Butch Cassidy is known as a hero in the legends, but often the endings to the tales have been left untold to keep him as mythical and heroic as possible. However, in the “Outlaw Trail,” the full tale is finally told, and it comes straight from Butch Cassidy’s own mouth.
“Frank,” Butch Cassidy told Weber, the oldest resident of Hankville, “I’m not as bad as I have been pictured. I’ve done a poor feller and his wife a good turn on this trip. As I was cutting across the hills, I came upon a run-down looking outfit but I stopped to see if I could get something to eat. There was an old man and a woman there. They had tried to make a home but old age had hit ‘em quicker than they imagined, and the fact is they were about to be run off the place by a feller who had a note against them.
“I asked them who the gent was and they said he would be there any minute.
“Which way will he come in? I asked and the old woman pointed to an old trail. I made the old lady take $500, the amount due, and I told her to give it to this feller. I said goodbye and left. I hid out along the trail and along comes a fellow on a horse. He had black clothes and I had a hunch that this was the collector. I watched him and he went to the old log cabin and the lady let him in. Maybe five minutes later he came out. When he came up the trail, I stopped him, took the $500, and here I am!”
While it was kind of Butch Cassidy to give the old woman $500 of his own money, he did it with the clear intent of robbing her landlord and getting it back. And, whether or not he killed the landlord to get his money back, we’ll never know.
Now, I know that’s not enough to tarnish his whole Robin Hood exterior, as it is pretty legendary after all, but it is enough to get you thinking that perhaps there is more behind the man than his Hollywood tributes portray.
If that story wasn’t enough to satisfy your appetite, visit Private Investigator to learn more about the Wild West Outlaws and the Private Investigators that caught them. And, if you’re in need of detective services, from infidelity cases to lost loved ones, visit Private Investigator to hire one of the nation’s foremost Private Investigator’s, Sandra Hope.
Saturday, July 26, 2008
Private Investigator Files: the Younger Brothers
One of the best accounts of the Younger Brothers comes from a friend to the Younger family, August Appler, editor of the Osceola Missouri Democrat, who tells how Cole Younger and his band of followers captured fifteen men. In camp that night, Cole debated with the members of his gang on the merits of the Enfield rifle. One of the gang thought that since it could kill a man at a mile, it could also kill ten men in one shot. Cole decided to use his prisoners as his test.
He placed them in a line, one behind the other, then measured off fifteen paces and fired. Three men dropped.
Cole continued to fire until all men had been killed, disappointed with the results.
Another story gives some insight into the men behind the killings. The District Attorney of Dallas County, E.G. Bower wrote that “Cole, Bob, and Jim Younger sang in the choir of the Baptist Church in Dallas where they were on the side of law and order. The boys were often called on by the sheriff to assist in the arrest of desperate characters and they always responded.”
One can see the solemn-face of Cole and his brothers side by side sharing a hymnbook under the admiring eyes of the Baptist congregation, while underneath their neat broadcloth coats rested well-oiled and much used Navy Colts.
The gang could kill and plunder as much as they wanted as long as their victims were banks, railroads, and express companies. These institutions were commonly considered robbers of the people. When they were raided by the outlaws, the public generally shrugged their shoulders.
Many peace officers, like Bower, were ex-soldiers and to arrest a “war comrade” was unthinkable—unless of course that comrade had raped your sister, insulted your mother, or stolen your horse.
If that story wasn’t enough to satisfy your appetite, visit Private Investigator to learn more about the Wild West Outlaws and the Private Investigators that caught them. And, if you’re in need of detective services, from infidelity cases to lost loved ones, visit Private Investigator to hire one of the nation’s foremost Private Investigator’s, Sandra Hope.
He placed them in a line, one behind the other, then measured off fifteen paces and fired. Three men dropped.
Cole continued to fire until all men had been killed, disappointed with the results.
Another story gives some insight into the men behind the killings. The District Attorney of Dallas County, E.G. Bower wrote that “Cole, Bob, and Jim Younger sang in the choir of the Baptist Church in Dallas where they were on the side of law and order. The boys were often called on by the sheriff to assist in the arrest of desperate characters and they always responded.”
One can see the solemn-face of Cole and his brothers side by side sharing a hymnbook under the admiring eyes of the Baptist congregation, while underneath their neat broadcloth coats rested well-oiled and much used Navy Colts.
The gang could kill and plunder as much as they wanted as long as their victims were banks, railroads, and express companies. These institutions were commonly considered robbers of the people. When they were raided by the outlaws, the public generally shrugged their shoulders.
Many peace officers, like Bower, were ex-soldiers and to arrest a “war comrade” was unthinkable—unless of course that comrade had raped your sister, insulted your mother, or stolen your horse.
If that story wasn’t enough to satisfy your appetite, visit Private Investigator to learn more about the Wild West Outlaws and the Private Investigators that caught them. And, if you’re in need of detective services, from infidelity cases to lost loved ones, visit Private Investigator to hire one of the nation’s foremost Private Investigator’s, Sandra Hope.
Private Investigator Files: Jesse James, Studying the Legend
Perhaps the most famous and glamorized outlaw who ever lived, Jesse James has been known throughout history as a Robin Hood, robbing from the overly-rich railroad tycoons and freely giving to the poor. He is historical in theme and legend, but, what most people know is only the Hollywood story, and not the real Jesse James. His tales have been passed from generation to generation and are mythical in proportion and nearly apocryphal in their power to enthrall.
So, let’s start with the most basic question: how did Jesse James start his life of killing?
Jesse James joined the guerilla outfit of “Bloody Bill” Anderson at the age of sixteen and served, at different times, under Quantrill, Anderson, and George Todd, three of the bloodiest men in the annals of American history.
For two years, Jesse was tutored in every technique of cold-blooded murder, violence, thievery, and arson. While his past is never an excuse for the epic serial-killer proportions that Jesse James reached in his prime, it is a truth that cannot be denied.
When Jesse had been tutored for a year, and dubbed a full-rank guerilla fighter, he was given the order by George Todd to “kill every male thing that wears a blue uniform” one dark night at Centralia. Jesse got out his gun with the rest of the gang and started his killing spree, without remorse. When the massacre was over, Jesse had managed to kill nine men. This may seem like a small number, but by this time, Jesse James had an impressive record in killings (some thirty men by this time) for a boy of just seventeen.
And that is just the beginning of Jesse James. In later years, he was to start his own gang of outlaws and terrorize the American West in ways never before seen, and with a cruelty never before imagined.
If that story wasn’t enough to satisfy your appetite, visit Private Investigator to learn more about the Wild West Outlaws and the Private Investigators that caught them. And, if you’re in need of detective services, from infidelity cases to lost loved ones, visit Private Investigator to hire one of the nation’s foremost Private Investigator’s, Sandra Hope.
So, let’s start with the most basic question: how did Jesse James start his life of killing?
Jesse James joined the guerilla outfit of “Bloody Bill” Anderson at the age of sixteen and served, at different times, under Quantrill, Anderson, and George Todd, three of the bloodiest men in the annals of American history.
For two years, Jesse was tutored in every technique of cold-blooded murder, violence, thievery, and arson. While his past is never an excuse for the epic serial-killer proportions that Jesse James reached in his prime, it is a truth that cannot be denied.
When Jesse had been tutored for a year, and dubbed a full-rank guerilla fighter, he was given the order by George Todd to “kill every male thing that wears a blue uniform” one dark night at Centralia. Jesse got out his gun with the rest of the gang and started his killing spree, without remorse. When the massacre was over, Jesse had managed to kill nine men. This may seem like a small number, but by this time, Jesse James had an impressive record in killings (some thirty men by this time) for a boy of just seventeen.
And that is just the beginning of Jesse James. In later years, he was to start his own gang of outlaws and terrorize the American West in ways never before seen, and with a cruelty never before imagined.
If that story wasn’t enough to satisfy your appetite, visit Private Investigator to learn more about the Wild West Outlaws and the Private Investigators that caught them. And, if you’re in need of detective services, from infidelity cases to lost loved ones, visit Private Investigator to hire one of the nation’s foremost Private Investigator’s, Sandra Hope.
The Private Investigator: Highlighting the Pinkertons
When Jesse James and his Wild Bunch had finally robbed one bank too many, Allan Pinkerton and his son William stepped up to exert a very terrifying pressure upon the outlaws. Intelligent, incredibly tenacious, physically powerful, fearless, and with an almost fanatical devotion for the laws of their land, they were without a doubt two of America’s greatest detectives.
Allan Pinkerton founded his private investigation agency in 1850 and can be described as the nation’s first civilian FBI-like agency. The Pinkertons were pioneers in the field of criminology and pursued Jesse James and his fellow outlaws under the most primitive of conditions.
There was no central fingerprint filing system in Washington, no rogues gallery, no most wanted descriptions being sent to each of the police stations in the fifty states at the touch of a button, no ballistics or modern techniques from which a criminal could be made by his patterns, his left-over fingerprints, or his DNA. Nothing that like existed for the Pinkertons. All they had was a deep desire to uphold the law and an even deeper desire to catch those running loose breaking it.
They also had a great desire to keep pristine records of every account, and as a result, the Pinkerton agency files are legendary themselves. They started the first rogues gallery that included pictures and physical descriptions, as well as laying the foundations for tracking a criminal’s habits.
And the job of a private investigator was not an easy one. For months they were riding horseback, following dead leads (literally), and endlessly questioning bystanders, before finally picking up the trail that led them into hostile territories infested with murderous outlaws and their henchmen.
When the first four bank robberies led by Jesse James and his gang rocked the nation, Allan Pinkerton and his agency were called in to hunt down the bandits once and for all. Pinkerton’s prestige was well-known by this time, but more than that, it was understood that he and his agency were incorruptible to the core. No bribes, liquor, or prostitutes could sway them, and men had tried.
And, in a humorous twist, while the bandits feared and hated the Pinkertons, they grew to respect them for their fair dealings. The Pinkertons would pursue any bandit until captured, but once the criminal was given a chance to repay his debt to society, he was a free man in their eyes.
If that story wasn’t enough to satisfy your appetite, visit Private Investigator to learn more about the Wild West Outlaws and the Private Investigators that caught them. And, if you’re in need of detective services, from infidelity cases to lost loved ones, visit Private Investigator to hire one of the nation’s foremost Private Investigator’s, Sandra Hope.
Allan Pinkerton founded his private investigation agency in 1850 and can be described as the nation’s first civilian FBI-like agency. The Pinkertons were pioneers in the field of criminology and pursued Jesse James and his fellow outlaws under the most primitive of conditions.
There was no central fingerprint filing system in Washington, no rogues gallery, no most wanted descriptions being sent to each of the police stations in the fifty states at the touch of a button, no ballistics or modern techniques from which a criminal could be made by his patterns, his left-over fingerprints, or his DNA. Nothing that like existed for the Pinkertons. All they had was a deep desire to uphold the law and an even deeper desire to catch those running loose breaking it.
They also had a great desire to keep pristine records of every account, and as a result, the Pinkerton agency files are legendary themselves. They started the first rogues gallery that included pictures and physical descriptions, as well as laying the foundations for tracking a criminal’s habits.
And the job of a private investigator was not an easy one. For months they were riding horseback, following dead leads (literally), and endlessly questioning bystanders, before finally picking up the trail that led them into hostile territories infested with murderous outlaws and their henchmen.
When the first four bank robberies led by Jesse James and his gang rocked the nation, Allan Pinkerton and his agency were called in to hunt down the bandits once and for all. Pinkerton’s prestige was well-known by this time, but more than that, it was understood that he and his agency were incorruptible to the core. No bribes, liquor, or prostitutes could sway them, and men had tried.
And, in a humorous twist, while the bandits feared and hated the Pinkertons, they grew to respect them for their fair dealings. The Pinkertons would pursue any bandit until captured, but once the criminal was given a chance to repay his debt to society, he was a free man in their eyes.
If that story wasn’t enough to satisfy your appetite, visit Private Investigator to learn more about the Wild West Outlaws and the Private Investigators that caught them. And, if you’re in need of detective services, from infidelity cases to lost loved ones, visit Private Investigator to hire one of the nation’s foremost Private Investigator’s, Sandra Hope.
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