September 1876Texas John Overstreet
Pinkerton Detective
Denver, Colorado
The whole truth will never be known—all the witnesses are either lying or dead—but there’s a story going round that says Jesse James turned coward after the Northfield robbery.
I imagine every red-blooded boy in the nation knows the story of that ill-fated raid—how the James Gang went all the way to Northfield, Minnesota, to rob a bank and got shot up bad as they made their escape. Two of the gang’s lesser lights died right outside the bank, and every one of them was wounded.
Jim Younger had a bullet in his shoulder and, during the long pursuit that followed the robbery, his wound became infected. He was feverish. He’d lost a lot of blood. The posses were hot on their heels.
“None of us will make it with Jim slo
