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.