Chasing Frank and Jesse James: The Bungled Northfield Bank Robbery and the Long Manhunt

If Americans were asked to select the best known and most celebrated outlaws, from among the many bad men produced by the Wild West, chances are Frank and Jesse James would be the choice of most people. The infamous brothers from Missouri, sided with the Confederacy and rode with with maurading guerrillas during the Civil War. Having learned to shoot and kill without moral compunction, they quickly and easily transitioned from Rebel fighters to daring outlaws, making their living by stealing from others. The brothers and their gang, that often included Cole Younger, robbed stage coaches, banks and trains in Missouri and surrounding states. But was the bank robbery in Northfield, Minnesota, the bank robbery gone wrong, followed by an amazing and improbable escape through Minnesota, Dakota and Iowa, that changed the James brothers from ordinary outlaws to legendary characters. The long, hard ride home, was a journey that took them into both history and folklore. And from time to time, like galloping ghosts, they emerge with guns ablazing.