Jeff Barnes, the Nebraska Humanities speaker who spoke at the Nuckolls County Museum Saturday afternoon, neither confirmed not disproved Lew Hunter’s story which tells of the possible visit of the James Gang to the Bostwick area home of his mother’s family.
Extra chairs had to be set up and some people were standing in the museum’s Pioneer Room as Barnes talked about the life of the infamous outlaw and his possible ties to Nebraska. The picture used to illustrate the program was taken in Nebraska City but not circulated until after his death from an assassin’s bullet. The picture was found in a locket his mother wore while he lived. Apparently she knew what he was doing and did not show the picture to others.
Barnes said it is likely James passed through this area traveling from his home in Missouri to a farm he purchased near Franklin.
The outlaw had family ties along the southern border of Nebraska and Nebraska safer hiding places for the gang when compared to Iowa, Missouri or Kansas where they had committed more crimes.
His mother was a second grade school teacher in Nebraska. A strong-willed, portly woman, she used a broom stick rather than yardstick when disciplined her pupils, some of which later said they were afraid of her.
In 1870, the James Brothers were in Knox County, Nebraska, running an illegal logging business on an Indian reservation. Both brothers may have married Indian women. In 1933, an Indian claimed to be Jesse’s son but the claim was never verified.
Near Adair, Iowa, in 1873, their plan to rob a train carrying gold failed. Instead they robbed a passenger train. That robbery was the first train robbery after the Civil War.
Over the years they spent considerable time in the Nebraska City area. They are thought to have robbed Nebraska City’s Farmers Bank, a bank that in later years was owned and operated by a former Superior resident, Arvon Marcotte,
Their traveling disguise was that of cattle buyers. They had plenty of money and often stayed in the best hotels and ate at the best restaurants.
While caves are often associated with stories about James Gang hideouts, this is probably not true. Frank later said the gang always had an escape route from wherever they stayed.
As to the possibility that Jesse James Jr. may have had a sister living in Superior and may have visited her, Barnes said, he had not investigated that possibility.
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