The matter finally adjusted
itself by the death of Quantrell in a fight at Smiley, Kentucky, in
January, 1865.

With a birth and training such as this, what could be expected for the
surviving Quantrell men? They scattered over all the frontier, from
Texas to Minnesota, and most of them lived in terror of their lives
thereafter, with the name of Quantrell as a term of loathing attached to
them where their earlier record was known. Many and many a border
killing years later and far removed in locality arose from the
implacable hatred descended from those days.

As for the James boys, the Younger boys, what could they do? The days of
war were gone. There were no longer any armed banners arrayed one
against the other. The soldiers who had fought bravely and openly on
both sides had laid down their arms and fraternized. The Union grew,
strong and indissoluble. Men settled down to farming, to artisanship, to
merchandising, and their wounds were healed. Amnesty was extended to
those who wished it and deserved it. These men could have found a living
easy to them, for the farming lands still lay rich and ready for them.
But they did not want this life of toil. They preferred the ways of
robbery and blood in which they had begun. They cherished animosity now,
not against the Federals, but against mankind. The social world was
their field of harvest; and they reaped it, weapon in hand.

The James family originally came from Kentucky, where Frank was born,
in Scott county, in 1846. The father, Robert James, was a Baptist
minister of the Gospel. He removed to Clay county, Missouri, in 1849,
and Jesse was born there in 1850. Reverend Robert James left for
California in 1851 and never returned. The mother, a woman of great
strength of character, later married a Doctor Samuels. She was much
embittered by the persecution of her family, as she considered it. She
herself lost an arm in an attack by detectives upon her home, in which a
young son was killed. The family had many friends and confederates
throughout the country; else the James boys must have found an end long
before they were brought to justice.

From precisely the same surroundings came the Younger boys, Thomas
Coleman, or "Cole," Younger, and his brothers, John, Bruce, James, and
Robert. Their father was Henry W. Younger, who settled in Jackson
county, Missouri, in 1825, and was known as a man of ability and worth.
For eight years he was county judge, and was twice ele