The Crimes of Jesse James
After the Civil War, Jesse James was unable to settle into normal civilian life. Instead, his anger at the North and at the persecution of his family during the war propelled him into the spotlight as “the nation’s most revered outlaw” (O’Reilly, 2015, p. 192). While still recovering from injuries, Jesse helped plan the first daytime bank robbery committed during peacetime. The robbery netted over $58,000. One bystander was killed, and Jesse sent a letter of apology to his family (O’Reilly, 2015, p.198). Thus began a fifteen-year-long crime spree that ended only when Jesse James was killed.
Jesse and his gang went on to commit robberies all over the west- Kentucky, Iowa, Missouri, even Minnesota. One particularly …show more content…
There was no federal insurance program in place at the time, so the townspeople were just out of luck- their money was gone. In addition, he also injured innocent bank employees and bystanders. When the gang left a bank, they often left employees injured or dead. In addition, they shot in the air to scare off pursuers, and sometimes bystanders paid the price. For example, while robbing the Kansas City Exposition, a young girl was accidentally shot. An ad was placed in the paper claiming responsibility and offering to pay her medical bills if the newspaper would post her family’s address. Later, during a train robbery in July, 1881, Jesse James shot a conductor on the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific train they were robbing because he thought the man was someone that had helped the Pinkertons when they bombed his parents’ house. When a passenger tried to help the conductor, Frank James killed him. According to Weiser (n.d.), the gang committed 26 holdups and killed at least seventeen men during their reign of lawlessness. Jesse and the others eventually became very hardened and had little sympathy for many of their
After the Civil War, Jesse James was unable to settle into normal civilian life. Instead, his anger at the North and at the persecution of his family during the war propelled him into the spotlight as “the nation’s most revered outlaw” (O’Reilly, 2015, p. 192). While still recovering from injuries, Jesse helped plan the first daytime bank robbery committed during peacetime. The robbery netted over $58,000. One bystander was killed, and Jesse sent a letter of apology to his family (O’Reilly, 2015, p.198). Thus began a fifteen-year-long crime spree that ended only when Jesse James was killed.
Jesse and his gang went on to commit robberies all over the west- Kentucky, Iowa, Missouri, even Minnesota. One particularly …show more content…
There was no federal insurance program in place at the time, so the townspeople were just out of luck- their money was gone. In addition, he also injured innocent bank employees and bystanders. When the gang left a bank, they often left employees injured or dead. In addition, they shot in the air to scare off pursuers, and sometimes bystanders paid the price. For example, while robbing the Kansas City Exposition, a young girl was accidentally shot. An ad was placed in the paper claiming responsibility and offering to pay her medical bills if the newspaper would post her family’s address. Later, during a train robbery in July, 1881, Jesse James shot a conductor on the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific train they were robbing because he thought the man was someone that had helped the Pinkertons when they bombed his parents’ house. When a passenger tried to help the conductor, Frank James killed him. According to Weiser (n.d.), the gang committed 26 holdups and killed at least seventeen men during their reign of lawlessness. Jesse and the others eventually became very hardened and had little sympathy for many of their