Читать книгу Prison Puzzle Pieces - Dave Basham - Страница 50

Thomas Coleman Younger

(January 15, 1844 - March 21, 1916)

Cole was paroled in 1901, pardoned in 1903 and died in 1916 at the age of 72.

James Hardin Younger

(January 15, 1848 - October 19, 1902)

Jim was paroled in 1901 and committed suicide in 1902 at the age of 54.

John Harrison Younger

(1851 – March 17, 1874)

John died from a gunshot in 1874 at the age of 23.

Robert Ewing Younger

(October 29, 1853 - September 16, 1889)

Bob was frequently sick in his cell and died in 1889 of tuberculosis. He was 36 years old.

These four brothers had 10 other siblings.

The main historical aspect of Stillwater prison is entwined with the Younger Brothers being incarcerated there after getting caught at the Northfield bank robbery that they attempted with the James brothers.

I use the word entwined because one of the occupations used to keep the inmates busy at the first prison was the making of twine. The twine factory is where the fire started in 1884. It is also where a vandal started a fire in 2002 wiping out this historical building.

The Younger brothers were ideal inmates. This helped to get them released from their life sentences. They helped maintain order during the fire in 1884 and kept other inmates from escaping.

How did the Younger's become criminals and wind up in Stillwater Prison?

Missouri was an organized union state, however many residents owned slaves or sympathized with the South. In 1861, those siding with the union and those siding with the confederates began fighting a guerrilla war.

The James and Younger brothers belonged to slave owning families. The mother of Frank and Jesse James was pro south.

In July, 1862, the Younger brother's father, who was reported to be pro union, was killed by Union Soldiers while on a business trip. Because of this, several of the Younger brothers, including Cole, joined Quantrill's Raiders. John and his younger brother Bob were too young to join so they stayed home to look after their mother and sisters.

William Clarke Quantrill was the most famous "bushwhacker" of them all. Frank James was with him at one point in time.

Later, in 1864, when Frank was fighting under Archie Clement and Bloody Bill Anderson, Jesse joined them at the age of 16.

Cole eventually joined the regular Confederate army.

When the war ended, Frank surrendered in Kentucky; Jesse surrendered in Missouri after being shot through a lung; Cole Younger returned from a mission to California; Quantrill and Anderson had both been killed.

The James brothers continued to associate with their old guerrilla buddies, who remained together under the leadership of Archie Clement. This began their criminal career.

On February 13, 1866, the first daylight, peacetime, armed bank robbery in U.S. history was executed, when the Clay County Savings Association was held up. Archie Clement was suspected of leading the raid. Frank James and Cole Younger were implicated. Some say Jesse was there, some say Jesse was at least involved in the planning of it, however, nobody knew anything for sure. The only thing I can say for sure is that this little building is an interesting tourist attraction.

When Archie Clement was killed in 1868, his followers stayed together. They became known as the James-Younger Gang.

With the exception of Cole, the Younger's tried to live a peaceful life after the war, but they were harassed.

At one point, Bob was knocked unconscious and John was hung four times by people that didn't like what Cole was up to and those still having opposing viewpoints from the civil war. They finally cut him down and hacked at his body with knives. He survived. John was quicker to anger and retaliate than was Bob. That is probably why there was such a vast difference in the violence levied upon him at this instance. If this story is true, it shows a high level of incompetence and indecision if they actually raised and lowered John on a rope four times, knifed him and still did not kill him. This would be pure lack of dedication to a cause. They must have been like the people of today that have nothing better to do than to accumulate and picket for a cause they know nothing about, just to get on television news shows.

After their mother's death, John, Bob and Jim Younger moved often because it wasn't safe for them to stay in one place very long.

On Jan 20, 1871 John shot and killed two Texas Deputy Sheriffs that were trying to arrest him. Why? Don't know! I guess I would relate the two deputies to rogue correction officers and John to an inmate of the smart mouthed variety. Without anyone else around, a situation like this could escalate.

In 1873 Jim, John and Bob Younger joined Cole in the James-Younger Gang.

The James-Younger Gang now included Frank and Jesse James and Cole, Jim, John and Bob Younger. Over time, many others joined up with them but left. You might say that their employee retention rate was quite low. Working conditions and their benefit package was undesirable

On March 17, 1874, Jim and John Younger were headed to see some friends in Roscoe, Missouri. Pinkertons were hired to capture outlaws that had robbed a safe. A Deputy Sheriff and two Pinkerton agents suspected the Younger's. The three men were tracking Jim and John when the Younger Brothers ambushed them. One of the Pinkertons ran off successfully. While the Younger's were interrogating the others, Detective Louis Lull, drew a hidden pistol and shot John through the neck. Jim killed Deputy Daniels while John pursued Lull on horseback into the woods. John shot Lull in the chest and left him. John rode out of the woods and fell to the ground, dead. Jim buried him by the roadside. Later he dug him up and buried him in an unmarked grave in a cemetery. Louis Lull died three days after being shot.

On the night of January 25, 1875, the Pinkertons surrounded the James farm. Frank and Jesse James had probably been there earlier, but had already left. The Pinkertons threw what they said was not a bomb into the house. This non-bomb exploded when it rolled into the fireplace. The blast nearly severed the right arm of Zerelda Samuel, the James boys' mother. Her arm had to be amputated at the elbow that night. The blast killed their 9-year-old half brother, Archie Samuel.

Continued injustices perpetrated upon the James and Younger families by post war authorities and people of dissenting viewpoints continually pushed the James and Younger brothers into justifying their criminal activities. This is an example of why I believe criminals are created and not born to be criminals. Learning about the backgrounds of inmates that I have been associated with and read about constantly reaffirms this point. Those scientists that say otherwise should quit trying to write papers to the contrary to get themselves notoriety and stoke their egos.