1. 'Jesse James, we understand,
Has killed many a man...'
Jesse James first made headlines during a bank robbery in Missouri in 1869, when he shot a cashier dead. What was his motive?
From Quiz Outlaw or Hero? You Decide...
Answer:
He mistook the cashier for Samuel P Cox, the killer of 'Bloody Bill' Anderson.
During the American Civil War, the James family sided with the Confederates, and Frank and Jesse James joined a group of guerrillas, or 'bushwhackers', led by William Anderson. Formerly of Quantrill's Raiders, Anderson was nicknamed 'Bloody Bill' and was responsible for the Centralia Massacre, in which he and his men hijacked a train and captured and executed 24 Union soldiers. Lieutenant Samuel P Cox was assigned to hunt Anderson down and in October 1864, he and his men ambushed Anderson's group in Albany, Missouri, where Anderson was shot dead. While robbing the Daviess County Savings Association in Gallatin, Missouri, Jesse mistook cashier John Sheets for Cox and shot him dead, later claiming it was an act of revenge for Anderson's death.