Legends of the Old West - JESSE JAMES D.C. Ep. 2 | "Armed Robbery"

Episode Date: January 15, 2020

Bank robberies pile up fast in the years after the Civil War. Frank and Jesse learn the tricks of the trade from their old guerilla comrades and then strike out on their own. But in their first solo action, Jesse murders a man in cold blood and earns the wrath of an angry posse. Join Black Barrel+ for early access and bingeable seasons: blackbarrel.supportingcast.fm/join For more details, visit our website www.blackbarrelmedia.com and check out our social media pages. We’re @OldWestPodcast on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Let's go seize the night. That's the powerful backing of American Express. Visit amex.ca slash yamex. Benefits vary by car and other conditions apply. This episode is brought to you by Lego Fortnite. Lego Fortnite is the ultimate survival crafting game found within Fortnite. It's not just Fortnite Battle Royale with minifigures. It's an entirely new experience that combines the best of Lego play and

Fortnite created to give players of all ages, including kids and families, a safe digital space to play in. Download Fortnite on consoles, PC, cloud services, or Android and play Lego Fortnite for free. Rated ESRB E10+. The first recorded bank heist in American history happened in 1798.

The next major example was in 1831. in 1798. The next major example was in 1831. Both were burglaries, not robberies, meaning the bandits did not use force to steal the money. They were sneak jobs that happened in the middle of the night. The first recorded armed bank robbery by a civilian happened during the Civil War in Malden, Massachusetts in December 1863. The town's postmaster walked into the local bank, discovered just one clerk in the building, and shot the young man in the head. The postmaster took $5,000 from the bank,

and when he began to use it around town to pay off his debts, people grew suspicious. He was arrested two months after the crime and confessed to armed robbery and murder. He was hanged in April 1866, just three months after a dozen men robbed the Clay County Savings Association in Liberty, Missouri, and killed a young bystander in the process. The era of armed robbery had arrived, and within three years, one group would distinguish itself as America's premier outlaw organization, the James Younger Gang. From Black Barrel Media, this is Season 7 of the Legends of the Old West podcast. I'm your host, Chris Wimmer.

In this season, we're revisiting the life and legacy of Jesse James. This is Episode 2, Armed Robbery. As a podcast network, our first priority has always been audio and the stories we're able to share with you. But we also sell merch. And organizing that was made both possible and easy with Shopify. Shopify is the global commerce platform that helps you sell and grow at every stage of your business. From the launch your online shop stage all the way to the did we just hit a million orders stage. Whether you're selling scented soap or offering outdoor outfits, Shopify helps you sell everywhere. They have an all-in-one e-commerce platform and in-person POS system.

So wherever and whatever you're selling, Shopify's got you covered. With the internet's best converting checkout, 36% better on average compared to other leading commerce platforms, Shopify helps you turn browsers into buyers. Shopify has allowed us to share something tangible with the podcast community we've built here, selling our beanies, sweatshirts, and mugs to fans of our shows without taking up too much time from all the other work we do to bring you even more great content. And it's not just us. Shopify powers 10% of all e-commerce in the U.S. Shopify is also the global force behind Allbirds, Rothy's, and Brooklinen, and millions of other entrepreneurs of every size across 175 countries. Because businesses that grow, grow with Shopify. Sign up for a $1 per month trial period at shopify.com slash realm, all lowercase. Go to shopify.com slash r-e-a-l-m now to grow your business, no matter what stage you're in. Shopify.com slash realm. Shopify.com slash realm. right. From the crispest lettuce to the juiciest apples, Loblaws is committed to fresh, so you get the best fruits and veggies. Look for new value programs when you shop at Loblaws, in-store and online. Conditions may apply. See in-store for details. The repercussions of America's first daylight peacetime bank robbery were swift and violent.

A dozen men had ridden into Liberty, Missouri on a cold day in February 1866 and robbed a bank at gunpoint. They killed a 19-year-old bystander during the escape. They made off with $58,000, and two local posses chased them out of town. The posses tracked the robbers into the surrounding wilderness, but eventually lost the trail. In response, Missouri's governor authorized search-and-destroy missions. There were several red flags with the Liberty robbery. It was known to all that the men of the old guerrilla outfits from the Civil War, like Quantrill's Raiders, were riding together again.

During the war, those men had disguised themselves by wearing the sky-blue overcoats of Union Army officers while committing various crimes. The robbery had been perpetrated by men in sky-blue overcoats. Rumors quickly swirled around Clay County and neighboring counties that the bandits had belonged to Bloody Bill Anderson's troop of Quantrill's raiders. Frank and Jesse James were not on those immediate lists, but most of their comrades-in-arms were. After the Liberty Raid, the governor of Missouri instructed the militia to hunt down the old Bushwacker groups and destroy them. Bloody Bill Anderson had been killed late in the war, and when it was over, the remnants of his old outfit banded together

under the leadership of his brother Jim. Another group formed under the command of Archie Clement, Another group formed under the command of Archie Clement, Bloody Bill's right-hand man. In the spring and summer of 1866, war returned to the countryside of central Missouri. Citizens whose families had suffered at the hands of Quantrill's raiders wanted revenge. They were quick to attack any guerrilla fighter they found in the open. And now the militia patrolled the hills, killing bushwhackers as it found them. Over the course of those months, the number of surviving Quantrill's raiders steadily dropped. During the manhunt, it became clear that the old bands of guerrilla fighters were using four adjoining counties as their base of operations.

Clay, Jackson, Ray, and Lafayette. Clay County was the home of the James boys. Jackson County was the home of the younger brothers. Lafayette County was the home of Archie Clement. And Ray County had the town of Richmond, where Bloody Bill's body had been desecrated and grotesquely displayed after he had been killed. In the final few months of 1866, the new era of armed robbery collided with the manhunt for the guerrilla raiders, and the epicenter was the town of Lexington in La Jesse a sick feeling in his stomach when he thought of it. Or maybe more accurately, a pain in his chest. Late in the war, Bloody Bill Anderson wanted to raid Lexington, but the attack never happened.

Right after the aborted mission, Jesse had been shot in the chest for the first time. A year later, Bloody Bill's understudy, Archie Clement, wanted to try the same thing, a raid on Lexington. Once again, the raid was cancelled, and once again, Jesse was shot in the chest afterward. Now, in October 1866, four men rode into Lexington and robbed the Alexander Mitchell and Company Bank. A well-known guerrilla fighter with Quantrill's raiders, who lived right there in Lexington, was seen loitering near the bank during the robbery. When the bandits galloped out of town with $2,000, the guerrilla fighter and his brother chased them. The brothers returned several hours later, claiming they lost the bandits after a running gunfight.

But few people in town believed the brothers' story. Most folks thought the two men had been in on the job. And six weeks later, their suspicions were all but confirmed. Twenty-six men rode into Lexington in one long column. They were all former guerrilla fighters in the war and members of Quantrill's raiders. They were commonly referred to as bushwhackers in the area, and at the head of the column wrote Archie Clement. It was a moment of proud defiance. Citizens had killed some of the Raiders in revenge for atrocities committed during the war,

and the governor had sent the militia to hunt down the rest of them. But here they were, Frank and Jesse included, riding into Lexington, a town that was a hotbed of conflict and one that was controlled by the very militia that was searching for them. The Bushwhackers were practically daring the troops to fight. But the militia commander was a cool customer. The town of Lexington had been fortunate to avoid two battles between Union forces and Quantrill's raiders during the war.

The commander saw no reason to start a gunfight in the middle of town a year after the war was over. So the Union militia did not take the bait. They did not engage. And over the course of the day, the guerrillas wandered out of town and went back to their homes. All except Archie Clement. Archie was drinking in a hotel bar with a friend, and the militia commander saw his chance to arrest the infamous guerrilla captain. The commander sent four men into the hotel, but Archie wasn't going to go down without a fight. He blasted his way out of the

hotel and ran down the street. He was wounded twice during the exchange in the hotel, but he kept running, right up until he made it to the courthouse. The militia was headquartered in the courthouse, and as Archie ran by outside, the soldiers opened fire. They shattered the windows and cut down Archie in the street. He had always vowed he would die before he surrendered, and he did. Archie Clement was killed in the middle of Lexington, December 13, 1866. He was Jesse James' close friend and mentor, and he was the last of the old captains of Quantrill's raiders. The death of Archie Clement left a void in the ranks of the remaining raiders. They scattered into the countryside of their home counties,

countryside they knew better than anyone after years of using it to evade Union troops. Five months passed with no major incident. There were isolated robberies and killings, but no headline-grabbing event until May 22, 1867. That day, the action shifted to Richmond, Missouri, in Ray County, the town where Bloody Bill Anderson's body had been displayed after he'd been killed. It was Thursday, and men drifted into town that afternoon and congregated in front of the Hughes and Wasson Bank. The bank was owned by pro-union men in a town that had celebrated the death of Bloody Bill Anderson, so it was a prime target.

Four men hopped down from their horses and went into the bank. They collected $3,500, but before they could hurry back outside, something spooked the citizens of Richmond. The horsemen drew nervous attention. Something started the shooting. Maybe someone shouted a warning or fired a shot at the bandits. No one knows for sure. But the result was a full-blown gun battle in the streets of Richmond. The outlaws fired at the townspeople as they ran for cover. A union officer took shelter behind a tree near the courthouse and fired at the bandits with his rifle.

The mayor sprinted down the street with his pistol in hand and shouted at bystanders to take cover. The robbers on horseback outside the bank returned fire. They shot the union officer in the head. He fell dead on the courthouse lawn. The bandits shot the mayor through the heart. The union officer's elderly father ran up the street toward the bank, and the robber shot him in the head. As his dead body lay on the ground, one of the thieves put another bullet in his corpse. The four men in the bank ran outside with the stolen cash and leapt into their saddles. The gang spurred their horses and galloped out of town.

spurred their horses, and galloped out of town. Fourteen months earlier, a single bystander had been killed during the Liberty robbery, and in response, Missouri's governor had ordered the destruction of the Bushwhackers. Now, three men had been murdered in cold blood, including a town mayor. The retaliation by posses and vigilantes would be prolonged and bloody, and it would have the unintended consequence of opening the door for the greatest robbers of the age, the James Younger Gang. After the deadly shootout in Richmond, citizen posses and vigilante squads prowled the countryside looking for the suspected robbers. Angry mobs stormed jails and lynched suspected outlaws.

Gunfights killed bushwhackers, posse members, and innocent bystanders alike. And just when it seemed like the violence might start to subside, the First National Bank of Independence in Jackson County was robbed in November 1867, and the cycle started all over again. There were manhunts and hangings in February 1868. One by one, the old bushwhackers were captured, killed, or gave up the outlaw life. Jesse James had celebrated his 20th birthday just a few months earlier,

so he was still too young and obscure to be targeted by the vigilantes. Frank had just turned 26, and he had far more experience with guerrilla outfits than his brother, and was more closely associated with them, but he managed to stay free. Through the process of elimination, Frank and Jesse rose up the ranks. In March 1868, they quietly traveled back roads to Kentucky. Some of the older surviving members of Quantrill's Raiders had a plan to rob a bank that

was co-owned by the brother of a prominent Missouri Unionist politician. Five men robbed the Nimrod Long & Company Bank in Russellville and escaped with $12,000. In the wake of the robbery, detectives traced Frank and Jesse to a hotel in town but they couldn't confirm they had actually taken part in the heist. The detectives did confirm the identity of the man who planned the raid. They tracked him down

and killed him. Frank and Jesse had been on the fringes of the Russellville job and Cole Younger might have been an active participant for the first time. Either way, it was the last time they were minor players. The Russellville robbery was the end of the road for the old guard guerrilla raiders.

Frank and Jesse were about to take charge. After the Russellville job, Jesse stepped out of the background and into the foreground. He suddenly dressed like a dandy, sporting new clothes and a new hat. He also had a new horse that was envied by everyone in the area. And while he evolved, the immediate world around him evolved as well. His mother, Zerelda, and his second stepfather, Reuben, now had a brood of children of their own. Jesse convinced his mother to name the youngest boy Archie, after Archie Clement. Around the country, the Reconstruction Act of 1867 attempted to restore order to the Union

and to rebuild the infrastructure and economy of the South. and to rebuild the infrastructure and economy of the South. Every southern state, with the exception of Tennessee, now had a military governor until new elections could be held. The South and the West were divided into military districts that were commanded by prominent Union Army generals. The results were, let's say, less than stellar. Resistance began to grow in the South again, and not just to the government. Early in 1868, right before Frank and Jesse helped rob the bank in Russellville,

a group of like-minded individuals formed a club in Pulaski, Tennessee. It was a loose organization in the beginning, with a variety of common ideas. But eventually they coalesced around one dominant principle, white supremacy. They adopted a dress code of white hoods and robes and called themselves the Ku Klux Klan. Jesse would use this group to his advantage in the future, but the next item on the agenda

was the Davies County Savings Association Bank. The only question was his motive. Was it robbery or murder? On December 7, 1869, Jesse James had been 22 years old for two months and two days. He and Frank rode into Gallatin, Missouri, in Davies County, northwest of their home in Clay County. They stopped in front of the Davies County Savings Association, a small one-room brick building. At 12.30 in the afternoon, Jesse swung down from the saddle and entered the bank. Frank waited outside on his horse. Jesse surveyed the inside of the bank. There wasn't much to see. A lawyer who rented space

in the building sat at his desk in one corner. The lone cashier sat in the back, right in front of the safe. Jesse strode across the floor to the cashier. He handed the man a $100 note and asked for change. As the cashier accepted the bill, Jesse studied his face. He became convinced he knew the man. Behind Jesse, Frank entered the building and asked the cashier for a receipt. Frank scrutinized the man as well, but he didn't have much time. As the cashier scribbled the receipt, Jesse pulled a revolver from his coat.

He leveled it at the cashier's chest. Jesse cursed the man, believing he was the Union soldier who had killed Bloody Bill Anderson five years earlier. That officer was Samuel Cox, and he lived there in Gallatin. Before the cashier could respond, Jesse shot him in the chest. The boom of the black powder gun in the small space would have been enormous. Jesse immediately fired a second round into the man's head. The cashier toppled from his chair. He was dead before he knew what happened. The lawyer in the corner bolted for the door.

Jesse spun and fired twice. One bullet hit the man in the arm, but the other missed. The lawyer sprinted outside, screaming about the robbery. Jesse and Frank grabbed a portfolio off the cashier's desk and ran for their horses. They leapt onto their mounts and galloped out of town. Citizens rushed into the street with their rifles and fired at the bandits, but none of the shots found their mark. They succeeded in scaring Jesse's horse, though. His horse bucked and nearly threw him out of the shots found their mark. They succeeded in scaring Jesse's horse, though. His horse bucked and nearly threw him out of the saddle,

but one of his boots caught in the stirrup. He crashed to the ground, and the horse dragged him 30 or 40 feet before Frank could stop it. Frank pulled Jesse onto the back of his own horse, and they abandoned Jesse's mare. They raced away toward Clay County, but they couldn't share a horse and expect to get away. Behind them, a posse was already forming. Less than a mile later, the brothers spotted a horse tied to a fence in front of a farm.

The horse's owner was outside when the brothers charged up to the farm, and the frightened man quickly found two pistols pointed at his head. He could do nothing but watch as Jesse jumped down from Frank's horse and helped himself to the new mount. In seconds, they were back on the run. About two miles later, they made it to a creek and used its waters to hide their trail. They escaped Davies County, but they had done much more damage than they had imagined. They had killed the wrong man, they had stolen virtually nothing, and they had a very determined posse on their heels.

On the way back to Clay County, Jesse bragged to a number of people on the road that he had just avenged the death of one of his mentors, Bloody Bill Anderson. He said he had just killed Major Samuel Cox, the union officer who had finally ended Bloody Bill's reign of terror late in the Civil War. But Jesse was wrong. He hadn't killed Samuel Cox. He had killed John W. Sheets. The Davies County Savings Association was owned and operated by Sheets, and Sheets was a prominent man in Gallatin and well-liked in the area. An angry howl rose up from Davies County, and here was Jesse, telling everyone that he was the killer. Samuel Cox did live in Gallatin, Jesse was right about that, but he certainly didn't work at a bank. The real motive of the raid in Davies County is hard to pin down. Frank and Jesse may have truly intended to rob the bank and nothing

more, but when they went inside, they became convinced they were looking at Samuel Cox and they changed their plan. Or maybe the trip to Gallatin was entirely about killing Samuel Cox and then they shot the wrong man. Whatever it was, they made almost no attempt to steal anything of value from the bank. The portfolio they snatched off the cashier's desk contained only paperwork, no money. And even though they escaped, they were in hot water, but they didn't know it. The horse Jesse had been forced to leave behind was a prized animal. Two heavily armed men from Gallatin easily traced the horse to the area around Liberty, Missouri, in Clay County, which was less than 10 miles from the

James family farm. It didn't take long for the two men to put Jesse's bragging together with the prized horse and determine the two men responsible for the murder of John W. Sheets were Frank and Jesse James. The newspaper in St. Joseph said vigilante justice would probably settle the matter. There would be no need to call up a jury because the gunmen would never see the inside of a courtroom. And that was nearly the case. The two men from Gallatin partnered with a deputy sheriff and his son and headed for the James family farm.

The deputy was considered an expert with a horse and a gun. He had a proud service record as a militia captain in the war, and he was a feared hunter of Quantrill's raiders after the war. There was probably no man in Clay County more suited to capture the James boys. But Clay County was like a giant spider's web. It was difficult for outsiders or lawmen to get near the farm without alerting the brothers. Word of danger traveled fast, as it did now. When the four men approached the farm, Frank and Jesse were ready. They were hidden in the barn, stationed on their horses, trying to keep the animals quiet as they waited for the scene to play out. The deputy sheriff and his son dismounted in front of the farmhouse and walked up to the door. The men from Gallatin circled through the nearby woods so they could cover the yard.

and circled through the nearby woods so they could cover the yard. Just before the deputy could knock on the door, it flew open and a 13-year-old boy burst outside. He was the son of the former slave of the James family. After emancipation, the slave and her son stayed with the James family as servants, though the difference was probably slim. The boy sprinted toward the barn. He threw open the barn door and Frank and Jesse galloped out of their hiding spot. The two men from Gallatin opened fire across the field. The deputy and his son opened fire from the front yard of the farmhouse,

but Frank and Jesse jumped their horses over a fence at full gallop and raced away from the farm. Jesse jumped their horses over a fence at full gallop and raced away from the farm. The four pursuers began the chase. The deputy proved he was a good horseman. His horse leapt over the fence and he kept the brothers in sight ahead of him, but he realized something was wrong. He glanced over his shoulder and discovered he was alone. His son and the men from Gallatin couldn't urge their horses to jump over the fence. They were stuck back at the farm. The deputy was down to his last two bullets, and he had no backup. He stopped his horse, climbed down, and tried two long-range shots at the brothers. Predictably, both shots missed. Worse than that, the shots scared his horse.

The horse took off in the direction of the brothers, leaving the man to walk back to the farm. When he arrived, he reunited with his son and the men from Gallatin and commandeered a horse from the James family. The four men left without catching Frank or Jesse. The brothers had survived their first major brush with the law as robbers and killers. When the coast was clear, the James boys returned to the farm, but they didn't stay long. They were full of rage at the attempted capture, and they headed to the nearest town, Kearney, to vent their anger. They rode up and down the streets for half an hour, shouting and cursing and making a spectacle.

And they were heavily armed. Frank carried five pistols. Jesse carried three, plus a rifle. These were still black powder cap-and-ball weapons. They could hold more slugs than the old single-shot muzzle-loading pistols, which was an obvious advantage, but the downside was that they were cumbersome to load. The classic pistols of Western movies that held smooth brass cartridges were not prominent yet. As a result, men like the James boys carried small arsenals on them at all times. When they fired a gun dry, they reached for a new one instead of stopping to reload the old one.

With eight guns between them, they would have looked like a fearsome sight on the streets of Kearney. During their shouting and ranting, they twisted the recent facts. They said they had just killed the deputy and his son, which of course they had not. And they denied killing the cashier in Gallatin, which of course they had. When they finally left the people of Kearney in peace, they rode out of town and delivered an ominous warning to two strangers on the road. They said the James boys would never be taken alive. In the aftermath of the Gallatin murder, unprecedented bounties were placed on the heads of Frank and Jesse James,

far more than would be levied against a skinny young outlaw in New Mexico called Billy the Kid ten years from now. The governor of Missouri offered rewards of $500 for each man, which was $200 more than normal. The people of Gallatin took up a collection and matched the governor's rewards. That made it $1,000 for each brother. And finally, Davies County added another $250 to the total. The James boys were now worth more than $2,000, at a time when the average carpenter made about half of that per year. Frank and Jesse James were now firmly in the spotlight. They were headliners. And now it was time to grab some friends and start robbing banks for real.

Next time on Legends of the Old West, the boys pull robberies from Iowa to Kentucky and become celebrities thanks to a star-struck newspaper editor. And they graduate to train robbery. And somewhere in there, they find time to get married. All that is next week on Jesse James, Director's Cut. Original music by Rob Valliere. Vocal editing by Molly Bach. Original music by Rob Valliere.

Vocal editing by Molly Bach. Music editing and sound design by Dave Harrison. I'm your writer and host, Chris Wimmer. If you enjoyed the show, please leave us a rating and a review on Apple Podcasts or wherever you're listening. Please visit our website, blackbarrelmedia.com, for more details. And join us on social media. We're Black Barrel Media on Facebook and Instagram and B Barrel Media on Twitter. And if you want to contribute to the production of our shows and receive discounts on merchandise, please visit our Patreon page. That's patreon.com Sous-titrage Société Radio-Canada tout en travaillant, en mangeant ou même en écoutant ce balado, alors vous connaissez et aimez l'excitation du magasinage. Mais avez-vous ce frisson d'obtenir le meilleur deal?

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