Apparently, Jesse James spent a lot of time in Nebraska. The famous outlaw evidently had many connections with the state. He traveled through Nebraska on several occasions, he had friends here, he even had family here, and even wanted to move to Nebraska when he had enough money to buy the land. I remember first hearing about this interesting fact when I was on vacation in Missouri with my family. One of the things we did on this particular family vacation is visit Jesse James’ childhood home. Really, it was nothing more than a log cabin with a few rooms. In the information building that was a short walk from the house itself, there was a display that housed various artifacts, pictures, and personal documents and letters. One of the letters was a letter that was sent by Jesse James to the Journal Star inquiring about buying several acres of land.
What I find interesting in all this is that for some reason we almost glorify this man who was basically nothing more than a regional outlaw who robbed banks and trains. So why is someone like this so popular and almost even looked up to? It seems that part of the reason is that he has become somewhat of a Robin Hood type figure, being a poor man who is revolting against his oppressors. For some reason, our society likes this type of image. Another popular image in recent years that seems to be akin is the image of the pirate. Because of such popular movies as “The Pirates of the Caribbean”, we have this romanticized version of people who in actual history were people who would be in jail today. Its an interesting irony that infamous people, such as Jesse James, are elevated to a legendary status when if we could evaluate them without the romanticized baggage that these characters often come with, we would probably be shocked to find normal, everyday burglars and bandits.