AN AMERICAN ‘KELLY GANG.’

Temuka Leader, Issue 1060, 27 January 1883, Page 3

AN AMERICAN ‘KELLY GANG.’

In * Harper’s Magazine ’ the following history is given of Jesse James and his gang. The career of James has been a long record of villainy, crime,

and murder, and it is almost impossible

of belief, yd perfectly true, that for

nigh 20 years he successfully defied the law :

Incredible as the stateme i( seems, it is nevertheless true, that this man, or rather monster, at the age of 37, was either principal or accessory to the murder of 125 individuals, 36 defence - less citizens falling by his hand alone at the memorable Lawrence (Kansas)

massacre ; while at Sedalia, Missouri, the following year, he and two associates shot in cold blood 32 invalid Union soldiers en route to the hospital at St.

Louis. A company of lowa volunteers coming to their rescue were ambushed and killed to a man. so that in less than two hours 80 ghastly corpses were piled about the village. In 1865 be robbed a bank in Russellville, Kentucky, of 12,500,000d0l ; also one in Gallatin, Missouri, of all its funds, and deli-

berately shot and killed the cashier. After spending two years in Mexico, he and his brother returned to their former haunts, and heralded their advent by robbing the bank at Croydon, lowa, of 40,000d01. In 1872 he raided the bank at Columbia, Kentucky, and shot the cashier and his assistant Next he seized at noonday, 10,000dols of the funds of the County Agricultural Fair,

at Kansas City, in the presence of thousands of spectators, who seemed paralyse by bis audacity, though in all these transactions he was armed to the teeth. This was followed in six months by the robbery of the Bank of St, Genevieve, in the same State. In 1873

a train on the Chicago, Rock Island, and Pacific railroad was wrecked, and the express messenger relieved of 6000dols. Next came the Gadshill robbery, where James and his pals took possession of the station, switched the train on to a side track, and at their leisure stripped the passengers and express messenger of 12,000do)s, A large reward being offered for their capture, a posse of officers were despatched by Allan Pinkerton, of Chicago,

a Scotchman by birtii, and one of the shrewdest detectives in the United States. Strange to add, however, the pursuit ended in the death or wounding of nearly every one sent on the perilous mission. In 1874, by placing obstructions on the track, they robbed a pas-

senger train on the Kansas Pacific railroad, near Muncie, of 25,000d015. In 1875 the Bank of Huntingdon was packed, and the cashier, at the muzzle of a revolver, compelled to give up 5506d015. Pursuit following, one of the bandits was killed and another captured, but the James brothers made good their escape. In July, 1875, the

eastward-bound train on the Missouri Pacific railroad was robbed at Otterville, 20 miles east of Sedalia, and 15,000d01s taken from the safe i n the express car, In the following September an attempt was made to sack the Bank of Northfield, Minnesota, which ended in failure, though in the instant death of the cashier. Pursuit was immediately given by the citizens ; three of the outlaws were killed, and three severely wounded, who are now serving life sentences in the Minn esota penitentiary at Stillwater, though here again the James brothers succeeded in ultimately baffling their pursuers, and ! escaped into Texas. In the fall of | 1879, returning to Missouri, the band was reinforced, and on October 6th a passenger train on the Chicago, Alton and St Louis railroad was boarded by a gang of masked ruffians, at a small station named Glendale, and 30,000d01s secured as booty. In 1881 the night express on the Rock Island and Pacific railroad was again robbed, near Winston, the conductor shot, and the messenger and passengers deprived of their valuables, The alarming frequency of those depredations at last aroused the Governor of Missouri and the railroad officials to a sense of their duty, and a reward of yO.OOOdols was offered for the body of Jesse James. The result is told in his cold-blooded assassination in his own honse, in an unguarded moment, while divested of Ids weapons, by a treacherous comrade whe bad won bis confidence —fitting end to such a record of crime, thongh a sad commentary on our civilisation and jurisprudence, that the cupidity of a coldblooded assassin should be able to accomplish what the authorised representatives of the law have for years been unable to effect. Immediately after the funeral, Ford, his assassin, was arrested at the instance of Mrs James, for murder, tried, found guilty, and sentenced to be hanged on the 19th of May last, on which day he received from the Governor of Missouri an unconditional pardon.