Details
JAMES, FRANK, outlaw, brother of Jesse James. Autograph letter signed with his alias, Ben Woodson ("Ben") to his wife, n.p. [Missouri], 10-12 July 1883. 10 pages, 8vo, written in dark pencil on foolscap notepaper, evenly browned.
FRANK JAMES AWAITS TRIAL: "THE OUTLOOK IS NOT AT ALL ENCOURAGING...WHEN I DO GET OUT I AM AFRAID I WILL BE NO ACCOUNT AT ALL..."
A exceptional ten-page letter, written over a three-day period from a Missouri prison where the outlaw was being held to stand trial for murder. James's letters of this early date and length are very rare; his prison letters are all in pencil, probably because it was all inmates were allowed. "There is not one minute in the day but I think of you...I will be the happiest man in the State when I can be permitted to be with you every day and hour. I am some what disappointed in not hearing from you to day...As it is I sometimes think the day will never end and when the 'Curfew' sings I am actually glad. You have no idea how lonely I feel, I hear people sometime say you must forget so and so. My opinion is we never forget anything. All things from our earliest recollection be it good or bad comes up in our memory at some time...It teaches us to avoid that which has been wrong and make a repetition of that which is right. Should we forget all things past we would never improve any...
"I don't know what to think of my Att[orne]ys. All they do is talk talk whilst the State works. The out look is not at all Encouraging to me. Rush has returned from St. Jo [St. Joseph] but as yet has not been near...I would see him dead before I would send for him. I have had a number of visitors this week. Th[e]y come simply to satisfy their curiasity [sic] and do me no Earthly good -- I would much rather they would stay away...I also notice in the paper where Frick had been arrested for the robbery of Gosetts Store but proved an alibi. Poor fellow he will now be charged with everything that is done. Mamma, I am just too lonely to talk...every day seems a week. I sometimes think it will be impossible for me to live until August. Oh! I do get so tired and worn out...There is no such thing as being happy when separated from you....Mr. Rush went to K[ansas] C[ity] this A.M. to meet my counnsel [sic]. What the result, time will determine...I spent quite a while out in the yard this A.M. But to say I enjoyed it [I] can not..."
The James brothers, who had served in William Quantrill's infamous Confederate raiders during the Civil War, turned outlaw after the war. They robbed their first bank at Liberty, Missouri in February 1866; joined by Cole and Frank Younger, the gang terrorized a whole region, robbing banks, stagecoaches and trains from Iowa to Texas to Alabama. On 7 September 1876, attempting to rob a bank in Northfield, Minnesota, six of the eight gang members were shot and killed by bank guards. Only the James brothers escaped. Jesse was later shot by a gang member seeking a bounty, and not long afterwards, Frank surrendered to stand trial. He was found not guilty in the Missouri trial (pending at the time of this letter), then was acquitted of armed robbery by an Alabama jury and acquitted again on the same charge in Missouri. He retired to his family's Missouri farm, where he lived quietly until his death in 1915.
FRANK JAMES AWAITS TRIAL: "THE OUTLOOK IS NOT AT ALL ENCOURAGING...WHEN I DO GET OUT I AM AFRAID I WILL BE NO ACCOUNT AT ALL..."
A exceptional ten-page letter, written over a three-day period from a Missouri prison where the outlaw was being held to stand trial for murder. James's letters of this early date and length are very rare; his prison letters are all in pencil, probably because it was all inmates were allowed. "There is not one minute in the day but I think of you...I will be the happiest man in the State when I can be permitted to be with you every day and hour. I am some what disappointed in not hearing from you to day...As it is I sometimes think the day will never end and when the 'Curfew' sings I am actually glad. You have no idea how lonely I feel, I hear people sometime say you must forget so and so. My opinion is we never forget anything. All things from our earliest recollection be it good or bad comes up in our memory at some time...It teaches us to avoid that which has been wrong and make a repetition of that which is right. Should we forget all things past we would never improve any...
"I don't know what to think of my Att[orne]ys. All they do is talk talk whilst the State works. The out look is not at all Encouraging to me. Rush has returned from St. Jo [St. Joseph] but as yet has not been near...I would see him dead before I would send for him. I have had a number of visitors this week. Th[e]y come simply to satisfy their curiasity [sic] and do me no Earthly good -- I would much rather they would stay away...I also notice in the paper where Frick had been arrested for the robbery of Gosetts Store but proved an alibi. Poor fellow he will now be charged with everything that is done. Mamma, I am just too lonely to talk...every day seems a week. I sometimes think it will be impossible for me to live until August. Oh! I do get so tired and worn out...There is no such thing as being happy when separated from you....Mr. Rush went to K[ansas] C[ity] this A.M. to meet my counnsel [sic]. What the result, time will determine...I spent quite a while out in the yard this A.M. But to say I enjoyed it [I] can not..."
The James brothers, who had served in William Quantrill's infamous Confederate raiders during the Civil War, turned outlaw after the war. They robbed their first bank at Liberty, Missouri in February 1866; joined by Cole and Frank Younger, the gang terrorized a whole region, robbing banks, stagecoaches and trains from Iowa to Texas to Alabama. On 7 September 1876, attempting to rob a bank in Northfield, Minnesota, six of the eight gang members were shot and killed by bank guards. Only the James brothers escaped. Jesse was later shot by a gang member seeking a bounty, and not long afterwards, Frank surrendered to stand trial. He was found not guilty in the Missouri trial (pending at the time of this letter), then was acquitted of armed robbery by an Alabama jury and acquitted again on the same charge in Missouri. He retired to his family's Missouri farm, where he lived quietly until his death in 1915.