Compiling this topic, the thought for this year she called me into her office, and pitch me this idea as she mentioned and she ended up, when i told her and agreed that i did know somebody who might be interested in doing this topic she said well maybe when i think about renegades or scoundrels theres only one person that comes to mind. I said im so touch those are the type of characters every girl wants to be associated with. Before you can really start looking at the outlaws that the civil in our gangs that the civil war spun off you have to take a flip back and kind of understand the guerrilla warfare that was going on during the civil war to try to understand how that same mindset continued on after the war and manifested itself in the wild west. In regular warfare in the civil war you have those who are somewhat walk organized with the military, and calgary raiders near kentucky, they were the most closely associated and then you had partisan rangers, who were free and independent enough to act on their own but they still kind of answer to the organized military. They had the blessing of the government thought and those were kind of the more civilized version of regular warfare. Underneath that you had guerrilla warfare, and that was all across the south back, and when i say guerrilla warfare i mean, it is more you know of people taking up arms for themselves and kind of fighting some of them may have done it because it was a big killer be killed situation. Others use the chaos of the war to do what they wanted to do. Just like cool, nobody is here to stop me so im going to go and take this from you and i maybe i never liked you so im just gonna do this and be done with you. Theres a lot of that going on. There is some who fought with a political cause in minds. They do want to join a organized army because that would mean they were leaving home. And you know all of this fell into that category of, guerrilla warfare. While you did see that across the south it was mostly concentrated in a couple of areas. You see it in the Mountain Area here, in western virginia on down to georgia. Then you also saw it in the ozarks mountains, in missouri and arkansas and then it was really prevalent, and concentrated here on the front here. Missouri kansas, where it had existed before the war obviously. And again, if you research the topic its an absolute mess. And it really was a freeforall. Some of those ways that they fought, continued on until after the war. But before you can understand what it morphed into after the war, you understand that the mindset existed before the war. When the british army in the revolutionary war, started marching north to virginia from north carolina, they engaged are encountered guerrilla warfare people. They basically dealt with the gorillas the entire way up into virginia. Then on the frontier you had kansas you had the whole fight over the settlements of making the states between kansas and missouri and then, decisions over the slave state or not and he had people who just disagree with him because he can, so a lot of this you could see even before the war that appalachia had been settled by those with scotch irish roots. That created a culture that was filled with endemic violence and retribution of justice individuals were the guardians of their own interest. Self sovereignty kept the order. That is the culture they are coming from and war presented an opportunity for that concept to multiply unrestrained. Law and order stood breaking down and suddenly, what is already there is bubbling up to the surface. You have a bunch of weapons in circulation that were manufactured for the war and it is a lot easier to get your hands on a weapon or multiple weapons. All of that went into it as well. An historian wrote, he wrote a book about something a little bit later than what we are discussing but he noted that shock value always has a larger a longer shelf life than tedious detail. That is true about the guerrilla warfare and the outlaw stories after the war. These stories were so violent and shocking to people that they are passed down from generation to generation and many of them grew legendary. Eventually, local amateur historians would be the ones to capture these accounts but they just capture them and they did very little to verify their accuracy or curb the mythology that had been interwoven into them. It is tricky to sort fact from fiction in both the guerrilla warfare during the war and when it and what it morphed into after the war. That is something to keep in mind as you hear information about some of these things. How much of it is actually true . How much of it is speculation . Many of these outlaw stories have become legends and these outlaws have taken on a largerthanlife persona and a lot of the stories have been romanticized. It is an example as an example, it is hard to find fact from fiction, in arkansas in stone county, there is a legend about the hess brothers who robbed the u. S. Mint and made their way to stone county where a posse caught up with them. A shootout occurred and the brothers were killed. When their bodies were examined, there were no bullets on them. There is a legend that all of this gold is hidden. It can be hard sometimes to know what exactly is true and what isnt. Ferguson was the most wellknown guerrilla during the war. He fought some with the organized troops but he was really cruel and murdered more than simply fighting in war. After the war, he became only one of two former confederates executed for war crimes. He was not the only person fighting guerrilla warfare in the area. I wrote a100 50 page masters thesis. If you need some reading material, feel free to google my name and guerrilla warfare. If you need to fall asleep at night, start reading it. Guaranteed to put you right to sleep or your money back. What is interesting to me is that if you start reading about appalachia in the early 20th century, especially the moon shining that went on. It is interesting that some of those stories you read about, moonshiners fighting Law Enforcement officers sound eerily like the stories of guerrillas fighting the soldiers during the war. It seems to me that this mindset that took place during the war manifesting itself or showed again once the moonshiners got going. Another thing that happened after the war, many family feuds got started. So many bushwhackers had operated around the town where they were from and they were known. Their descendents were feared and hated in the family lore of their opponents. Richard curry and gerald hamm were two historians who studied appalachia and the guerrilla warfare there and they concluded there is no doubt guerrilla warfare intensified the spirit of lawlessness and tolerance and vindictiveness that characterized the reconstruction era in that region. Across the south, you also have vigilante groups springing up after the war. The same mindset that had given rise to do what you need to do manifested itself into guerrilla warfare suddenly became manifested in vigilante groups. They became the paramilitary wing of the democratic party. Democratic would use them for systematic violence. In arkansas especially, the guerrilla warfare was brutal and it spilled over into postwar politics and very clearly into Race Relations and it culminated in 1888 elections, one of the most corrupt in arkansas history. John slayton was a republican candidate for the second Congressional District and he ended up losing the election by 846 votes out of over 34,000 cast. You can say it was more than terrible luck. In conway county, as the votes were being gathered in the ballot box, four masked and armed white men broke into the precinct and stole the ballot box at gunpoint. That area of town was a predominately africanamerican area. Those votes would have been for clayton. Clayton hired a Detective Agency to investigate this. In that town, there was a Deputy Sheriff named Oliver Bentley and he had a brother. This would have been awkward for Deputy Bentley considering it was probably him who stole the ballot box. Bentley killed his brother it is a pretty bad accident when someone is shot five times. The death was officially ruled an accident. Clayton decided to go himself to investigate even though he was warned, it is dangerous for you there. On january 29 of 1889, he was seated at a table in a boardinghouse getting ready to write a letter to his children when somebody shot him through a window with a shotgun. It was described as, it hit him so squarely that his brains were dispersed about the room. It blew his head off. It was more than likely either Deputy Bentley or a local saloon owner who did the killing. Fortunately, for them, bentley was the one who headed the investigation of the murder. Unsurprisingly, they concluded clayton had been murdered at the hands of unknown persons. They claimed, there was a man who lived in california who had been bitter and amazed with clayton, we think he might have traveled and killed him. Unfortunate, he was so old, he was crippled and confined to his bed. They also stated they received a letter from somebody in london who had hinted toward the fact that jack the ripper was the one who traveled from london and committed this murder. To add insult to injury, the lady who ran the boardinghouse presented claytons family with a bill for the damages her boardinghouse sustained because she said his blood stained her carpet. Republicans were not given any sympathy whatsoever in arkansas. Interestingly enough, clayton later declared the winner of the election. His assassin was never found. Bentley became the justice of the peace and he resided over a trial in which they put a man on trial for the murder from minnesota. The man had been dead for two years and bentley found him guilty and said case closed. That is one story of how this idea of we can take matters into our own hands manifested itself in arkansas. In arkansas, where it was tied to organized politics, out west, they disregarded the laws in place. An historian who wrote inside war, the definitive work on guerrilla warfare during the civil war. He concluded that most rural White Missourians lost a great deal during the war. Property, security, decent communal relations, all Building Blocks of a normal life. They had to lie and cheat and bear false witness to survive. How do you pack up from that and move on once the war is over . Its not easy. Some people who tried and others who lost everything and ended up moving away. A great many missourians moved down to texas. And then there were those who did not even try. They decided to take the law into their own hands. Many of those who went that route have fought under one of two men. William was one of the most notorious guerrillas of the civil war. He and his men slaughtered innocent civilians because it was a union backed town. The Union Senator like to go there a lot. He and his men killed Union Soldiers and unionists without distinction. They would not distinguish between civilian and combat. He was killed before the war ended but his band did not disband. The other one was bloody bill anderson. He was one of the most brutal guerrillas of the war. He concluded that was not vicious enough so her created his own group. He was also killed before the war ended. Following the war, many of andersons men banded together and kept their own groups. One of those men was Archie Clement who was known as anderson head demon. He was only five feet tall. He was known as little archie. He was a consummate killer, ferocious and he liked to scalp his victims. He was only 17 years old when he became a lieutenant in andersons company. After andersons death, he took command. He began robbing banks and he joined the james gang and helped them on their first robbery. Authorities originally at the election of 1866, clement took a gang of a hundred members and they attacked the town of lexington, missouri, on election day. The Republican Party was defeated in the general election. On Missouri State militia came to counter them, clement faded into the hills. The exact same type of strategy that was used regularly warfare all the all the time guerrilla warfare all the time. He goes back into lexington and the head of the militia allowed him to come in. He signed up his men then he circles back and went to the city hotel where he is having a drink. The militia sent him there to arrest him for bank robbery. He starts a gunfight. He was shot off his horse and mortally wounded. When the soldiers approached them, he was still trying to caulk his revolver with his mouth so we could get off one last shot. A soldier said, you are dying. What do you want me to do with the question mark he said, i have done what i said i was going to do, die before surrender. And he did. They were denied the general amnesty given to the Confederate Army after the war ended. Many of the gangs Stay Together for means of force and protection and some, like frank and jesse james, took this as an excuse to become criminals and bank robbers. You have the James Brothers on the left. Frank is on the left and jesse is on the right. They became the most notorious in American History and members of that gang came and went but the james and younger brothers remained a Central Power structure. Frank and jesse had a very normal childhood. Their parents met at a revival in kentucky. Their father became a baptist minister. Frank was the oldest child. Their next child died as an infant. Jesse was born, and then they had a younger sister. Their father was invited to go to california with a wagon train jesse was three. They invited the father to go, he accepted but he never made it home. He contracted a fever in california. Their mother remarried to a wealthy doctor and dr. Samuel was the one who taught both boys how to ride. Frank was said to be withdrawn as a child and a bible reading boy who had a great interest in his late fathers sizable library. Jesse was noted to be generous, noble hearted, and assertive. There was nothing that would have made you guess what they would have later become. Frank desired higher education. He was looking forward to going to college but when he turned 18, the civil war broke out. He enlisted in the Missouri State guard because he supported the confederacy. He fought with that guard and a couple of battles and then he returned home due to injury or illness. While he was home, he was arrested by the local militia and they refused to let him go until he signed a note of allegiance. Three months after the raid on kansas i mentioned earlier, Union Soldiers invaded the samuel family farm and they wanted to know information about fours location. They questioned jesse, who was 15 at the time. He refused to tell them anything so they horse whipped him. They took dr. Samuel, and they strung him up and hung him in the backyard. He survived the ordeal but the experience left jesse embittered and very angry so he joined andersons Guerrilla Forces the next year when he was 16 years old. Jesse tried to ride into lexington, kansas, but the Union Soldiers shot at him. They wounded him so he went to nebraska for a little while he recovered before he was able to come back. Those who knew him at that time described him as a very reliable young man who was always dressing well and reading his bible and regularly attending church. They said he never swore or took the lords name in vain. But he preferred when he was angry to make his own swear words up. Jesse claimed he had been forced into a life of crime because of what his family had suffered during the war. After the war, he turned to being an outlaw. And then you have the younger brothers. Four of the 14 siblings are pictured on the right. The seventh of the children supported the confederacy even though their father supported the union. Coal served in the regular Confederate Army and was made a captain. When he returned to map to the war, he found the family home in ruins and he was very embittered over that. He continued to associate with some of his old comrades from the war and he joined with the James Brothers and began what he called taking revenge against yankee capitalist banks and railroads. After the war, he had a number of jobs. By 1873, he had joined his brother as part of the james gang. Bob younger was the youngest brother, child 13 out of 14. He was too young to fight which meant he was at home and witnessed firsthand his father killed by Union Soldiers and is home burned to the ground. As soon as his brother cole joined with the James Brothers, he joined the gang as well. The First Bank Robbery was the Clay County Savings Association and made off with 60,000 in cash and bonds. This robbery was the first daylight peacetime Armed Bank Robbery in u. S. History. During their escape, gunfire erupted and an innocent 17yearold bystander was killed. It set a precedent because innocent bystanders were often killed during their bank robberies. Soon, they tired of robbing only banks. Part of that was that banks had started to install time lockboxes and it was harder to rob them. Their first train heist was july 21, 1873, when they robbed the chicago rock island and Pacific Railroad in iowa. Five members of the gang pulled some track up and when the train hit that, it derailed and overturned, and the locomotive engineered was killed. It was said the james younger gang lived by the horse and died by the horse. Jesse james had developed into an expert horseman. He believed the best mounted man often won because it allowed them to easily outmaneuver and outrun anybody pursuing them. William cody, or buffalo bill, allegedly told authorities, that is why the James Brothers are making fools of you. They ride superior horses. Jesse imported many of his from kentucky because he wanted thoroughbred horses. They had great stamina and they were very calm and they remained calm even if gunfire broke out. One of his favorite horses, stonewall, named for stonewall jackson, and he took a picture that in 1875. It is the only picture of jesse james with the horse that exists. In 1874, both jesse and frank got married. They lived near nashville, tennessee. Jesse became a respected citizen of the area and got involved in horseracing. However, there is no National Network at the time so catching the outlaws proved to be a very hard task. The missouri governor had hired the pinkerton Detective Agency to look for them. The pinkertons are upset they have not been able to arrest a Single Member of the gang and even though the gang had stopped, they continued hunting for them. They thought they had tracked jesse and frank to the home of their mother and stepfather. The James Brothers were not there. The pinkertons did not know that and they surrounded the cabin and they tossed in an explosive device. They claimed it was only a smoke bomb. Those inside the cabin were frank and jesses mother, step father, and her nineyearold halfbrother. Their mother had to have her arm amputated. The James Brothers took revenge on the neighbor who had allowed the pinkertons to stay on their farm and spy out the james farm. They made them return to outlaw fulltime. The demise of the gang occurred during a bank robbery. Jesse and frank with bob younger when inside the bank while jim younger stayed outside with three other members of the gang. They stood guard outside. Those inside of the bank demanded the vault be opened so they can take the money. The clerk refused and they shot him and killed the man. However, that turned out to be their demise because the gunshot alerted the citizens of town. They all rushed and took out their arms inserted shooting at the outlaws outside the bank. Miller and chadwell were killed and youngers were killed. Bob was shot in the elbow. The gang took off and they were pursued by posses and they eventually split up. The younger brothers went one direction and the James Brothers went another direction. The posse caught the younger brothers. Over 400 miles away from where they robbed the bank. A gunfight directed and charlie was killed and all three of the brothers were killed wounded even further. The three men who were killed in this robbery, miller was only 14 years old when he joined andersons band during the civil war. His only time in combat was after the skirmish anderson was killed. He was captured but not killed due to his young age but was sent to prison. His father was able to get him out of prison. He joined the james gang and was involved in 11 robberies. He was accused of being part of a robbery which he claims he was not and he was acquitted but he later said that he might as well just join them because his reputation had been ruined by the trial. And then there was bill chad well from minnesota. He suggested the gang go up to minnesota to rob the banks because he said he could easily get the men in and out of the state. He clearly miscalculated. The final one was charlie pitts. He had been a childhood friend of the James Brothers. He was married and had two children. When the posse had cornered them, cole later said he told charlie he could surrender but charlie had replied i will die as well as you can. And soon as he said that, he was shot through the heart. The younger brothers were tried and found guilty of murder and sentence to 25 years in state prison. Bob younger died in prison. Jim was pardoned but the next year committed suicide. He had fallen in love with the newspaper writer but his parole terms had been so strict he was not permitted to marry. Cole was also pardoned and lived until 1916. He was reunited with frank james and they toured on a wild west show for a while. After that, he went on a short circuit reaching the evils of crime. In 1903, he published a biography portraying himself as a confederate avenger and in his last years he was known as an elderly churchgoer and died quietly in his sleep. The arrest of the younger brothers signaled the end of the james younger gang. During the crime spree, they had made off with more than 200,000 and killed at least 17 men. The James Brothers escaped back to missouri where they eventually moved to nashville and lived peacefully for three years. However, jesse started up a new gang and they committed robberies throughout. Governor of missouri eventually stepped outside of the law and put together a large reward to stop this. He could not use state funds that reward and he actually got the Railroad Companies to put up the money since it would help benefit them. The reward was large enough it made one of the gang members turn traitor. His wife pleaded with him to live a more normal life and he agreed that sounded good. He said he wanted one more robbery, it would permit them to retire and live the life of a gentleman farmer. He began planning it with bob and charles ford. On april 3, they were in jesses cabin planning this robbery when jesse noticed a needlework on the wall was crooked. He pulled the chair over and sat on the chair to straighten it. He heard a caulking of the pistol. Jesse turned his head to look at him, and as he turned bob shot him. He was killed instantly. His wife and children came rushing in to see what happened. Bob fled immediately. His brother charles was also there, trying to convince them that the pistol had gone off accidentally and he eventually ran as well. Interestingly enough, the picture shows bob ford and jesse james together. Last october, a woman came forward and said this was a Family Picture they were handing down. Somebody from the Houston Police department who does all of their facial recognition analysis took a look and concluded this is a legitimate photo. A couple of the James Brothers historians dont like the idea of robert ford and jesse james being in a picture together and are claiming it is a fraud. Theres a lot of uproar and its going on right now sells kind of interesting. The Four Brothers expected to be treated like heroes, instead they got abuse because it was so cowardly. They killed him for a reward and the second was bob ford had been accused of murder and the governor of missouri agreed he would pardon him for that murder if he killed jesse james. Ford was charged with the murder of jesse but the governor pardoned him for both. Frank james surrendered to the governor and wanted to settle down. It was to universal sympathy and frank was acquitted of all crimes. He returned to the james farm and worked as a horse trainer and he lived to be 72 when he died of natural causes. The most outspoken defender was the one who allowed them to have such a long career and to be be remembered as they are. This was general shelbys, who had jumped in after the war and helped found the kansas city times. He wrote fiery editorials to convince ex confederates to return to politics. He used his newspaper to provide alibis and excuses for the James Brothers. He made the map to be symbols of x confederates striking back against perceived corruption and criminality of republican rule in missouri and created a folk hero status for them. When jesse was killed, edwards wrote a flattering obituary that he was the one who arranged for frank james to surrender to the governor. He did not know he would be fully acquitted. His flattering treatment undoubtedly formed the basis of the heroic legend still associated with the outlaw. Part of the obituary reads none of these cowards stared face the outlaw, one even against 20, until he disarmed himself and turned his back. The first and only time in a career that has passed from a fabulous romance into history. We call him outlaw, and he was, but fate made him so. Jesse james had no home, prescribed, hunted, shot, driven away from his people. What could a man do, he had to live, it was his country. The graves of his kindred were there. He refused to be banished from his birthright, and when hunted he hunted his hunters. If he would arise today, he would make a righteous butchery of a few of them. This was an editorial from a newspaper and shows you how times have changed. To me, it does not hold water. There are numerous examples who fought in the work who chose not to become outlaws. One was alan ulmer who joined the gang when he was 15 and was wounded five times when he was in the war. After he attended Business College in st. Louis and married susan james, the younger sister of frank and jesse and they had four children. It was a farmer and stock raiser and wandered around a bit. I bring him up to say that if you think of who had to become an outlaw, it was someone that followed in the war and married into the james family but he died in 1927 of a heart attack. He lived life on the right side of the law following the war. There was also captain william greg who also fought under him. He became a prominent farmer and sheriff of jackson county, missouri. He wrote a manuscript on jesse james and kept up his old work associations. But for the rest of his life, he was a lawabiding citizen. Were they forced to become one . I would call that into question. Jim cummings clerk i think has an interesting story. The encyclopedia of western gunfighters lists his occupations as thief, soldier, laborer, and law officer, because why not . He became a trusted officer during the war but his surrender was not honored so she returned to a life of thievery. He returned to the james gang and moved to colorado where he found work digging a pipeline in town. He then secured an appointment as a marshall enforced the law by clubbing ruffians with his fist. In 1889, Butch Cassidy and his band robbed the bank in that town of 20,000 and rumors spread that clerk had agreed to conveniently be out of town when they tried to rob the bank. This was never proven but he was fired nonetheless and he began threatening to kill members of the city council, one for . 15 or two for . 25 whichever you prefer. He remained in town until he was shot in the back. No real investigation ever took place. The killer was never discovered. Rumour said that several prominent businessmen wanted him gone and therefore he was going. Was this really the man who fought under jesse james . Everyone seemed to think it was except for james, who said that he was too smart to become city marshal and you see, jim was one of those men who wont let anybody shoot him. So there you have it. Arthur mccoy was another outlaw. He was born in ireland and he went to california as a 49er in the goldfield. He married luisa gibson who was the youngest daughter of a welltodo st. Louis family. They had two sons, one of whom died during the war and they had a daughter in 1861. He was supposedly a member of the jamesyounger but he was a city boy and did not fit the mantra of the others. He did have a james connection so that was probably who made that. He was believed to be involved in the killing of a pinkerton agent and was identified as one who participated in numerous robberies. He and his wife had a farm in missouri and two more sons were born in that decade. Arthur did not like farming so he went to texas to see about cattle. Legend now takes over, where history has ended. Had legend says he was arrested for stage robbery near austin, texas, but he effectively vanished. By 1880, his wife listed herself as a widow. The only reason i bring him up is to point out that not all outlaws had been guerrilla fighters. Mccoy was a city boy, a family man, and fought in organized forces and yet he was a drifter. That kind of personality the James Brothers had started really appealed to him and he turned to that type of life after the war. And then there was belle starr. She was born myra maybell shirley and her nicknames were the outlaw queen or the bandit queen. Her family supported the confederacy. She had been educated at a Girls Academy and appeared to be on the way to a respectable middleclass life. Her brother had taught her to use guns and ride horses and many believe she unofficially joined him on some of his raids during the war. He died in 1864 and the business was ruined so the family moved to texas for a fresh start. At that point, her life trajectory went from a respectful middleclass woman to one who a less position. She had two children. Her husband grew up in missouri and had joined quantrills raiders and fled to texas. By the time of his daughters birth, he had been involved in a gang when he allegedly murdered somebody fled with his family to california. Shortly after, they returned to missouri and jim reed road off and on with gangs and tom steyer gangs. In april of 74, they robbed the san antonio stage and bell was named as an ancestry on the indictment. Jim, however, was on the run and was killed in paris, texas in 1874. Legend takes over here, but it is traditionally believed that she was on the run from the law and drifted into oklahoma where she began to lead her own band of cattle and therefore we have the belle starr gang. It was at this point she married tom starrs son in 1880. Legend says it might have only been a commonlaw marriage, as had their first marriage to jim reed. They lived on turkey land and they built a house where they would harbor outlaws often. In 1883, both were convicted of stealing horses and they spent nine months in jail. Mel was now known as a felon and she dressed the part. She wore gold earrings, mans hat, and she rode a mare named venus. Sam was killed in a gunfight and she remarried a third time to a man named bill july. She started calling him july starr. Shortly after, she was summoned to fort smith, arkansas because he had been accused of stealing a horse. She accompanied him part of the way and decided to turn back. On her way home, she was just shy of her 41st birthday, she was shot in the back. At this point in her life, she had many enemies, including her children, so nobody knows who could have killed her. Bill july believed it was a man who rented land from them. Apparently, when val found out she kicked him out and watson was arrested on suspicion he murdered her. They couldnt prove anything at he was released. It is still a mystery as to who killed belle starr. A couple more i wanted to highlight are the farrington brothers. They had both been confederate guerrillas and decided robbing banks seems to be a good post war occupation. They also robbed trains. They robbed the mobile and Ohio Railroad in union city, tennessee. The pinkertons were hot on their tail. Pinkerton was not killed when he was shot in the thigh. He managed to subdue hillary and cuff him. They were on a paddleboat when hillary broke loose and grabbed pinkertons shotgun. The gun discharged and grazed pinkertons skull and did not kill him. Before hillary could aim at the detective, pinkerton delivered an angry uppercut that sent hillary onto the paddlewheel where he was shot sorry, chopped to pieces. His brother had been captured in illinois. He had been returned to tennessee for the trial. However, there were many angry people in the town, and while in prison, a mob formed and lynched him. These are some of the most notorious of the wild west gangs. Outlaw gangs existed before the war, as did those who like to operate outside the boundaries of the law. However, those who had fought in the civil war really set a precedent for many who came later and really created the wild west stories we hear about. The dalton gang was in operation for one year. The dalton brothers had been u. S. Marshals but turned to a life of crime because they discovered robbing trains and banks was an easier way to make a living. However, the gang attempted a robbery in kansas and the gang members involved were all killed, after which this picture was taken. There were some members who werent there and he took the remaining members. For three years, they robbed in oklahoma and kansas. He held something of a robin hood image and was wellliked by many so it was those people who helped him and his gang avoid the law. The gang was dissolved when bill was tracked down and killed in 1896. Then there is kid curry, known as the wildest in Butch Cassidys outlaw gang known as the wild bunch. That also included the sundance kid, bill carver and many others. Some of them posed for a photo in 1901, which i have put on the screen for you. Funnily enough, the pinkertons learned about the photo, got a copy of it, and put it across america. So probably a bad idea. The kid was wanted for 50 murders and was generally believed that murdered at least twice that number. William pinkerton called him the most vicious outlaw in america and said quote he has no single redeeming features. He is the only outlaw for which there is no good point. Which one is he . That is a good question. I have not spent enough time looking into it to truly answer that question. And then there was cherokee bill, crawford colby. He and his gang terrorized the indian territories for two years. He was only 18 when he began his life of outline outlawing. He and his gang were willing to shoot just about anybody. He was caught in 1895. He was taken to arkansas and put on trial for three days. The result was predetermined. He was sentenced to hang in 1896. He was scheduled to be hung at 11 00 but it was delayed because his sister wanted to see him one last time at her train was not due in until 1 p. M. , so he was hanged after 2 00. He was asked if he had last words and he said i came here to die, not to give a speech. There was henry who was married to bell. He was not at all fond of her. He found her to be crude and would quickly inform anybody that she was his aunt by marriage only. You know you have got to be pretty interesting woman to be reviled like that by an outlaw like henry starr. He rubbed more banks than other gangs put together. He rubbed his last in 1921. He allegedly robbed 19 thanks and made off with 8 million on his own. Legend has really romanticized any outlaws, especially the James Brothers, through originally dime novels and editorials like we heard earlier. Later through tv shows and movies thats how most in the public know about these men. A lot of them had become Robin Hood Type figures. What we hear about people law men, its interesting that is the typical way wild west outlaws have been characterized. So i leave you with this thought. The encyclopedia of western gun fires said that though the history of these gangs is often romanticized, it should not be forgotten that they were nothing more than thugs. I thank you for coming out this evening. If we have got a few minutes for some questions and answers. If anybody needs to slip out, feel free to do so. But if anybody has any questions, we are happy to answer them. [applause] history tv this weekend on cspan three. Cspan has unfiltered coverage of congress. The white house. The supreme court, and Public Policy events. You can watch all of cspan Public Affairs programming, on television. Online, or listen on our free radio app. And be part of the National Conversation for cspans daily washington journal program. Or through our social media feeds. Cspan, created by americas People Television companies. As a public service, and brought to you today by your television provider. On august six that zero eight japanese time, in Army Air Force b 29 dropped atomic bomb 22 on the regime. Japans seventh largest city, a communications military and Industrial Center of considerable importance. A stunned universe now quickly learn that man had a new weapon a shocking destructiveness. A weapon ordering on the absolute. In the blast thousands died instantly