FrontierTimes - Outlaws - Jesse James

On February 13, 1866, Jesse James held up his first bank stealing $15,000 from the Clay County Savings Association in Liberty, Missouri. From the article:

"FrontierTimes - Outlaws - Jesse James
Jesse Woodson James was the son of a Baptist minister.

He never never fought in the Civil War, but he rode with William Quantrill's Guerillas, also known as Quantrill's Raiders. The Quantrill bunch, having more in common with the Confederacy, but not Confederate soldiers, raided Northern towns mostly for profit. Some believed that both Jesse and Frank were present during the bloody raid, 150 men, women and children dead, on Lawrence, Kansas in August 21, 1863. However, there are others who say that Frank participated, while Jesse didn't until the following year.

In 1864, Jesse joined the "Bloody Bill" Anderson gang. This bunch, along with Jesse, raided the town of Centralia, Kansas in September. Jesse's participation was apparently limited to lighting all the buildings on fire. Others, however, raped women and shot men.

On February 13, 1866, the James gang was credited with robbing $62,000 from the Clay County Savings Association of Liberty, Missouri. This was considered to be the first James gang robbery and the first daytime robbery of a bank during peacetime. It was thought by some that Jesse was probably not with them at the time as he was probably recuperating from wounds at the end of the war. There were other folks who noted that there was one man who appeared to be ill and was having trouble staying on his horse. Could have been Jesse? No one was ever convicted of this robbery.
In 1873 Jesse held up his first train, the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific, near Adair, Iowa. His first bank was held up at Liberty, Missouri. Jesse married Zerelda (Zee) Amanda Mimms on April 24, 1874. Susan Lavenia James was born to Jesse and Zee on November 5, 1879, but died when she was only 9 on March 3, 1889.

On June 17, 1879, Mary Susan James was born. Jesse was shot and killed by Robert Ford at his home in St. Joseph, Missouri, on April 3, 1882 at the age of 34.

But the legend doesn't end there. There have been at least two or three individuals about whom some claim lived much longer after faking his death in 1882. It has been suggested that the man buried as Jesse James was actually Charlie Bigelow, who looked very much like him.

One such was J. Frank Dalton, who died in Granbury, Texas in 1951. DNA tests were made of both as near as I can tell. The body buried in Missouri was tested in 1993 and the one in Granbury, Texas in 2000. DNA experts claim that the original body in Missouri was probably Jesse James. But, to this day, others still argue the case.

Another such claim is that James Lafayette Coutney of Blevins, Texas was Jesse. Documentation was supplied in a book along with pictures of both families showing resemblance of the two. Coutney died in 1943 at the age of 96.

And still another option has been the rumors that Henry Ford, a banker from Brownwood, Texas who died in 1910 was actually Jesse James.

Jesse did hang his hat in Texas at various times. His gang is credited with robbing a stagecoach in Austin, Texas, April 1874.

The community of Macey, Texas, 20 miles north of Bryan, was named for William Macy of Indiana, who in 1869 bought land in the Thomas James Mexican land grant. Macy was reportedly the uncle of Frank and Jesse James who were rumored to have stayed there when hiding from Missouri authorities.

Jesse James, Cole, Jim , Bob and John Younger hid out at Belle Starr's home in the Scyene, Texas (near Dallas) vicinity in July 1866

According to legend, Frank and Jesse James hid out on Sterling Creek, Sterling County, Texas, southeast of Midland, in the 1870s to raise horses and hunt buffalo..

Frank James was even an early salesmen for Sanger Brothers in Dallas, as was and Herbert Marcus, the founder of Neiman-Marcus."