One of the strangers requested a bill to be changed. As the teller approached the counter, both robbers drew their guns demanding the money. The teller was handed an empty sack and once the money, bonds, and tax stamps were deposited in the bag, both tellers were placed in the vault.
The amount stolen totaled over $62,000.00. The bonds totaled $42,000.00. The United States Government Revenue Stamps totalled $518.00. The rest was in gold and silver coins and greenbacks.The events of this day forced the bank to close, selling all it's assets, called in all loans and paid the depositors $.60 on the dollar.
Seven months later the outlaw gang would strike again, this time in Lexington, Missouri.The Alexander Mitchell and Company Bank was robbed October 30, 1866. Mr. J.L. Thomas was alone in the bank at the time. There were five riders that day. Two men entered the bank, presented a bill to be changed, and the bank was robbed.of $2,000.00. The bank was expected to contain much more on deposit.
May 22, 1867, 2:00 pm. twelve men robbed the Hughes & Wasson Bank. Four men dismounted and entered the bank while eight others waited and watched outside. Mayor John B. Shaw was shot fatally in the chest, a young man Frank S. Griffin, shot in forehead, and his father B. G. Griffin was fatally shot while coming to the aid of his dying son. The robbery is believed to have netted $ 4,000.00.
With ten bank robbery's under his belt Jesse begain to diversify, and on July 21, 1873 The Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad at Adair, Iowa was robbed, This robbery was said to have been committed by five to seven men. A rail was loosened, pulled out of line and when the engine arrived at that mark, it overturned. The engineer John Rafferty was crushed as the train overturned and killed. After this robbery Jesse vowed never to derail a train again. The passenger and other crew members were frightened and bruised but survived. The total amount of money was from $2,000.00 to as much as $6,000.00. The train was never removed and today is "buried" south and west of Adair, Iowa.
With the total take up to this time somewhere around a 100,000.00 Jesse was doing pretty good. and it seemed that even the people he robbed had took a liking to the bandit with stories being told of how Jesse robbed the rich and gave to the poor. In reality Jesse did help the poor people, it was often said that if anyone needed help that the James boys would not turn them down. Jesse and the Younger boys had no trouble finding people who would hide them and even fight for them. The gang's main members at this time was Jesse and brother Frank, Cole Younger and brothers Jim, Bob and John, and any number of other men who rode with them from time to time.
With the success of the train robbery behind the robbers, Jesse expanded his line of work to include robbing stage lines and on the morning of January 15, 1874 as a stage carrying fourteen passengers on its way to Hot Springs, Arkansas approached Sulphur Creek, voices from nearby rocks ordered the stage driver to stop. Five men were wearing long blue overcoats and handkerchief masks emerged from the rocks and surrounded the coach with pistols drawn. One of the unfortunate passengers described the event in a interview as follows. The passengers were removed from the coach and lined up along the roadside. Each were frisked for weapons then asked to kneel with their hands in the air. One of the male passengers refused to keep his arms up until one of the bandits explained that if he continued to disobey their order a bullet would be sent through his head. The passengers were then asked to place their money, watches, and jewelry in a sack. An older gentleman told the bandits that he had served in the confederate cavalry during the Civil War. Before leaving the scene, one of the bandit's, believed to have been Cole Younger, returned the man's purse to him. The robbery was reported to have netted the Bandit's any where from $1,000.00 to $8,000.00.
The James Younger gang stayed busy in 1874 commiting six robberies., In January, they robbed the Iron Mountian railroad of $12,000.00, in April a stage coach in Austin, Texas $3,000.00, August 30, the Waverly Lexington, Missouri Stage, in December the Tishomingo Savings Bank at Corinth Mississippi and again in December the Kansas Pacific Railroad in Muncie Kansas.
The James gang laid low for awhile until September 5, 1875 when four men liberated the Huntington, West Virginia bank of$ 10,000.00 During the robbery R. T. Oney, cashier and a friend were alone in the bank prior the robbery. One man was shot and killed, gang member Thompson Mc Daniel. Jack Keene aka Thomas J. Webb was arrested in Tennessee a short time later and returned to West Virginia, where they were tried and sentenced to twelve years in prison.
July 7, 1876 The Missouri Pacific Railroad Train was robbed in Missouri east of Sedelia. Reports indicate the robbery netted $ 15,000.00 and no one was hurt.
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