part of the brigade of Gen. Joseph O. -Shelby. - -We took the oath, perhaps 300 of us, down on Luther Mason's farm, a few -miles from where I now write, where Col. Hays had encamped after -Independence. - -Millions of boys and men have read with rising hair the terrible "black -oath" which was supposed to have been taken by these brave fighters, but -of which they never heard, nor I, until I read it in books published long -after the war. - -When Col. Hays camped on the Cowherd, White, Howard and Younger farms, -Quantrell had been left to guard the approaches to Kansas City, and to -prevent the escape to that point of news from the scattered Confederate -commands which were recruiting in western Missouri. At the same time he -was obtaining from the Chicago and St. Louis papers and other sources, -information about the northern armies, which was conveyed by couriers to -Confederate officers in the south, and he kept concealed along the -Missouri river skiffs and ferry boats to enable the Confederate officers, -recruiting north of the river, to have free access to the south. - -The night that I was enlisted, I was sent by Col. Hays to meet Cols. -Cockrell, Coffee, Tracy, Jackman and Hunter, who, with the remnants of -regiments that had been shattered in various battles through the south, -were headed toward Col. Hays' command. - -It was Col. Hays' plan for them to join him the fifteenth, and after a -day's rest, the entire command would attack Kansas City, and, among other -advantages resulting from victory there, secure possession of Weller's -steam ferry. - -Boone Muir and myself met Coffee and the rest below Rose Hill, on Grand -river. Col. Cockrell, whose home was in Johnson county, had gone by a -different route, hoping to secure new recruits among his neighbors, and, -as senior colonel, had directed the rest of the command to encamp the next -evening at Lone Jack, a little village in the southeastern portion of -Jackson county, so called from a solitary big black jack tree that rose -from an open field nearly a mile from any other timber. - -At noon of Aug. 15, Muir and I had been in the saddle twenty-four to -thirty hours, and I threw myself on the blue grass to sleep. - -Col. Hays, however, was still anxious to have the other command join him, -he having plenty of forage, and being well equipped with ammunition as the -result of the capture of Independence a few days before. Accordingly I -was shortly awakened to accompany him to Lone Jack, where he would -personally make known the situation to the other colonels. - -Meantime, however, Major Emory L. Foster, in command at Lexington, had -hurried out to find Quantrell, if possible, and avenge Independence. -Foster had nearly 1,000 cavalrymen, and two pieces of Rabb's Indiana -battery that had already made for itself a name for hard fighting. He did -not dream of the presence of Cockrell and his command until he stumbled -upon them in Lone Jack. - -At nightfall, the Indiana battery opened on Lone Jack, and the Confederate -commands were cut in two, Coffee retreating to the south, while Cockrell -withdrew to the west, and when Col. Hays and I arrived, had his men drawn -up in line of battle, while the officers were holding a council in his -quarters. - -"Come in, Colonel Hays," exclaimed Col. Cockrell. "We just sent a runner -out to look you up. We want to attack Foster and beat him in the morning. -He will just be a nice breakfast spell." - -Col. Hays sent me back to bring up his command, but on second thought -said: - -"No, Lieutenant, I'll go, too." - -On the way back he asked me what I thought about Foster being a "breakfast -spell." - -"I think he'll be rather tough meat for breakfast," I replied. "He might -be all right for dinner." - -But Cockrell and Foster were neighbors in Johnson county, and Cockrell did -not have as good an idea of Foster's fighting qualities that night as he -did twenty-four hours later. - -The fight started at daybreak, hit or miss, an accidental gunshot giving -Foster's men the alarm. For five hours it waged, most of the time across -the village street, not more than sixty feet wide, and during those five -hours every recruit there felt the force of Gen. Sherman's -characterization--"War is hell." - -Jackman, with a party of thirty seasoned men, charged the Indiana guns, -and captured them, but Major Foster led a gallant charge against the -invaders, and recaptured the pieces. We were out of ammunition, and were -helpless, had the fight been pressed. - -Riding to the still house where we had left the wagon munitions we had -taken a few days before at Independence, I obtained a fresh supply and -started for the action on the gallop. - -Of that mad ride into the camp I remember little except that I had my -horse going at full tilt before I came into the line of fire. Although -the enemy was within 150 yards, I was not wounded. They did mark my -clothes in one or two places, however. - -Major Foster, in a letter to Judge George M. Bennett of Minneapolis, said: - -"During the progress of the fight my attention was called to a young -Confederate riding in front of the Confederate line, distributing -ammunition to the men from what seemed to be a 'splint basket.' He rode -along under a most galling fire from our side the entire length of the -Confederate lines, and when he had at last disappeared, our boys -recognized his gallantry in ringing cheers. I was told by some of our men -from the western border of the state that they recognized the daring young -rider as Cole Younger. About 9:30 a.m., I was shot down. The wounded of -both forces were gathered up and were placed in houses. My brother and I, -both supposed to be mortally wounded, were in the same bed. About an hour -after the Confederates left the field, the ranking officer who took -command when I became unconscious, gathered his men together and returned -to Lexington. Soon after the Confederates returned. The first man who -entered my room was a guerrilla, followed by a dozen or more men who -seemed to obey him. He was personally known to me and had been my enemy -from before the war. He said he and his men had just shot a lieutenant of -a Cass county company whom they found wounded and that he would shoot me -and my brother. While he was standing over us, threatening us with his -drawn pistol, the young man I had seen distributing ammunition along in -front of the Confederate line rushed into the room from the west door and -seizing the fellow, thrust him out of the room. Several Confederates -followed the young Confederate into the room, and I heard them call him -Cole Younger. He (Younger) sent for Col. Cockrell (in command of the -Confederate forces) and stated the case to him. He also called the young -man Cole Younger and directed him to guard the house, which he did. My -brother had with him about $300, and I had about $700. This money and our -revolvers were, with the knowledge and approval of Cole Younger, placed in -safe hands, and were finally delivered to my mother in Warrensburg, Mo. -Cole Younger was then certainly a high type of manhood, and every inch a -soldier, who risked his own life to protect that of wounded and disabled -enemies. I believe he still retains those qualities and would prove -himself as good a citizen as we have among us if set free, and would fight -for the Stars and Stripes as fearlessly as he did for the Southern flag. -I have never seen him since the battle of Lone Jack. I know much of the -conditions and circumstances under which the Youngers were placed after -the war, and knowing this, I have great sympathy for them. Many men, now -prominent and useful citizens of Missouri, were, like the Youngers, unable -to return to their homes until some fortunate accident threw them with men -they had known before the war, who had influence enough to make easy their -return to peace and usefulness. If this had occurred to the Youngers, -they would have had good homes in Missouri." - -It is to Major Foster's surprise of the command at Lone Jack that Kansas -City owes its escape from being the scene of a hard battle August 17, -1862. - -Quantrell was not in the fight at Lone Jack at all, but Jarrette and Gregg -did come up with some of Quantrell's men just at the end and were in the -chase back toward Lexington. - -In proportion to the number of men engaged, Lone Jack was one of the -hardest fights of the war. That night there were 136 dead and 550 wounded -on the battlefield. - - - - - -8. A FOUL CRIME - - -With two big farms in Jackson county, besides money-making stores and a -livery stable at Harrisonville, my father at the outbreak of the war was -wealthy beyond the average of the people in northwestern Missouri. As a -mail contractor, his stables were filled with good horses, and his -property was easily worth $100,000, which was much more in those days, in -the public esteem, than it is now. - -This, perhaps, as much as Walley's enmity for me, made him the target for -the freebooters who infested the Kansas line. In one of Jennison's first -raids, the Younger stable at Harrisonville was raided and $20,000 worth of -horses and vehicles taken. The experiment became a habit with the -Jayhawkers, and such visits were frequent until the following fall, when -the worst of all the indignities heaped upon my family was to be charged -against them--the murder of my father. - -When the body was discovered, it was taken in charge by Capt. Peabody, who -was in command of the militia forces in Kansas City, and when he found -$2,000, which father had taken the precaution to conceal in a belt which -he wore about him, it was sent home to our family. - -It has been charged that my father tried to draw his pistol on a party of -soldiers, who suspected me of the murder of one of their comrades and -wanted to know my whereabouts. This is false. My father never carried a -pistol, to my knowledge, and I have never had any doubt that the band that -killed him was led by that same Capt. Walley. Indeed he was suspected at -the time, accused of murder, and placed under arrest, but his comrades -furnished an alibi, to the satisfaction of the court, and he was released. - -He is dead now, and probably he rests more comfortably than he ever did -after that night in '62, for whether he had a conscience or not, he knew -that Missouri people had memories, and good ones, too. - -But the freebooters were not through. - -My sisters were taken prisoners, as were the girls of other families whose -sons had gone to join the Confederate army, their captors hoping by this -means to frighten the Southern boys into surrender. - -After my mother's home was burned, she took her children and went to -Lafayette county. Militiamen followed her, shot at Jim, the oldest of the -boys at home, fourteen, and drove him into the brush. Small wonder that -he followed his brother as a soldier when he became old enough in 1864! - -Despairing of peace south of the Missouri, mother crossed into Clay -county, remaining until the War between the States had ended. But not so -the war on her. A mob, among whom she recognized some of the men who were -pretty definitely known to have murdered my father, broke in on her after -she had returned to Jackson county, searched the house for Jim and me, -hung John, aged fourteen, to a beam and told him to say his prayers, for -he had but a little time to live unless he told where his older brothers -were. He defied them and was strung up four times. The fourth time the -rope cut deep into the flesh. The boy was unconscious. Brutally hacking -his body with knives, they left him for dead. That was early in 1870. - -June 2 of that year, before John had recovered from his injuries, mother -died. - - - - - -9. HOW ELKINS ESCAPED - - -It was along about the first week in October, 1862, that I stopped with a -dozen men at the home of Judge Hamilton, on Big Creek, in Cass county. -We spent the afternoon there, and just before leaving John Hays, of my -command, dashed up with the news that Quantrell was camped only two miles -west. He also gave the more important information to me, that some of -Captain Parker's men had arrested Steve Elkins on the charge of being a -Union spy, and were taking him to Quantrell's camp to hang him. - -I lost no time in saddling up, and followed by my little detachment, rode -hastily away to Quantrell's camp, for red tape occupied little space in -those days, and quick action was necessary if anything was to be done. - -I knew Quantrell and his men well and was also aware that there were -several Confederate officers in the camp. The moment we reached our -destination, I went at once to Captain Charles Harrison, one of the -officers, and my warm personal friend, and told him openly of my -friendship and esteem for Elkins. He promised to lend me all his aid and -influence, and I started out to see Quantrell, after first telling my men -to keep their horses saddled, ready for a rescue and retreat in case I -failed of a peaceable deliverance. - -Quantrell received me courteously and kindly, as he always did, and after -a little desultory chat, I carelessly remarked, "I am surprised to find -that you have my old friend and teacher, Steve Elkins, in camp as a -prisoner." - -"What! Do you know him?" asked Quantrell in astonishment. - -I told him that I did, and that he was my school teacher when the war -broke out, also that some half a hundred other pupils of Elkins were now -fighting in the Southern army. - -"We all care for him very deeply," I told Quantrell, and then asked what -charges were preferred against him. He explained that Elkins had not been -arrested on his orders, but by some of Parker's men, who were in vicious -humor because of their leader's recent death. They had told Quantrell -that Elkins had joined the Union forces at Kansas City, and was now in -Cass county as a spy. - -I jumped to my feet, and said that the men that made the charges lied, and -that I stood ready to ram the lie down their throats with a pistol point. -Quantrell laughed, and chided me about letting my hot blood get the better -of cold judgment. I insisted, however, and told him further that Elkins' -father and brother were Southern soldiers, and that Steve was a -non-combatant, staying at home to care for his mother, but that I was in -no sense a non-combatant, and would stand as his champion in any fight. - -Quantrell finally looked at his watch, and then remarked: "I will be on -the move in fifteen minutes. I will release Elkins, since you seem so -excited about it, and will leave him in your hands. Be careful, for -Parker's men are rather bitter against him." - -Happy at heart, I dashed away to see Elkins, with whom I had only passed a -few words and a hand-shake to cheer him up. He knew me, however, and -realized that I would save him or die in the attempt, for from a boy it -was my reputation that I never deserted a friend. - -When I joined him again, several of Parker's men were standing around in -the crowd, and as I shook hands with Elkins and told him of his freedom, I -added, "If any damned hound makes further false charges against you, it's -me he's got to settle with, and that at the pistol point." - -I made that talk as a sort of bluff, for a bluff is often as good as a -fight if it's properly backed up. As Quantrell and his men rode away in -the direction of Dave Daily's neighborhood, I told Elkins to hit out West -until he came to the Kansas City and Harrisonville road, and then, under -cover of night, he could go either way. I shook his hand goodbye, slapped -him on the shoulder, and have never seen him since. - -I followed Quantrell's men for half a mile, fearing that some stragglers -might return to take a quiet shot at Elkins, and then stopped for -something to eat, and fed our horses. - -At the time that I defended Elkins before Quantrell, I knew that Steve's -sympathies were with the North, and had heard that he had joined the -Federal army. But it mattered nothing to me--he was my friend. - - - - - -10. A PRICE ON MY HEAD - - -When Col. Hays went south in the fall to join Shelby, Capt. Jarrette went -with as many of his company as were able to travel and the wounded were -left with me in Jackson county. - -Missouri militia recognized no red cross, and we were unable for that -reason to shelter our men in farm-houses, but built dug-outs in the hills, -the roofs covered with earth for concealment. - -All that winter we lay in the hollows of Jackson county, while the militia -sought to locate the improvised hospitals. - -It was a winter of battles too numerous to be told here, and it was a -winter, too, that laid a price upon my head. - -Capt. Quantrell and his men had raided Olathe and Shawnee-town, and among -the killed at Paola on the way out from Olathe was a man named Judy, whose -father had formerly lived in Cass county, but had gone to Kansas as a -refugee. Judy, the father, returned to Cass county after the war as the -appointive sheriff. - -It was a matter of common knowledge to the guerillas, at least that young -Judy had been killed by Dick Maddox and Joe Hall, and that as a matter of -fact at the time of the fight I was miles away at Austin, Mo. But Judy -had secured my indictment in Kansas on the charge of killing his son, and -threatened me with arrest by a posse so that from 1863 to 1903 I was never -in Cass county except as a hunted man. Years afterward this killing of -Judy turned up to shut me out of Missouri. - -Frequent meetings with the militia were unavoidable during the winter and -there was fight after fight. Clashes were almost daily, but few of them -involved any large number of men. - -George Todd and Albert Cunningham, who were also caring for squads of -soldiers in our neighborhood, and I made an expedition early in the winter -across the Kansas line near New Santa Fe, where our party of 30 met 62 -militiamen. Todd led the charge. With a yell and a rush, every man with -a revolver in each hand, they gave the militia a volley at a hundred -yards, which was returned, but no men could stand in the face of a rush -like that and the militia fell back. In their retreat they were -reinforced by 150 more and returned to the attack, driving Todd and his -comrades before them. With six men I was holding the rear in the timber -when a detachment of 52 ran down upon us. It was a desperate fight, and -every man in it was wounded more or less. John McDowell's horse was -killed under him and he, wounded, called to me for help. - -Packing him up behind me, we returned to our camp in safety. - -This was the McDowell who less than three months later betrayed one of our -camps to the militia in Independence and brought down upon us a midwinter -raid. - -Todd had his camp at Red Grenshaw's, Cunningham was on the Little Blue, -and mine was near Martin O. Jones' farm, eight miles south of -Independence. - -Todd's spirit of adventure, with my hope to avenge my father's murder, -combined in a Christmas adventure which has been misrepresented by other -writers. - -Todd said he knew some of the band who had killed father were in Kansas -City, and Christmas day six of us went in to look them up. - -Leaving Zach Traber with our horses just beyond the outposts, the rest of -us hunted them until it must have been nearly midnight. We were in a -saloon on Main street. I had called for a cigar, and glancing around, saw -that we had been recognized by a trooper who had been playing cards. He -reached for his pistol, but he never pulled it. - -I do not know how many were killed that night. They chased us well out of -town and there was a fight at the picket post on the Independence road. - -Col. Penick, in command at Independence, hearing of the Kansas City -adventure, put a price of $1,000 on my head and other figures on those of -my comrades. - -It was to get this blood money that six weeks later, Feb. 9, the militia -drove my mother out of her house and made her burn it before their eyes. - -I was a hunted man. - - - - - -11. BETRAYED - - -The day after they burned my mother out of her home they made another -trial for the $1,000 reward, and this time they had a better prospect of -success, for they had with them the traitor, McDowell, whom I had carried -out on my horse in the fight at New Santa Fe a few weeks before. McDowell -said he wanted to go home to see his wife and assure her he was all right, -but he did not go near her. Instead he hurried into Independence and that -evening the militia came out, eighty strong, to take us prisoners. Even -they did not trust McDowell, for he, closely guarded, was kept in front. - -Forty of them had come within twenty yards of us on the south when my -horse warned me, and I called out: "Is that you Todd?" - -"Don't mind us; we're friends," came the answer, but I saw they were not, -and the lieutenant in command fell at the first fire. The boys swarmed -out of the dug-outs, and the fighting was hot. - -Retreat to the north was cut off by the other forty and they had us -between them. We made for the west, firing as we went, and the soldiers -fell right and left. I stayed by Joe Hardin till they dropped him in his -tracks, and fought fifteen of the militia while Otho Hinton stopped to get -his heavy boots off. Tom Talley, too, had one boot off and one foot stuck -in the leg of the other. He could not run and he had no knife to cut the -leather. I yanked his boot off and we took to our heels, the militia -within 20 yards. Talley's pistol had filled with snow and he could not -fire a shot. But we reached the timber and stood at bay. George Talley -was shot dead at this last stand, but when the militia fell back, their -dead and wounded numbered seventeen. Nathan Kerr, Geo. Wigginton, Bill -Hulse and John McCorkle did well that day. - -We were all in our socks, having taken off our overcoats, gloves and heavy -boots to lighten our burdens, and the icy road promised to cut our feet to -pieces, but we made our way to a rock bridge where a hog trail would hide -our tracks, and when we left this trail, I made every one of the boys -follow in my footprints, leaving but the one trail till we got to the -cedar bluffs. For a stretch of three miles here, these bluffs were -practically impassable to horsemen, but we climbed down them and found our -way to the home of Mrs. Moore where we were safe again. - -The soldiers took back to Independence a pair of gloves marked "Presented -to Lieut. Coleman Younger by Miss M. E. Sanders" and they thought Cole -Younger was dead for a time. Her brother, Charles Sanders, was one of my -company. - -Making our way out to Napoleon and Wellington we got new coats and gloves -and also located some of the red sheepskin leggings worn by the Red-leg -scouts, with which we made a trip over into what was known as "Hell's -corner" on the Missouri, near Independence. Col. Penick's men, who had in -many cases "collected" more horses than they really had use for, had left -them with friends at various points. As we went in we spotted as many of -these as we thought we could lead out, and took them out with us on our -way back. - -One of the horses I got on that trip was the meanest horse I ever rode and -I named him "Jim Lane" in honor of one of the most efficient raiders that -ever disgraced an army uniform. This horse a young woman was keeping for -her sweetheart who had left it with her father for safety, as he feared it -might be shot. As I mounted the nag, she suddenly grasped the bridle -reins. The horse always, I found afterwards, had a trick of rearing up on -his hind feet, when he was about to start off. Evidently the young woman -was also ignorant of his little habit or else she would never have taken -hold of his bridle in an effort to detain me. He was no respecter of -persons, this horse of her sweetheart, and he rose high in the air with -the young woman still clinging. He turned around and made almost a -complete circuit before he came down and again allowed her to enjoy the -security of having both feet upon the earth. She was a little frightened -after having been lifted off her feet in this way and dangled in the air, -and somewhat piqued, too, that I was about to ride away on her -sweetheart's horse, and when I suggested that the horse was not as quiet -as he might be and she had better not catch hold of his bridle any more, -she called to me as a parting shot, "You horrid old red-leg, you are -meaner than Quantrell or Todd or Cole Younger or any of his gang!" - -The night we made our escape, they burned the homes of Grandmother -Fristoe, and her neighbor, Mrs. Rucker, and gray heads suffered because -younger ones had not been noosed. - - - - - -12. QUANTRELL ON WAR - - -After the Lone Jack fight, Capt. Quantrell had joined Gen. Shelby at Cane -Hill, Arkansas, but shortly left his command to go to the Confederate -capital at Richmond to ask to be commissioned as a colonel under the -partisan ranger act and to be so recognized by the war department as to -have any protection the Confederate States might be able to afford him. -He knew the service was a furious one, but he believed that to succeed the -South must fight desperately. - -Secretary Cooper suggested that war had its amenities and refinements and -that in the nineteenth century it was simply barbarism to talk of a black -flag. - -"Barbarism," rejoined Quantrell, according to Senator Louis T. Wigfall, of -Texas, who was present at the interview, "barbarism, Mr. Secretary, means -war and war means barbarism. You ask an impossible thing, Mr. Secretary. -This secession or revolution, or whatever you call it, cannot conquer -without violence. Your young Confederacy wants victory. Men must be -killed." - -"What would you do, Captain Quantrell, were yours the power and the -opportunity?" inquired the secretary. - -"Do, Mr. Secretary? I would wage such a war as to make surrender forever -impossible. I would break up foreign enlistments by indiscriminate -massacre. I would win the independence of my people or I would find them -graves." - - [Illustration: William Clarke Quantrell] - - William Clarke Quantrell - - -"What of our prisoners?" - -"There would be no prisoners," exclaimed the fiery captain. "Do they take -any prisoners from me? Surrounded, I do not surrender; hunted, I hunt my -hunters; hated and made blacker than a dozen devils, I add to my hoofs the -swiftness of a horse and to my horns the terrors of a savage following. -Kansas should be laid waste at once. Meet the torch with the torch, -pillage with pillage, slaughter with slaughter, subjugation with -extermination. You have my ideas of war, Mr. Secretary, and I am sorry -they do not accord with your own or with the ideas of the government you -have the honor to represent so well." - -Disappointed, Capt. Quantrell left without his commission. He had felt -the truth of his fiery speech. - -Our tenders of exchanges of prisoners had been scorned by the officers of -the militia. There was a boy who was an exception to this rule, to whom I -want to pay a tribute. He was a young lieutenant from Brown county and if -my memory serves me right, his name also was Brown. We had taken him -prisoner at Olathe. - -At Leavenworth they had one of our boys named Hoy, who had been taken at -the Tate house, and we paroled Brown, and sent him to Leavenworth to ask -the exchange of Hoy. - -Brown went, too, and was laughed at for his earnestness. Exchange was -ridiculed. "You are free," they said to him, "why worry about exchanges?" - -But Brown had given his word as a man and as a soldier and he came back to -our camp and surrendered. He was told to return to the lines of his own -army, and given safe conduct and money to provide for his immediate wants, -but he vowed he would never fight again under his country's flag until he -had been exchanged in accordance with his parole. - -There was a cheer for that man when he left the camp, and anyone who had -proposed shooting him would himself have been riddled. - - - - - -13. THE PALMYRA BUTCHERY - - -As long as Pete Donan was the editor of the Lexington Caucasian, that -paper once each year published an account substantially in this wise: - -"So long as God gives us life and the earth is cursed with the presence of -McNeil we feel it to be our solemn duty to rehearse once every year the -story of the most atrocious and horrible occurrence in the annals of -barbarous warfare." - -"On Friday, the 17th day of October, 1862, a deed was enacted at the fair -grounds at Palmyra, Mo., which sent a thrill of horror through the -civilized world." - -"Ten brave and true and innocent men were taken from their prison, driven -to the edge of the town, seated on their rough board coffins, for no crime -of their own, and murdered like so many swine." - -"Murdered!" - -"Butchered!!" - -"By the hell-spawned and hell-bound, trebly damned old blotch upon -creation's face, John McNeil, until recently by the grace of bayonets, Tom -Fletcher, and the devil, sheriff of St. Louis county." - -"Murdered!" - -"Shot to death!!" - -"There was our poor, handsome, gallant boyhood friend Tom Sidener--" - -"As pure a soul as ever winged its flight from blood-stained sod to that -God who will yet to all eternity damn the fiendish butcher, McNeil." - -"Poor Tom!" - -"He was engaged to be married to a young lady in Monroe county." - -"When he learned he was to be shot, he sent for his wedding suit, which -had just been made, declaring that if he couldn't be married in it; he -intended to die in it." - -"Arrayed in his elegant black broad cloth, and his white silk vest, when -he mounted his coarse plank coffin, in the wagon that was to bear him to -his death he looked as if he was going to be married instead of shot." - -"The very guards cried like children when they bade him goodbye." - -"Raising his cap and bowing to the weeping women who lined the streets, he -was driven from their sight forever!" - -"Half an hour afterward six musket balls had pierced his noble heart, and -his white silk vest was torn and dyed with his martyr blood!" - -"There was poor old Willis Baker, his head whitened with the snows of more -than seventy winters--" - -"Heroic old man!" - -"With his white hair streaming in the wind, he seated himself on his rude -coffin and died without a shudder; refusing with his last breath to -forgive his executioners, and swearing he would 'meet them and torment -them in hell through all eternity.' " - -"There was that helpless, half-idiot boy from Lewis county, who allowed -himself to be blindfolded; then hearing Sidener and the others refuse, -slipped up one corner of the bandage, and seeing the rest with their eyes -uncovered, removed the handkerchief from his own, died as innocent as a -lamb." - -"There were Humstead and Bixler, and Lake, and McPheeters." - -"And there was that most wondrous martyr of them all--young Smith, of Knox -county--who died for another man." - -"Humphrey was the doomed man." - -"His heart-broken wife, in widow's weeds, with her eight helpless little -ones in deep mourning, that was only less black than the anguish they -endured, or the heart of him to whom they appealed, rushed to the feet of -McNeil, and in accents so piteous that a soul of adamant must have melted -under it, besought him for the life of the husband and father." - -"She was brutally repulsed." - -"But Strachan, the monster of Shelby county, whom the angel a few months -afterward smote with Herodian rottenness--Strachan, whose flesh literally -fell from his living skeleton--Strachan, who has long been paying in the -deepest, blackest, hottest hole in perdition the penalty of his forty-ply -damnation-deserving crimes was provost marshal." - -"He saw the frantic agony of the woman; called her into his office and -told her he would save her husband if she would give him three hundred -dollars and then submit--but oh! humanity shudders, sickens at the horrid -proposal." - -"The wretched, half-crazed, agonized wife, not knowing what she -did--acceded to save her husband's life--and the next morning she was found -lying insane and nearly dead, with her baby at her breast, near the public -spring at Palmyra." - -"And after all this, her husband was only released on condition that -another should be shot in his place." - -"Young Smith was selected." - -"And then ensued a contest without a parallel in all the six thousand -years of human history." - -"Humphrey refused to let any man die in his stead, declaring he should -feel himself a murderer if he did." - -"Smith protested that he was only a poor orphan boy, and so far as he knew -there was not a soul on earth to grieve for him; that Humphrey had a large -family entirely dependent upon him for daily bread, and it was his duty to -live while he could." - -"And Smith, the simple country lad, only seventeen years old, the Hero -without a peer on all Fame's mighty scroll, took his seat on a rough -box--and was shot!" - -"Will not God eternally damn his murderers?" - -"We might dwell for hours on the incidents connected with this most -frightful butchery of ancient or modern ages." - -"But why go on?" - -"The murder was done!" - -"The Confederate government talked of demanding the murderer McNeil." - -"Then a 'memorial' was gotten up, and signed by two thousand Missourians, -recommending the heaven-earth-and-hell-accursed old monster, on account of -his Palmyra massacre, to special favor and he was promoted to a -brigadier-generalship." - - - - - -14. LAWRENCE - - -Disguised as a cattle trader, Lieutenant Fletcher Taylor, now a prominent -and wealthy citizen of Joplin, Mo., spent a week at the Eldridge house in -Lawrence, Kansas, from which place had gone out the Jayhawkers who in -three months just previous had slain 200 men and boys, taken many women -prisoners, and stolen no one knows how many horses. - -At the house of Capt. Purdee on the Blackwater in Johnson county, 310 men -answered August 16, 1863, to the summons of Capt. Quantrell to hear the -report of Lieut. Taylor's reconnaissance. - -The lieutenant's report was encouraging. The city itself was poorly -garrisoned; the camp beyond was not formidable; the streets were wide. - -"You have heard the report," said Quantrell when the lieutenant finished. -"It is a long march; we march through soldiers; we attack soldiers; we -must retreat through soldiers. What shall it be? Speak out. Anderson!" - -"Lawrence or hell," relied Anderson, instantly. With fire flashing in his -eyes as he recalled the recent wreck from which his sister had been taken -in Kansas City, he added: "But with one proviso, that we kill every male -thing." - -"Todd?" called Quantrell. - -"Lawrence, if I knew that not a man would get back alive." "Gregg?" - -This was Capt. William Gregg, who still lives in Kansas City, one of the -bravest men that ever faced powder, and in action the coolest, probably, -in the entire command. - - [Illustration: William Gregg] - - William Gregg - - -"Lawrence," he relied. "It is the home of Jim Lane; the nurse of -Jayhawkers." - -"Jarrette?" - -"Lawrence, by all means," my brother-in-law answered. "It is the head -devil of the killing and burning in Jackson county. I vote to fight it -and with fire burn it before we leave." - -Shepherd, Dick Maddox, so on, Quantrell called the roll. - -"Have you all voted?" shouted Quantrell. - -There was no word. - -"Then Lawrence it is; saddle up." - -We reached Lawrence the morning of the 21st. Quantrell sent me to quiz an -old farmer who was feeding his hogs as to whether there had been any -material changes in Lawrence since Lieut. Taylor had been there. He -thought there were 75 soldiers in Lawrence; there were really 200. - -Four abreast, the column dashed into the town with the cry: - -"The camp first!" - -It was a day of butchery. Bill Anderson claimed to have killed fourteen -and the count was allowed. But it is not true that women were killed. -One negro woman leaned out of a window and shouted: - -"You--of--." - -She toppled out dead before it was seen she was a woman. - -The death list that day is variously estimated at from 143 to 216 and the -property loss by the firing of the town, the sacking of the bank, and the -rest, at $1,500.000. - -Maj. John N. Edwards, in his _Noted Guerrillas,_ says: - -"Cole Younger saved at least a dozen lives this day. Indeed, he killed -none save in open and manly battle. At one house he captured five -citizens over whom he put a guard and at another three whom he defended -and protected. The notorious Gen. James H. Lane, to get whom Quantrell -would gladly have left and sacrificed all the balance of the victims, made -his escape through a corn-field, hotly pursued but too splendidly mounted -to be captured." - -My second lieutenant, Lon Railey, and a detachment gave Jim Lane a hot -chase that day but in vain. - -When I joined Brother-in-law Jarrette's company, he said: - -"Cole, your mother and your sister told me to take care of you." - -That day it was reversed. Coming out of Lawrence his horse was shot under -him. He took the saddle off and tried to put it on a mustang that one of -the boys was leading. Some of the boys say he had $8,000 in the saddle -bags for the benefit of the widows and orphans of Missouri, but whether -that is true or not I have no knowledge. While he was trying to saddle -the mustang, he was nearly surrounded by the enemy. I dashed back and -made him get up behind me. The saddle was left for the Kansas men. - -One of the treasures that we did bring out of Lawrence that day, however, -was Jim Lane's "black flag," with the inscription "Presented to Gen. James -H. Lane by the ladies of Leavenworth". - -That is the only black flag that I knew anything about in connection with -the Lawrence raid. - -Lawrence was followed by a feverish demand from the North for vengeance. -Quantrell was to be hanged, drawn and quartered, his band annihilated; -nothing was too terrible for his punishment. - -Four days after the raid, Gen. Thomas Ewing at St. Louis issued his -celebrated General Order No. 11. This required that all persons living in -Jackson, Cass and Bates counties, except one township, or within one mile -of a military post, should remove within fifteen days. Those establishing -their loyalty were permitted to go within the lines of any military post, -or to Kansas, but all others were to remove without the bounds of the -military district. All grain and hay in the proscribed district was to be -turned into the military post before Sept. 9, and any grain or hay not so -turned in was to be destroyed. - -It was the depopulation of western Missouri. Any citizen not within the -limits of the military post after Sept. 9 was regarded as an outlaw. - -Pursued by 6,000 soldiers, the Confederates in that vicinity must -ultimately rejoin their army farther south, but they harassed their -pursuers for weeks in little bands rarely exceeding ten. - -The horrors of guerrilla warfare before the raid at Lawrence, were -eclipsed after it. Scalping, for the first time, was resorted to. - -Andy Blunt found Ab. Haller's body, so mutilated, in the woods near Texas -Prairie on the eastern edge of Jackson county. - -"We had something to learn yet," said Blunt to his companions, "and we -have learned it. Scalp for scalp hereafter." - -Among the brave fighters who were participants in the fight at Lawrence -were Tom Maupin, Dick Yager, Payne Jones, Frank Shepherd, Harrison Trow, -Dick Burns, Andy McGuire and Ben Broomfield. - - - - - -15. CHASING COTTON THIEVES - - -In the fall of 1863, in the absence of Capt. Jarrette, who had rejoined -Shelby's command, I became, at 19, captain of the company. Joe Lea was -first lieutenant and Lon Railey second lieutenant. - -When Capt. Jarrette came north again, I again became lieutenant, but when -Capts. Jarrette and Poole reported to Gen. Shelby on the Red river, they -were sent into Louisiana, and I again became captain of the company, so -reporting to Gen. Henry E. McCulloch in command of Northern Texas at -Bonham. All my orders on the commissary and quartermaster's departments -were signed by me as Capt. C.S.A. and duly honored. - -Around Bonham I did scout service for Gen. McCulloch, and in November he -sent me with a very flattering letter to report to Gen. E. Kirby Smith, at -Shreveport, Louisiana, the headquarters of the Trans-Mississippi -department. Capts. Jarrette and Poole were at Shreveport and Gen. Smith -gave us minute orders for a campaign against the cotton thieves and -speculators who infested the Mississippi river bottom. An expedition to -get rid of these was planned by Gen. Smith with Capt. Poole commanding one -company, myself the other, and Capt. Jarrette over us both. - -Five miles from Tester's ferry on Bayou Macon we met a cotton train -convoyed by 50 cavalry. We charged them on sight. The convoy got away -with ten survivors, but every driver was shot, and four cotton buyers who -were close behind in an ambulance were hung in a cotton gin near at hand. -They had $180,000 on them, which, with the cotton and wagons, was sent -back to Bastrop in charge of Lieut. Greenwood. - -A more exciting experience was mine at Bayou Monticello, a stream that was -deeper than it looked. Observing a cotton train on a plantation across -the bayou, I called to my men to follow me and plunged in. - -Seeing me floundering in the deep water, however, they went higher up to a -bridge, and when I landed I found myself alone. I was hard pressed for a -time, till they came up and relieved me. There were 52 soldiers killed -here. Other charges near Goodrich's Landing and at Omega put an end to -the cotton speculation in that locality. - -The Confederate army in that section was not well armed, and our company, -each man with a pair of dragoon pistols and a Sharpe's rifle, was the envy -of the Southern army. Gen. Kirby Smith told me he had not seen during the -war a band so well armed. Consequently when, in February, 1864, Gen. -Marmaduke sent to Gen. Shelby for an officer and 40 of the best mounted -and best armed men he had, it was but natural that Shelby's -adjutant-general, John N. Edwards, should recommend a part of the Missouri -boys, and told me to select my men and report to Gen. Shelby, who in turn -ordered me to report for special service to Gen. Marmaduke at Warren, Ark. - -Only twenty, and a beardless boy, Gen. Marmaduke looked me over rather -dubiously, as I thought, but finally told me what he wanted--to find out -whether or not it was true that Gen. Steele, at Little Rock, was preparing -to move against Price at Camden, and to make the grand round of the picket -posts from Warren to the Mississippi river, up the Arkansas to Pine Bluff -and Little Rock, and returning by way of the western outpost at Hot -Springs. - -We were to intercept all messages between Price and Marmaduke, and govern -our movements by their contents. - -About half way between Pine Bluff and Little Rock we came up with a train -of wagons, followed by an ambulance carrying several women and accompanied -by mounted Federal soldiers. The soldiers got away into Pine Bluff, but -we captured the wagons and ambulance, but finding nothing of importance -let them proceed. - -We made a thorough examination of the interior of Little Rock, and -satisfied ourselves that no movement on Price was imminent, and were on -our way out before we became involved in a little shooting match with the -patrol, from which no harm resulted to our side, however, except a shot in -my leg. - -Years afterward, in prison, I learned from Senator Cushman Kellogg Davis, -of Minnesota, that he was one of the officers who galloped into Pine Bluff -ahead of us that day. He was at that time on the staff of the judge -advocate general, and they were on their way into Pine Bluff to hold a -court-martial. The women were, as they had said, the wives of some of the -officers. - -Senator Davis was among the prominent Minnesotans who worked for our -parole, although he did not live to see it accomplished. - - - - - -16. A CLASH WITH APACHES - - -In May, 1864, Col. George S. Jackson and a force of about 300, myself -among the number, were sent across the staked plains into Colorado to -intercept some wagon trains, and to cut the transcontinental telegraph -line from Leavenworth to San Francisco. We cut the line and found the -trains, but empty, and on our return were met at the Rio Grande by orders -to detail a party to cross the continent on a secret mission for the -Confederate states. - -Two vessels of the Alabama type, built in British waters, were to be -delivered at Victoria, B.C., and a secret service officer named Kennedy, -who was entrusted with the papers, was given an escort of twenty men, -including myself, Capt. Jarrette and other veteran scouts. - -While on this expedition we had a brief tilt with Comanches, but in the -country which Gen. Crook afterward fought over inch by inch, we had a real -Indian fight with Apache Mojaves which lasted through two days and the -night between practically without cessation. - -We had a considerable advantage in weapons, but the reds were pestiferous -in spite of that, and they kept us busy for fully 36 hours plugging them -at every opportunity. How many Indians we killed I do not know, as we had -no time or curiosity to stop and count them. They wounded some of our -horses and we had to abandon one wagon, but we did not lose a man. - -From El Paso we went down through Chihuahua and Sonora to Guaymas, where -the party split up, Capt. Jarrette going up the mainland, while Kennedy -and I, with three men, took a boat to San Francisco, disguised as Mexican -miners. We were not detected, and then traveled by stage to Puget Sound, -sailing for Victoria, as nearly as I have since been able to locate it, -about where Seattle now is. On our arrival at Victoria, however, we found -that Lee had surrendered at Appomattox and the war was at an end. - -For a long time I was accused of the killing of several people at -Centralia, in September, 1864, but I think my worst enemies now concede -that it is impossible for me to have been there at the time. - -Another spectre that rose to haunt my last days in prison, and long stood -between my parole and final pardon, was the story of one John McMath, a -corporal in an Indiana cavalry company, in Pleasanton's command, that I -had maltreated him when he lay wounded on the battle field close by the -Big Blue, near my old home in Jackson county. McMath says this occurred -Oct. 23, 1863. It is true that I was in Missouri on that date, but -McMath's regiment was not, nor Pleasanton's command, and the war -department records at Washington show that he was injured in a fight at -the Big Blue Oct. 23, 1864--3 full year later--much as he says I hurt him. -This was eleven months after I had left Missouri and while I was 1,500 -miles away, yet this hideous charge was brought to the attention of Chief -Justice Start, of Minnesota, in 1896 by a Minneapolis newspaper. - -In his _Noted Guerrillas,_ Maj. John N. Edwards wrote: "Lee's surrender at -Appomattox found Cole Younger at Los Angeles, trying the best he could to -earn a livelihood and live at peace with all the world. The character of -this man to many has been a curious study, but to those who knew him well -there is nothing about it of mystery or many-sidedness. An awful -provocation drove him into the army. He was never a bloodthirsty or a -merciless man. He was brave to recklessness, desperate to rashness, -remarkable for terrible prowess in battle; but he was never known to kill -a prisoner. On the contrary, there are alive today (1877) fully 200 -Federal soldiers who owe their lives to Cole Younger, a man whose father -had been cruelly murdered, whose mother had been hounded to her death, -whose family had been made to endure the torment of a ferocious -persecution, and whose kith and kin, even to remote degrees, were -plundered and imprisoned. His brother James did not go into the war until -1864, and was a brave, dauntless, high-spirited boy who never killed a -soldier in his life save in fair and open battle. Cole was a fair-haired, -amiable, generous man, devoted in his friendships and true to his word and -to comradeship. In intrepidity he was never surpassed. In battle he never -had those to go where he would not follow, aye, where he would not gladly -lead. On his body today there are the scars of thirty-six wounds. He was -a Guerrilla and a giant among a band of Guerrillas, but he was one among -five hundred who only killed in open and honorable battle. As great as -had been his provocation, he never murdered; as brutal as had been the -treatment of every one near and dear to him, he refused always to take -vengeance on those who were innocent of the wrongs and who had taken no -part in the deeds which drove him, a boy, into the ranks of the -Guerrillas, but he fought as a soldier who rights for a cause, a creed, an -idea, or for glory. He was a hero and he was merciful." - - - - - -17. THE EDICTS OF OUTLAWRY - - -While I was on the Pacific slope, April 8, 1865, to be exact, the state of -Missouri adopted what is known to the disgrace of its author as the Drake -constitution. Confederate soldiers and sympathizers were prohibited from -practicing any profession, preaching the gospel, acting as deacon in a -church, or doing various other things, under penalty of a fine not less -than $500 or imprisonment in the county jail not less than six months. -Section 4 of Article 11 gave amnesty to union soldiers for their acts -after Jan. 1, 1861, but held Confederates responsible for acts done either -as soldiers or citizens, and Section 12 provided for the indictment, trial -and punishment of persons accused of crime in counties other than the one -where the offense was committed. - -The result of this was that Missourians were largely barred by law from -holding office and the state was overrun with "carpetbag" office-holders, -many of whom came from Kansas, and during the war had been freebooters and -bushwhackers up and down the Kansas border. - -Organizing a posse from men like themselves, sheriffs or others pretending -to be sheriffs would take their mobs, rout men out of their beds at night -under service of writs, on which the only return ever made was a pistol -shot somewhere in the darkness, maybe in the victim's dooryard, perhaps in -some lonely country road. - -Visiting for a time with my uncle on the Pacific slope, I returned to -Jackson county in the fall of 1865 to pick up the scattered ends of a -ruined family fortune. I was 21, and no man of my age in Missouri, -perhaps, had better prospects, if I had been unmolested. Mother had been -driven to a refuge in a cabin on one of our farms, my brother Jim had been -away during the last few months of the war fighting in the army, and had -been taken prisoner in Quantrell's last fight at Wakefield's house near -Smiley, Ky. He was taken to the military prison at Alton, Ill., and was -released in the fall of 1865, coming home within a few days of my return. - - [Illustration: Jim Younger] - - Jim Younger - - -Our faithful negro servant, "Aunt Suse," had been hung up in the barn in a -vain endeavor to make her reveal the whereabouts of my mother's sons and -money; my dead father's fortune had been stolen and scattered to the -winds; but our farms were left, and had I been given an opportunity to -till them in peace it would have saved four wasted lives. - -In the summer of 1866 the governor of Kansas made a requisition on the -governor of Missouri for 300 men, naming them, who had taken part in the -attacks on Lawrence and other Kansas towns. - -Attorneys in Independence had decided that they would defend, free of -charge, for any offense except murder, any of the Jackson county boys who -would give themselves up. No one did more than I to assemble the boys at -Blue Springs for a meeting to consider such course. - -It was while at this that I saw Jesse James for the first time in my life, -so that sets at rest all the wild stories that have been told about our -meeting as boys and joining Quantrell. Frank James and I had seen service -together, and Frank was a good soldier, too. Jesse, however, did not -enter the service until after I had gone South in the fall of 1863, and -when I saw him early in the summer of 1866 he was still suffering from the -shot through the lung he had received in the last battle in Johnson county -in May, 1865. - - [Illustration: Jesse James and Frank James] - - Jesse James (top) and Frank James (bottom) - - -The spectre of Paola now rose to haunt me. Although all the guerrillas -knew who had killed young Judy, his father had secured my indictment in -Kansas on the charge of murdering his son. Judy, who had returned to -Missouri as the appointed sheriff of Cass county, had a posse prepared to -serve a writ for me in its usual way--a night visit and then the pistol or -the rope. - -I consulted with old ex-Governor King at Richmond, who had two sons in the -Federal army, one of whom I had captured during the war, although he did -not know it at the time, and with Judge Tutt of this district. - -Judge Tutt said there was no sheriff in this vicinity who would draw a -jury that would give me a fair trial. If I should so make oath he, as -judge, would appoint a jury commissioner who would summon a jury that -would give me a fair trial, but he was confident that as soon as he did so -mob law would be invoked before I could go to trial. - -One man had been taken from the train and hung at Warrensburg and there -had been many like offenses against former Confederate soldiers. - -Judy had no legal rights in Jackson county, but in spite of that his posse -started for the Younger farm one night to take me. George Belcher, a -Union soldier, but not in sympathy with mob law, heard of Judy's plans, -and through Sam Colwell and Zach Cooper, neighbors, I was warned in the -evening of the intended raid. When they came I was well out of reach on -my way to the home of my great-uncle, Thomas Fristoe, in Howard county. - -Judy and his mob searched the house in vain, but they put up for a -midnight supper which they compelled the faithful "Aunt Suse" to provide, -and left disappointed. - -Judy and his Kansas indictment were the entering wedge in a wasted life. -But for him and his mob law Mr. and Mrs. Cole Younger, for there was a -dear sweetheart awaiting my return, might have been happy and prosperous -residents of Jackson county from 1866 to this day. - -It was while I was visiting my great-uncle in Howard county that there -took place at Liberty the first of a long string of bank and train -robberies, all of which were usually attributed either to the Younger -brothers, or to some of their friends, and which we were unable to come -out and successfully refute for two reasons, first the bringing down of a -storm about the heads of those who had sheltered us; and second, giving -such pursuers as Judy and his posse fresh clues to our whereabouts. - - - - - -18. NOT ALL BLACK - - -From the mass of rubbish that has been written about the guerrilla there -is little surprise that the popular conception of him should be a -fiendish, bloodthirsty wretch. - -Yet he was, in many cases, if not in most, a man who had been born to -better things, and who was made what he was by such outrages as Osceola, -Palmyra, and a hundred other raids less famous, but not less infamous, -that were made by Kansans into Missouri during the war. - -When the war ceased those of the guerrillas who were not hung or shot, or -pursued by posses till they found the hand of man turned against them at -every step, settled down to become good citizens in the peaceful walks of -life, and the survivors of Quantrell's band may be pardoned, in view of -the black paint that has been devoted to them, in calling attention to the -fact that of the members of Quantrell's command who have since been -entrusted with public place not one has ever betrayed his trust. - -John C. Hope was for two terms sheriff of Jackson county, Mo., in which is -Kansas City, and Capt. J. M. Tucker was sheriff at Los Angeles, -California. Henry Porter represented one of the Jackson county districts -in the state legislature, removed to Texas, where he was made judge of the -county court, and is now, I understand, a judge of probate in the state of -Washington. "Pink" Gibson was for several years county judge in Johnson -county; Harry Ogden served the state of Louisiana as lieutenant-governor -and as one of its congressmen. Capt. J. G. Lea was for many years -instructor in the military department of the University of New Mexico, -and, I believe, is there yet. Jesse Hamblett was marshal at Lexington, -and W. H. Gregg, who was Quantrell's first lieutenant, has been thought -well enough of to be a deputy sheriff under the administration of a -Republican. Jim Hendricks, deputy sheriff of Lewis and Clark county, -Montana, is another, but to enumerate all the men of the old band who have -held minor places would be wearisome. - - - - - -19. A DUEL AND AN AUCTION - - -I left Missouri soon after Judy's raid for Louisiana, spending three -months with Capt. J. C. Lea on what was known as the Widow Amos' farm on -Fortune fork, Tensas parish. We then rented the Bass farm on Lake -Providence, in Carroll parish, where I stayed until 1867, when chills and -fever drove me north to Missouri. When the bank at Russellville, Ky., was -robbed, which has been laid to us, I was with my uncle, Jeff Younger, in -St. Clair county, and Jim and Bob were at home here in Lee's Summit. - -At the time of the Richmond and Savannah, Mo., bank robberies, in which, -according to newspapers and sensationalists, I was largely concerned, I -was living on the Bass plantation, three miles below Lake Providence, in -Louisiana. Capt. J. C. and Frank Lea, of Roswell, N. M., and Tom Lea, of -Independence, Mo., were living in the same house with me, any one of whom -will vouch for the truth of my statement that I was not anywhere near -either of these towns at the time of the robberies in question, but was -with them at the plantation referred to above. Furthermore, right here I -want to state, and I will take my oath solemnly that what I say is the -truth, and _nothing but the truth, notwithstanding all the accusations -that have been made against me, I never, in all my life, had anything -whatever to do with robbing any bank in the state of Missouri_. I could -prove that I was not in the towns where banks were robbed in Missouri, at -the time that the raids took place, and in many instances that I was -thousands of miles away. - -In the fall of 1868 Jim and Bob went with me to Texas. Mother's health -had failed perceptibly, the result in a large measure of her exposure at -the time the militia forced her to burn her house, and we sought to make -her a home in a milder climate in the southwest. The next two or three -years we spent there gathering and driving cattle, my sister joining us -and keeping house for us at Syene, Dallas county, where we made our -headquarters. - -I was at Austin, Texas, when the Gallatin, Mo., bank was robbed; another -crime of which we have been accused by the romancers, though never, so far -as I know, by the authorities. - -In 1870 and 1871 Jim was deputy sheriff of Dallas county. - -Jim and Bob sang in the church choir there until 1872, when Bob, who was -only seventeen, and in love with one of the local belles, felt keenly the -obloquy attaching to the accusation that his brother Cole had robbed the -Kansas City fair, and left Dallas. - -One of the lies that had been published broadcast concerning me is that I -killed five men and shot five others in a row over a "jobbed" horse race -in Louisiana. There is this much truth about it--there was a jobbed race, -and after it I fought a duel, but not over the race. - -In the crowd that was present at the race was one Capt. Jim White, to whom -I had sent word during the war that when I met him again he would have to -apologize or fight because of circulating some scandal about a young woman -friend of mine. - -White introduced himself to me after this race, where a friend of mine had -been swindled out of considerable money, and we went over to a neighboring -plantation to shoot it out. At the first fire his right arm was shattered -at the shoulder. He thought he was fatally hurt, and so did I at first, -and he called me over and said: - -"Captain Younger, whether I die or not, I want to shake hands with you as -a friend. I have had some differences of this sort with others and came -out all right; people have sneered at my success and said, 'Wait till -Cap'n Younger gets at you. He'll fix you!' So I finally made up my mind -to fight you, right or wrong." - -I told my friend who owned the plantation to take care of White, and I -went to Texas to make in the cattle business some of the money I had lost -trying to raise cotton. The next year I was over in Mississippi at a -dance, and a young lady asked to be introduced to me. - -Her name was White, and we had not talked long before she said: - -"Mother says you've made a man of father." - -Captain White had crossed the river, quit his drinking associates, but I -have never seen him since the day we shot it out. - -This duel gave Cole Younger a reputation in that section which was of -value to a poor preacher's widow near Bayou Macon some time later. - -There was to be a sale of the property and effects of the Widow Hurley. I -attended the sale, hitched my horse in the barn lot and was walking across -the garden at the back of the house toward an open space, where the crowd -was gathered waiting for the auctioneer to open the sale. As I walked I -came upon Mrs. Hurley, crying. "Good morning, Mrs. Hurley," I said, "I am -sorry to see you in tears; what is the trouble?" - -She explained that her husband had mortgaged the property and stock before -his death and she had not been able to lift it, and they were about to be -taken away from her. I asked her what the amount of the indebtedness was, -and she told me $80. I took the money out of my pocket and gave it to -her, and told her to bid it in when the time came, and I gave her the -signal. - -Asbury Humphreys, who was the auctioneer, knew me from the story of the -duel, and before he began I told him he would have to put the property all -up at once. - -Some of the fellows from over on the river wanted the cows and hogs put up -separately, so they could pick out what they wanted, and Asbury declared -he was afraid to change the plan for the sale. They would not let him -live there if he did. - -"Well, Asbury," I said, "I'm going to be down beside the wagon where I can -see you and you can see me, and when I give you the sign you knock the -property down or I'll have use for this pistol." - -I had not had time to coach Mrs. Hurley, so she made it somewhat -embarrassing for Asbury. There was kicking enough when he announced that -he had decided to put all the goods up in a lump, but he looked down where -I was learning against the wheel of his wagon and stood pat. - -When he called for bids Mrs. Hurley bid her whole $80. I had not taken -the precaution to tell her to start it lower, and there were now only two -ways out of it, either to give her more money or have it knocked down to -her right there. - -I decided that the shortest way out of it was to have Asbury knock it down -to her then and there, so I gave him the sign. - -I had to protect Asbury from the crowd for a few minutes, but there was no -harm done to any one. Mrs. Hurley had her goods, and the creditor had his -money, and I was out $80, while Asbury's reliability as an auctioneer was -called into some question until his position in the matter was fully -understood. - - - - - -20. LAURELS UNSOUGHT - - -Although every book purporting to narrate the lives of the Younger -brothers has told of the Liberty robbery, and implied that we had a part -in it, the Youngers were not suspected at that time, nor for a long time -afterward. It was claimed by people of Liberty that they positively -recognized among the robbers Oll Shepherd, "Red" Monkers and "Bud" Pence, -who had seen service with Quantrell. Jim White and J. F. Edmunson were -arrested in St. Joseph, but were promptly released, their preliminary -examination failing to connect them with the raid in any way. - -In October of that year a bank at Lexington, Mo., was robbed of $2,000, -but so far as I know it was never connected with the Younger brothers in -any way until 1880, when J. W. Buel published his "Border Bandits." - -March 2, 1867, the bank at Savannah, Mo., was raided, but the five who did -this were identified, and there were no Younger boys in the party. This -raid was accompanied by bloodshed, Judge McLain, the banker, being shot, -though not fatally. - -May 23 of that year the bank at Richmond, Mo., was raided, Mayor Shaw was -killed, and the robbers raided the jail, where were confined a number of -prisoners whose arrest, it was claimed, was due to their sympathy with -secession. Jailer Griffin and his 15-year-old son were killed there. -Warrants were issued for a number of the old guerrillas, including Allen -Parmer, afterward the husband of Susie James, although he was working in -Kansas City at the time, and proved an absolute alibi. No warrant was -issued for the Youngers, but subsequent historians (?) have, inferentially -at least, accused us of taking part, but as I said before, there is no -truth in the accusation. - -The bank at Russellville, Ky., was raided March 20, 1868, and among the -raiders was a man who gave his name as Colburn, who the detectives have -endeavored to make it appear was Cole Younger. Having served in Kentucky -with Quantrell, Jim Younger and Frank James were well known through that -state, and it being known that the previous bank robberies in Missouri -were charged to ex-guerrillas, similar conclusions were at once drawn by -the Louisville sleuths who were put on the case. Jim and John were at home -at Lee's Summit. - -June 3, 1871, Obocock Bros.' bank at Corydon, Iowa, was robbed of $40,000 -by seven men in broad daylight. The romancers have connected Jim and me -with that, when as a matter of fact I was in Louisiana, Jim and Bob were -at Dallas, and John was in California. - -April 29, 1872, the day that the bank at Columbia, Ky., was raided and the -cashier, R. A. C. Martin, killed I was at Neosho Falls, Kansas, with a -drove of cattle. - -September 26 of the same year the cash-box of the Kansas City fair was -stolen. A full statement as to my whereabouts during the day is given in -a letter appended hereto, which also shows that it would have been -impossible for me to be present at the wrecking of the Rock Island train -in Adair county, Iowa, July 21, 1873; the hold-up of the Malvern stage -near the Gaines place Jan. 15, 1874; the Ste. Genevieve bank robbery May -27, 1873, or the Iron Mountain train robbery at Gad's Hill, Mo., Jan. 31, -1874. It was charged that Arthur McCoy or A. C. McCoy and myself had been -participants in the Gad's Hill affair and the two stage robberies. - -Nov. 15, 1874, I wrote a letter to my brother-in-law, Lycargus A. Jones, -which was published in part in the Pleasant Hill Review Nov. 26, the -editor having in the meantime inquired into the statements of facts and -satisfied himself of their truth. The parts of this letter now relevant -are as follows: - - - - -Cass County, Nov. 15, 1874. -Dear Curg: - -You may use this letter in your own way. I will give you this outline and -sketch of my whereabouts and actions at the time of certain robberies with -which I am charged. At the time of the Gallatin bank robbery I was -gathering cattle in Ellis county, Texas; cattle that I bought from Pleas -Taylor and Rector. This can be proved by both of them; also by Sheriff -Barkley and fifty other respectable men of that county. I brought the -cattle to Kansas that fall and remained in St. Clair county until -February. I then went to Arkansas and returned to St. Clair county about -the first of May. I went to Kansas, where our cattle were, in Woodson -county, at Col. Ridge's. During the summer I was either in St. Clair, -Jackson or Kansas, but as there was no robbery committed that summer it -makes no difference where I was. - -The gate at the fair grounds was robbed that fall. I was in Jackson -county at the time. I left R. P. Rose's that morning, went down the -Independence road, stopped at Dr. Noland's, and got some pills. Brother -John was with me. I went through Independence and from there to Ace -Webb's. There I took dinner and then went to Dr. L. W. Twyman's. Stayed -there until after supper, then went to Silas Hudspeth's and stayed all -night. This was the day the gate was robbed at Kansas City. Next day -John and I went to Kansas City. We crossed the river at Blue Mills and -went up on the other side. Our business there was to see E. P. West. He -was not at home, but the family will remember that we were there. We -crossed on the bridge, stayed in the city all night and the next morning -we rode up through the city. I met several of my friends. Among them was -Bob Hudspeth. We then returned to the Six-Mile country by the way of -Independence. At Big Blue we met Jas. Chiles and had a long talk with -him. I saw several friends that were standing at or near the gate, and -they all said that they didn't know any of the party that did the robbing. -Neither John nor myself was accused of the crime until several days after. -My name would never have been used in connection with the affair had not -Jesse W. James, for some cause best known to himself, published in the -Kansas City Times a letter stating that John, he and myself were accused -of the robbery. Where he got his authority I don't know, but one thing I -do know, he had none from me. We were not on good terms at the time, nor -have we been for several years. From that time on mine and John's names -have been connected with the James brothers. John hadn't seen either of -them for eighteen months before his death. And as for A. C. McCoy, John -never saw him in his life. I knew A. C. McCoy during the war, but have -never seen him since, notwithstanding the Appleton City paper says he has -been with us in that county for two years. Now if any respectable man in -that county will say he ever saw A. C. McCoy with me or John I will say no -more; or if any reliable man will say that he ever saw any one with us who -suited the description of A. C. McCoy then I will be silent and never more -plead innocence. - -Poor John, he has been hunted down and shot like a wild beast, and never -was a boy more innocent. But there is a day coming when the secrets of -all hearts will be laid open before that All-seeing Eye, and every act of -our lives will be scrutinized; then will his skirts be white as the driven -snow, while those of his accusers will be doubly dark. - -I will come now to the Ste. Genevieve robbery. At that time I was in St. -Clair county, Mo. I do not remember the date, but Mr. Murphy, one of our -neighbors, was sick about that time, and I sat up with him regularly, -where I met with some of his neighbors every day. Dr. L. Lewis was his -physician. - -As to the Iowa train robbery, I have forgotten the day, I was also in St. -Clair county, Mo., at that time, and had the pleasure of attending -preaching the evening previous to the robbery at Monegaw Springs. There -were fifty or a hundred persons there who will testify in any court that -John and I were there. I will give you the names of some of them: Simeon -C. Bruce, John S. Wilson, James Van Allen, Rev. Mr. Smith and lady. -Helvin Fickle and wife of Greenton Valley were attending the springs at -that time, and either of them will testify to the above, for John and I -sat in front of Mr. Smith while he was preaching and was in his company -for a few moments, together with his wife and Mr. and Mrs. Fickle, after -service. They live at Greenton Valley, Lafayette county, Mo., and their -evidence would be taken in the court of heaven. As there was no other -robbery committed until January, I will come to that time. About the last -of December, 1873, I arrived in Carroll parish, Louisiana. I stayed there -until the 8th of February, 1874. Brother and I stayed at Wm. Dickerson's, -near Floyd. During the time the Shreveport stage and the Hot Springs -stage were robbed; also the Gad's Hill robbery. - - THOMAS COLEMAN YOUNGER - - - - -On reading since my release the pretended history of my life I find that I -was wrong in stating that there was no robbery during the summer of 1872, -the bank at Columbia, Ky., having been raided April 29 of that year. I -had not heard of that when I wrote the letter of 1874, and to correct any -misapprehension that might be created by omitting it I will say that at -that time I was at Neosho, Kansas, with a drove of cattle, which I sold to -Maj. Ray. - -It was immediately following the Rock Island robbery at Adair, Iowa, that -there first appeared a deliberate enlistment of some local papers in -Missouri to connect us with this robbery. New York and Chicago as well as -St. Paul and Minneapolis papers did not connect the Youngers with the -crime, and three days after the robbery these papers had it that the -robbers had been followed into Nodaway county, Missouri, while we were at -Monegaw Springs all that time. Besides those mentioned in my 1874 letter, -Marshall P. Wright's affidavit that he showed Jim and me at Monegaw -Springs the morning paper containing the account of the robbery the next -morning after it took place, was presented to Gov. Clough of Minnesota in -1898. - -It is 250 miles or more and no cross lines of railroad existed to -facilitate our passage, so it would be impossible for any one to have made -the trip. The shortest rail lines are roundabout, via St. Joseph and -Kansas City, so it will be apparent that I could not have been at the Rock -Island wreck. - - - - - -21. THE TRUTH ABOUT JOHN YOUNGER - - -John, my brother, was fourteen when the war closed and Bob under twelve. -One day in January, 1866, John, Bob and my mother drove into Independence -to mill, and to do other errands in town, one of which was to get one of -my pistols fixed. - -A young fellow named Gillcreas, who had served in the militia and was -several years John's senior, hit the boy with a piece of mackerel, and -warm words ensued. - -"Why don't you shoot him?" shouted Bob from the wagon. - -John told the fellow if Cole were there he would not dare do that, and -Gillcreas said Cole should be in prison, and all Quantrell's men with him. -Gillcreas went away, but returned to the attack, this time armed with a -heavy slungshot. In the meantime John had gotten the pistol which had -been in the wagon. Gillcreas came up to resume the fight and John shot -him dead. The slungshot was found with the thong twined about Gillcreas' -wrist. - - [Illustration: John Younger] - - John Younger - - -The coroner's jury acquitted John, and there were many people in -Independence who felt that he had done just right. - -When I went to Louisiana in 1868 John went with me, afterward accompanying -me to Texas. Clerking in a store in Dallas, he became associated with -some young fellows of reckless habits and drank somewhat. - -One day, while they were all in a gay mood, John shot the pipe out of the -mouth of a fellow named Russell. Russell jumped up and ran out of the -room. - -"Don't kill him," shouted the crowd in ridicule, and John fired several -random shots to keep up the scare. - -Russell swore out a warrant for John's arrest, and next morning, Jan. 17, -1871, Capt. S. W. Nichols, the sheriff, and John McMahon came up to the -house to arrest him. John made no resistance and invited the officers to -breakfast, but they declined and went back down town. Thompson McDaniels -called John's attention to the fact that a guard had been stationed over -his horses, and they walked down town together. Tom and John drank some -whisky, and while they were waiting Nichols and his party had taken on -some too. - -"What did you put a guard over my horses for?" asked John, when he entered -the room where Nichols was. - -"I did not put any guard over your horses," replied Nichols. - -"You're a----liar," continued John, "I saw them there myself." - -At this another Russell, a brother of the one whose pipe had been shot out -of his mouth, opened fire on John and wounded him in the arm. Thomp. -McDaniels shot Capt. Nichols, and in the melee McMahon was shot, as far as -I have ever been able to learn, by my brother. - -John and McDaniels went out, took the officers' horses and rode to -Missouri. - -It developed after the shooting that the same Russell who had opened fire -on John had placed the guard over the horses, and that Capt. Nichols had -not known of it. - -I was away in Louisiana at the time, but on my return several attorneys -offered to defend John if he would return for trial, but after a visit at -the home of our uncle in California he returned to Missouri in the winter -of 1873 and 1874, just in time to be suspected of the train robbery at -Gad's Hill, on the Iron Mountain road. - -John and Jim were visiting at the home of our friend, Theodoric Snuffer, -at Monegaw Springs, St. Clair county. - -Man-hunters had sought us there on a previous occasion when we were all -four there. We had come upon the party of 15 suddenly, and I covered them -with a shot-gun, demanded their surrender, and explaining that we had not -robbed anybody, and wanted to be treated as decent citizens, approached by -officers of the law in the regular manner if we were accused, restored -their arms to them, and they went back to Osceola. - -March 11, 1874, J. W. Whicher, a Pinkerton detective from Chicago, who had -been sent out to arrest Frank and Jesse James at Kearney, was found dead -in the road near Independence, and W. J. Allen, otherwise known as Capt. -Lull, a St. Louis plain-clothes cop who passed by the name of Wright, and -an Osceola boy named Ed. Daniels, who was a deputy sheriff with an -ambition to shine as a sleuth, rode out to find Jim and Bob at the -Springs. - -The boys, advised of their coming by a negro servant, sought to convince -them, as we had the earlier posse, that they could not have had anything -to do with the affair at Gad's Hill. But Allen, remembering the recent -fate of Whicher, drew his pistol and shot John in the neck. John returned -the fire and killed Daniels and took after Allen. Side by side the horses -galloped, John firing at the detective till he fell from the saddle -mortally wounded. John turned to ride back to where Jim was, when he -toppled from his saddle and was dead in a few minutes. - -The St. Louis detective had fled at the first fire, and lived to tell -graphic stories of how it all happened, although he was really too busy -getting out to know anything about it. - - - - - -22. AMNESTY BILL FAILS - - -The killing of Lull, Daniels and Whicher within a single week was -undoubtedly exasperating to the head of the Pinkerton agency, and had he -not been personally embittered thereby he probably would not have avenged -it so terribly. - -In the next January, 1875, a posse of Pinkerton men and others, guided by -Daniel H. Asker, a neighbor of the James boys, proceeded to their home -near Kearney and threw a bomb into the house where the family was seated. -An eight-year-old half-brother of Frank and Jesse was killed, their -mother, Mrs. Samuels, had one arm torn off, and other members of the -family were more or less injured. But Frank and Jesse were not taken. - -There had been a feeling among many people in the state even before that -these detectives were unjustly pursuing some of the Confederate soldiers, -and I have been told since that Gov. Silas Woodson was on the eve of -interfering with Pinkerton's men when news came that two of them had been -killed in an encounter with John and Jim Younger. - -At any rate the death of the innocent little Samuels boy made still more -pronounced this feeling against the operations of the detectives, and in -favor of the members of the Confederate army who had been outlawed by -Fremont, Halleck, Ewing and the Drake constitution, ungenerously, to say -the least. - -This feeling found definite expression shortly after the raid on the -Samuels home in the introduction of a bill in the Missouri legislature -offering amnesty to the Younger and James brothers by name, and others who -had been outlawed with them by proclamation, from all their acts during -the war, and promising them a fair trial on any charge against them -arising after the war. - -The bill was introduced in the house by the late General Jeff Jones, of -Callaway county, where my brothers and myself had many friends, and was, -in the main, as follows: - -"Whereas, by the 4th section of the 11th article of the Constitution of -Missouri, all persons in the military service of the United States or who -acted under the authority thereof in this state, are relieved from all -civil liability and all criminal punishment for all acts done by them -since the 1st day of January, A.D. 1861; and," - -"Whereas, By the 12th section of the said 11th article of said -constitution provision is made by which, under certain circumstances, may -be seized, transported to, indicted, tried and punished in distant -counties, any confederate under ban of despotic displeasure, thereby -contravening the Constitution of the United States and every principle of -enlightened humanity; and," - -"Whereas, Such discrimination evinces a want of manly generosity and -statesmanship on the part of the party imposing, and of courage and -manhood on the part of the party submitting tamely thereto; and," - -"Whereas, Under the outlawry pronounced against Jesse W. James, Frank -James, Coleman Younger, James Younger and others, who gallantly periled -their lives and their all in defense of their principles, they are of -necessity made desperate, driven as they are from the fields of honest -industry, from their friends, their families, their homes and their -country, they can know no law but the law of self-preservation, nor can -have no respect for and feel no allegiance to a government which forces -them to the very acts it professes to deprecate, and then offers a bounty -for their apprehension, and arms foreign mercenaries with power to capture -and kill them; and," - -"Whereas, Believing these men too brave to be mean, too generous to be -revengeful, and too gallant and honorable to betray a friend or break a -promise; and believing further that most, if not all of the offenses with -which they are charged have been committed by others, and perhaps by those -pretending to hunt them, or by their confederates; that their names are -and have been used to divert suspicion from and thereby relieve the actual -perpetrators; that the return of these men to their homes and friends -would have the effect of greatly lessening crime in our state by turning -public attention to the real criminals, and that common justice, sound -policy and true statesmanship alike demand that amnesty should be extended -to all alike of both parties for all acts done or charged to have been -done during the war; therefore, be it" - -"_Resolved by the House of Representatives, the Senate concurring -therein,_ That the Governor of the state be, and he is hereby requested to -issue his proclamation notifying the said Jesse W. James, Frank James, -Coleman Younger, and James Younger and others, that full and complete -amnesty and pardon will be granted them for all acts charged or committed -by them during the late civil war, and inviting them peacefully to return -to their respective homes in this state and there quietly to remain, -submitting themselves to such proceedings as may be instituted against -them by the courts for all offenses charged to have been committed since -said war, promising and guaranteeing to each of them full protection and a -fair trial therein, and that full protection shall be given them from the -time of their entrance into the state and his notice thereof under said -proclamation and invitation." - -It was approved by Attorney-General Hockaday, favorably reported by a -majority of the committee on criminal jurisprudence, but while it was -pending Farmer Askew, who had piloted the detectives in their raid on the -Samuels residence, was called to his door at night and shot and killed by -unknown parties. - -The bill was beaten, Democrats and Confederate soldiers voting against it. - -For myself, the only charge against me was the unwarranted one of the -killing of young Judy during the war, but the failure of the bill left us -still under the ban of outlawry. - - - - - -23. BELLE STARR - - -One of the richest mines for the romancers who have pretended to write the -story of my life was the fertile imagination of Belle Starr, who is now -dead, peace to her ashes. - -These fairy tales have told how the "Cherokee maiden fell in love with the -dashing captain." As a matter of fact, Belle Starr was not a Cherokee. -Her father was John Shirley, who during the war had a hotel at Carthage, -Mo. In the spring of 1864, while I was in Texas, I visited her father, -who had a farm near Syene, in Dallas county. Belle Shirley was then 14, -and there were two or three brothers smaller. - -The next time I saw Belle Shirley was in 1868, in Bates county, Mo. She -was then the wife of Jim Reed, who had been in my company during the war, -and she was at the home of his mother. This was about three months before -the birth of her eldest child, Pearl Reed, afterward known as Pearl Starr, -after Belle's second husband. - -In 1871, while I was herding cattle in Texas, Jim Reed and his wife, with -their two children, came back to her people. Reed had run afoul of the -Federal authorities for passing counterfeit money at Los Angeles and had -skipped between two days. Belle told her people she was tired roaming the -country over and wanted to settle down at Syene. Mrs. Shirley wanted to -give them part of the farm, and knowing my influence with the father, -asked me to intercede in behalf of the young folks. I did, and he set them -up on the farm, and I cut out a lot of the calves from one of my two herds -and left with them. - -That day Belle Reed told me her troubles, and that night "Aunt Suse," our -family servant, warned me. - -"Belle's sure in love with you, Cap'n Cole," she explained. "You better -be careful." - -With that hint I thereafter evaded the wife of my former comrade in arms. - -Reed was killed a few years later after the robbery of the stage near San -Antonio, and Belle married again, this time Tom Starr or Sam Starr. - -Later she came to Missouri and traveled under the name of Younger, boasted -of an intimate acquaintance with me, served time in state prison, and at -this time declared that she was my wife, and that the girl Pearl was our -child. - -At this time I had no knowledge of any one named Belle Starr, and I was at -a loss as to her identity until the late Lillian Lewis, the actress, who -was related to some very good friends of our family, inquired about her on -one of her tours through the southwest. Visiting me in prison, she told -me that Belle Starr was the daughter of John Shirley, and then for the -first time had I any clue as to her identity. - -Her story was a fabrication, inspired undoubtedly by the notoriety it -would give her through the Cherokee nation, where the name of Younger was -widely known, whether fortunately or unfortunately. - - - - - -24. "CAPTAIN DYKES" - - -The winter that the amnesty bill was before the Missouri legislature I -spent in Florida, with the exception of a short trip to Cuba. I was the -greater part of the time at Lake City. I sent Bob to school at William -and Mary college, but the same proud spirit that caused him to leave -Dallas in 1872 impelled him to leave college when his fellow students -began to connect his uncommon name with that of the notorious Missouri -outlaw, Cole Younger. He rejoined me in Florida. I was "Mr. Dykes," a -sojourner from the north, and while I carried a pair of pistols in my belt -to guard against the appearance of any of Judy's ilk, the people of Lake -City never knew it until one day when the village was threatened with a -race riot. - -A lot of the blacks there had been members of a negro regiment and all had -arms. My barber was of a different school of darkies, and the Lake City -blacks determined to run him out of town. He told me of the plan, and I -did not take much stock in it until one morning when I was being shaved I -heard the plotters, over a bottle of whisky in an adjoining room, -declaring what they were going to do. Soon after I left the shop I heard -a pistol shot, and turning around to see what was the matter, I saw my -barber running toward me, while the other darkies were scattering to their -homes for their guns. I walked up the street a little distance with the -barber, when some one called to me, and I saw that the lieutenant of this -old company had us covered by his gun. I ran up to him and planting my -pistol between his eyes, commanded him to drop the gun, which the barber -got in a jiffy. The pistol shot in the shop had alarmed the merchants, -each of whom kept a gun in his store, and thereafter as the blacks came to -the rallying place in the public square with their guns we disarmed them -quicker than it takes to tell it, and they were locked up to cool off. - -After that I was dubbed "Capt." Dykes, by unanimous consent, and had to be -more careful than before lest the military title should attract to me the -attention of some curious investigator who would have overlooked entirely -"Mr. Dykes." - -The disguised outlaw became during the remainder of his residence a -leading and respected citizen. When the election was held it was "Capt. -Dykes" who was called upon to preserve order at the polls, he, of course, -having no interest as between the rival candidates, and with pistols in -easy reach he maintained perfect order during one of the most exciting -elections Lake City had ever had. - - - - - -25. ELUDING THE POLICE - - -Bob and I had a close call with the St. Louis police in the fall of that -year. The bank at Huntington, West Virginia, was robbed the first of -September that year, and in the chase of the robbers Thompson McDaniels, -who had fought with us in the war, was shot and fatally hurt. In his -delirium he called for "Bud," and many, among whom was Detective Ely of -Louisville, thought that he meant me, I having been known familiarly -throughout the war as "Bud" Younger. This fact has made careless writers -connect Brother Bob with some of my exploits, and in his case it served to -throw suspicion on me when in fact it was probably "Bud" or Bill -McDaniels, Thompson's brother, about whom he was raving. Bill was killed -shortly before, escaping from arrest for complicity in the Muncie train -robbery. - -Shortly after this Huntington affair Bob and I were coming north from -Florida. We had ridden as far as Nashville, and sold our horses there, -carrying the saddle pockets with us. Shortly before we reached St. Louis -we met the morning papers, full of the Huntington robbery, and the -statement that the robbers Were headed for Missouri. Knowing that we -would be watched for in St. Louis, I told Bob we would have to go through -anyway. There were some farmers' families on the train from White county, -Tennessee, who were moving to the big bend of the Arkansas river, the men -and goods having gone on ahead by freight. We determined to get in with -these people and bluff it through. As they always do at St. Louis when on -the lookout, a lot of detectives boarded the train at East St. Louis and -came through, but I was busy showing one of the small boys the river, and -Bob had a little girl who was equally interested in the strange city -before her. Gathering up a lot of the baggage of the women folks, we went -through the union depot. Chief of Detectives McDonough was standing by -the gate and I saw him as I passed within a few feet of him, but he made -no sign. We took the women down town to the office where they got their -rebates on their tickets, and then we took them back to the depot and left -them, very grateful for our considerate attention, although, perhaps, we -were under as deep obligations to them as they were to us, if they had -known all the facts. - - [Illustration: Bob Younger] - - Bob Younger - - -But I was determined to take no further chances, and told Bob to get in a -hack that stood outside, and if we were stopped I would get on top and -drive. - -As we told the driver to go to a certain hotel we allayed the suspicion of -a policeman who stood near and he made no effort to molest us. When we -got around a corner and out of sight we paid the hackman and skipped out -to Union, where we spent the night, and came up to Little Blue, on the -Missouri Pacific, the next day. - - - - - -26. BEN BUTLER'S MONEY - - -There was no change in the situation in Missouri so far as the Younger -brothers were concerned. Every daylight robbery in any part of the -country, from the Alleghenies to the Rockies, was laid at our doors; we -could not go out without a pair of pistols to protect ourselves from the -attack of we knew not whom; and finally, after one of the young ruffians -who had helped in the robbery of the Missouri Pacific express car at -Otterville "confessed" that we were with the robbers we decided to make -one haul, and with our share of the proceeds start life anew in Cuba, -South America, or Australia. - -Gen. Benjamin F. Butler, whom we preferred to call "Silver Spoons" Butler -from his New Orleans experiences during the war, had a lot of money -invested, we were told, in the First National bank at Northfield, -Minnesota, as also had J. T. Ames, Butler's son-in-law, who had been the -"carpet-bag" governor of Mississippi after the war. - -Butler's treatment of the Southerners during the war was not such as to -commend him to our regard, and we felt little compunction, under the -circumstances, about raiding him or his. - -Accordingly, about the middle of August we made up a party to visit -Northfield, going north by rail. There were Jim, Bob and myself, Clell -Miller, who had been accused of the Gad's Hill, Muncie, Corydon, Hot -Springs and perhaps other bank and train robberies, but who had not been -convicted of any of them; Bill Chadwell, a young fellow from Illinois, and -three men whose names on the expedition were Pitts, Woods and Howard. - -We spent a week in Minneapolis, seeing the sights, playing poker and -looking around for information, after which we spent a similar period in -St. Paul. - -I was accounted a fairly good poker player in those days, and had won -about $3,000 the winter I was in Florida, while Chadwell was one of the -best that ever played the game. - -We both played our last game of poker in St. Paul that week, for he was -soon to die at Northfield, and in the quarter of a century that has passed -since such a change has come over me that I not only have no desire to -play cards, but it disgusts me even to see boys gamble with dice for -cigars. - -This last game was at a gambling house on East Third street, between -Jackson and Robert streets, about half a block from the Merchants' hotel, -where we were stopping. Guy Salisbury, who has since become a minister, -was the proprietor of the gambling house, and Charles Hickson was the -bartender. It was upstairs over a restaurant run by Archie McLeod, who is -still in St. Paul. - -Chadwell and I were nearly $300 ahead of the game when Bob came along and -insisted on sitting in, and we left the table. I never would play in a -game where Bob was. - -Early in the last week in August we started on the preliminary work for -the Northfield expedition. - - - - - -27. HORACE GREELEY PERRY - - -When we split up in St. Paul Howard, Woods, Jim and Clell Miller were to -go to Red Wing to get their horses, while Chadwell, Pitts, Bob and myself -were to go to St. Peter or Mankato, but Bob and Chadwell missed the train -and they had me in a stew to know what had happened to them. We watched -the papers, but could find nothing about any arrest, and Pitts and I -bought our horses at St. Peter. I was known as King, and some of the -fellows called me Congressman King, insisting that I bore some resemblance -to Congressman William S. King of Minneapolis. I bought two horses, one -from a man named Hodge and the other from a man named French, and while we -were breaking them there at St. Peter I made the acquaintance of a little -girl who was afterward one of the most earnest workers for our parole. - -A little tot then, she said she could ride a horse, too, and reaching down -I lifted her up before me, and we rode up and down. I asked her name and -she said it was "Horace Greeley Perry," and I replied: - -"No wonder you're such a little tot, with such a great name." - -"I won't always be little," she replied. "I'm going to be a great big -girl, and be a newspaper man like my pa." - -"Will you still be my sweetheart then, and be my friend?" I asked her, and -she declared she would, a promise I was to remind her of years later under -circumstances of which I did not dream then. - -Many years afterward with a party of visitors to the prison came a girl, -perhaps sixteen, who registered in full "Horace Greeley Perry." - -I knew there could not be two women with such a name in the world, and I -reminded her of her promise, a promise which she did not remember, -although she had been told how she had made friends with the bold bad man -who afterwards robbed the bank at Northfield. - -Very soon afterward, at the age of eighteen, I believe, she became, as she -had dreamed in childhood, a "newspaper man," editing the St. Peter -Journal, and to the hour of my pardon she was one of the most -indefatigable workers for us. - -A few years ago failing health compelled her removal from Minnesota to -Idaho, and Minnesota lost one of the brightest newspaper writers and one -of the best and truest women and staunchest friends that a man ever knew. -Jim and I had a host of earnest advocates during the latter years of our -imprisonment, but none exceeded in devotion the young woman who, as a -little tot, had ridden, unknowingly, with the bandit who was so soon to be -exiled for life from all his kin and friends. - - - - - -28. THE NORTHFIELD RAID - - -While Pitts and I were waiting for Bob and Chadwell we scouted about, -going to Madelia and as far as the eastern part of Cotton-wood county, to -familiarize ourselves with the country. Finally, a few days later, the -boys joined us, having bought their horses at Mankato. - -We then divided into two parties and started for Northfield by somewhat -different routes. Monday night, Sept. 4, our party were at Le Sueur -Center, and court being in session, we had to sleep on the floor. The -hotel was full of lawyers, and they, with the judge and other court -attendants, had a high old time that night. Tuesday night we were at -Cordova, a little village in Le Sueur county, and Wednesday night in -Millersburg, eleven miles west of Northfield. Bob and his party were then -at Cannon City, to the south of Northfield. We reunited Thursday morning, -Sept. 7, a little outside Northfield, west of the Cannon river. - -We took a trip into town that forenoon, and I looked over the bank. We -had dinner at various places and then returned to the camp. While we were -planning the raid it was intended that I should be one of the party to go -into the bank. I urged on the boys that whatever happened we should not -shoot any one. - -"What if they begin shooting at us?" some one suggested. - -"Well," said Bob, "if Cap is so particular about the shooting, suppose we -let him stay outside and take his chances." - -So at the last minute our plans were changed, and when we started for town -Bob, Pitts and Howard went in front, the plan being for them to await us -in the square and enter the bank when the second detachment came up with -them. Miller and I went second to stand guard at the bank, while the rest -of the party were to wait at the bridge for the signal--a pistol shot--in -the event they were needed. There were no saddle horses in evidence, and -we calculated that we would have a considerable advantage. Wrecking the -telegraph office as we left, we would get a good start, and by night would -be safe beyond Shieldsville, and the next day could ride south across the -Iowa line and be in comparative safety. - -But between the time we broke camp and the time they reached the bridge -the three who went ahead drank a quart of whisky, and there was the -initial blunder at Northfield. I never knew Bob to drink before, and I -did not know he was drinking that day till after it was all over. - -When Miller and I crossed the bridge the three were on some dry goods -boxes at the corner near the bank, and as soon as they saw us went right -into the bank, instead of waiting for us to get there. - -When we came up I told Miller to shut the bank door, which they had left -open in their hurry. I dismounted in the street, pretending to tighten my -saddle girth. J. S. Allen, whose hardware store was near, tried to go -into the bank, but Miller ordered him away, and he ran around the corner, -shouting: - -"Get your guns, boys; they're robbing the bank." - -Dr. H. M. Wheeler, who had been standing on the east side of Division -street, near the Dampier house, shouted "Robbery! Robbery!" and I called -to him to get inside, at the same time firing a pistol shot in the air as -a signal to the three boys at the bridge that we had been discovered. -Almost at this instant I heard a pistol shot in the bank. Chadwell, Woods -and Jim rode up and joined us, shouting to people in the street to get -inside, and firing their pistols to emphasize their commands. I do not -believe they killed any one, however. I have always believed that the man -Nicholas Gustavson, who was shot in the street, and who, it was said, did -not go inside because he did not understand English, was hit by a glancing -shot from Manning's or Wheeler's rifle. If any of our party shot him it -must have been Woods. - -A man named Elias Stacy, armed with a shot-gun, fired at Miller just as he -was mounting his horse, filling Clell's face full of bird shot. Manning -took a shot at Pitts' horse, killing it, which crippled us badly. -Meantime the street was getting uncomfortably hot. Every time I saw any -one with a bead on me I would drop off my horse and try to drive the -shooter inside, but I could not see in every direction. I called to the -boys in the bank to come out, for I could not imagine what was keeping -them so long. With his second shot Manning wounded me in the thigh, and -with his third he shot Chadwell through the heart. Bill fell from the -saddle dead. Dr. Wheeler, who had gone upstairs in the hotel, shot -Miller, and he lay dying in the street. - -At last the boys who had been in the bank came out. Bob ran down the -street toward Manning, who hurried into Lee & Hitchcock's store, hoping in -that way to get a shot at Bob from behind. Bob, however, did not see -Wheeler, who was upstairs in the hotel behind him, and Wheeler's third -shot shattered Bob's right elbow as he stood beneath the stairs. Changing -his pistol to his left hand, Bob ran out and mounted Miller's mare. -Howard and Pitts had at last come out of the bank. Miller was lying in -the street, but we thought him still alive. I told Pitts to put him up -with me, and I would pack him out, but when we lifted him I saw he was -dead, and I told Pitts to lay him down again. Pitts' horse had been -killed, and I told him I would hold the crowd back while he got out on -foot. I stayed there pointing my pistol at any one who showed his head -until Pitts had gone perhaps 30 or 40 yards, and then, putting spurs to my -horse, I galloped to where he was and took him up behind me. - -"What kept you so long?" I asked Pitts. - -Then he told me they had been drinking and had made a botch of it inside -the bank. Instead of carrying out the plan originally formed, seizing the -cashier at his window and getting to the safe without interruption, they -leaped right over the counter and scared Heywood at the very start. As to -the rest of the affair inside the bank I take the account of a Northfield -narrator: - -"With a flourish of his revolver one of the robbers pointed to Joseph L. -Heywood, head bookkeeper, who was acting as cashier in the absence of that -official, and asked:" - -" 'Are you the cashier?' " - -" 'No,' " replied Heywood, and the same question was put to A. E. Bunker, -teller, and Frank J. Wilcox, assistant bookkeeper, each of whom made the -same reply. - -" 'You are the cashier,' said the robber, turning upon Heywood, who was -sitting at the cashier's desk. 'Open that safe--quick or I'll blow your -head off.' " - -"Pitts then ran to the vault and stepped inside, whereupon Heywood -followed him and tried to shut him in." - -"One of the robbers seized him and said:" - -" 'Open that safe now or you haven't but a minute to live.' " - -" 'There's a time lock on,' Heywood answered, 'and it can't be opened -now.' " - -Howard drew a knife from his pocket and made a feint to cut Heywood's -throat, as he lay on the floor where he had been thrown in the scuffle, -and Pitts told me afterward that Howard fired a pistol near Heywood's head -to scare him. - -Bunker tried to get a pistol that lay near him, but Pitts saw his movement -and beat him to it. It was found on Charley when he was killed, so much -more evidence to identify us as the men who were in Northfield. - -"Where's the money outside the safe?" Bob asked. - -Bunker showed him a box of small change on the counter, and while Bob was -putting the money in a grainsack Bunker took advantage of the opportunity -to dash out of the rear window. The shutters were closed, and this caused -Bunker an instant's delay that was almost fatal. Pitts chased him with a -bullet. The first one missed him, but the second went through his right -shoulder. - -As the men left the bank Heywood clambered to his feet and Pitts, in his -liquor, shot him through the head, inflicting the wound that killed him. - -We had no time to wreck the telegraph office, and the alarm was soon sent -throughout the country. - -Gov. John S. Pillsbury first offered $1,000 reward for the arrest of the -six who had escaped, and this he changed afterward to $1,000 for each of -them, dead or alive. The Northfield bank offered $700 and the Winona & -St. Peter railroad $500. - - - - - -29. A CHASE TO THE DEATH - - -A little way out of Northfield we met a farmer and borrowed one of his -horses for Pitts to ride. We passed Dundas on the run, before the news of -the robbery had reached there, and at Millersburg, too, we were in advance -of the news, but at Shieldsville we were behind it. Here a squad of men, -who, we afterwards learned, were from Faribault, had left their guns -outside a house. We did not permit them to get their weapons until we had -watered our horses and got a fresh start. They overtook us about four -miles west of Shieldsville, and shots were exchanged without effect on -either side. A spent bullet did hit me on the "crazy bone," and as I was -leading Bob's horse it caused a little excitement for a minute, but that -was all. - -We were in a strange country. On the prairie our maps were all right, but -when we got into the big woods and among the lakes we were practically -lost. - -There were a thousand men on our trail, and watching for us at fords and -bridges where it was thought we would be apt to go. - -That night it started to rain, and we wore out our horses. Friday we -moved toward Waterville, and Friday night we camped between Elysian and -German lake. Saturday morning we left our horses and started through on -foot, hiding that day on an island in a swamp. That night we tramped all -night and we spent Sunday about four miles south of Marysburg. Meantime -our pursuers were watching for horsemen, not finding our abandoned horses, -it seems, until Monday or Tuesday. - -Bob's shattered elbow was requiring frequent attention, and that night we -made only nine miles, and Monday, Monday night and Tuesday we spent in a -deserted farm-house close to Mankato. That day a man named Dunning -discovered us and we took him prisoner. Some of the boys wanted to kill -him, on the theory that "dead men tell no tales," while others urged -binding him and leaving him in the woods. Finally we administered to him -an oath not to betray our whereabouts until we had time to make our -escape, and he agreed not to. No sooner, however, was he released than he -made posthaste into Mankato to announce our presence, and in a few minutes -another posse was looking for us. - -Suspecting, however, that he would do so, we were soon on the move, and -that night we evaded the guard at the Blue Earth river bridge, and about -midnight made our way through Mankato. The whistle on the oil mill blew, -and we feared that it was a signal that had been agreed upon to alarm the -town in case we were observed, but we were not molested. - -Howard and Woods, who had favored killing Dunning, and who felt we were -losing valuable time because of Bob's wound, left us that night and went -west. As we afterward learned, this was an advantage to us as well as to -them, for they stole two horses soon after leaving us, and the posse -followed the trail of these horses, not knowing that our party had been -divided. - -Accordingly, we were not pursued, having kept on a course toward Madelia -to a farm where I knew there were some good horses, once in possession of -which we could get along faster. - -We had been living on scant rations, corn, watermelon and other vegetables -principally, but in spite of this Bob's arm was mending somewhat. He had -to sleep with it pillowed on my breast, Jim being also crippled with a -wound in his shoulder, and we could not get much sleep. The wound in my -thigh was troubling me and I had to walk with a cane I cut in the brush. -One place we got a chicken and cooked it, only to be interrupted before we -could have our feast, having to make a quick dash for cover. - -At every stopping place we left marks of blood from our wounds, and could -have been easily trailed had not the pursuers been led in the track of our -recent companions. - -It seems from what I have read since, however, that I had myself left with -my landlord at Madelia, Col. Vought, of the Flanders house, a damaging -suggestion which proved the ultimate undoing of our party. I had talked -with him about a bridge between two lakes near there, and accordingly when -it became known that the robbers had passed Mankato Vought thought of this -bridge, and it was guarded by him and others for two nights. When they -abandoned the guard, however, he admonished a Norwegian boy named Oscar -Suborn to keep close watch there for us, and Thursday morning, Sept. 21, -just two weeks after the robbery, Oscar saw us, and fled into town with -the alarm. A party of forty was soon out in search for us, headed by -Capt. W. W. Murphy, Col. Vought and Sheriff Glispin. They came up with us -as we were fording a small slough, and unable to ford it with their -horses, they were delayed somewhat by having to go around it. But they -soon after got close enough so that one of them broke my walking stick -with a shot. We were in sight of our long-sought horses when they cut us -off from the animals, and our last hope was gone. We were at bay on the -open prairie, surrounded by a picket line of forty men, some of whom would -fight. Not prepared to stand for our last fight against such odds on the -open field, we fell back into the Watonwan river bottoms and took refuge -in some bushes. - -We were prepared to wait as long as they would, but they were not of the -waiting kind. At least some of them were not, and soon we heard the -captain, who, we afterward learned, was W. W. Murphy, calling for -volunteers to go in with him and rout us out. Six stepped to the front, -Sheriff Glispin, Col. T. L. Vought, B. M. Rice, G. A. Bradford, C. A. -Pomeroy and S. J. Severson. - -Forming in line four paces apart, he ordered them to advance rapidly and -concentrate the fire of the whole line the instant the robbers were -discovered. - -Meanwhile we were planning, too. - -"Pitts," I said, "if you want to go out and surrender, go on." - -"I'll not go," he replied, game to the last. "I can die as well as you -can." - -"Make for the horses," I said. "Every man for himself. There is no use -stopping to pick up a comrade here, for we can't get him through the line. -Just charge them and make it if we can." - -I got up as the signal for the charge and we fired one volley. - -I tried to get my man, and started through, but the next I knew I was -lying on the ground, bleeding from my nose and mouth, and Bob was standing -up, shouting: - -"Coward!" - -One of the fellows in the outer line, not brave enough himself to join the -volunteers who had come in to beat us out, was not disposed to believe in -the surrender, and had his gun levelled on Bob in spite of the -handkerchief which was waving as a flag of truce. - -Sheriff Glispin, of Watonwan county, who was taking Bob's pistol from him, -was also shouting to the fellow: - -"Don't shoot him or I'll shoot you." - -All of us but Bob had gone down at the first fire. Pitts, shot through -the heart, lay dead. Jim, including the wound in the shoulder he received -at Northfield, had been shot five times, the most serious being the shot -which shattered his upper jaw and lay imbedded beneath the brain, and a -shot that buried itself underneath his spine, and which gave him trouble -to the day of his death. Including those received in and on the way from -Northfield I had eleven wounds. - -A bullet had pierced Bob's right lung, but he was the only one left on his -feet. His right arm useless, and his pistol empty, he had no choice. - -"I surrender," he had shouted. "They're all down but me. Come on. I'll -not shoot." - -And Sheriff Glispin's order not to shoot was the beginning of the -protectorate that Minnesota people established over us. - -We were taken into Madelia that day and our wounds dressed, and I greeted -my old landlord, Col. Vought, who had been one of the seven to go in to -get us. We were taken to his hotel and a guard posted. - -Then came the talk of mob vengeance we had heard so often in Missouri. It -was said a mob would be out that night to lynch us. Sheriff Glispin swore -we would never be mobbed as long as we were his prisoners. - -"I don't want any man to risk his life for us," I said to him, "but if -they do come for us give us our pistols so we can make a fight for it." - -"If they do come, and I weaken," he said, "you can have your pistols." - -But the only mob that came was the mob of sightseers, reporters and -detectives. - - - - - -30. TO PRISON FOR LIFE - - -Saturday we were taken to Faribault, the county seat of Rice county, in -which Northfield is, and here there was more talk of lynching, but Sheriff -Ara Barton was not of that kind either, and we were guarded by militia -until the excitement had subsided. A Faribault policeman, who thought the -militia guard was a bluff, bet five dollars he could go right up to the -jail without being interfered with. He did not halt when challenged, and -was fired upon and killed, the coroner's jury acquitting the militiaman -who shot him. Some people blamed us for his death, too. - -Chief of Detectives McDonough, of St. Louis, whom I had passed a few -months before in the union depot at St. Louis, was among our visitors at -Faribault. - -Another was Detective Bligh, of Louisville, who believed then, and -probably did ever afterward, that I had been in the Huntington, West -Virginia, robbery, and tried to pump me about it. - -Four indictments were found against us. One charged us with being -accessory to the murder of Cashier Heywood, another with assaulting Bunker -with intent to do great bodily harm, and the third with robbing the First -National bank of Northfield. The fourth charged me as principal and my -brothers as accessories with the murder of Gustavson. Two witnesses had -testified before the grand jury identifying me as the man who fired the -shot that hit him, although I know I did not, because I fired no shot in -that part of town. - -Although not one of us had fired the shot that killed either Heywood or -Gustavson, our attorneys, Thomas Rutledge of Madelia and Bachelder and -Buckham of Faribault, asked, when we were arraigned, Nov. 9, that we be -given two days in which to plead. - -They advised us that as accessories were equally guilty with the -principals, under the law, and as by pleading guilty we could escape -capital punishment, we should plead guilty. There was little doubt, under -the circumstances, of our conviction, and under the law as it stood then, -an accused murderer who pleaded guilty was not subject to the death -penalty. The state was new, and the law had been made to offer an -inducement to murderers not to put the county to the expense of a trial. - -The excitement that followed our sentence to state prison, which was -popularly called "cheating the gallows," resulted in the change of the law -in that respect. - -The following Saturday we pleaded guilty, and Judge Lord sentenced us to -imprisonment for the remainder of our lives in the state prison at -Stillwater, and a few days later we were taken there by Sheriff Barton. - -With Bob it was a life sentence, for he died there of consumption Sept. -16, 1889. He was never strong physically after the shot pierced his lung -in the last fight near Madelia. - - - - - -31. SOME PRIVATE HISTORY - - -Every blood-and-thunder history of the Younger brothers declares that -Frank and Jesse James were the two members of the band that entered -Northfield who escaped arrest or death. - -They were not, however. One of those two men was killed afterward in -Arizona and the other died from fever some years afterward. - -There were reasons why the James and the Younger brothers could not take -part in any such project as that at Northfield. - -Frank James and I came together as soldiers some little time before the -Lawrence raid. He was a good soldier, and while he never was higher than -a private the distinctions between the officers and the men were not as -finely drawn in Quantrell's command as they are nowadays in military life. -As far back as 1862, Frank James and I formed a friendship, which has -existed to this day. - -Jesse James I never met, as I have already related, until the early summer -of 1866. The fact that all of us were liable to the visits of posses when -least expected gave us one interest in common, the only one we ever did -have, although we were thrown together more or less through my friendship -with Frank James. - -The beginning of my trouble with Jesse came in 1872, when George W. -Shepherd returned to Lee's Summit after serving a term in prison in -Kentucky for the bank robbery at Russellville in 1868. - -Jesse had told me that Shepherd was gunning for me, and accordingly one -night, when Shepherd came late to the home of Silas Hudspeth, where I was, -I was prepared for trouble, as in fact, I always was anyway. - -When Shepherd called, Hudspeth shut the door again, and told me who was -outside. I said "let him in," and stepping to the door with my pistol in -my hand, I said: - -"Shepherd, I am in here; you're not afraid, are you?" - -"That's all right," he answered. "Of course I'm not afraid." The three -of us talked till bedtime, when Hudspeth told us to occupy the same bed. -I climbed in behind, and as was my custom, took my pistol to bed with me. -Shepherd says he did not sleep a wink that night, but I did. At breakfast -next morning, I said: - -"I heard yesterday that you intended to kill me on sight; have you lost -your nerve?" - -"Who told you that, Cole?" he answered. - -"I met Jess yesterday and he told me that you sent that message to me by -him." - -Soon after I met Jesse James, and but for the interference of friends we -would have shot it out then and there. - -My feeling toward Jesse became more bitter in the latter part of that -year, when after the gate robbery at the Kansas City fair, he wrote a -letter to the Times of that city declaring that he and I had been accused -of the robbery, but that he could prove an alibi. So far as I know that -is the first time my name was ever mentioned in connection with the Kansas -City robbery. - -In 1874, when Detective Whicher was killed on a trip to arrest Frank and -Jesse James, I was angered to think that Jesse and his friends had brought -Whicher from Kearney to the south side of the river, which I then believed -was done to throw suspicion on the boys in Jackson county, of whom, -perhaps, I would be most likely to get the credit. I have since learned, -however, from the men who did kill Whicher, that Jesse did not kill him, -but had believed his story and had been inclined to welcome him as a -fellow wanderer. Whicher declared that he had murdered his wife and -children in the East and he was seeking a refuge from the officers of the -law. But Jesse's comrades were skeptical, and when they found on Whicher -a pistol bearing Pinkerton's mark, they started with him for Kansas City -intending to leave him dead in the street there. Shortly after they -crossed to the Independence side of the river, the sound of a wagon on the -frozen ground impelled them to finish the job where they were, as it was -almost daybreak and they did not want to be seen with their captive. - -But Jesse and I were not on friendly terms at any time after the Shepherd -affair, and never were associated in any enterprises. - - - - - -32. LOST--TWENTY-FIVE YEARS - - -When the iron doors shut behind us at the Stillwater prison I submitted to -the prison discipline with the same unquestioning obedience that I had -exacted during my military service, and Jim and Bob, I think, did the -same. - -For ten years and a half after our arrival, Warden Reed remained. The -first three years there was a popular idea that such desperate men as the -Youngers would not stay long behind prison walls, and that especial -watchfulness must be exercised in our case. Accordingly the three of us -were put at work making buckets and tubs, with Ben Cayou over us as a -special guard, when in our dreams we had been traveling to South America -on Ben Butler's money. - -Then we were put in the thresher factory. I made the sieves, while Jim -sewed the belts, and Bob made the straw-carriers and elevators. - -The latter part of the Reed regime I was in the storeroom. - -Jan. 25, 1884, when we had been in the prison something over seven years, -the main prison building was destroyed by fire at night. George P. Dodd, -who was then connected with the prison, while his wife was matron, and who -still lives in Buffalo, Minn., said of our behavior that night: - -"I was obliged to take the female convicts from their cells and place them -in a small room that could not be locked. The Youngers were passing and -Cole asked if they could be of any service. I said: 'Yes, Cole. Will you -three boys take care of Mrs. Dodd and the women?' Cole answered: 'Yes, we -will, and if you ever had any confidence in us place it in us now.' I -told him I had the utmost confidence and I slipped a pistol to Cole as I -had two. Jim, I think, had an ax handle and Bob a little pinch bar. The -boys stood before the door of the little room for hours and even took the -blankets they had brought with them from their cells and gave them to the -women to try and keep them comfortable as it was very cold. When I could -take charge of the women and the boys were relieved, Cole returned my -revolver." - -Next morning Warden Reed was flooded with telegrams and newspaper -sensations: "Keep close watch of the Youngers;" "Did the Youngers escape?" -"Plot to free the Youngers," and that sort of thing. - -The warden came to his chief deputy, Abe Hall, and suggested that we be -put in irons, not that he had any fear on our account, but for the effect -on the public. - -"I'll not put irons on 'em," replied Hall. - -And that day Hall and Judge Butts took us in a sleigh down town to the -county jail where we remained three or four weeks. That was the only time -we were outside the prison enclosure from 1876 till 1901. - -When H. G. Stordock became warden, I was made librarian, while Jim carried -the mail and Bob was clerk to the steward where we remained during the -administration of Wardens Randall and Garvin, except Bob, who wasted away -from consumption and died in September, 1889. - -When Warden Wolfer came to the prison, he put Jim in charge of the mail -and the library, and I was set at work in the laundry temporarily while -the new hospital building was being made ready. I was then made head -nurse in the hospital, and remained there until the day we were paroled, -Warden Reeve, who was there for two years under the administration of Gov. -Lind, leaving us there. - -Every one of these wardens was our friend, and the deputy wardens, too. -Abe Hall, Will Reed, A. D. Westby, Sam A. Langum, T. W. Alexander, and -Jack Glennon were all partisans of ours. If any reader misses one name -from this list of deputy wardens, there is nothing I have to say for or -against him. - -Dr. Pratt, who was prison physician when we went to Stillwater, Dr. T. C. -Clark, who was his assistant, and Dr. B. J. Merrill, who has been prison -physician since, have been staunch partisans of the Younger boys in the -efforts of our friends to secure our pardon. And the young doctors with -whom I was thrown in close contact during their service as assistant -prison physicians, Drs. Sidney Boleyn, Gustavus A. Newman, Dan Beebe, A. -E. Hedbeck, Morrill Withrow, and Jenner Chance, have been most earnest in -their championship of our cause. - -The stewards, too, Benner, and during the Reeve regime, Smithton, which -whom as head nurse I was thrown in direct contact, never had any -difficulty with me, although Benner with a twinkle in his eye, would say -to me: - -"Cole, I believe you come and get peaches for your patients up there long -after they are dead." - -The invalids in that hospital always got the delicacies they wanted, -subject to the physician's permission, if what they wanted was to be found -anywhere in Stillwater or in St. Paul. The prison hospital building is -not suitable for such use, and a new hospital building is needed, but no -fault can be found with the way invalid prisoners are cared for at -Stillwater. - -When there is added a new hospital building, and the present hospital is -transformed into an insane ward, Stillwater will indeed be a model prison. - -Words fail me when I seek to express my gratitude to the host of friends -who were glad to plead our cause during the later years of our confinement -at Stillwater, and especially to Warden Henry Wolfer and his family, every -one of whom was a true friend to Jim and myself. - - - - - -33. THE STAR OF HOPE - - -In spite of the popular indignation our crime had justly caused, from the -day the iron gates closed behind us in 1876, there were always friends who -hoped and planned for our ultimate release. Some of these were misguided, -and did us more harm than good. - -Among these were two former guerrillas, who committed small crimes that -they might be sent to prison and there plot with us for our escape. One -of them was only sent to the county jail, and the other served a year in -Stillwater prison without ever seeing us. - -Well meaning, too, but unfortunate, was the declaration of Missouri -friends in Minnesota that they could raise $100,000 to get us out of -Stillwater. - -But as the years went by, the popular feeling against us not only -subsided, but our absolute submission to the minutest details of prison -discipline won for us the consideration, I might even say the high esteem -of the prison officials who came in contact with us, and as the Northfield -tragedy became more and more remote, those who favored our pardon became -more numerous, and yearly numbered in their ranks more and more of the -influential people of the state, who believed that our crime had been -avenged, and that Jim and I, the only survivors of the tragedy, would be -worthy citizens if restored to freedom. - -My Missouri friends are surprised to find that I prize friendships in -Minnesota, a state where I found so much trouble, but in spite of -Northfield, and all its tragic memories, I have in Minnesota some of the -best friends a man ever had on earth. - -Every governor of Minnesota from as early as 1889 down to 1899 was -petitioned for our pardon, but not one of them was satisfied of the -advisability of a full pardon, and the parole system provided by the -enlightened humanitarianism of the state for other convicts did not apply -to lifers. - -Under this system a convict whose prison record is good may be paroled on -his good behavior after serving half of the term for which he was -sentenced. - -The reiterated requests for our pardon, coming from men the governors had -confidence in, urging them to a pardon they were reluctant to grant, led -to a feeling, which found expression finally in official circles, that the -responsibility of the pardoning power should be divided by the creation of -a board of pardons as existed in some other states. - -It was at first proposed that the board should consist of the governor, -attorney general and the warden of the prison, but before the bill passed, -Senator Allen J. Greer secured the substitution for the chief justice for -the warden, boasting, when the amendment was made: - -"That ties the Youngers up for as long as Chief Justice Start lives." - -A unanimous vote of the board was required to grant a pardon, and as Chief -Justice Start had lived in the vicinity of Northfield at the time of the -raid in 1876, many people believed that he would never consent to our -pardon. - -In the legislature of 1889, our friends endeavored to have the parole -system extended to life prisoners, and secured the introduction in the -legislature of a bill to provide that life prisoners might be paroled when -they had served such a period as would have entitled them to their release -had they been sentenced to imprisonment for 35 years. The bill was drawn -by George M. Bennett of Minneapolis, who had taken a great deal of -interest in our case, and was introduced in the senate by Senator George -P. Wilson, of Minneapolis. As the good time allowances on a 35-year -sentence would cut it to between 23 and 24 years, we could have been -paroled in a few months had this bill passed. Although there was one -other inmate of the prison who might have come under its provisions, it -was generally known as the "Youngers' parole bill" and the feeling against -it was largely identified with the feeling against us. I am told, however, -since my release, that it would have passed at that session had it not -been for the cry of "money" that was used. There never was a dollar used -in Minnesota to secure our pardon, and before our release we had some of -the best men and women in the state working in our behalf, without money -and without price. But this outcry defeated the bill of 1899. - -Still it did not discourage our friends on the outside. - -At the next session of the legislature, 1901, there was finally passed the -bill which permitted our conditional parole, the pardon board not being -ready to grant us our full freedom. This bill provided for the parole of -any life convict who had been confined for twenty years, on the unanimous -consent of the board of pardons. - -The bill was introduced in the house by Representative P. C. Deming of -Minneapolis, and among those who worked for its passage was Representative -Jay W. Phillips, who, as a boy, had been driven from the streets the day -we entered Northfield. Senator Wilson, who had introduced the bill which -failed in 1899, was again a staunch supporter and led the fight for us in -the senate. - -The board of prison managers promptly granted the parole the principal -conditions of which were as follows: - -"He shall not exhibit himself in any dime museum, circus theater, opera -house, or any other place of public amusement or assembly where a charge -is made for admission." - -"He shall on the twentieth day of each month write the warden of the state -prison a report of himself, stating whether he had been constantly at work -during the last month, and if not, why not; how much he has earned, and -how much he has expended, together with a general statement as to his -surroundings and prospects, which must be indorsed by his employer." - -"He shall in all respects conduct himself honestly, avoid evil -associations, obey the law, and abstain from the use of intoxicating -liquors." - -"He shall not go outside the state of Minnesota." - -The parole was unanimously concurred in by Messrs. B. F. Nelson, F. W. -Temple, A. C. Weiss, E. W. Wing, and R. H. Bronson, of the prison board -and urged by Warden Henry Wolfer. - -The board of pardons, in indorsing our parole, said: - -"We are satisfied that the petitioners in this case have by exceptionally -good conduct in prison for a quarter of a century, and the evidence they -have given of sincere reformation, earned the right to a parole, if any -life prisoner can do so." - -And July 14, 1901, Jim and I went out into the world for the first time in -within a few months of twenty-five years. - -Rip Van Winkle himself was not so long away. St. Paul and Minneapolis -which, when we were there in 1876, had less than 75,000 people all told, -had grown to cities within whose limits were over 350,000. A dozen -railroads ended in one or the other of these centers of business that we -had known as little better than frontier towns. - - - - - -34. ON PAROLE - - -Our first positions after our release from prison were in the employ of -the P. N. Peterson Granite company, of St. Paul and Stillwater, Mr. -Peterson having known us since early in our prison life. - -We were to receive $60 a month each and expenses. Jim was to take care of -some office work, and take orders in the immediate vicinity of Stillwater. -He worked mostly through Washington county, and with a horse and buggy, -but had not been at work more than two months when the sudden starting of -the horse as he was getting out of the buggy started anew his intermittent -trouble with the bullet that lodged under his spine, and he was compelled -to find other employment. - -He then went into the cigar department of the Andrew Schoch grocery -company in St. Paul, and after several months there was employed by Maj. -Elwin, of the Elwin cigar company in Minneapolis, where he remained until -a few days before his death. - -I traveled for the Peterson company until Nov., 1901, covering nearly all -of Minnesota. But the change from the regularity of prison hours to the -irregular hours, meals and various changes to which the drummer is subject -was too much for me, and I returned to St. Paul to enter the employ of -Edward J. and Hubert C. Schurmeier, who had been strenuous workers for my -pardon, and James Nugent at the Interstate institute for the cure of the -liquor and morphine habits, on Rosabel street in St. Paul. - -There I remained several months, and then was employed by John J. -O'Connor, chief of police at St. Paul, in connection with private -interests to which he could not give his personal attention. - - - - - -35. JIM GIVES IT UP - - -The bullet wound which Jim received in our last fight near Madelia, -shattering his upper jaw, and remaining imbedded near his brain, until it -was removed by Dr. T. G. Clark after we were in the prison at Stillwater, -affected Jim at intervals during all his prison life, and he would have -periodical spells of depression, during which he would give up all hope, -and his gloomy spirits would repel the sympathy of those who were disposed -to cheer him up. - -I remember that at the time of the fire in 1884, he was in one of these -fits of depression, but the excitement of that time buoyed him up, and he -was himself again for a considerable period. - -After our release from prison, Jim's precarious health and his inability -to rejoin his family in Missouri combined to make these fits of depression -more frequent. While he was working for Maj. Elwin, instead of putting in -his afternoons, which were free, among men, or enjoying the sunshine and -air which had so long been out of our reach, he would go to his room and -revel in socialistic literature, which only tended to overload a mind -already surcharged with troubles. For my part, I tried to get into the -world again, to live down the past, and I could and did enjoy the -theaters, although Jim declared he would never set foot in one until he -could go a free man. In July, he and some of his friends petitioned the -board of pardons for a full pardon, but the board was of the opinion that -it was too early to consider that, believing that we should be kept on our -good behavior for a time. - -That resulted in another fit of depression for Jim. He took it to heart, -and never regained his cheerful mood, for when he was up, he was away up, -and when down, away down. There was no half way place with Jim. - -In October, 1902, he left Maj. Elwin expecting to go to St. Paul to work -for Yerxa Bros. - -But Sunday afternoon, Oct. 19, his dead body was found in a room at the -hotel Reardon, Seventh and Minnesota streets, St. Paul, where he had been -staying since leaving Minneapolis. His trunk had been sent to friends, -and there was every indication that he had carefully planned his death by -his own hand. A bullet hole above his right ear and a pistol clutched in -his hand, told the story of suicide. Dr. J. M. Finnell, who as acting -coroner, was summoned, decided that he must have shot himself early in the -forenoon, although neighbors in the block had not been disturbed by the -shot. - -I was sick in bed at the time and my physician, Dr. J. J. Platt, forbade -my attempting to do anything in the premises, but Jim's body was taken in -charge in my behalf by Chief of Police O'Connor, and borne to Lee's -Summit, Mo., our old Jackson county home, where it was laid to rest. - -The pallbearers were G. W. Wigginton, O. H. Lewis, H. H. McDowell, Sim -Whitsett, William Gregg and William Lewis, all old neighbors or comrades -during the war. - -Some people obtained the idea that it was Jim's wish that he be cremated, -but this idea grew out of a letter he left showing his gloomy condition. -It "roasted" Gov. Van Sant and Warden Wolfer and the board of pardons, -declared for socialism, and urged Bryan to come out for it. - -On the outside of the envelope was written: - -"All relations stay away from me. No crocodile tears wanted. Reporters, -be my friends. Burn me up.--Jim Younger." - -I think the "burn me up" was an admonition to the reporters. Jim always -felt that the papers had been bitter to us, although some of them had been -staunch supporters of the proposal for our parole. The day we were -paroled, Jim said to a visiting newspaper woman: - -"When we get out we would like to be left in peace. We don't want to be -stared at and we don't want to be interviewed. For twenty-five years now, -we have been summoned here to have men stare at us and question us and -then go back and write up what they think and believe. It's hard to have -people write things about you that are not true and put words in your -mouth that you never uttered." - -It was to such newspaper men, I think, that Jim sent his message "Burn me -up." - - - - - -36. FREE AGAIN - - -Jim's tragic death brought the Youngers again into the public eye, and -aside from any effort on my part, there was a renewed discussion of the -advisability of extending a full pardon to me, the lone survivor of the -band who had invaded Northfield. - -At the next quarterly meeting of the board, which was held in January of -this year, the matter was taken up, and the board considered my -application, which was for an absolute or a conditional pardon as the -board might see fit. - -It was urged on my behalf that the limitation clause confining me to -Minnesota was one that it might be well to do away with, as it prevented -me from joining my friends and relatives in Missouri, and kept me in a -state, where a great many people did not really care for my society, -although so many were very kind and cordial to me. - -Against this it was urged that while I was in the state, the board could -exercise a supervision of my employment and movements which it might be -judicious to continue. - -After carefully considering the various arguments for and against my -absolute pardon, the board decided against it, but at a special meeting -held February 4, 1903, voted unanimously for a conditional pardon as -follows: - - - - -"Having carefully considered this matter, with a keen appreciation of our -duty to the public and to the petitioner, we have reached the conclusion -that his conduct for twenty-five years in prison, and his subsequent -conduct as a paroled prisoner, justify the belief that if his request to -be permitted to return to his friends and kindred be granted, he will live -and remain at liberty without any violation of the law." - -"We are, however, of the opinion that his absolute pardon would not be -compatible with the welfare of this state--the scene of his crime--for the -reason that his presence therein, if freed from the conditions of his -parole, would create a morbid and demoralizing interest in him and his -crime." - -"Therefore it is ordered that a pardon be granted to Thomas Coleman -Younger, upon the condition precedent and subsequent that he return -without unnecessary delay to his friends and kindred whence he came, and -that he never voluntarily come back to Minnesota." - -"And upon the further condition that he file with the governor of the -State of Minnesota his written promise that he will never exhibit himself -or allow himself to be exhibited, as an actor or participant in any public -performance, museum, circus, theater, opera house or any other place of -public amusement or assembly where a charge is made for admission; -Provided, that this shall not exclude him from attending any such public -performance or place of amusement." - -"If he violates any of the conditions of this pardon, it shall be -absolutely void." - - S. R. Van Sant, Governor. - Chas. M. Start, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court - Wallace B. Douglas, Attorney-General. - - - - -A few days later I filed with Governor Van Sant the following: "I, Thomas -Coleman Younger, pursuant to one of the conditions upon which a pardon has -been granted to me, do hereby promise upon my honor that I will never -exhibit myself, nor allow myself to be exhibited, as an actor or -participant in any public performance, museum, circus, theater, opera -house, or any place of public amusement or assembly where a charge is made -for admission." - - - - - -37. THE WILD WEST - - -The "Cole Younger and Frank James' Historical Wild West Show" is an effort -on the part of two men whose exploits have been more wildly exaggerated, -perhaps, than those of any other men living, to make an honest living and -demonstrate to the people of America that they are not as black as they -have been painted. - -There will be nothing in the Wild West show to which any exception can be -taken, and it is my purpose, as a part owner in the show, and I have put -in the contracts with my partners, that no crookedness nor rowdyism will -be permitted by attaches of the I show. We will assist the local -authorities, too, in ridding the show of the sort of camp-followers who -frequently make traveling shows the scapegoat for their misdoings. We -propose to have our show efficiently and honestly policed, to give the -people the worth of their money, and to give an entertainment that will -show the frontiersman of my early manhood as he was. - -I had hoped if my pardon had been made unconditional, to earn a livelihood -on the lecture platform. I had prepared a lecture which I do think would -not have harmed any one, while it might have impressed a valuable lesson -on those who took it to heart. - -I give it herewith under the title, "What My Life Has Taught Me." - - - - - -38. WHAT MY LIFE HAS TAUGHT ME - - -Looking back through the dimly lighted corridors of the past, down the -long vista of time, a time when I feared not the face of mortal man, nor -battalions of men, when backed by my old comrades in arms, it may seem -inconsistent to say that I appear before you with a timidity born of -cowardice, but perhaps you will understand better than I can tell you that -twenty-five years in a prison cell fetters a man's intellect as well as -his body. Therefore I disclaim any pretensions to literary merit, and -trust that my sincerity of purpose will compensate for my lack of -eloquence; and, too, I am not so sure that I care for that kind of oratory -that leaves the points to guess at, but rather the simple language of the -soul that needs no interpreter. - -Let me say, ladies and gentlemen, that the farthest thought from my mind -is that of posing as a character. I do not desire to stand upon the basis -of the notoriety which the past record of my life may have earned for me. - -Those of you who have been drawn here by mere curiosity to see a character -or a man, who by the events of his life has gained somewhat of notoriety, -will miss the real object of this lecture and the occasion which brings us -together. My soul's desire is to benefit you by recounting some of the -important lessons which my life has taught me. - -Life is too short to make any other use of it. Besides, I owe too much to -my fellow men, to my opportunities, to my country, to my God and to -myself, to make any other use of the present occasion. - -Since I am to speak to you of some of the important lessons of my life, it -may be in order to give you some account of my ancestry. It is something -to one's credit to have had an ancestry that one need not be ashamed of. -One of the poets said, while talking to a select party of aristocracy: - - - Depend upon it, my snobbish friend, - Your family line you can't ascend - Without good reason to apprehend - You'll find it waxed at the farther end - With some plebeian vocation; - Or, what is worse, your family line - May end in a loop of stronger twine - That plagued some worthy relation. - - -But I am proud to say, ladies and gentlemen, that no loop of stronger -twine that he referred to ever plagued any relation of mine. No member of -our family or ancestry was ever punished for any crime or infringement of -the law. My father was a direct descendant from the Lees on one side and -the Youngers on the other. The Lees came from Scotland tracing their line -back to Bruce. The Youngers were from the city of Strasburg on the Rhine, -descending from the ruling family of Strasburg when that was a free city. - -My sainted mother was a direct descendant from the Sullivans, Ladens and -Percivals of South Carolina, the Taylors of Virginia, and the Fristoes of -Tennessee. Richard Fristoe, mother's father, was one of three judges -appointed by the governor of Missouri to organize Jackson county, and was -then elected one of the first members of the legislature. Jackson county -was so named in honor of his old general, Andrew Jackson, with whom he -served at the battle of New Orleans. - -My father and mother were married at Independence, the county seat of -Jackson county, and there they spent many happy years, and there my own -happy childhood days were spent. There were fourteen children of us; I -was the seventh. There were seven younger than myself. How often in the -dark days of the journey over the sea of life have I called up the happy -surroundings of my early days when I had a noble father and dear mother to -appeal to in faith for counsel. There had never been a death in the -family up to 1860, except among our plantation negroes. Mine was a happy -childhood. - -I do not desire to pose as an instructor for other people, yet one man's -experience may be of value to another, and it may not be presumptuous for -me to tell some of the results of experience, a teacher whose lessons are -severe, but, at least, worthy of consideration. I might say, perhaps, -with Shakespeare, "I have bought golden opinions from all sorts of -people." - -The subject of my discourse tonight is the index of what is to follow. - -I believe that no living man can speak upon his theme with more -familiarity. I have lived the gentleman, the soldier, the out-law, and -the convict, living the best twenty-five years of my life in a felon's -cell. I have no desire to pose as a martyr, for men who sin must suffer, -but I will punctuate my remarks with bold statements, for the eagle should -not be afraid of the storm. It is said that there are but three ways by -which we arrive at knowledge in this world; by instruction, by -observation, and by experience. We must learn our lessons in life by some -one or all of these methods. Those of us who do not, or will not, learn -by instruction or by observation are necessarily limited to the fruits of -experience. The boy who is told by his mother that fire burns and who has -seen his brother badly burned, surely does not need to have the fact still -more clearly impressed upon his mind by experience. Yet in the majority -of cases, it takes experience to satisfy him. By a kind of necessity -which I cannot at this point stop to explain, I have had to learn some -very impressive lessons of my life by the stern teacher, experience. Some -people express a desire to live life over again, under the impression that -they could make a better success of it on a second trip; such people are -scarcely logical--however sincere they may be in a wish of this kind. They -seem to forget that by the unfailing law of cause and effect, were they to -go back on the trail to the point from which they started and try it over -again, under the same circumstances they would land about where they are -now. The same causes would produce the same effect. - -I confess that I have no inexpressible yearnings to try my life over -again, even if it were possible to do so. I have followed the trail of my -life for something over fifty years. It has led me into varied and -strange experiences. - -The last twenty-six years, by a train of circumstances I was not able to -control, brought me to the present place and hour. Perhaps it may be -proper for me to say, with St. Peter, on the mount of transfiguration, it -is good to be here. - -The man who chooses the career of outlawry is either a natural fool or an -innocent madman. The term outlaw has a varied meaning. A man may be an -outlaw, and yet a patriot. There is the outlaw with a heart of velvet and -a hand of steel; there is the outlaw who never molested the sacred -sanctity of any man's home; there is the outlaw who never dethroned a -woman's honor, or assailed her heritage; and there is the outlaw who has -never robbed the honest poor. Have you heard of the outlaw who, in the -far-off Western land, where the sun dips to the horizon in infinite -beauty, was the adopted son of the Kootenai Indians? It was one of the -saddest scenes in all the annals of human tragedy. It was during one of -those fierce conflicts which characterized earlier frontier days. - -The white outlaw had influenced the red man to send a message of peace to -the whites, and for this important mission the little son of the Kootenai -chief was selected. The young fawn mounted his horse, but before the -passport of peace was delivered the brave little courier was shot to -pieces by a cavalcade of armed men who slew him before questioning his -mission. The little boy was being stripped of the adornments peculiar to -Indians when the outlaw rode upon the scene. - -"Take your hands off him, or by the God, I'll cut them off," he shouted. -"You have killed a lone child--the messenger of peace--peace which I risked -my life to secure for the white men who outlawed me." - -Taking the dead body tenderly in his arms, he rode back to face the fury -of a wronged people. He understood the penalty but went to offer himself -as a ransom, and was shot to death. This, however, is not the class of -outlaws I would discuss, for very often force of circumstances makes -outlaws of men, but I would speak of the criminal outlaw whom I would -spare not nor excuse. - -My friends, civilization may be a thin veneer, and the world today may be -slimy with hypocrisy, but no man is justified in killing lions to feed -dogs. - -Outlawry is often a fit companion for treason and anarchy, for which the -lowest seats of hell should be reserved. The outlaw, like the commercial -freebooter, is often a deformity on the face of nature that darkens the -light of God's day. - -I need not explain my career as an outlaw, a career that has been -gorgeously colored with fiction. To me the word outlaw is a living coal -of fire. The past is a tragedy--a tragedy wherein danger lurks in every -trail. I may be pardoned for hurrying over a few wild, relentless years -that led up to a career of outlawry--a memory that cuts like the sword -blades of a squadron of cavalry. The outlaw is like a big black bird, -from which every passerby feels licensed to pluck a handful of feathers. - -My young friend, if you are endowed with physical strength, valor, and a -steady hand, let me warn you to use them well, for the God who gave them -is the final victor. - -Think of a man born of splendid parents, good surroundings, the best of -advantages, a fair intellectuality, with the possibility of being -president of the United States, and with courage of a field general. -Think of him lying stagnant in a prison cell. This does not apply alone -to the highway outlaw, but to those outlaws who are sometimes called by -the softer name "financier." Not long ago I heard a man speak of a -certain banker, and I was reminded that prisons do not contain all the bad -men. He said: "Every dog that dies has some friend to shed a tear, but -when that man dies there will be universal rejoicing." - -I am not exactly a lead man, but it may surprise you to know that I have -been shot between twenty and thirty times and am now carrying over a dozen -bullets which have never been extracted. How proud I should have been had -I been scarred battling for the honor and glory of my country. Those -wounds I received while wearing the gray, I've ever been proud of, and my -regret is that I did not receive the rest of them during the war with -Spain, for the freedom of Cuba and the honor and glory of this great and -glorious republic. But, alas, they were not, and it is a memory embalmed -that nails a man to the cross. - -I was in prison when the war with Cuba was inaugurated, a war that will -never pass from memory while hearts beat responsive to the glory of battle -in the cause of humanity. How men turned from the path of peace, and -seizing the sword, followed the flag! As the blue ranks of American -soldiery scaled the heights of heroism, and the smoke rose from the hot -altars of the battle gods and freedom's wrongs avenged, so the memory of -Cuba's independence will go down in history, glorious as our own -revolution--'76 and '98--twin jewels set in the crown of sister centuries. -Spain and the world have learned that beneath the folds of our nation's -flag there lurks a power as irresistible as the wrath of God. - -Sleep on, side by side in the dim vaults of eternity, Manila Bay and -Bunker Hill, Lexington and Santiago, Ticonderoga and San Juan, glorious -rounds in Columbia's ladder of fame, growing colossal as the ages roll. -Yes, I was in prison than, and let me tell you, dear friends, I do not -hesitate to say that God permits few men to suffer as I did, when I awoke -to the full realization that I was wearing the stripes instead of a -uniform of my country. - -Remember, friends, I do not uphold war for commercial pillage. War is a -terrible thing, and leads men sometimes out of the common avenues of life. -Without reference to myself, men of this land, let me tell you -emphatically, dispassionately, and absolutely that war makes savages of -men, and dethrones them from reason. It is too often sugarcoated with the -word "patriotism" to make it bearable and men call it "National honor." - -Come with me to the prison, where for a quarter of a century I have -occupied a lonely cell. When the door swings in on you there, the world -does not hear your muffled wail. There is little to inspire mirth in -prison. For a man who has lived close to the heart of nature, in the -forest, in the saddle, to imprison him is like caging a wild bird. And -yet imprisonment has brought out the excellencies of many men. I have -learned many things in the lonely hours there. I have learned that hope -is a divinity; I have learned that a surplus of determination conquers -every weakness; I have learned that you cannot mate a white dove to a -blackbird; I have learned that vengeance is for God and not for man; I -have learned that there are some things better than a picture on a church -window; I have learned that the American people, and especially the good -people of Minnesota, do not strip a fallen foe; I have learned that -whoever says "there is no God" is a fool; I have learned that politics is -often mere traffic, and statesmanship trickery; I have learned that the -honor of the republic is put upon the plains and battled for; I have -learned that the English language is too often used to deceive the -commonwealth of labor; I have learned that the man who prides himself on -getting on the wrong side of every public issue is as pernicious an enemy -to the country as the man who openly fires upon the flag; and I have seen -mute sufferings of men in prison which no human pen can portray. - -And I have seen men die there. During my twenty-five years of -imprisonment, I have spent a large portion of the time in the hospital, -nursing the sick and soothing the dying. Oh! the sadness, the despair, -the volcano of human woe that lurks in such an hour. One, a soldier from -the North, I met in battle when I wore the gray. In '63 I had led him to -safety beyond the Confederate lines in Missouri, and in '97 he died in my -arms in the Minnesota prison, a few moments before a full pardon had -arrived from the president. - -The details of this remarkable coincidence were pathetic in the extreme, -equalled only by the death of my young brother Bob. - -And yet, my dear friends, prisons and prison discipline, which sometimes -destroy the reason, and perpetuate a stigma upon those who survive -them,--these, I say, are the safeguards of the nation. - -A man has plenty of time to think in prison, and I might add that it is an -ideal place for a man to study law, religion, and Shakespeare, not -forgetting the president's messages. However, I would advise you not to -try to get into prison just to find an ideal place for these particular -studies. I find, after careful study, that law is simply an -interpretation of the Ten Commandments, nothing more, nothing less. All -law is founded upon Scripture, and Scripture, in form of religion or law, -rules the universe. - -The infidel who ridicules religion is forced to respect the law, which in -reality is religion itself. - -It is not sufficient alone to make good and just laws, but our people must -be educated, or should be, from the cradle up, to respect the law. This -is one great lesson to be impressed upon the American people. Let the -world know that we are a law-loving nation, for our law is our life. - -Experience has taught me that there is no true liberty apart from law. -Law is a boundary line, a wall of protection, circumscribing the field in -which liberty may have her freest exercise. Beyond the boundary line, -freedom must surrender her rights, and change her name to "penalty for -transgression." The law is no enemy, but the friend of liberty. The -world and the planets move by law. Disregarding the law by which they -move, they would become wanderers in the bleak darkness forever. - -The human mind in its normal condition moves and works by law. When -self-will, blinded by passion or lust, enters her realm, and breaks her -protecting laws, mind then loses her sweet liberty of action, and becomes -a transgressor. Chaos usurps the throne of liberty, and mind becomes at -enmity with law. How many, many times the words of the poet have sung to -my soul during the past twenty-six years: - - - Eternal spirit of the chainless mind, - Brightest in dungeon's liberty thou art, - For there thy habitation is the heart, - The heart, which love of thee alone can bind. - - -Your locomotive with her following load of life and treasure is safe while -she keeps the rails, but, suppose that with an insane desire for a larger -liberty, she left the rails and struck out for herself a new pathway, -ruin, chaos and death would strew her course. And again let me impress -the fact upon you. Law is one of humanity's valiant friends. It is the -safeguard of the highest personal and national liberties. The French -revolution furnishes a standing illustration of society without law. - -There are times when I think the American people are not patriotic enough. -Some think patriotism is necessary only in time of war, but I say to you -it is more necessary in time of peace. - -When the safety of the country is threatened, and the flag insulted, we -are urged on by national pride to repel the enemy, but in time of peace -selfish interests take the greater hold of us, and retard us in our duty -to country. - -Nowhere is patriotism needed more than at the ballot-box. There the two -great contestants are country and self, and unless the spirit of -patriotism guides the vote our country is sure to lose. To be faithful -citizens we must be honest in our politics. The political star which -guides us should be love for our country and our country's laws. - -Patriotism, side by side with Christianity, I would have to go down to -future generations, for wherever the church is destroyed you are making -room for asylums and prisons. With the martyred Garfield, I, too, believe -that our great national danger is not from without. - -It may be presumptuous in me to proffer so many suggestions to you who -have been living in a world from which I have been exiled for twenty-five -years. I may have formed a wrong conception of some things, but you will -be charitable enough to forgive my errors. - -I hope to be of some assistance to mankind and will dedicate my future -life to unmask every wrong in my power and aid civilization to rise -against further persecution. I want to be the drum-major of a peace -brigade, who would rather have the good will of his fellow creatures than -shoulder straps from any corporate power. - -One of the lessons impressed upon me by my life experience is the power of -that which we call personal influence, the power of one mind or character -over another. - -Society is an aggregate of units. The units are related. No one lives or -acts alone, independently of another. Personal influence plays its part -in the relations we sustain to each other. - -Do you ask me to define what I mean by personal influence? It is the sum -total of what a man is, and its effect upon another. Some one has said, -"Every man is what God made him," and some are considerably more so. That -which we call character is the sum total of all his tendencies, habits, -appetite and passions. The terms character and reputation are too often -confused. Character is what you really are; reputation is what some one -else would have you. - -Every man has something of good in him. Probably none of us can say that -we are all goodness. - -I have noticed that when a man claims to be all goodness, that claim alone -does not make his credit any better in business, or at the bank. If a man -is good, the world has a way of finding out his qualities. Most men are -willing to admit, at least to themselves, that their qualities are -somewhat mixed. I do not believe that the good people of the world are -all bunched up in one corner and the bad ones in another. Christ's -parable of the wheat and the tares explains that to my satisfaction. -There is goodness in all men, and sermons even in stones. But goodness -and badness is apt to run in streaks. Man, to use the language of -another, is a queer combination of cheek and perversity, insolence, pride, -impudence, vanity, jealousy, hate, scorn, baseness, insanity, honor, -truth, wisdom, virtue and urbanity. He's a queer combination all right. -And those mixed elements of his nature, in their effects on other people, -we call personal influence. Many a man is not altogether what he has made -himself, but what others have made him. But a man's personal influence is -within his own control. It is at the gateway of his nature from which his -influence goes forth that he needs to post his sentinels. - -Mind stands related to mind, somewhat in the relation of cause and effect. - -Emerson said, "You send your boy to school to be educated, but the -education that he gets is largely from the other boys." It is a kind of -education that he will remember longer and have a greater influence upon -his character and career in life than the instructions he gets from the -teacher. - -The great scholar, Elihu Burritt, has said, "No human being can come into -this world without increasing or diminishing the sum total of human -happiness." No one can detach himself from the connection. There is no -spot in the universe to which he can retreat from his relations to others. - -This makes living and acting among our fellows a serious business. It -makes life a stage, ourselves the actors--some of us being remarkably bad -actors--and imposes upon us the obligation to act well our part. Therein -all honor lies. And in order to do this it behooves us to stock up with -the qualities of mind and character, the influence of which will be -helpful to those who follow the trail behind us. - -Another plain duty my experience has pointed out is that each of us owes -an honest, manly effort toward the material world's progress. Honest -labor is the key that unlocks the door of happiness. One of the silliest -notions that a young man can get into his head is the idea that the world -owes him a living. It does not owe you the fraction of a red cent, young -man. What have you done for the world that put it under obligation to -you? When did the world become indebted to you? Who cared for you in the -years of helpless infancy? Who built the schoolhouse where you got the -rudiments of your education? The world was made and equipped for men to -develop it. Almighty God furnished the world well. He provided abundant -coal beds, oceans of oil, boundless forests, seas of salt. He has ribbed -the mountain with gems fit to deck the brows of science, eloquence and -art. He has furnished earth to produce for all the requirements of man. -He has provided man himself with an intellect to fathom and develop the -mysteries of His handiwork. Now He commands that mortal man shall do the -rest, and what a generous command it is! And this is the world that owes -you a living, is it? - -This reminds me of a man who built and thoroughly equipped a beautiful -church, and presented it as a gift to the congregation. After expressing -their gratitude, a leading member of the church said to the generous -donor: "And now may we request that you put a lightning-rod on the church -to secure it against lightning?" The giver replied: "No. I have built a -church wherein to worship Almighty God, and if He sees fit to destroy it -by lightning, let Him strike." - -There was a church struck by lightning in New Jersey, where the big trust -magnates met for worship, and the Lord is excused for visiting it with -lightning. No, the Lord is not going to strike down your good works at -all. He has laid out an earthly Paradise for each of us, and nothing is -due us except what we earn by honest toil and noble endeavor. We owe the -world a debt of gratitude we can never repay for making this a convenient -dwelling-place. We owe the world the best there is in us for its -development. Gerald Massey put it right when he said: "Toil is creation's -crown, worship is duty." - -Another important lesson life has taught me is the value, the priceless -value, of good friends, and with Shakespeare I say: "Grapple them to thy -soul with hooks of steel." Some sage has said: "A man is known by the -company he can not get into." But truly this would be a barren world -without the association of friends. But a man must make himself worthy of -friends, for the text teaches us that "A man who wants friends must show -himself friendly." What I am today, or strive to be, I owe largely to my -friends--friends to whom I fail in language to express my gratitude, which -is deeper than the lips; friends who led us to believe that "stone walls -do not a prison make, nor iron bars a cage;" friends who understand that -human nature and sincerity are often clothed in prison garb; friends who -have decreed that one false step does not lame a man for life. - -Oh, what a generous doctrine! And, although unwritten, I believe God has -set his seal upon it. Honest friendship is a grand religion, and if we -are true to ourselves, the poet tells us, we cannot be false to any man. - -However, I am forced to admit that there are many brands of friendship -existing these days which had not birth in our time. For instance: A -number of men have visited me in the prison, and assured me of their -interest in a pardon, etc. They have talked so eloquently and earnestly -that I thought I was fortunate to enlist the sympathies and aid of such -splendid men. After the first or second visit I was informed as gently as -possible that a price was attached to this friendship; how much would I -give them for indorsing or signing a petition for a pardon? I remember -how I glared at them, how my pulse almost ceased beating, at such demands. -What injustice to the public to petition a man out of prison for a price! -If a man can not come out of prison on his merits, let him remain there. -I hold, too, that if there is honor among thieves there should be among -politicians and pretentious citizens. I hate a liar and a false man. I -hate a hypocrite, a man whose word to his friend is not as good as gold. - -My friends, there is just one thing I will say in my own defense if you -will so far indulge me. I do not believe in doing under the cover of -darkness that which will not bear the light of day. During my career of -outlawing I rode into town under the glare of the noonday sun, and all men -knew my mission. Corporations of every color had just cause to despise me -then. But no man can accuse me of prowling about at night, nor of ever -having robbed an individual, or the honest poor. In our time a man's word -was equal to his oath, and seldom did a man break faith when he had once -pledged himself to another. - -What I say to you, fellow citizens, I say not in idle boast, but from the -soul of a man who reverences truth in all its simplicity. Think of it--a -price for a man's proffered friendship. On my soul, I do not even now -comprehend so monstrous a proposition, and, believe me, even the -unfortunate creatures about me in prison looked more like men than your -respectable citizens and professional men with a price for their -friendship. - -I should like to say something to the ladies who have honored me with -their presence. But as I have been a bachelor all my life I scarcely know -what to say. I do know, though, that they are the divine creatures of a -divine Creator; I do know that they are the high priestesses of this land; -and, too, I say, God could not be everywhere, so He made woman. One -almost needs the lantern of a Diogenes in this progressive age to find an -honest man, but not so with a good woman, who is an illumination in -herself, the light of her influence shining with a radiance of its own. -You will agree with me that the following lines contain more truth than -poetry, and I bow to the splendid genius of the author: - - - Blame woman not if some appear - Too cold at times, and some too gay and light; - Some griefs gnaw deep--some woes are hard to bear. - Who knows the past, and who can judge them right? - - -Perhaps you have heard of banquets "for gentlemen only." Well, it was -upon one of these occasions that one of the guests was called upon to -respond to a toast--"The Ladies." - -There being no ladies present, he felt safe in his remarks. "I do not -believe," he said, "that there are any real, true women living any more." -The guest opposite him sprang to his feet and shouted: "I hope that the -speaker refers only to his own female relations." I never could -understand, either, when a man goes wrong it is called "misfortune," while -if a woman goes wrong it is called "shame." But I presume, being in -prison twenty-five years, I am naturally dull, and should not question a -world I have not lived in for a quarter of a century. I tell you, my -friends, that I know very little of women, but of one thing I am morally -certain: If the front seats of Paradise are not reserved for women, I am -willing to take a back seat with them. It seems to me that every man who -had a mother should have a proper regard for womanhood. My own mother was -a combination of all the best elements of the high character that belong -to true wife and motherhood. Her devotion and friendship were as eternal -as the very stars of heaven, and no misfortune could dwarf her generous -impulses or curdle the milk of human kindness in her good heart. Her -memory has been an altar, a guiding star, a divinity, in the darkest hour -when regrets were my constant companions. It is true that I was a mere -boy, in my teens, when the war was on, but there is no excuse for -neglecting a good mother's counsel, and no good can possibly result. I -was taught that honor among men and charity in the errors of others were -the chief duties of mankind, the fundamentals of law, both human and -divine. In those two commandments I have not failed, but in other -respects I fell short of my home influence, and so, my young friends, do -not do as I have done, but do as I tell you to do--honor the fourth -commandment. - -There is no heroism in outlawry, and the fate of each outlaw in his turn -should be an everlasting lesson to the young of the land. And even as -Benedict Arnold, the patriot and traitor, dying in an ugly garret in a -foreign land, cried with his last breath to the lone priest beside him: -"Wrap my body in the American flag;" so the outlaw, from his inner soul, -if not from his lips, cries out, "Oh, God, turn back the universe!" - -There is another subject I want to say a word about--one which I never -publicly advocated while in prison, for the reason that I feared the -outside world would believe it a disguise to obtain my freedom. Freedom -is the birthright heritage of every man, and it was very dear to me, but -if the price of it was to pretend to be religious, the price was too high, -and I would rather have remained in prison. Some men in prison fly to it -as a refuge in sincerity--some otherwise. But to the sincere it is a great -consolation, for it teaches men that hope is a divinity, without which no -man can live and retain his reason. - -But now that I have been restored to citizenship I feel free to express my -views upon religion without fear that men will accuse me of hypocrisy. I -do not see why that word "hypocrisy" was ever put in the English language. -Now, I am a lecturer, not a minister, but I want to say that I think it is -a wise plan to let the Lord have his own way with you. That's logic. The -man who walks with God is in good company. Get into partnership with Him, -but don't try to be the leading member of the firm. He knows more about -the business than you do. You may be able for a time to practice -deception upon your fellow men, but don't try to fire any blank cartridges -at the Author of this Universe. There are a great many ways to inspire a -man with true Christian sentiment, and I must say that the least of them -is sitting down and quoting a text from Scripture. Religious men and -women have visited me in prison who have never mentioned religion, but -have had the strongest influence over me. Their sincerity and conduct -appealed to one more strongly than the bare Scripture. I can see in -imagination now one whom I have so often seen in reality while in prison. -She was a true, sweet, lovely, Christian young lady. I remember once -asking her if all the people of her church were as good as she was. She -replied, honestly and straightforwardly: "No; you will not find them all -so liberal toward their unfortunate brothers, and every church has its -share of hypocrites--mine the same as others. But God and the church -remain just the same." There are some don'ts I would call to your -attention. One of them is, don't try to get rich too quickly by grasping -every bait thrown out to the unwary. I have been in the society of the -fellows who tried to get rich quickly for the past twenty-five years, and -for the most part they are a poor lot. I do not know but that I would -reverse Milton's lines so as to read: - - - 'Tis better to sit with a fool in Paradise - Than some of those wise ones in prison. - - -Don't resort to idleness. The boy who wears out the seat of his trousers -holding down dry-goods boxes on the street corners will never be president -of the United States. The farmer who drives to town for pleasure several -days in the week will soon have his farm advertised for sale. An idle man -is sure to go into the hands of a receiver. My friends, glorious -opportunities are before us, with the republic's free institutions at your -command. Science and knowledge have unlocked their vaults wherein poverty -and wealth are not classified--a fitting theater where the master mind -shall play the leading role. - -And now, with your permission, I will close with a bit of verse from Reno, -the famous poet-scout. His lines are the embodiment of human nature as it -should be, and to me they are a sort of creed. He says: - - - I never like to see a man a-wrestling with the dumps, - 'Cause in the game of life he doesn't always catch the trumps, - But I can always cotton to a free-and-easy cuss - As takes his dose and thanks the Lord it wasn't any wuss. - There ain't no use of swearin' and cussin' at your luck, - 'Cause you can't correct your troubles more than you can drown a - duck. - Remember that when beneath the load your suffering head is bowed - That God will sprinkle sunshine in the trail of every cloud. - If you should see a fellow man with trouble's flag unfurled, - And lookin' like he didn't have a friend in all the world, - Go up and slap him on the back and holler, "How'd you do?" - And grasp his hand so warm he'll know he has a friend in you, - An' ask him what's a-hurtin' him, and laugh his cares away, - An' tell him that the darkest hour is just before the day. - Don't talk in graveyard palaver, but say it right out loud, - That God will sprinkle sunshine in the trail of every cloud. - This world at best is but a hash of pleasures and of pain; - Some days are bright and sunny, and some are sloshed with rain; - An' that's jes' how it ought to be, so when the clouds roll by - We'll know jes' how to 'preciate the bright and smilin' sky. - So learn to take things as they come, and don't sweat at the pores - Because the Lord's opinion doesn't coincide with yours; - But always keep rememberin', when cares your path enshroud, - That God has lots of sunshine to spill behind the cloud. - - - - - -AN AFTERWARD - - -Since the foregoing was written I find that the publication of libels on -myself and my dead brothers continues. The New York publishers of -"five-cent-dreadfuls" are the worst offenders. One of them has published -two books since my release from prison, in one of which my brothers and I -are accused of the M., K. & T. train robbery at Big Springs, and in the -other of the Chicago & Alton robbery at the Missouri Pacific crossing near -Independence, Mo. - -We had been in Stillwater prison nearly a year when the Big Springs -robbery was committed, it being in September, 1877. I forget the date of -the Alton robbery, but that branch of the Alton was not built until after -we were sent to Stillwater, so we can not be reasonably accused of that. - -For the portraits of my old guerrilla comrades, of whom authentic -likenesses are, at this late day, hard to find, I am especially indebted -to Mr. Albert Winner, of Kansas City, whose valuable collection of war -pictures was kindly placed at my disposal. - - COLE YOUNGER - - - - - - [Illustration: Wild West Show advertisement] - - - - - - -***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE STORY OF COLE YOUNGER, BY HIMSELF*** - - - -CREDITS - - -February 12, 2008 - - Project Gutenberg edition 10 - Anonymous - - - -A WORD FROM PROJECT GUTENBERG - - -This file should be named 24585.txt or 24585.zip. - -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - - - http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/4/5/8/24585/ - - -Updated editions will replace the previous one -- the old editions will be -renamed. - -Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no one -owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation (and -you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without permission -and without paying copyright royalties. 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