Jesse James, alias J. Frank Dalton, was probably the most famous outlaw of the American West. Jesse's father was father was a popular Baptist minister and slave owning farmer in Clay County, Missouri. Jesse, born on September 5, 1847 in Kearney, Missouri, was a charismatic, larger than life bad guy who caught the imagination of a country that was looking for antiheroes.
In the county where he grew up most of the boys and men went into the bush as Confederate guerillas during the Civil War. Jesse and his brother Frank were no different. They learned the art of sabotage and guerilla warfare from psychopathic killers such as Willaim Clarke Quantrill and "Bloody Bill" Anderson.
After four years of riding with Quantrell and fighting for the Confederacy during the Civil War, Jesse and his brother Frank James formed the James-Younger Gang. In the early years their gang was known for their daring train and bank robberies. Ironically their first attempt at bank robbery in Liberty, Missouri in February, 1866 was a complete failure. There were many casualties. However, things changed rapidly after that.
Jesse masterminded a string of wildly successful robberies because he knew the layouts of the banks in advance. And he was an expert on scaring the daylight out of the people that were being robbed. During his 16 years at large, he committed dozens of daring robberies.
Not all bandits are gunfighters, but that wasn't the case with Jesse James. Although some hailed him as a Robin Hood figure he actually killed at least half a dozen men. At the age of 26, after courting his first cousin, Zerelda Mimms, for ten years, he married her on April 24, 1874 and tried to settle down. By that time most of his gang was either arrested or dead. He felt that there were only two men that he could trust - Charley and Robert Ford.
So he let the Ford brothers moved in with his family. That was the biggest mistake Jesse ever made. Robert Ford shot Jesse in the back of the head while Jesse was cleaning a dusty picture that was hanging on the wall. Jesse was originally buried at the farm where he grew up in Kearney, Missouri. Since then it's come to be called the Jesse James Farm and Museum.
The James Farm is said to be haunted. For over 100 years people have seen lights move around in the building after it's been locked. They've heard gunfire and people crying. And, on foggy mornings, if you listen closely, you can hear hushed voices and the sound of horses neighing.
If you want a safe that can protect your belongings even from modern day bad guys like Jesse James, take a look at a Sentry Safe at http://www.authoritysafes.com/sentry-safes.html now. Wendy Moyer is a professional writer.
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