stephen richard eng: jesse james: the aftermath

8/4/2019 Stephen Richard Eng: Jesse James: The Aftermath

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"Well, I knew him better 'n anyone, except his widow f and I knew him

for longer. But you'll never believe me if I told you what I think."

""'res,I will Mr. James." Pencil is ready in hand.

"No, it's not going to be real quotable, son. It won't be anythi~g

you can really use, And you won't believe it anyway. And your readers

won't give a damn."

"Yes?" Pencil is poised.

"No, you ought to just read some of those yarns and print 'em as the

truth. Those fictional tales all end up as history anyway. It

HMr. James. Please.f'

.'Try this. Would you believe me if I told you I really never knew

my brother?'

Reporter looks puzzled. He doesn't write. Frank tips his hat.

"Good day."

Camera pulls back and Frank and Cole walk down the halL They are

starting down the stairs and their faces fill the screen. Gradually

they f'reeze and melt. into black and white

pictures ....these 9-r-olj

smaller, as we enter:

SCENE ~ (Aftermath: the accounting of the characters): Frank's and Col

"The Cole Younger-Frank James Wild West Show was raided by the

Nashville police a few hours later. It was occasioned by a sudd wave of righteous morality leading to a crack-down on gambling.The Wild West Show had a floating crap game that aroused localindignation. Before this s in ,Memphis J the Show--had been: - ,--.tarnished by a drunken-:shotlting.- One ,of the'lmembers of the cas

-had tried tokiJ-l'anoth-ar member, and was charged with attempted murder" The Show wore out its welcome in Tennessee and wasseverely denounced in various local papers. According to TheColumbia Herald it was a "bum showuoa waste of money.u" and

accused Cole and Frank of "prostituting for sordid gain "to

attract the morbidly curious and put money in their purses."


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Then Franks face becomes the only portrait on the screen. Below it

comes this caption:

"FRANK JAMES died peacefully in 1915. In his later years he worked a ticket taker in a theater, sold shoes, and due to his celebrity

was used to start horse races. Frank once outraged his fellow ex-

guerillas at a Quantrill Reunion, by switching his allegience tothe Republican Party."

9~After the McKinley assassination he attempted to raise a hundred-mRn body~uard detachment to protect President Teddy Rooseveltu whohe identified"with as a fellow man of action. The offer was de-clined by the White House with some embarassment."

"Frank's final days were spent at the James Farm welcoming tourists

Last Picture of Frank James, "The Outlaw", Taken at His Farm Near Excelsior Springs, Mo. -

Next, Cole Younger's face becomes paramount on the screen followed by:

"COLE YOUNGER went with a carnival after the Wild West Show. and wasbilled as fJTheLast of the Great Younger Brothers. fI One newspapereditor drily commented that this was 'going 'in the right directionuHe was prohibited from directly flaunting himself as an outlaw bythe terms of his paroleQ He died of natural causes in 1916."

Then the face of John Newman Edwards fills the screen, than grows smaller

to be followed by this caption:

"JOHN NEWMAN EDWARDS' Noted Guerillas was found among Jesse's possesions at his death. Edwards 0 editorials at this time denounced -'''killing of Jesse James~ oy 'highwaymen and prostitutes.' Hethen spoke\ eloquently at both of Frank James's trialsleading to his acquittal both times. Edwards became


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perhaps the best-known neW8man of the West" Hp.quit dY'inkingnumerous times. He died in a hotel lfoomof card-iacarrest in 1889~fI

Then appears the face of Bill Ryan, followed by this caption:

fJGangMember BILL RYAN was convicted of robbery in the first degreHe got out of prison in 1889. He was then suspected of robbing a

train near Leeds, Missouri in 1898. Ryan was reported to have dinear Independence, Missouri, b~rfalling off his horse after heingstruck in the head by a low=hanging limb while drunk. Other talehave him surviving under other names into the twentieth centttry.

Then follows the face of Jim Cummins, and:

"Gang Member JIM CUMMINS later served as a Deputy U ..S. Marshal undan alias~ He died in a Confederate soldier's home in 1929."

Then the face of Dick Liddil:

UGang Member DICK LIDDIL shot and killed Jesse James's cousin, WooHite~ He later turned State~s evidence against Frank James inexchange for a pardon. He went into partnership with Bob Fordt t

man who shot Jesse James, running a saloon in Las Vegas; New Mex A skit was staged for the customers, ~How I Killed Jesse James.~The townspeople were not amused--they drove Liddil and Ford fromtown & Liddil travelled the country Facing his horses and died ofnatural causes in 19018"

Then, Bob Ford:

'IBOBFORD, the dirty little coward/Who shot Mister Howard 0 wassurprisingly tried and convicted for the murder of Jesse James--

only to be pardoned by Governor Crittendene After collectingsome reward money, the Ford brothers toured the music halls withan act called 'Outlaws of Missouri~' Unaccountably 9 eh1:irleyForkilled himself in a hotel room in l884~fI

f~BobFord once saved a lawman's life in a fight with Indians t> The was operating a saloon in Creede, Colorado in 1892, when.a manamed "-Kelley came in and shotgunned him to deat'h.. . Kelley wa~convicted and imprisoned" After his release he was kl~led by a ice officer in 1904. He was in mlrn killed by a man who was kilby a man who was killed by Wyatt Earp's friend, Luke Short. (LukSho~t died a natural death. )fl

Then Zee James:

"Jesse's wife ZEE JAMES testified at the inquest of her husband.She later attacked the Frank Triplett book on Jesse James~ and wJesse's mother Zerelda, sued in court and was awarded $942 inroyalties II She raised Mary and Jesse~Junior, and died in 1900."

Then Zerelda James:


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"Jesse's mother ZERELDA SAMUEL continued to live at the James Farma~ Kearney, Missouri. She often would display her stump of an arto the tourists, to show what the Pinkertons had done. She sold

pebbles from her son's grave at twenty-five cents apiece. It wassaid that she replenished this supply with replacements from a.nearby creek. She died in 19l18~

Then appears the face of Jesse's daughter, Mary, after she has grown:

\\

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fJJesse's daughter MARY JAMES BARR returned to Nashville in 19330She visited old haunts, and was baptized at the Dixie Tabernacleon the site of a reputed James home on Fatherland Street. Shedenied that her father had been at Northfield to the newspapers.She died in 1935 e f'

Then appears the face of Frank's wife Annie:

"Frank's wilie ANNIE RALSTON JAMES long outlived her husband. Sheonce turned down $50,000 to tell her story. She avoided readingabout outlaws and bandits, until the late 1930us when she developan interest in the exploits of the F.B.I. She enjoyed the talesof Federal agents breaking up the latter-day gangs of Mid-Westernbandits and bringing to justice such outlaws as Dillinger and KarDuring World War II she particularly liked to follow news of

Allied victories over her radio. She died in 1944,"


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Then follows a picture of Jesse _ Junior as a child (from tm movieJ

which phases into this picture of him as a young man:

with this caption:

flJesse's son JESSE EDWARDS JAMES was later accused of robbing a trai with gang member Bill Ryan. He was acquitted with the help of noneother than Governor Crittenden, who took a kindly interest in thebOYa He helped get him a jobg At one point young Jesse ran a pawnand wrote a book on his father. Its opening pages described thefiasco at 903 Woodland Street, where Dick Liddil shoots through thefront doors"

name:"Jesse Junior then tried to market a product exploiting his fath'e2f


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"He later became a California attorneYe In the late 19400s he wasoffered a $50,000 bribe to pretend his fathe r had never died~It was tendered by the promoters of the latest Jesse James impost

who was touring the country, claiming that Jesse had never died.Jesse James, Jrep die~ in 1951."

Then appears a picture of Stella James:


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"STELLA JAMES was the wife of Jesse James, Jr& She became a self-appointed defender of the James family against the outrageous claimof impostors~ In all, around twenty-five men came forward over th

years, each claiming to be Jesse James. They said another man hadbeen buried in Jesse's place, and they were usually exhibited in cavalse In 1933 Stella defeated one of these claimants in court, who

was called John James..." "

"As late as 1971 Stella--in her nineties--won a $10,000 judgementagainst the Jesse James ~useum of Stanton, Missouri, befo~e a juryand later befoF'e an Appeals Court. The museufirclaimed that Jessehad lived till 1951."

Then a picture of J. FRANK DALTON:

"In 1948 101 'year-old J. FRANK DALTON, last of the Jesse James i_mpovisi ted Nashvillb With his promoters he attemnted to find wltnesseto bolster his claim. He managed to get an interview with Eleanor

Roosevelt@ and attempted, _.to visit that famo,!-!sMissourian Presiden

Truman.'1 '


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Finally a picture of Harry S. Truman followed by:

"Harry Truman's own mother had once been internedin a Union prison compound which her son ever aftercalled a 'concentration camp.'"

"As a boy young Harry Truman got to meet with men whohad ridden with Quantrill and remembered FrankJames in his later yearso With his playmateshe acted out 'James Gang' games. It was recalledthat the other boys just enjoyed the funllbutthat Harry was a stickler on everyone having the

facts and names right."

"In later years he even attended two Quantrillreunion~ and met men who were proud of havingsacked Lav~encell Kansaso"

fJThen in June 1937 in the U. S. Senate Trumanrecalled that while Jesse James had only robbed$311000 from a particular railroad, later someexecutives of the same railroad had bilked itof $70,000,000 with holding companies. SaidTruman of these millionaire crooks:

'Senators can see what "pikers" Mro Jamesand his men were alongside of some realartists: II


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SCENE 66 (Finale):

"Even while Jesse James lived the first Jesse James dime novelsappeared. Some 450 titles have been identified"

1HENEW YORK~l\lg rf\lCfi rEiN C5N'f~.

Jl(}'I1tgG~ ~@

!J~B~Fronk Reode, TH~h1~i~~~I~R,Jomes Boys

WITH HIS STEAM TEAM-H,rA T HRI LL IN G STOR Y F ROM A L OST D IA RY . .

"Coimtless 'truet histories of the James boys appeared also, mostlyfull of made-up adventures.. Even in recent years there have beenfew books on the James gang that are historically accuratee"

JMeanwhile children have been introduced to the Robin Hood legendof Jesse James through comic books.v

GREAT TRAIN ROBBERY!


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"The first tTesse James movie came out in 19210 There have be~n do~;e11films since. They have starred such actors as Roy Rogers, Audie ~Murphy, Robert WagnRr and Tyrone Power as Jesse, and Henry Fonda \..as Frank. TheIDovies haVB almost always supported the Robin Hood legof the brothers, though Jesse James Meets FrankenstejnO~ DaughtEr

was an exception,,"

flAIl told there is a record of at least thirty-four Jesse James movies

"You have just seen the thirty-fi:tth."

(fade)

Then the face of Joh.nNewman Edwards comes onto the screen:

(voice over, a portion of Edwards' earlier dialogue is reprisedbut with echo on the voice:)

"~...You boys, just you and Frank, deserve $l whole book of your

illfll" I want to tell your whole story.. Think youQre famous

now? You haven't seen anything6 YouOve been persecuted

tiC CURTAIN )1)

(c) 1983 by Ted Yeatman and steve Eng. Unpublished.reserved. May not be copied by any means withoutpermission, apply to the authorsp P.O. Box 60072,Tn$ 37206 (1-615-226-1890).

All rightswrittenNashville,

stephen richard eng: jesse james: the aftermath

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