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PEOPLE IN AMERICA - Frank and Jesse James

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PEOPLE IN AMERICA - July 14, 2002: Frank and Jesse James

By Paul Thompson
VOICE 1:
People in America, a program in Special English by the Voice of America.
(Theme)
Two of the most famous outlaws2 of the old American West were brothers. I'm Tony Riggs. Today, Maurice Joyce


and I tell about Frank and Jesse James. We begin their story on a cold day in February eighteen-sixty-six.
VOICE 2:
Liberty, Missouri. Two o'clock in the afternoon.
((Sound of horses)
)
Twelve men on horses ride slowly into town. Their hats are low on their faces. They stop in front of the Clay


County Savings3 Bank. Two of the men get off their horses and enter the bank. The bank manager asks if he can
help them. The two men pull out guns from under their heavy coats. They demand money.

In less than two minutes, they return to the street. Now the gang is in a great hurry. All twelve
men begin shooting.
((Gunshots, shouting, horse sounds)
Several people are wounded. A young college student is killed.
VOICE 1:

 

What happened on that day was the first bank robbery, during business hours, in peacetime, in
the United States.

History books say the two men who went into the bank were Frank James and his younger brother Jesse. But this
was never proved. Frank and Jesse James told lawmen they were home that day. Several of their friends
confirmed the story.

True or not, during the next sixteen years, the James brothers did become two of the most famous outlaws in
America.

VOICE 2:

History experts say they robbed at least twelve banks, perhaps many more. They stopped seven trains, taking
money from passengers and the United States Postal4 Service. They robbed as many as seven stagecoaches5, the
horse-pulled vehicles used back then as public transportation.

They traveled from their home in Clay County, Missouri, to Minnesota in the north and to Texas in the west.
Hundreds of lawmen hunted them. But the James brothers were never caught. Much later, their story was told in
songs.

(("Jesse James"))

Who were Frank and Jesse James? Why were they so famous?


VOICE 1:

Frank and Jesse were the sons of Robert James, a religious minister who owned a farm in
Clay County, Missouri. People who knew the family said the James boys were polite and
friendly. At least until the time of America's Civil War.

Many people in Missouri believed in the cause of the Southern, or Confederate, states during
the Civil War. However, Missouri was on the border between the North and the South.
Almost as many people there supported the Union as the Confederacy. Terrible fighting took
place in Missouri and in other border states.

Guerrilla groups from both sides were responsible for the fighting.


VOICE 2:


History experts say much of the violence in the American West was a result of the situation after the Civil War.
Many former Confederate soldiers returned home, but did not put down their guns. They continued to fight what
they saw as symbols of Northern oppression. These included banks and railroads.


Many local people agreed with the former soldiers and supported them.


A lack of government control in the West also led to increased violence after the war. Records show that violent
crime increased at that time by as much as fifty percent.


VOICE 1:


Frank and Jesse James are perhaps the most famous examples of the soldier-turned-outlaw1.


During the Civil War, the James family suffered attacks by union guerrillas. As a way of fighting back, Frank and
Jesse became Confederate guerrillas. They rode with two of the most violent guerrilla groups. After the war, they
continued their violent ways.


The James brothers were extremely successful. Their gang rode for sixteen years. Hundreds of government
lawmen tried to catch them. Agents of the private Pinkerton National Detective Agency tried, too. But no one
did. Most lawmen did not even know what the two brothers looked like.


VOICE 2:


Jesse James enjoyed being famous. He often wrote letters to newspapers denying that he was guilty of any crime.


Once, he ate dinner with a well-known Pinkerton detective who was searching for him. The detective got a big
surprise later when he opened a letter from Jesse James. Jesse said how much he enjoyed their dinner together.
He also wished him "good luck"
!


Stories like this were printed in newspapers all over the country. They helped make the James brothers famous.
People liked the stories. Those who had been robbed did not. Soon, large amounts of money were offered for the
capture of Frank and Jesse James. The state of Missouri offered as much as ten-thousand dollars for the
brothers ... dead or alive.


VOICE 1:


It was easy for the James brothers to hide in their home area. Yet most often they hid in large cities. Many years
later, Frank James told reporters that it was easy to hide in a city, because everyone there looked like everybody
else.


When one place became too dangerous, the James brothers moved to another. That was one reason they decided6
to go to Minnesota. There they planned to rob the bank in the town of Northfield.


Frank and Jesse rode to Northfield with six friends. Three of the friends were brothers: Cole, Jim and Bob



Younger. Like the James brothers, the Youngers were former Confederate guerrillas, now outlaws.
VOICE 2:
From the beginning, their attempted robbery of the bank in Northfield was a failure. First, when Jesse demanded


money from bank workers, they said the safe could not be opened.


Next, the gang decided to get out of town fast. But the people of Northfield knew something was wrong. Many
had gone to their homes or offices for their guns. Then the shooting began.
Two members of the gang were killed in town. Another was killed later. And Cole, Jim and Bob Younger were


captured. Only two men escaped -- Frank and Jesse James. Frank was wounded, but he stayed on his horse.
Lawmen chased him and his brother for more than a week before they lost their trail.
In the years that followed, the James brothers tried again to form another gang. They were never very successful.
((cut 7: music bridge)
)


VOICE 1:
In eighteen-eighty-two, Jesse James was living in Saint7 Joseph, Missouri, with his wife and children. People
knew him as Mister Howard. One day, another outlaw, Bob Ford8, shot him in the back of the head. He killed
Jesse James for the money that had been offered for his capture. Bob Ford never collected the money. He was
tried for murder, instead.

Several months later, Frank James surrendered to the governor of Missouri. He was charged with several crimes
and tried two times. Both juries9 refused to find him guilty.

VOICE 2:
Cole, Jim and Bob younger spent many years in prison for their part in the Northfield, Minnesota, raid10. After
Cole was released from prison, he and Frank James earned money by speaking to groups. They told about their
days as outlaws -- and the evils of crime.


Frank James lived to be seventy-two years old. He died in the same room in which he was born, on the James
family farm in Clay County, Missouri. Today, that farmhouse11 is a museum that tells the story of the two most
famous outlaws of the American West.

((music)
)
VOICE 1:
This Special English program was written and produced by Paul Thompson. Your narrators were Maurice Joyce


and Tony Riggs. Listen again next week to another People in America program on the Voice of America.

 

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点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 outlaw 1J0xG     
n.歹徒,亡命之徒;vt.宣布…为不合法
参考例句:
  • The outlaw hid out in the hills for several months.逃犯在山里隐藏了几个月。
  • The outlaw has been caught.歹徒已被抓住了。
2 outlaws 7eb8a8faa85063e1e8425968c2a222fe     
歹徒,亡命之徒( outlaw的名词复数 ); 逃犯
参考例句:
  • During his year in the forest, Robin met many other outlaws. 在森林里的一年,罗宾遇见其他许多绿林大盗。
  • I didn't have to leave the country or fight outlaws. 我不必离开自己的国家,也不必与不法分子斗争。
3 savings ZjbzGu     
n.存款,储蓄
参考例句:
  • I can't afford the vacation,for it would eat up my savings.我度不起假,那样会把我的积蓄用光的。
  • By this time he had used up all his savings.到这时,他的存款已全部用完。
4 postal EP0xt     
adj.邮政的,邮局的
参考例句:
  • A postal network now covers the whole country.邮路遍及全国。
  • Remember to use postal code.勿忘使用邮政编码。
5 stagecoaches 330452c07560dc29f07a60b1ccbefe1f     
n.驿马车( stagecoach的名词复数 )
参考例句:
6 decided lvqzZd     
adj.决定了的,坚决的;明显的,明确的
参考例句:
  • This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
  • There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。
7 saint yYcxf     
n.圣徒;基督教徒;vt.成为圣徒,把...视为圣徒
参考例句:
  • He was made a saint.他被封为圣人。
  • The saint had a lowly heart.圣人有谦诚之心。
8 Ford KiIxx     
n.浅滩,水浅可涉处;v.涉水,涉过
参考例句:
  • They were guarding the bridge,so we forded the river.他们驻守在那座桥上,所以我们只能涉水过河。
  • If you decide to ford a stream,be extremely careful.如果已决定要涉过小溪,必须极度小心。
9 juries 7cb6e15c6e53ff1e3e89512e7655e755     
n.陪审团( jury的名词复数 );评判委员会
参考例句:
  • Grand juries have enormous powers to investigate wrong-doing by public officials as well as private citizens. 大陪审团拥有极大权力调查政府官员及平民的过失。
  • Juries for a state court are drawn from the county in which the court is located. 州法院的陪审员一般从该法院所在的县选取,而联邦法院的陪审员则从整个地区选取,包括许多县。
10 raid XAozr     
v.劫掠,攫取,袭击,突击搜捕;n.突然袭击
参考例句:
  • Our house was blown up in an air raid.在一次空袭中我们的房子被炸掉了。
  • During their raid on the house,the police found a lot of drugs.在对这所房子的搜查中,警方发现了大量的毒品。
11 farmhouse kt1zIk     
n.农场住宅(尤指主要住房)
参考例句:
  • We fell for the farmhouse as soon as we saw it.我们对那所农舍一见倾心。
  • We put up for the night at a farmhouse.我们在一间农舍投宿了一夜。

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