The James Boys In Kentucky
© Sandi Gorin
Frank James Surrenders - Cont.
"I am tired of this life of taut nerves, of night riding and day riding, of constant listening for footfalls, creaking twigs, rustling leaves and creaking doors; tired of seeing Judas in the face of every friend I know - and God knows I have none to spare - tired of the hoofs and horns with which popular believe has equipped me. I want to see if there is not a way out of it." It should be remembered that it was only a short time before he penned these poignant words that his beloved bother, Jesse JAMES, had been killed by Bob FORD, a member of his own gang. FORD was held in such contempt for this act that a balla was written about him entitled "The Dirty Little Coward."
The very Governor, Thomas H. CRITTENDEN, who gave his staunch backing to Frank JAMES, had been obliged to offer a reward of $5,000 from money placed in his hands for the capture, dead or alive, of Jesse JAMES, largely raised by the railroads. This seems sufficient motive to have caused the discourt and distrust that was beginning to plague the James gang. It was a year before the legal top brass of Missouri braced itself for the most exciting trial, then or ever, of the Wild West. JAMES was charged with robbery of a train at Winston, Missouri, on July 15, 1881. The defense counsl was headed by a former Lieutenant Governor and several prestigious Missouri-bred lawyers. Prosecutors from two counties and four prominent criminal lawyers formed the prosecution.
National attention was focused on the trial held at Gallatin, Missouri, where the streets were thronged with the most frenzied fans of the Jameses, as well as their worst enemies; both seeking sweet revenge. The trial was in a class all of its own and worth coming hundreds of miles to attend. It was soon evident that the JAMES advocates, as usual, far outnumbered any opposition. The case nearly stalled when the sheriff was accused of selecting the jury from a list supplied by the defense. The prosecution's best witnesses refused to testify as expected, and the judge told the prosecution these trifles must be overlooked to "avoid bloodshed" in the streets.
Frank JAMES stole the show, proving himself a superb actor by waving the Confederate flag, thus inciting the mass memory to his heroic action in that conflict, and declaring that neither he nor Jesse JAMES was near the scene, that they were both living in Kentucky and Tennessee at that time. Scores of witnesses from these two states rushed to the trial to swear theyhad lived in Nashville, Tennessee; Adairville, Kentucky, and nearby places from the spring of 1881 until shortly before Jesse was killed.