The Younger Gang & Sister

[Bob Wood]

The below cabinet card photograph of Younger's sister Henrietta (Top), Bob (L), Cole (R) and Jim (bottom) was commissioned by Henrietta in 1889. She went to Stillwater, MN where the boys had taken up residency at the Stillwater Prison after their failed bank robbery in Northfield, MN. and their failed ride to freedom.

This photograph first appeared in the book, Robber and Hero, The Story of the Northfield Bank Raid by George Huntington, published in 1895.

As the story goes, Henrietta went to Stillwater and hired local photographer John M. Kuhn,  gussied-up the boys in townie clothes and thus preserved a family moment for all eternity. Two weeks later Bob died in Stillwater Prison of Tuberculosis. Jim committed suicide once released from prison and Cole managed to live long enough to die of old age.

A few forgotten facts: Cole was a member of Pro-slavery Border Ruffians. Cole and Jim were members of Quantrill's Raiders which included William Clarke Quantrill and William T. (Bloody Bill) Anderson. Cole was part of the gang that sacked Lawrence, Kansas and burned to the ground most of the business district and killed an estimated 200 men & boys.

Hidden inside the wooden frame is a typed and signed note by Minister Dennis Bergeson detailing how he came to possess this photograph and his visit to the Northfield Museum to have the photo authenticated.

[Gay Mathis]

His Past Sins Forgotten. Bob Younger's Remains Buried Beside Those Of His Mother--Kansas City Times--9/21/1889

Excerpt:

The accompanying cuts, with the exception of Mrs. Hall, are from a photograph taken within the past month, a copy which was procured for The Times through the courtesy of Henrietta Younger, who was constantly with Bob during his sickness. In the group, she is seen with an arm over the shoulders of Bob and Cole.  It is a remarkably handsome group, and the men bear not the slightest resemblance to the popular idea of the outlaw.  Although the photograph was taken so recently, Bob's face had wasted away much more than is apparent in the picture.

[Bob Wood]

Hi Gay,

Thank you for the excerpt. Isn't it remarkable how well Bob appears and yet two weeks later he is dead.

[Gay Mathis]

Bob, if you would like a copy of that article referring to this image, let me know, and I will e-mail to you..

[Bob Wood]

Hello Gay,

Thank you. I would like to take you up on your offer. Please send to:

[e-mail]

[Gay Mathis]

Bob, article on its way to you..

[Bob Wood]

Gay,

The article came through just fine. Thank you. I owe you big time.

[C. F. 'Charley' Eckhardt]

Untold story about the Northfield raid.  It was related to the Lawrence raid.  The Lawrence raid was a revenge raid.  Redleg Jim Lane kidnapped & imprisioned a number of the female relatives of Quantrill's men in a rickety building in Kansas City.  The building collapsed, killing some of the women & severely injuring others.  Lane's home was in Lawrence, Kansas.  The raid was specifically targeted at Lane, but they didn't get him because he heard the shooting & ran & hid in a cornfield in his nightshirt unti it was all over.  In retaliation for the Lawrence raid, Lane ordered nearly every building in SW MO burned.  That area is called 'the burnt district' to this day.  The guy Lane put in charge of the burning was William T. Sherman's brother-in-law.  After the War he went to Minnesota.  He was a bank president in Northfield when the boys hit the place.

[Hayes Scriven]

Charley, do you have his name?

[Margaret-Anne Moore]

I believe General Sherman's brother-in-law was named Thomas Ewing.  Bob's birth name was Robert Ewing Younger!

[Gay Mathis]

Cole Younger had this to say in his book, if one takes him at his word in regards to Benjamin Butler & Adelbert Ames.......:)

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The Story of Cole Younger‚ by Himself--by Cole Younger

Chapter: Ben Butler's Money--Starts on pg 103--Excerpt

Gen. Benjamin F. Butler, whom we preferred to call "Silver Spoons" Butler from his New Orleans experiences during the war, had a lot of money invested, we were told, in the First National bank at Northfield, Minnesota, as also had J. T. Ames, Butler’s son-in-law, who had been the "carpet-bag"governor of Mississippi after the war.

Butler’s treatment of the Southerners during the war was not such as to commend him to our regard, and we felt little compunction, under the circumstances, about raiding him or his.

**********

Author, T.J. Stiles has an interesting video..

James vs Ames: How Two Visions of America collided at the Northfield Bank Robbery--Presentation by TJ Stiles at the Northfield Historical Society on June 16, 2011--(Video)

http://vimeo.com/25249921

[Hayes Scriven]

Gay, I have heard both of those theories, but I am wondering if Charley has a different person in mind.

[C. F. 'Charley' Eckhardt]

I'd have to go dig out a bunch of references which I currently can't get to, but neither of those names rings a bell as the OIC of the rickety building that collapsed, killing some guerilla women & injuring others, who later became president of the bank in Northfield.