Sunday, June 18, 1933

Went over to Raiferts. Mother and Daddy played cards. Everybody talked about the shooting at Union Station yesterday. Pauline and I went to the show.

Thomas Coleman "Cole" Younger
Born January 15, 1844 in Jackson County, Missouri
Died March 21, 1916 in Lee's Summit, Missouri

A guerilla fighter with Quantrill during the American Civil War, Younger and
his brothers teamed up with a gang in 1868 and began robbing banks and stage
coaches in Missouri and Kentucky. After most of their gang had been killed or captured
or just plain quit, the Youngers joined up with Frank and Jesse James and added train
robbery and murder to their list of crimes. With the Pinkerton National Detective Agency
on their trail, the James-Younger gang headed for Minnesota. There, they decided to rob a bank.

But the robbery went awry when the townspeople took up arms, wounding and killing some of the
robbers. With hundreds of Minnesotans in hot pursuit, the James brothers made it back to Missouri
but the three Younger brothers (Cole, Bob and Jim) were wounded and captured. The Youngers pled
guilty to their crimes and were sentenced to life in prison at Stillwater, Minnesota. Bob died of TB
while in prison; Cole and Jim were paroled in 1901. Jim committed suicide in 1902. Cole wrote a memoir
portraying himself as more of a Confederate avenger than an outlaw. He lectured and and toured the
South with Frank James in a Wild West show. Several years later he declared himself a Christian and
lived a fairly peaceful life. Cole Younger is buried in Lee's Summit Historical Cemetery.