Home > Jesse James comes to his own defense: lengthy letter signed by him...
Click image to enlarge 612605
Show image list »

Jesse James comes to his own defense: lengthy letter signed by him...



Item # 612605

Currently Unavailable. Contact us if you would like to be placed on a want list or to be notified if a similar item is available.



July 20, 1875

ST. LOUIS GLOBE-DEMOCRAT, July 13, 1875  Page 2 has a report which is almost entirely taken up by an excellent letter signed by him in type: Jesse James. It is quite rare to find printed in a contemporary newspaper a letter signed by the outlaw. He takes great pains to exonerate himself for several crimes of which he was accused but which he claims no connection. The article is headed: "James And Youngers" "Jesse James Denies the Soft Impeachment of the Kentucky Robberies--A Promised Autobiography from Kentucky's Terror" & is datelined "Ray Town, Jackson Co., Mo. July 6th, 1875". Portions include: "...several sensational pieces...stating the James and Youngers are in Ky., etc....a few words in my defence...I have many friends in Ky. & Nashville that I wish to know that these reports are false & without foundation. I have never been out of Mo. since the Amnesty bill was introduced...last march asking for pardon for the James & Youngers...are hundreds of people in Mo. who will swear I have not been in Ky...if a robbery was committed in Ky...Detective Blyths...would telegraph all over the U.S. that the James & Youngers did it...charged nearly every daring robbery in America to the James and Youngers. It is enough persecution for the northern papers to persecute us without the papers in the South persecuting us, the land we fought for four years to save from northern tyranny...The radikl papers here in Mo. have repeatedly charged the Russellville Ky. Bank robber to the James & Youngers..." and more (see). A terrific & very unusual item on Jesse James.
Complete in 8 pages, very nice condition. Great to have this report in this newspaper not far from Jesse James' home in St. Joseph.

Category: The Old West