CHAPTER XXVIII.

PROPOSED AMNESTY.

There can be no doubt that there was a heavy undercurrent of popular opinion in favor of the James Boys, generated by a conviction that they were the victims of cruel and uncalled-for persecution, brought upon themselves by their adhesion to a cause which was dear to the hearts of many thousands of the citizens of Missouri. Their later deeds were forgotten, while their former acts were remembered with admiration. Though the evidence seemed clear, which connected the Jameses and Youngers with innumerable daring robberies, yet many hundreds of good people refused to credit the reports, and offered their sympathy to the men whom they believed to be victims of vile slanders and unwarrantable persecutions.

The sympathy openly manifested for the boys came not from the reckless and vicious elements, but from influential persons all over the state. As late as 1875, there were thousands of respectable people in Missouri who had no sympathy with the movements set on foot by the legal authorities for the apprehension of the desperadoes, simply because they did not believe them to be robbers, and that the killing done by them was a justifiable punishment inflicted on ancient enemies who richly deserved their fate.

The effect of the raid on the residence of Mrs. Samuels, the mother of Frank and Jesse James, was to create a diversion in favor of the boys. The tragedy of that event was of so horrible a nature, that public sentiment set in strongly against any further attempt to capture the boys by force. There was a strong sentiment in many quarters of the state in favor of trying a policy of conciliation toward the desperadoes. The reasons advanced in favor of this policy were numerous, and some of them possessed some weight. It was alleged that the state had already suffered the loss of considerable sums in pursuing them; that it was extremely doubtful whether their capture could ever be effected; that in consequence the good name of the state must be tarnished; that while the Jameses and Youngers were declared to be, and treated as outlaws, other bad men would commit crimes and shift the responsibility to the outlawed men; that the course pursued toward the Jameses and Youngers was a species of persecution, and finally it was plead that all this persistent hunting of these men was stimulated by the animosities of enemies, dating from the war time, and inasmuch as the United States Government had granted amnesty to its enemies for acts committed during the continuance of hostilities, that it was not right the state of Missouri should pursue with vindictive persecution any of its citizens for acts committed during the war, and their friends contended that the outlawry of these men grew out of their course in the period between 1861 and 1865.

These views and opinions in respect to the Jameses and Youngers assumed a formal shape in the early part of March, 1875, by the introduction in the Legislature of Missouri by the late General Jeff. Jones, then a member of the House of Representatives from Callaway county, of a bill, or preambles and resolution, offering amnesty for all past offenses to Jesse W. James, Thomas Coleman Younger, Frank James, Robert Younger and James Younger, on the condition that they should return to their homes and quietly submit to such proceedings as might be instituted against them for acts alleged to have been committed by them since the war.

The preambles and resolution offered by General Jones received the approval of Attorney-General John A. Hockaday, and of many other lawyers of acknowledged ability. General Jones supported the measure with great zeal and earnestness, and no little ability and eloquence.

As this measure was one of great importance to the subjects of this volume, we deem it necessary to give the essential parts of the document, as follows:

WHEREAS, By the 4th section of the 11th Article of the Constitution of Missouri, all persons in the military service of the United States, or who acted under the authority thereof in this state, are relieved from all civil liability and all criminal punishment for all acts done by them since the 1st day of January, A. D., 1861; and,

WHEREAS, By the 12th section of the said 11th Article of said Constitution, provision is made by which, under certain circumstances, may be seized, transported to, indicted, tried and punished in distant counties, any Confederate under ban of despotic displeasure, thereby contravening the Constitution of the United Slates and every principle of enlightened humanity; and,

WHEREAS, Such discrimination evinces a want of manly generosity and statesmanship on the part of the party imposing, and of courage and manhood on the part of the party submitting tamely thereto; and,

WHEREAS, Under the outlawry pronounced against Jesse W. James, Frank James, Coleman Younger, Robert Younger and others, who gallantly periled their lives and their all in the defense of their principles, they are of necessity made desperate, driven as they are from the fields of honest industry, from their friends, their families, their homes and their country, they can know no law but the law of self-preservation, nor can have no respect for and feel no allegiance to a government which forces them to the very acts it professes to deprecate, and then offers a bounty for their apprehension, and arms foreign mercenaries with power to capture and kill them; and,

WHEREAS, Believing these men too brave to be mean, too generous to be revengeful, and too gallant and honorable to betray a friend or break a promise; and believing further that most, if not all the offences with which they are charged have been committed by others, and perhaps by those pretending to hunt them, or by their confederates; that their names are and have been used to divert suspicion from and thereby relieve the actual perpetrators; that the return of these men to their homes and friends would have the effect of greatly lessening crime in our state by turning public attention to the real criminals, and that common justice, sound policy and true statesmanship alike demand that amnesty should be extended to all alike of both parties for all acts done or charged to have been done during the war; therefore, be it

_Resolved by the House of Representatives, the Senate concurring therein_:

That the Governor of the State be, and he is hereby requested to issue his proclamation notifying the said Jesse W. James, Frank James, Coleman Younger, Robert Younger and James Younger, and others, that full and complete amnesty and pardon will be granted them for all acts charged or committed by them during the late civil war, and inviting them peaceably to return to their respective homes in this state and there quietly to remain, submitting themselves to such proceedings as may be instituted against them by the courts for all offenses charged to have been committed since said war, promising and guaranteeing to them and each of them full protection and a fair trial therein, and that full protection shall be given them from the time of their entrance into the state and his notice thereof under said proclamation and invitation.

The above bill was introduced about the first of March, 1875, and was referred to the Committee on Criminal Jurisprudence, of which its author was a leading member. The bill was fully discussed in committee, and finally, through the influence of its author, a majority of the committee agreed to make a favorable report on the measure to the House of Representatives. Sometime towards the close of the session of the 28th General Assembly, the bill came up for its third reading in the House. General Jones made an earnest speech in advocacy of the measure. A member aroused a strong opposition to the measure from the very side of the house from which General Jones had hoped to obtain assistance in carrying it through. The member simply read a portion of a message transmitted by Governor Silas Woodson to the 27th General Assembly denouncing these same outlaws; and the Democratic Legislature of Missouri refused to pass the bill. Thus the stigma of outlawry remained upon them, and their hands were turned against every man.