Son of a Bandit
Jesse James and the Leeds Gang
Description:... Little Timmy heard the report of the gunshot rattle throughout the cottage. Rushing to the living room, he saw blood coursing the face of his mortally felled father and observed his mother holding his head in her lap. Eyeing the assassins, the boy, with revenge burning through his heart and soul, lugged a shotgun from the closet. Before he could discharge it, the victim's wife arrested it from her son. For a six-year-old, Timmy had faced many obstacles, including the uncertainty and ambiguity of the name and identity of he and his parents, the constant relocation of his family, and now having witnessed first hand the murder of his pa. Within two days of the shooting, Little Tim would discover the stark truth about his life: he was the son of the famous bandit, Jesse James, and his own name was not Tim, but Jesse James Jr. The death of Jesse James left his widow, Zee James, and their two children, Jesse Jr. and tender-aged Mary Susan, penniless and destitute. There was no buried treasure; they had no secret bank box; they were broke. Their financial plight compelled Zee to seek refuge and support from her family in Kansas City, which would soon become their adopted hometown. Their impoverished life would prematurely force Jesse Jr. into the role as "man" of the family. This destitution significantly compromised his education, as his schooling was subordinate to the needs of his mother and sister. He had to earn wages to support the family, and by the age of eleven, Jesse Jr. had taken his first official employment position. The young boy's hard work ethics attracted the attention of civic leaders and businessmen. Among those taking an interest in Jesse Jr. was Thomas T. Crittenden, Jr. It was his father, Thomas T. Crittenden, Sr., who had been Governor of Missouri at the time Jesse James had been killed. Many considered Governor Crittenden as culpable as the Ford Brothers in murdering Jesse James. It may never be known whether it was out of respect for the young man's labors or the guilt for what his own father had done to the senior James. It is unquestioned that Crittenden, Jr. took Jesse Jr. under his wings. He gave Jesse Jr. a job with his real estate company; he financed both the purchase of property and a construction loan for the boy and his family; he even ensured that when Jesse Jr. went into business on his own in 1898 it would be a successful one. On January 15, 1898, Jesse Jr. opened a sundry shop that principally sold cigars and tobacco products inside the Jackson County Courthouse in Kansas City. Once again Crittenden, Jr., had arranged the business location and financing. While his new entrepreneurial business in the courthouse allowed Jesse Jr. to mingle with the elite, it also brought him into contact with those of questionable or even criminal reputations. Among these disputed figures were John F. Kennedy, William W. Lowe and Andy Ryan, the younger brother of Bill Ryan, a former member of the James gang. These associations were tarnishing Jesse's otherwise good reputation. As the reader turns each page of the book, it will be like returning to Americana at the turn of the 20th Century.
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