Jesse James and Debt Collectors

[aquart]

11. Well, you would know if you bothered to read anything about what went on in that area then.

The James brothers were in a border state and there were vicious crimes committed on both sides leading up to war and horrific war crimes ON BOTH SIDES during the war. Pretending the murder only went one way is ridiculous.

Jesse was painfully young when he followed his brother Frank into the raiders. Check out what happened to his stepfather. After the war, check out what happened to his little half-brother. And his mother. Yeah. AFTER the war.

We get all bent out of shape over what we did to Japanese-Americans during World War II. But we also removed whole families from their land and homes during the Civil War. The James family was part of that removal.

And calling Jesse a racist is a bit selective since pretty much EVERYBODY was racist, anti-semitic what-have-you back then. I mean, "That's real white of you" was an expression, along with phrases like "free, white, and 21" and "white slavery."

He was a cold-blooded killer during a very bloody war. Afterwards raiders like James weren't welcomed back into the civil fold like regular Confederate soldiers. That meant real economic hardship. And it's not like the banks and railroads were decent god-fearing citizens back then. They were hated for damned good reason. Every time bad Jesse and his pals did bad to a bank or a railroad, cheated everyday citizens got a thrill.

No, everyday citizens didn't share in the money. The gang members divided it amongst themselves and it never amounted to all that much but it was more than they could have got otherwise. Always better to own a bank than rob one.