in the early part of september, 1880, col. george gaston, of kansas city, while spending a summer vacation at minnetonka and the minnesota lakes, went to stillwater for the purpose of seeing the younger boys, whom he had known before the war. he was accorded an interview with the imprisoned bandits, the result of which was published in the kansas city times of september 6th, from which the following is taken.
this interview is of special value, considering the obscurity which surrounds the shooting of jesse james by george shepherd, and the identity of the james boys in the northfield robbery.
after describing his introduction to the prison authorities and entrance into the penitentiary, mr. gaston proceeds as follows:
"there was a man at the top of the steps to receive us, another official with the conventional bunch of keys. 'come this way,' said he, and we followed him into a square room with walls and ceilings of stone. there were chairs and we sat down. a door at one side opened and three men walked in. they were cole, jim and bob younger. they took chairs opposite and directly facing us. they wore the prison garb, and their faces were shaven and their hair [pg 133]cropped close. they looked so genteel, despite their striped clothing, that my nervousness disappeared at once. i told them who i was and whence i came, and introduced my wife. they were very courteous, and bowed, and said they were glad to see me. jim hitched back in his chair, and addressing my wife, said, laughingly: 'it is so long since we have been permitted to converse with anybody that i don't know as we can talk.' then followed a desultory conversation. cole said his health was poor; he complained of suffering from the effects of the wound in his head, received at the time of his capture. the rifle ball entered near the right ear and lodged under the left ear and has never been removed. jim was shot in the mouth, but there are now no signs of a wound. bob had his jaw broken, but he too has entirely recovered, and is the handsomest one in the trio. he is the youngest. i remember him as a boy. he has developed into a robust, fine-looking young man. the escape from death these men had at the time of their capture was a miracle. sixty guns were discharged at once. cole and jim lay on the ground—the one with a bullet through the head and the other with a frightful wound in his mouth; bob's jaw had been broken but he did not fall—he threw up his arms and cried, 'don't fire again, gentlemen, they're all dead.' and so they were to all appearance. the pursuers picked them up and carried them back. slowly they began to mend and ultimately they [pg 134]recovered. by pleading guilty to the crime charged they escaped the death penalty and were sentenced to life imprisonment."
"it was really very touching," pursued col. gaston, "to hear them talk of the past and of the present. cole told of his army life—how at the age of nineteen he had been promoted to a captaincy in the confederate army. he spoke of the murder of his father and of his career since the close of the war. 'my exploits in the army were exaggerated,' said he, 'just as my exploits as an outlaw have been exaggerated. in one instance i have been too highly praised, and in the other grossly wronged.'
"i learned from their own lips the story of their prison life. cole younger is a changed man. i found him positively entertaining. he converses with a correctness, fluency and grace that are charming. none of the brothers are compelled to do very much work; they spend a great deal of their time reading in their cells. jim is reading law books and bob is studying medicine; cole seems to have developed a theological turn of mind. these three men are great favorites in the prison—they are looked up to by their companions as sort of demi-gods, creatures immeasurably above the ordinary inmates of the penitentiary."
"the most dreadful feature of their life," said col. gaston, "is the fact that though they occupy adjoining cells, they are not permitted to converse with[pg 135] each other. it is only once a month that they can meet and talk to one another, and then only for a few moments. they told me that they prayed earnestly every night that the month might pass quickly. it was touching beyond expression to hear cole speak of his early days. his misspent life he charges to the faults of his early training. he says he was taught to be ruled by his passions and his passions alone. and as he talked in this vein the tears came into his eyes and i felt that he was indeed a penitent man. he inquired after his old army friends, and i told him what i knew of them and their whereabouts. in the course of our conversation the james boys were mentioned. 'do you believe jesse is dead?' i asked. cole straightened up, glanced quick as a lightning flash at his brothers on either side of him, and replied, 'he is, if george shepherd says he is.' i asked him what he meant, and he answered: 'there are sometimes two things alike in the world, and jesse james and george shepherd were as near alike as they could be, in character, i mean. both are quick, nervous and brave. jesse was so nervous that sometimes he did things rashly.' as cole said this he leveled out his right arm as if he were aiming a pistol. instantaneously it struck me that he sought to convey the impression that it was jesse james who perpetrated the northfield bank murder in a moment of nervous rashness. but the subject was pursued no further. as we left them i felt that we[pg 136] were leaving the most wretched and hopeless of men."
col. gaston said that upon his return from his interview with the youngers, inspector reed told him the following, which has never before been made public: "a short time before the northfield robbery," said the inspector, "i was on my way home to st. paul from a point in iowa. i endeavored to secure a pullman car berth, but found that i had been preceded by two men who had engaged eight berths—the only ones remaining in the car. later, however, i was informed that i could have one of the berths, as one of the party had failed to put in an appearance. as i sat in that car that evening a man wearing a slouch hat sat directly behind me; in the seat opposite him was a man whom i subsequently discovered was cole younger. while thus seated, a big, boisterous countryman, accompanied by his young lady, entered the car and demanded my seat. 'we've been to a dance and are tired'—that was his apology. i told him that his lady could sit beside me, but i didn't propose to yield my seat to a man. as we were arguing, the man in the slouch hat came over and said to me quietly, 'why don't you throw the d—d yahoo out of the window?' i made no reply, whereupon he turned to my persecutor and said, 'here, you d—d loafer, if you don't go about your business i'll throw you off the train. you have been dancing and enjoying[pg 137] yourself and i guess you can stand up awhile. this gentleman has a long way to travel, he has paid for his seat, and by g—d, he shall keep it.' this was quite enough. the big man moved off. the next day, when i was in my bank, in walked the two strange men who had secured the berths on the car. they asked for a bank almanac of last year. i told them we had none to spare; that the almanacs were issued to banks alone and were really invaluable. then they asked if they could borrow an almanac of the previous year, and i said yes, if they would be sure to return it. as i passed it over the counter the man in the slouch hat pushed a ten dollar bill toward me. 'take this,' said he, 'so you will be compensated if we should fail to return the book.' i reminded him he had promised to return the book—that it was part of a file and could not be spared. he insisted, however, that i should retain the money, because something might occur preventing the return of the almanac. well, the book never came back. three days later the northfield bank was robbed, and shortly afterward i identified cole younger as one of the two men who had taken the almanac from me. from the descriptions i have read and the pictures i have seen of the men, i am satisfied that the other man, the man with the slouched hat, the one who came to my rescue on the train, was the notorious outlaw, jesse james."
