Spring 1903Winfield “Skeeter” Griggs
Jackson County, Missouri
My brothers and I were the modern incarnation of the Younger Gang, or so we liked to think. We lived in Lee’s Summit—Cole Younger’s home town—and Cole’s sister, Louise Younger Runnels, lived right across the road from us. It was more than a boy could ask.
I remember a warm July evening when I was ten. My older brother, Samuel Tilden Griggs, was twelve. My little brother, Grover Cleveland Griggs, was a little sprout of seven. We’d gone up to Seery’s barn with the idea of setting off firecrackers and giving the old fellow a scare, but our work was interrupted when a train whistle sounded in the distance—two shrill blasts, the order to release brakes. We never could pass up the temptation of a train, so we climbed up into the l
