150 Years 1872-1886 The Dalles THE DECADES OF HISTORY PART TWO OF THE DALLES CHRONICLE'S TEN-PART SERIES. March 30, 2007 page 3 JESSE JAMES ALIVE & DANGEROUS THE JAMES AND YOUNGER BROTHERS - The remarkable career of the Missouri robber band, the leading spirits of which were the James and Younger brothers, forms one of the most singular chapters in the annals of modern crime. Numbering originally about twenty men, for eight years it has baffled the keenest detective talent in the land. The exploits which have given them notoriety have been on the most extensive scale and of the most audacious character. Their tactics have invariably been a rapid dash upon bank or railroad train, where their booty lay, half of them making sure of the plunder, while the remainder, by riding up and down firing revolvers, created a panic amongst any bystanders or travelers who would be likely to interfere with their nefarious enterprises. The secret of their success lay in their knowledge of the Southwestern country, and their isolation from all but known friends or old war comrades. The main error of the detectives lay in attributing their crimes entirely to the Jameses and Youngers, and ignoring the fact that the gang was of much larger proportions. Their career commenced in 1868, when a bank at Russelville, Ky., was robbed. The following year a similar criminal exploit was committed at Gallatin, Missouri. In 1870, seven of them carried off the day's receipts of the Kansas City Exposition in the presence of 20,000 people. Banks at Coryden, Iowa, Columbia, Ky., and St. Genevieve also were then robbed. In 1873, a train on the Rock Island & Pacific Road was wrecked. After a visit to Texas they returned and robbed a train on the St. Louis & Iron Mountain Road. Thirty thousand dollars' worth of gold dust was next taken from the Kansas Pacific train at Muncie, Kan., the program of flight to the Western Missouri being pursued in every instance with entire success until late Northfield affair. The total amount stolen by the band is about a quarter of a million dollars. Many of them have been killed in the various affrays with pursuers in which they have been engaged in from time to time, until only Frank and Jesse James and two other now remain alive and at large. December 2, 1876. Incoming and Outgoing messages protected by Trend Micro PC-cillin program