The Crime Book

BANDITS, ROBBERS, AND ARSONISTS 25

Tracking them down

In 1874, following a train robbery

in Missouri, the Adams Express

Company, which suffered the

biggest loss during the robbery,

enlisted the services of the

Pinkerton National Detective

Agency to catch the gang.

In March 1874, Allan Pinkerton,

the agency’s founder, sent detective

Joseph Whicher to pursue James,

but Whicher was found dead the

day after he arrived. An outraged

Pinkerton sent a group of detectives

to track the gang down in January

1875, but they succeeded only in

killing Jesse’s eight-year-old half

brother and wounding Jesse’s

mother with an incendiary device

during a botched raid. Condemned

for this act, Pinkerton withdrew

and the gang continued unabated.

The James-Younger Gang

dissolved in 1876 when the Younger

brothers were arrested during an

See also: Bonnie and Clyde 26–29 ■ The Wild Bunch 150–51

ambush while attempting to rob

the Northfield First National Bank

in Minnesota. The James brothers

were both wounded in the legs, but

escaped on horseback and kept low

profiles until three years later, when

Jesse formed another gang. The

The posse rides into town and divides

into three groups

Two wait outside the bank

as guards

The group reunite, shoot their

way out, and gallop out of town

Three go into the

bank

The three grab the loot

Two remain on the road

as lookouts

James Gang’s reign ended in 1882

when fellow gang member Robert

Ford betrayed and shot Jesse in the

back inside James’s home in St

Joseph, Missouri, in order to collect

the $10,000 bounty (about £189,000

today) on his head. ■

The romanticization of outlaws

The exploits of Old West outlaws

have been exaggerated and

romanticized, despite the fact

that many were killers. The

captivating allure of criminals

seems to be based on conflicted

feelings of both attraction and

repulsion, of love and hatred.

Outlaws embody freedom in

their refusal to obey laws,

representing the boundary-

crossing children that we used

to be. They are also eulogized

for unexpected benevolence: the

courteous highwayman and

figures, including Robin Hood,

were popularized for their

supposed altruistic motives and

for “serving” the people.

The public reaction to

Robert Ford’s murder of Jesse

James in 1882 is a case in point,

as it caused a national

sensation. Newspaper articles

were published across the US,

including in The New York

Times. Such was James’s allure

that people travelled from far

and wide to see the body of the

legendary robber.

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