Jesse James Story
Kind of a funny story, wanted to get it down in writing before I forget it.
When I was married before to my late wife, we lived in Denver, up at the end of the block in Congress Park, center city, there was this Methodist Church with a big stained glass window on Colorado Blvd where we attended. At the back entrance an old man greeted us.
Janet and I went in every Sunday, we got to know this guy and his wife. Turns out he was an ex Arkansas motorcycle policeman who chased Pretty Boy Floyd up and down that state in the 30's and finally caught him in Oklahoma, and killed him with a dozen other cops.
His wife was from Missouri. She had an old western, country accent, and after getting to know her, turns out she was a descendent of Jesse Woodsen James and brother Frank.
My grandmother on my mother's side, Wike, also was a descendent of that same family, so it turned out we were both from the same extended family and didn't know it for some months. My grandma used to tell me when I was a boy growing up in south Philadelphia and interested in family geneology that I should be careful about going back "too far" on the family tree, " cause you never know who you might find hangin' off it."
It turns out, a few of our relatives were in the James Gang, and one or two were killed in a couple of bank robberies or stage hold ups in that history. Later in my life, when I worked at a resort in Oklahoma ( a misnomer, really, there are no real resorts in Oklahoma), I was located in Chekotah, near Belle Starr's ranch where she is buried. Not too far from her grave and ranch is one of Jesse's hideouts, a cave where he and his gang hid-out and rumored to have hidden some loot from a long-ago hold up.
I didn't find any.
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When I was married before to my late wife, we lived in Denver, up at the end of the block in Congress Park, center city, there was this Methodist Church with a big stained glass window on Colorado Blvd where we attended. At the back entrance an old man greeted us.
Janet and I went in every Sunday, we got to know this guy and his wife. Turns out he was an ex Arkansas motorcycle policeman who chased Pretty Boy Floyd up and down that state in the 30's and finally caught him in Oklahoma, and killed him with a dozen other cops.
His wife was from Missouri. She had an old western, country accent, and after getting to know her, turns out she was a descendent of Jesse Woodsen James and brother Frank.
My grandmother on my mother's side, Wike, also was a descendent of that same family, so it turned out we were both from the same extended family and didn't know it for some months. My grandma used to tell me when I was a boy growing up in south Philadelphia and interested in family geneology that I should be careful about going back "too far" on the family tree, " cause you never know who you might find hangin' off it."
It turns out, a few of our relatives were in the James Gang, and one or two were killed in a couple of bank robberies or stage hold ups in that history. Later in my life, when I worked at a resort in Oklahoma ( a misnomer, really, there are no real resorts in Oklahoma), I was located in Chekotah, near Belle Starr's ranch where she is buried. Not too far from her grave and ranch is one of Jesse's hideouts, a cave where he and his gang hid-out and rumored to have hidden some loot from a long-ago hold up.
I didn't find any.
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So the robberies happened in the oklahoma resorts? This is a really interesting story... I'm interested.
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