After his surrender James was taken to Independence, Missouri, where he was held in jail three weeks, and later to Gallatin, where he remained in jail a year awaiting trial. Finally James was acquitted and went to Oklahoma to live with his mother. He never was in the penitentiary and never was convicted of any of the charges against him. [2]
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Did Jesse James live in Oklahoma?
James and his wife moved to a farm near Fletcher in southwestern Oklahoma in 1906. There, they raised corn and chickens on 100 acres of land.
Where did outlaws hide in Oklahoma?
Few know of the legendary cave in the Stephens County town of Marlow, Oklahoma. It was once the hideout of the legendary outlaw Marlow brothers. According to lore, in Marlow, the brothers used to avoid capture from law enforcement by hiding in a cave within Wild Horse Creek.
What famous outlaws were from Oklahoma?
Oklahoma's Legendary OutlawsBelle Starr & Jesse James – Robbers Cave State Park, Wilburton. ... Pretty Boy Floyd – Sallisaw. ... Bonnie & Clyde – Bonnie & Clyde Cottage, Medicine Park. ... Dalton Gang – Pawhuska & Perry. ... The Marlow Brothers – Marlow Area Museum, Marlow.More items...
What outlaws are buried in Oklahoma?
The cemetery has several sections, including a Boot Hill section in which several famous outlaws are buried—Bill Doolin, Charlie Pierce, Richard "Little Dick" West, Bert Casey, and Elmer McCurdy among them.
Is there buried treasure in Oklahoma?
Oklahoma is not well-known for being the land of lost treasures and buried gold, but don't let that fool you. The state has had its share of gold rushes and ruthless outlaws stashing treasures in our mountains, caverns and rivers.
Who is the most famous cowboy in Oklahoma history?
Will RogersBornWilliam Penn Adair RogersNovember 4, 1879 Oologah, Indian TerritoryDiedAugust 15, 1935 (aged 55) Point Barrow, Alaska Territory, U.S.Cause of deathAirplane crashResting placeWill Rogers Memorial in Claremore, Oklahoma12 more rows
Who was the most brutal outlaw?
Many infamous outlaws terrorized the Old West, gunslingers like Billy the Kid and John Wesley Hardin. But one name stands out as the most efficient, elusive killer of the bunch—Deacon Jim Miller. His dastardly deeds included the first documented murder on the South Plains.
Who was the most feared outlaw?
John Wesley HardinOccupationgambling/card sharp, cowboy, cattle rustler, lawyerKnown forvery young outlaw and prolific gunfighterSpousesJane Bowen Carolyn Jane "Callie" LewisParent(s)James Gibson "Gip" Hardin Mary Elizabeth Dixson5 more rows
Who was the most deadliest outlaw?
In total, Billy the Kid killed eight men on his murder spree. He solidified his name in outlaw lore and became a famous fugitive whose story lives on in Hollywood and TV. Wild Bill may hold the title of the deadliest gunslinger in the whole West.
Can you bury a body on your property in Oklahoma?
Can a family bury on their own property? The Funeral Board does not have jurisdiction over cemeteries. Generally, local ordinances, zoning laws, or deed restrictions prohibit burials outside a cemetery within city limits. If you anticipate burial on private property, contact your attorney for guidance.
What is the oldest grave in Oklahoma?
The grave of Sophia Pitchlynn is the oldest known gravestone in Oklahoma. She was born in 1773, well before American declared independence from Britain.
What is the largest military burial ground in the US?
Army Cemeteries range in size from those having only a small number of individuals interred in their grounds and less than 1/10th of an acre, to the largest, Arlington National Cemetery, which contains over 400,000 and spans 639 acres.
Does Oklahoma have street outlaws?
A summary of “Street Outlaws,” provided by Discovery Channel, is as follows: In the world of Oklahoma City street racing, you're nothing if you're not on “The List.” Who has what it takes to be #1? Last season, the STREET OUTLAWS proved that Oklahoma City boasts some of the fastest street racers in America.
Why did outlaws and other criminals hide in Oklahoma after the war?
Since it initially had no extradition laws, outlaws found early-day Indian Territory, and later Oklahoma, a convenient place to hide from the law. Infamous gangs such as Frank and Jesse James and the Daltons all sought refuge at one time or another in Indian Territory.
Where are The Outlaws buried?
Frank, Tom, and Billy Clanton were all killed in the gunfight. You can see their graves at Tombstone's Boot Hill Graveyard-- so named because many outlaws who died violent deaths (or, as they said back in the day, "died with their boots on") are buried there.
What part of Oklahoma is street outlaws from?
Although the show sees racers competing on back roads across a variety of largely desolate states, the true home of the crew (and street racing at large) is Oklahoma City, where boss Shawn Ellington set up his shop, Midwest Street Cars.
Where is Jesse James buried?
Dalton was allegedly 101 years old at the time of his first public appearance, in May 1948. Oran Baker, Hood County Sheriff, conducted a visual post-mortem exam and found he had thirty-two bullet wounds and a rope burn around his neck. He was buried in Granbury Cemetery, where the headstone bears the name of "Jesse Woodson James". His story did not hold up to questioning from James's surviving relatives.
What did Jesse James do after the war?
After the war, as members of various gangs of outlaws, Jesse and Frank robbed banks, stagecoaches, and trains across the Midwest, gaining national fame and often popular sympathy despite the brutality of their crimes. The James brothers were most active as members of their own gang from about 1866 until 1876, when as a result of their attempted robbery of a bank in Northfield, Minnesota, several members of the gang were captured or killed. They continued in crime for several years afterward, recruiting new members, but came under increasing pressure from law enforcement seeking to bring them to justice. On April 3, 1882, Jesse James was shot and killed by Robert Ford, a new recruit to the gang who hoped to collect a reward on James's head and a promised amnesty for his previous crimes. Already a celebrity in life, James became a legendary figure of the Wild West after his death.
What was the only civil case involving Frank and Jesse James?
The only known civil case involving Frank and Jesse James was filed in the Common Pleas Court of Daviess County in 1870. In the case, Daniel Smoote asked for $223.50 from Frank and Jesse James to replace a horse, saddle, and bridle stolen as they fled the robbery of the Daviess County Savings Bank.
How many children did Jesse James have?
They had two children who survived to adulthood: Jesse Edward James (b. 1875) and Mary Susan James (later Barr, b. 1879). Twins Gould and Montgomery James (b. 1878) died in infancy. Jesse Jr. became a lawyer who practiced in Kansas City, Missouri and Los Angeles, California.
What were the names of the James Younger brothers?
Meanwhile, the James brothers joined with Cole Younger and his brothers John, Jim, and Bob, as well as Clell Miller and other former Confederates, to form what came to be known as the James–Younger Gang. With Jesse James as the most public face of the gang (though with operational leadership likely shared among the group), the gang carried out a string of robberies from Iowa to Texas, and from Kansas to West Virginia. They robbed banks, stagecoaches, and a fair in Kansas City, often carrying out their crimes in front of crowds, and even hamming it up for the bystanders.
What happened to the James brothers?
As a result of the James brothers' activities, Union military authorities forced their family to leave Clay County. Though ordered to move South beyond Union lines, they moved north across the nearby state border into Nebraska Territory.
Where did the James brothers escape?
The James brothers eventually split from the others and escaped to Missouri. The militia soon discovered the Youngers and one other bandit, Charlie Pitts. In a gunfight, Pitts died and the Youngers were taken prisoner. Except for Frank and Jesse James, the James–Younger Gang was destroyed.
Who was Jesse James?
Jesse James is historically associated with Oklahoma in many ways. The least of which is that, Ed Kelly, the man who avenged the infamous outlaw by assassinating his assassin, Bob Ford, was killed in downtown Oklahoma City, in 1903, by a police officer after a violent struggle. Without doubt, Jesse's introduction to Oklahoma began during ...
What is the legend of Jesse James?
Most of the legends told about Jesse James throughout Oklahoma often involve lost treasure. It seems that the mountains, hills, and other prominent landmarks throughout Oklahoma mark the locations of much hidden outlaw gold that was never retrieved. Treasure tales involving Jesse James also include his brother Frank, and fellow raider, and long-time member of their gang, Cole Younger. After Jesse's death in 1882, it fell on Frank, Cole, and a few others, to recall where they hid their loot using tell-tale signs left on trees and rocks.
How old was Cole Younger when he was released from prison?
The 64-year-old, retired outlaw had little interest in farming. He was soon visited by Cole Younger, who, six years earlier, had been released from prison after serving 25 years for his role in the James Gang's failed bank robbery in North Field, Minn., and a few other things.
What is the name of Jesse James' brother?
Treasure tales involving Jesse James also include his brother Frank, and fellow raider, and long-time member of their gang, Cole Younger.
Where is Jesse James' cave?
The most popular is Robbers Cave, five miles north of Wilburton in Latimer County, and a mere 35 miles south of Younger's Bend.
Where did Frank James and his wife live?
In 1907, Frank James and his wife, Ann, settled on a 160-acre farm, two miles north of Fletcher, Okla., between the Wichita Mountains and the Keechi Hills.
How much gold did the old outlaws find?
Allegedly, the old outlaw confided with a trusted few friends that he was searching for $110,000 in gold that the gang had buried during the 1870s, after several robberies in southern Kansas.
Where did Jesse James hide?
In choosing his hideout, Jesse James was not one to leave things to chance. The area around Robbers Cave had several things that made it the perfect outlaw hideout. At the base of the cliff, there is a natural stone corral where his gang could easily keep horses and pack animals. A natural water spring located within the cave provided fresh water, and there was a hidden exit that allowed him to escape unnoticed.
When did Jesse James rob the gang?
Perhaps one of the James' gang's most audacious robberies was one that happened in 1876. Ultimately, this robbery would span three states and would start a massive hunt for the loot that Jesse James and his gang hid over 100 years ago.
What is the name of the cave where the Jessie James was hidden?
Robbers Cave, is known to have concealed the legendary Jessie James, as well as other famous outlaws including the Youngers, the Dalton Gang, the Rufus Buck Gang, and Belle Starr. The Robbers Cave area is strewn with rock outcroppings topped with massive boulders and surrounded by dense vegetation.
Where did the James Gang hide?
Robbers Cave , as it is known today, was one of the gang's favorite hideouts, however, it was not the only one. Legend tells of a small log cabin hotel located at the base of Sugarloaf Mountain in LeFlore County. Many times during the year members of the James Gang could be found at this outlaws' hideaway. Other outlaws, such as Belle Starr and the Younger gang, were known to frequent this place as well. Further south, a place known as Horsethief Springs remained another popular outlaw rendezvous. Stories from the early days of Poteau and surrounding towns tell of Jesse James strolling through the center of town, which gives further evidence of his association and fondness for eastern Oklahoma.
Where was Robbers Cave in Oklahoma?
Legend tells of a small log cabin hotel located at the base of Sugarloaf Mountain in LeFlore County.
What mountains were the Oklahoma statehood?
In the years preceding Oklahoma statehood, the Ouachita Mountain s remained as wild and rugged as the old west. Heavily forested, and lined with hidden caverns and ravines, this area was a favorite hiding place for outlaws and bandits. One such place.
Where is the secret of the James Gang?
After etching out the contract with an old hammer and tack, Frank and Jesse James then buried the bucket and its secret somewhere on Tarbone Mountain near a Cottonwood tree.
Where was Jesse James born?
Born in Clay County, Missouri, on September 5, 1847, Jesse Woodson James was the son of Kentucky native Zerelda Cole James and her husband, Robert James, a Baptist minister and slave-owning hemp farmer who assisted in founding William Jewell College in Liberty, Missouri. In 1850, Robert James traveled to California to preach in ...
Who shot Jesse James?
James’ assassin, who shot him in the back of the head, was Bob Ford, a new recruit into his gang. Also in on the shooting was Bob’s older brother Charley, a James gang member. Earlier that year, Bob Ford had arranged with the governor of Missouri to take down Jesse in exchange for a reward.
What happened to Jesse and Frank?
The agents threw an incendiary device into the farmhouse, setting off an explosion that fatally wounded Jesse and Frank’s 8-year-old half-brother and caused their mother, Zerelda, to lose part of her arm. Following the raid, public support for Jesse and Frank increased, and the Missouri state legislature even came close to passing a bill offering the men amnesty. The James brothers also launched an intimidation campaign against their perceived enemies near Zerelda’s farm and in April of that year one of their mother’s neighbors, a former Union militiaman who had assisted the Pinkerton agents in preparing for the raid, was shot to death. Allan Pinkerton never pursued his hunt for Jesse and Frank any further.
Where did the Younger brothers get captured?
Two weeks later, following a gunfight near Madelia, Minnesota, the Younger brothers were captured and another gang member was killed. (Afterward, the Youngers were sentenced to life in prison; Robert Younger died behind bars in 1889, while his siblings were paroled in 1901.)
Who was the first detective to hunt down the James brothers?
Founded in Chicago in 1850 by Allan Pinkerton , a Scottish immigrant who had served as the first full-time detective on the Windy City’s police force, the private agency was experienced in capturing train robbers. In March 1874, after the agency took on the case of the James gang, a Pinkerton detective searching for Jesse and Frank in Missouri wound up dead, while a Pinkerton agent who pursued the brothers’ fellow gang members Cole and Robert Younger in another part of the state also was killed. Catching the James brothers became a personal mission for Allan Pinkerton , an abolitionist who had aided slaves on the Underground Railroad, uncovered a plot to assassinate President-elect Abraham Lincoln and gathered military intelligence for the federal government during the Civil War.
Who was Jesse James' friend?
After the deadly heist, an influential pro-Confederate newspaper editor in Missouri, John Newman Edwards, befriended Jesse and went on to promote the former bushwhacker as a hero and defiant Southern patriot of the Reconstruction era. James himself wrote letters to newspapers in which he defended his actions.
Who was responsible for creating the image of Jesse James as a Robin Hood figure who robbed the rich to?
James himself wrote letters to newspapers in which he defended his actions. Through his articles and editorials, Edwards was responsible for helping to create the image of Jesse James as a Robin Hood figure who robbed the rich to give to the poor, an image that historians say is a myth. 4.
Who killed Jesse James?
Oddly, Ed Kelly, the man who killed Robert Ford, Jesse James' s assassin, was killed in Oklahoma City in a gun battle in 1904 while resisting arrest. Tantalizing lore thus keeps alive the hope that the James gang may have maintained a lengthy association with Oklahoma, but hard evidence lacking, the mystery will remain in the realms ...
Where did Frank James live?
Frank James may have lived on a farm near Fletcher, in western Oklahoma, from 1906 until about 1911. In February 1911 the Oklahoma City and Kansas City newspapers reported that Zerelda Samuels, mother of Frank and Jesse James, after visiting her son Frank near Fletcher, died on the train near Oklahoma City while returning to Missouri.
What book did Frank James buy a little farm in?
This story was popularized in J. Frank Dobie's 1930 book Coronado's Children: Tales of Lost Mines and Buried Treasures of the Southwest, which devoted a full chapter to treasure (s) of the Wichitas and Frank James's futile effort to find the location: "Frank James bought a little farm so that he might have a strategic base from which to search.".
Where did the Jameses hide?
Local legends tell that during the postwar years the Jameses and Youngers "hid out" at Robbers Cave near Wilburton, in Blue Canyon in Nowata County, at Buzzard's Roost near Cement, and on Bear Creek in Garfield County.
Where did the James Gang come from?
However, popular lore abounds concerning the gang's presence. The stories may derive from the brothers' association with Quantrill's Raiders in Missouri.
Where was the Loot buried in the Wichitas?
He alleged that his gang had robbed stages and trains in Oklahoma and buried the loot in the Wichitas.
Where is Jesse James' treasure?
By David Farris. The Keechi Hills, deep in the Wichita Mountains of Oklahoma, in northern Comanche County, had long held secrets about Jesse James and lost gold. Old-timers in the area have whispered for decades about buried outlaw treasure that could only be found by interpreting symbols and other clues left carved on rocks and into trees.
Where is James Gang's treasure?
At least one other treasure stash hidden by the James Gang, estimated at $180,000, remains somewhere in the Wichitas, unclaimed.
Who found the old outlaw?
Luckily for Frank, Mrs. Hedlund found the old outlaw to be a gentleman and gave him permission to return on many occasions over the next several months. Frank discovered a few old "treasure signs” to help direct him and is alleged to have retrieved a copper kettle that contained $6,000 in gold. Old-timers around the Wichitas who knew Frank claim ...
Where did Frank James grow peaches?
That changed in 1907, when Frank James, himself, returned to the area and settled on a 160-acre farm, two miles north of Fletcher. It seemed odd that the 64-year-old, retired outlaw would suddenly decide to return to this rural and undeveloped area, where he had traveled through decades earlier, just to grow peaches.
Did Frank find the gold he sought?
Old-timers around the Wichitas who knew Frank claim that he did locate much of the buried gold he sought, and wore out six horses in the bargain. Unfortunately, due to the evolved landscape, he was never able to locate the strange rock in question, nor the items to which they led.
Overview
Jesse Woodson James (September 5, 1847 – April 3, 1882) was an American outlaw, bank and train robber, guerrilla and leader of the James–Younger Gang. Raised in the "Little Dixie" area of Western Missouri, James and his family maintained strong Southern sympathies. He and his brother Frank James joined pro-Confederate guerrillas known as "bushwhackers" operating in Missouri and
Early life
Jesse Woodson James was born on September 5, 1847, in Clay County, Missouri, near the site of present-day Kearney. This area of Missouri was largely settled by people from the Upper South, especially Kentucky and Tennessee, and became known as Little Dixie for this reason. James had two full siblings: his elder brother, Alexander Franklin "Frank" James, and a younger sister, Susan Lavenia …
Historical context
The approach of the American Civil War loomed large in the James–Samuel household. Missouri was a border state, sharing characteristics of both North and South, but 75% of the population was from the South or other border states. Clay County in particular was strongly influenced by the Southern culture of its rural pioneer families. Farmers raised the same crops and livestock as in the areas from which they had migrated. They brought slaves with them and purchased more ac…
American Civil War
After a series of campaigns and battles between conventional armies in 1861, guerrilla warfare gripped Missouri, waged between secessionist "bushwhackers" and Union forces which largely consisted of local militias known as "jayhawkers". A bitter conflict ensued, resulting in an escalating cycle of atrocities committed by both sides. Confederate guerrillas murdered civilian Unionists, executed prisoners, and scalped the dead. The Union presence enforced martial law with
After the Civil War
At the end of the Civil War, Missouri remained deeply divided. The conflict split the population into three bitterly opposed factions: anti-slavery Unionists identified with the Republican Party; segregationist conservative Unionists identified with the Democratic Party; and pro-slavery, ex-Confederate secessionists, many of whom were also allied with the Democrats, especially i…
James–Younger Gang
Meanwhile, the James brothers joined with Cole Younger and his brothers John, Jim, and Bob, as well as Clell Miller and other former Confederates, to form what came to be known as the James–Younger Gang. With Jesse James as the most public face of the gang (though with operational leadership likely shared among the group), the gang carried out a string of robberies from Iowa to Texas, and fr…
Legacy
James's turn to crime after the end of the Reconstruction era helped cement his place in American life and memory as a simple but remarkably effective bandit. After 1873, he was covered by the national media as part of social banditry. During his lifetime, James was celebrated chiefly by former Confederates, to whom he appealed directly in his letters to the press. Displaced by Reconstruction, the antebellum political leadership mythologized the James Gang's exploits. Fran…
Bibliography
• Fellman, Michael. Inside War: The Guerrilla Conflict in Missouri onto the American Civil War. Oxford University Press, 1990. ISBN 0-19-506471-2.
• Settle, William A. Jesse James Was His Name, or, Fact and Fiction Concerning the Careers of the Notorious James Brothers of Missouri'. University of Nebraska Press, 1977. ISBN 0-8032-5860-7.