National Geographic History - 01.2019 - 02.2019

A Band of Younger Brothers

THE FOUR YOUNGERS,Cole, Jim,
John, and Bob, were the sons of the
prosperous Missouri farmer, mer-
chant, and mail contractor Hen-
ry Washington Younger. A slave
owner who opposed secession,
Henry fell victim to both the Kan-
sas jayhawkers, who seized goods
from his business, and the Missouri
militia who put three bullets in his
back in July 1862. At the time of
his father’s murder, Cole, aged 18,
was already riding with Quantrill,
where he met Frank James. Jim
Younger joined the bushwhackers
two years later. After the war, the
Youngers, along with the Jameses,
would be named in several bank and

JAMES HARDIN

“JIM” YOUNGER

(1848-1902)

ROBERT “BOB”

YOUNGER

(1853-1889)

THOMAS COLEMAN

“COLE” YOUNGER

(1844-1916)

WILLIAM WARD’S

“PROFUSELY

ILLUSTRATED” 1908

ACCOUNT OF THE

EXPLOITS OF THE

YOUNGER BROTHERS

train robberies. Although the core

of the “gang” eventually formed

around the two sets of brothers,

robbery participants varied with

each holdup (for some, the exact

identities still remain a guessing

game). Cole and Frank never told

of their bandit exploits, nor those

of their accomplices. Frank denied

ever robbing anyone and was never

convicted of a crime. Cole claimed

that his only criminal act was the

one he went to prison for: the bun-

gled robbery of the First National

Bank of Northfield, Minnesota, on

September 7, 1876. The Youngers,

however, did pay for their outlawry.

John was killed in a gun battle with

Pinkerton operatives

in 1874. The remain-

ing brothers were

captured and im-

prisoned along with

Cole following the

Northfield Raid. Bob

died in prison of tu-

berculosis in 1889.

Cole and Jim were

paroled in 1901, and

Jim committed sui-

cide shortly after. Cole was released

from parole in 1903 and returned to

Missouri, where he headed a short-

lived Wild West show with his old

friend Frank James. He outlived

Frank by one year, dying in 1916.

MARK LEE GARDNER COLLECTION

SCIENCE SOURCE/ALBUM

ALAMY/ACI

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS/GETTY IMAGES