A Timeline of Events in the History of the James-Younger Gang, Page 2
This is the second section of my site about pivitol events in the history of the James-Younger Gang.
Summer 1876 (exact dates unknown)---Hobbs Kerry is arrested for the Otterville robbery. He gives the names of the other members of the gang. Jesse and Frank James, Cole, Jim, and Bob Younger, Clell Miller, Bill Chadwell, Charlie Pitts, and possibly Jim Cummins leave for Minnesota.
Summer-Fall 1876---The James-Younger Gang (Jesse and Frank James, Cole, Jim, and Bob Younger, Clell Miller, Charlie Pitts, Bill Chadwell, and maybe Jim Cummins) arrive in Minnesota. They move from town to town, prospecting in which town the bank they should rob is in.
Sept. 7, 1876---The eight or nine member gang attempts to rob the First National Bank of Northfield, Minnesota. The citizens of Northfield fight back and the entire town becomes a shooting gallery. Bill Chadwell and Clell Miller are shot and killed in the shootout. Citizens Joseph Heywood and Nicholas Gustavson are also killed. Citizen Alonzo E. Bunker is wounded. Frank James, Charlie Pitts, Cole Younger, Jim Younger, and Bob Younger are all wounded. Frank and Charlie are each shot once, Cole five times, Jim three times, and Bob two times. Bob's right arm is crippled from a rifle slug.
Mid-Sept. 1876---The six remaining members of the James-Younger Gang begin heading west, towards the Dakots, all the while dodging posses throughout Minnesota. Well over 1,000 men are searching the state for the outlaws.
Sept. 14, 1876 (approximatly)---The gang decides to split into two parties. Jesse and Frank James will go one way, Cole, Jim, and Bob Younger and Charlie Pitts will go another. The plan is that the posses will follow Jesse and Frank, since they'll be moving faster, and overlook the Youngers and Pitts, which will hopefully allow them to escape.
Sept. 17, 1876---Jesse and Frank James cross the Minnesota border and enter South Dakota. For the next several days, they will ride most of the hours of the day, will sleep at various farmers' homes, and will steal several horses and supplies along the way as they make their way back home to Missouri.
Sept. 21, 1876---A huge posse surrounds the three Youngers and Charlie Pitts. They are surrounded in a boggy swamp called Hanska Slough. A full scale battle ensues. Charlie is shot several times and killed. Cole is shot six more times for a total of eleven wounds, Jim is shot two more times for a total of five wounds, and Bob is shot one more time for a total of three wounds. The three Youngers are captured.
Sept. 25, 1876---Jesse and Frank James are sited in Sioux City, Iowa. It will be the last confirmed siting of the James Brothers for the next few months. From Iowa, they either go to Missouri, Kentucky, Nebraska, or Texas, where they stay for the next nine months or so.
Nov. 18, 1876---Their wounds mostly healed, Cole, Jim, and Bob Younger plead guilty to murder and robbing the bank of Northfield. They are sentenced to life in prisonment in the Minnesota State Penitentiary at Stillwater, Minnesota.
Nov. 20, 1876---Cole, Jim, and Bob walk into the Stillwater Penitentiary as prisoners numbers 699, 700, and 701. The three brothers are assigned to make bathtubs and buckets in the prison. Over the years, all three will make friends with many prison officials and will be called the standard of model prisoners. They will also be shifted around to different jobs throughout the prison through the years. Depsite their amazingly good behavior, they will remain in prison for a very long time to come.
Summer 1877 (exact dates unknown)---Jesse James, along with wife Zee and son Jesse Edwards, travel to Humphreys County, Tennessee, where Jesse, under the name of John Davis Howard, rents a house and a small farm from a man named W. H. Link. While living in Tennessee, Jesse decides to act as a timid coward, the exact opposite of how people thought the infamous Jesse James would really act. At the same time, Frank James, with wife Annie, live on the farm of Josiah Walton near Nashville, Tennessee. Frank goes by the name of Ben J. Woodson and Annie is simply called Fannie. Both Jesse and Frank want to give up the outlaw life and want to live as low key as possible.
Feb. 6, 1878---Frank and Annie's first and only child is born at the Walton farm. The child is a boy and is named Robert Franklin James.
Feb. 1878 (exact date unknown)---Zee gives birth to twin boys, but they are both born weak and/or sickley. Two doctors try to help the babies as best they can, but both babies die within a few days of their birth. Jesse and Zee had named the boys Gould and Montgomery, after the pair of doctors that tried to help them. The bodies are buried on the rented Link farm.
Spring 1878---Jesse contracts maleria from mosquitos and for the next few months, will be extremely weak and sick. Since Jesse can't work to support his family, he borrows a thousand dollars from an acquaintance in Nashville named Steve Johnson. After a while, Johnson demanded that he be repayed, but Jesse didn't have enough money to do so. In response, Johnson sues Jesse for the money he owes him. Probably in something of a panic, Jesse buys a herd of cattle from local farmer Ennis Cooley with a check that ends up bouncing. Due to the rubber check, Cooley sues Jesse as well. Jesse then sells the cattle to another buyer, and with the money he receives, pays back all the money he owes to Johnson. However, Jesse never repays Cooley. Meanwhile, Frank, Annie, and baby Robert leave the Walton farm and rent a house and a farm from Felix Smith, also located in Nashville.
Winter 1878---Jesse, Zee, and Jesse Jr. ditch the rented Link farm and move to Nashville. Due to Jesse still being sick with maleria, he and his family move into Frank's rented house. While living in Nashville, Jesse frequently gambles in the local saloons. He and Frank also visit the horse race tracks often.
July 17, 1879---Zee gives birth to a girl at the Felix Smith place. She is born healthy and Jesse and Zee name her Mary. It is likely that a few days after Mary's birth, Jesse leaves Tennessee by train to visit New Mexico Territory, most specifically the Las Vegas area. It's likely that Jesse goes to Las Vegas to see if it is a good area to his family to relocate to. The railroad had just recently come through Las Vegas and the town is turning into quite a boom town.
July 26, 1879---Jesse is staying at the Old Adobe Hotel near Las Vegas. An old school friend of Jesse's from Kearney, W. Scott Moore, owns the hotel. It is here that, according to two witnesses, Jesse meets and has dinner with one William H. Bonney, better known as Billy the Kid. Allegedly, Jesse asks Billy to return with him to Tennessee. Billy, however, turns Jesse down, due to the fact that he doesn't want to leave New Mexico and all of his numerous friends. Jesse excepts his answer and a few days later, leaves Las Vegas to return East.
Sept. 1879 (exact date unknown)---Jesse returns to the Nashville area.
Apr. 1879---Jesse decides to put a new gang together. Frank James has a good life going and refuses to reenter the life of outlawry with his younger brother by joining his new gang. Over the next few months, Jesse ends up recruiting five men, namely: Bill Ryan, Dick Liddil, Tucker Bassham, Ed Miller, and Wood Hite.
Oct. 8, 1879---The new James Gang robs a train belonging to the Chicago & Alton Railroad at Glendale, Missouri of $6,000. After the robbery, the gang divides the loot and split into three parties of two.
Late Oct. 1879 (exact date unknown)---Tucker Bassham flaunts the money he made off of the Glendale train robbery and is arrested in Jackson County, Missouri. Upon questioning, he names his accomplices and is soon sentenced to ten years in the Missouri State Penitentiary.
Late Oct. 1879/Early 1880---Jesse and Ed Miller hideout in Missouri for a few days following the robbery and shortly thereafter return to the Nashville area. Jesse and Ed use their money from the heist to purchase a race horse, named Jim Malone. At first, the horse wins several races. Later, however, Jesse and Ed accompany the horse to Atlanta, Georgia, where the horse loses a race that Jesse and Ed bet heavily on. They end up having to sell the horse in order to finance their way back to Nashville.
Nov. 4, 1879---A story appears in a Kansas City newspaper stating that former James-Younger Gang member George Shepard had killed Jesse James. Shepard claims that Jesse killed a relative of his and he killed Jesse for revenge. Shepard's claim is eventually proven false, although few believed it to begin with. Why he ever claimed to kill Jesse has never been fully understood.
Early-Mid 1880 (exact dates unknown)---Jesse and Ed learn of Tucker Bassham's arrest and subsequent confession and decided to ride to Missouri on horseback, either to meet with other gang members or to silence Bassham. On the way, near the town of Norbourne, Missouri, Jesse and Ed apparently into some kind of argument. The argument ends with Jesse shooting Ed dead. A few weeks later, a decomposed body, believed to be Ed's, is found. There are several different theories as to why Jesse killed Ed, but the true reason will probably never be known. Meanwhile, Jesse ends up meeting with Dick Liddil and Bill Ryan somewhere in Missouri and the three head back to Nashville.
July 1880---Jesse, Dick, and Bill arrive in Adairville, Kentucky and stay at the Hite farm, relatives of Jesse and fellow gang member Wood Hite. After a few days, Jesse and Dick leave the Hite place (Bill stays) and continue onto Nashville, Tennessee.
Aug. 1880---A man named Clarence Rutherford, a friend of the Hite family, is arrested for a murder in Adairville, Kentucky. Rutherford's brother asks Jesse to brake his brother out of jail. Jesse agrees and rounds up his gang. A few days before the planned jailbreak, Rutherford's brother tells Jesse not to go through with it. Jesse feels his time has been wasted and is furious, since he has already traveled back to Adairville. Eventually, Jesse and gang members Dick Liddil and Bill Ryan decide to rob a tourist filled stagecoach in Mammoth Cave, Kentucky, so that their trip to the Bluegrass State isn't a complete loss.
Sept. 3, 1880---Jesse and Bill rob a sightseeing stagecoach near Mammoth Cave, Kentucky (Dick had backed out of the planned robbery a few days prior). Jesse and Bill end up stealing several pieces of jewelry from the passengers (including a watch which is later discovered in Jesse's house after his murder) and ride off with around $2,000 in cash.
Oct. 1880---Jesse begins planning to rob the Dovey Coal Mines' payroll, located in Mercer, Kentucky. He plans to rob the payroll from the general store owned by the Dovey family. He expects that the take will be a large one.
Oct. 15, 1880---Jesse James, Bill Ryan, and Dick Liddil rob the Doveys' store, expecting the payroll to be there. However, it is not and the trio ends up stealing only $13 worth of cash and one watch. After the robbery, the robbers end up fleeing back towards Nashville.
Late Oct. 1880---Jesse, Bill, and Dick reach Nashville. They stay at Frank's house and Frank ends up employing Dick and Bill to work on his ranch, although he doesn't trust them and probably only does so to humor Jesse.
Nov. 1880---Jesse, Dick Liddil, and friend Jim Cummins travel to Missouri so Jesse can visit his mother. During the trip, Cummins, who had been a better friend to Ed Miller than to Jesse himself, begins to believe that Jesse did indeed kill Miller. The trio returns to the Nashville area by the end of the month.
Early Dec. 1880---Jesse, Zee, and their two children move out of Frank and Annie's house and into their own small boarding house located on Summer Street in Nashville. With Jesse out of Frank's house, Jim Cummins takes up a temporary residence there, since Frank is a good friend of his as well.
Jan. 1881---Jim Cummins hears rumors that Jesse is planning to kill him, so he flees Frank's home in Nashville and leaves Tennessee all together. Jesse and Frank get together and fear that Cummins may try to get back at them by alerting the authorities to their location. The brothers decide to flee to Alabama to wait and see how the situation developes. Before leaving, Jesse moves Zee and his children into a new house in Nashville on Woodland Street. He orders Dick Liddil to stay at the house with his family and to defend if the need arises. With that, Frank and Jesse, along with Bill Ryan flee to Alabama. Shortly after arriving in that state, Jesse sends Bill off to scout for the next robbery site.
Feb. 14, 1881---An unknown person is throwing rocks at the home of Jesse's family. Dick Liddil grabs one of Jesse's shotguns and fires a charge of buckshot through the front door. He then exits the house and fires a second charge at a fleeing man. When a crowd of neighbors begins to gather, Dick tells them he was firing a burglar. Fearing that the ‘burglar’ may know who Jesse is, Dick has the family moved to a new house on Fatherland Street.
Late Feb. 1881---Jesse and Frank return to their respective homes, but Jesse again leaves for Alabama shortly thereafter. He is planning to rob a government payroll in Muscle Shoals along with Bill Ryan and either Clarence or Wood Hite.
Mar. 11, 1881---Jesse, Bill, and one of the Hite brothers rob government paymaster Alexander Smith of the payroll he's carrying near Muscle Shoals, Alabama. After the robbery, the trio forces Smith to accompany them for a short amount of time, then ditches him. The bandits soon after return to Tennessee.
Mar. 25, 1881---Bill Ryan is at Adairville, Kentucky. Going to a local saloon, he gets drunk and obnoxious. Eventually, after pulling a gun on a fellow patron, he is arrested. Large amounts of money are found on him, and he is immediatly suspected as being one of the Muscle Shoals robbers. Although he is confined to jail, he doesn't reveal his true identity or the identities of his fellow robbers.
Mar. 26, 1881---Dick Liddil buys a newspaper containing a story about the capture Bill Ryan. He shows the paper to Jesse, who also shows it to Frank. Fearing Bill may rat them out, Jesse and Frank send their families by train to Nelson County, Kentucky to stay with some friends. The James boys, meanwhile, travel to Adairville, Kentucky where they stay with the Hite family.
May 1, 1881---Zee James and her two children arrive in Kansas City, Missouri. They are escorted by Jesse and Frank's cousin, and fellow gang member, Clarence Hite. The family stays at the home of Zee's sister. Meanwhile, Annie James and son Robert stay with Annie's father in Independance, Missouri. Jesse and Frank take seperate paths back to Clay County, Missouri.
Early Summer 1881---Bill Ryan is extradicted to Missouri to go to trial for the 1879 robbery of the Glendale train. He is convicted there sentenced to twenty-five years in prison. Tucker Bassham, who agreed to testify against Ryan, was given a pardon. However, his farm was burned to the ground soon after and he fled to Kansas in fear of his life. Jesse, meanwhile, meets up with his family in Kansas City.
June 1, 1881---Jesse rents a small house on Woodland Street in Kansas City for his family to live in. He is now going by the alias of J. T. Jackson. Around this time, Jesse begins planning for another train robbery, and, for some unknown reason, Frank wants to participate and joins the gang. Why he joined the gang remains a mystery.
July 15, 1881---The James Gang, Jesse, Frank, Wood and Clarence Hite, and Dick Liddil, rob a Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railroad owned train at Winston, Missouri of $650. During the robbery, conductor William Westfall is shot and killed by Jesse and passenger Frank McMillan is shot and killed by Frank. When the robbery is over, the five outlaws flee the train and disappear. It's not believed that Jesse and Frank ended up retreating to their mother's homestead in Kearney after the robbery. It's rumored that Westfall had been the conductor that took the Pinkerton agents to the James-Samuel farm back in 1875 the night of the infamous bombing raid. Hence, the rumor goes that Jesse killed Westfall for revenge.
Mid Summer 1881--The Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railroad offers $50,000 for any and all of the robbers of the Winston train. Two days later, Missouri governor Thomas T. Crittenden offers $5,000 for the arrest and delivery of each of the robbers of the Glendale and/or Winston trains. He especially wants the Jameses. Ever since he took office, Crittenden has vowed to bring an end to the James Gang. Meanwhile, up north in Minnesota, the first real parole drive for Cole, Jim, and Bob Younger is started. By this time, they each had been imprisoned for five years and during that time, had been the very standard of model prisoners. However, the governor of Minnesota refuses to parole the brothers at this time.
Aug. 30, 1881---Jesse and Frank rent a two-story house in Kansas City for both of their families to live in.
Sept. 7, 1881---The James Gang, Jesse, Frank, Dick, the two Hite brothers, and newcome Charlie Ford, rob a Chicago & Alton Railroad owned train at Blue Cut, Missouri, only a few miles from the site of the Glendale train robbery of 1879. The robbers end up getting around $950. No civilian is killed in the foray. After the robbery, the gang breaks up into two parties of three. Jesse, Frank, and Clarence Hite travel back to Kansas City while Dick, Wood Hite, and Ford go their own way. Interestingly, the robbey occured five years to the day after the Northfield robbery. It's unlikely that this was just a coincidence.
Early Oct. 1881---Jesse moves his family to a new house on Troost Avenue in Kansas City. Frank, however, takes his family and leaves Missouri for Kentucky.
Nov. 5, 1881---Jesse, with Charlie Ford's help, moves his family yet again, this time to a house in Atchison, Kansas.
Early Dec. 1881---Jesse moves his family to a four-room house located at 1318 Lafayette Street in St. Joseph, Missouri. Jesse is now going by the name of Thomas Howard, Zee by the name Josie, little Jesse Jr. by the name Tim, and little Mary apparently keeps her real name. Around this time, Zee also begs Jesse to cease his outlaw activities, and it seems that Jesse, who himself was becoming very paranoid and tired of the whole outlaw way of living, may have agreed. At the same time, Wood Hite and Dick Liddil are at the home of Martha Bolton, sister to Charlie Ford. Hite and Dick's relationship had gone sour since the Blue Cut robbery. They had previously argued about one getting more money from the robbery than the other. To make matters worse, both men were attracted to Ms. Bolton. At some point that day, both Hite and Liddil drew their pistols and commenced firing. Hite was hit in the right arm and Dick in the right thigh. At that time, Martha and Charlie's little brother Bob appeared. He pulled his own pistol and ended up shooting Hite once in the head, killing him. Hite was then buried in a shallow grave on the property. Both Ford and Liddil now had great reason to fear Jesse, for if he ever found out what fate befell his cousin, it was believed that both Dick's and Ford's days would be numbered.
Jan. 13, 1882---Bob and Charlie Ford meet secretly with Governor Crittenden and Clay County Sheriff Henry Timberlake. The two brothers agreed to give whatever information they could on Jesse to the governor and the sheriff. Bob later said that they were offered $10,000 apiece for Jesse and Frank, dead or alive. However, both Charlie and Crittenden later say that the $10,000 was only offered for the capture of the brothers alive, not dead. Bob also states that if he brings in either of the Jameses, he wants a pardon for his friend Dick Liddil.
Jan. 24, 1882---Dick Liddil surrenders to the law, fearing that the now paranoid and jumpy Jesse will kill him if he ever finds out about Wood Hite. Due to the fact that the law doesn't want to arouse Jesse's suspicion, no mention is made in the papers regarding Liddil's surrender. Liddil does agree to testify against Jesse and/or Frank if either are ever brought to trial in exchange for a pardon.
Feb. 11, 1882---Under a tip from the Fords and Liddil, Sheriff Timberlake travels to Adairville, Kentucky and arrests Clarence Hite at his family's homestead. Clarence, who is suffering from the later stages of tuberculosis, is too weak to put up a fight.
Early Mar. 1882---Jesse becomes interested in buying some 160 acres of farm land in Lincoln, Nebraska after seeing an advertisement for it in a local newspaper. He writes the seller, D. H. Calhoun, and tells him he is interested and will be taking a trip to Nebraska to look over the land within a few days. Jesse signs his name at the bottom of the letter as Thomas Howard. It seems that Jesse was planning on settling down on the Nebraska farmed, but, in order to do so, he would need to pull off one more robbery for funding. It would mean one last excursion into outlawry.
Mar. 10, 1882---Jesse, along with Charlie Ford, departs from St. Joseph and begins heading to Nebraska. According to Charlie, on the way, Jesse told him he wanted to pull off one more robbery, but he needed some more men. He went on by asking Charlie if he knew anyone that would be willing to participate. At once, Charlie suggests his brother Bob.
Mid Mar. 1882---Jesse and Charlie reach Lincoln, Nebraska and look over the land. Jesse tells owner Calhoun he is interested, but can't commit yet. He and Charlie then head back for Missouri. Rather than going directly to St. Joseph, they go to Kearney. There, they end up meeting Bob Ford, who begins traveling with them. The trio visits Jesse's mother Zerelda at her homestead, as well as Jesse's half-sister Sallie. At Sallie's home, Jesse is given a small puppy to give to his son once he gets back to St. Joseph. Before the trio leaves Jesse's mother's house, Zerelda tells him to be careful around the Fords, as she does not trust them. After that, the trio beings riding back towards St. Joe.
Late Mar. 1882---Jesse and the Ford brothers arrive back in St. Joseph. Both Fords are allowed by Jesse to stay at his family's house for the next few days.
Apr. 2, 1882---Bob Ford reads Jesse a newspaper article that states that he, Jesse, had recently been arrested. Jesse has a good laugh over the story. That night, Jesse and the Fords begin making plans for a bank robbery in the town of Platte City, Missouri. The robbery is planned to be committed within the next week or so.
Apr. 3, 1882---In the morning, Jesse, the Fords, Zee, and Jesse's two kids are eating breakfast. While at the table, Jesse is reading the local newspaper, which carries an article stating that Dick Liddil had recently surrendered. Although this makes Bob and Charlie nervous, Jesse apparently doesn't suspect the Fords of anything. He does, however, say that Liddil is a traitor and deserves to be hung to death. When breakfast is complete, Jesse and the Fords go into another room, where Jesse uncharacteristically removes his guns and lays them on a bed. He then notices that a painting hanging on the wall is dusty and/or uneven and stands on a chair to adjust it. While this occurs, Bob and Charlie Ford each pull their pistols. Bob brings the hammer back on his gun, and just as Jesse begins to turn his head, Bob fires. The bullet hits Jesse under the right ear and he falls to the ground. Jesse James is dead at age thirty-four. Zee runs in and Bob, stuttering, explains the gun went off by accident, but Zee does not buy it. After that, Bob and Charlie fled the house, ran into town, and sent wires to Gov. Crittenden and Sheriff Timberlake. They then each surrender to Marshal Enos Craig and are placed in the local jail. Meanwhile, many citizens have rushed to the James home and are startled to discover that their neighbor, whom they had all known as Tom Howard, is the infamous outlaw Jesse James. Jesse's body is eventually taken to the Sidenfaden Funeral Parlor.
Apr. 4, 1882---Zerelda Samuel arrives in St. Joe and identifies Jesse's corpse, as does Sheriff Timberlake, and several friends and associates. At least four different photos are taken by three different photographers of the body and later sold to curiousity seekers. Later that day, Jesse's body is released to his family and is sent by railroad to his mother's home in Kearney.
Apr. 5, 1882---Jesse's body is layed out in a $500 coffin at the Kearney Hotel, where hundreds of people come to view the body, some of them friends, some enemies, and some just curious thrill-seekers. Frank James is nowhere to be seen.
Apr. 6, 1882---A huge funeral is held for Jesse at the Mt. Olivet Baptist Church. Following the funeral, Jesse is buried in the front yard of his mother's house in Kearney. A large tombstone is erected over the grave.
Mid-Late Apr. 1882---The distraught Zee James is forced to sell almost all of her and her husband's possesions to make money. Zee and her two small chilren then end up living with Zee's brother in Kansas City.
Apr. 17, 1882---Bob and Charlie Ford are indicted, Bob for the first degree murder of Jesse W. James, and Charlie for aiding and abetting. Both brothers plead guilty that day and are sentenced to hang. However, Gov. Crittenden pardons both men and they are released scot free. Nevertheless, almost immediatly they are scorned by nearly everyone the nation over for the cowardly way they killed Jesse.
Early May 1882---Frank James, who had been in Lynchburg, Virginia at the time of Jesse's death, decides it's time to surrender. He begins a correspondence with his friend and newspaper man John Newman Edwards. Frank believes that Edwards can help him surrender directly to the governor. Edwards also begins corresponding with Gov. Crittenden, explaining to him Frank's desire to give himself up.
Oct. 4, 1882---Frank and Edwards arrive by train at Jefferson City, Missouri.
Oct. 5, 1882---Edwards and Frank walk into Crittenden's office. Edwards introduces the two and Frank hands over his pistol to Crittenden. He simply tells the governor that he is surrendering his freedom to him.
Oct. 6, 1882---Frank, Edwards, and Crittenden, leave for Independance by train. By the time the train arrives that night, Zerelda Samuel, Annie James, and young Robert James are already there. Frank spends the night in the Independence jail. He would be staying there for several weeks to come.
Nov. 1882---Clarence Hite is pardoned after he supplies Jackson County prosecuting attorney William Wallace with the information he needs to prosecute Frank James. Clarence has little time to relish in his new found freedom, as he dies of tuberculosis shortly after being freed.
Late 1882---Preparations for Frank's trials begins. William Wallace will serve as the prosecutor. Frank will first face two charges, one in the murder of Pinkerton agent Joseph Whicher and one in the robbery of a bank in Independence, which, ironically, is one of the robberies that the James-Younger Gang did not participate in.
Jan. 23, 1883---The charges against Frank for the murder of Joseph Whicher are officially dropped when not enough evidence comes forward that would worthy a trial. The charge against Frank for the robbery of the Independence bank in 1867 is also dismissed for the same reason as the first charge. However, around the same time, a new charge is brought against Frank, this one for the robbery of the Blue Cut train robbery of 1881.
Early 1883---The governor of Minnesota requests that Frank be extradicted to Minnesota to go to trial for the Northfield bank robbery. Gov. Crittenden turns down the request. Meanwhile, five new charges are added against Frank. Namely, the robbery of the Daviess County Savings Association in Gallitan, Missouri in 1869, the murder of cashier John Sheets (committed during the Gallitan robbery), the robbery of the Winston train, the murder of conductor William Westfall, and the murder of passenger Frank McMillan. Frank is transported to Daviess County to stand trial.
Aug. 21, 1883---The trial regarding the Winston train robbery begins. Dick Liddil is scheduled to be the state's lead witness against Frank. Although several witnesses would end up being called against Frank, only Liddil could positivly identify him as being a robber. The defense points out that Liddil himself is a robber, liar, and horse thief, and is not one whom should be trusted.
