On this day in 1844 bushwhacker, bank robber, gun slinger and redeemed sinner, Cole Younger, was born in Lee’s Summit, Missouri.
Perhaps the most complex member of the outlaw James-Younger gang, he was born Thomas Coleman Younger, (left) to prosperous parents, the sixth of 14 children. The murder of his pro-Union father, Henry, by a Union soldier reportedly drove 19-year-old Cole to join Confederate guerillas led by William Clark Quantrill. Younger later joined the Confederate Army, only returning to Missouri after the war.
Sometime after, Younger and brothers, John, James and Robert, smarting from civil restrictions placed on former Southern sympathizers, joined up with the infamous Archie Clement. (Right) He’d assembled a group of former bushwhackers, including Frank and Jessie James, in an attempt to relitigate the outcome of the war. It is believed Clement engineered the nation’s first day-light bank robbery in Liberty, Missouri.
The James-Younger gang went on to perfect daytime banditry across four states, finally attracting the unwanted 
attention of the Pinkerton Detective Agency. Brother John Younger (right) was killed at the hands of the Pinkerton’s in a gunfight following a train robbery at Gad’s Hill, Missouri in 1874.
The James and Younger gang eluded the law longer than most frontier criminal conspiracies, primarily with the help of Confederate sympathizers. But it all came crashing down on September 7, 1876, when they strayed north into Yankee territory. The legendary Northfield, Minnesota robbery has 
spawned dozens of books and continues to puzzle history buffs. (Left, Northfield bank)
Authors are nearly unanimous in recounting a laundry list of fatal mistakes made that day leading to the deaths of a bank teller, a bystander, two gang members and raising the alarm with Northfield’s citizens.
Frank and Jessie James escaped but Cole, Jim and Bob did not, captured in shoot out with a local posse at Madelia, Minnesota, 80 miles southwest of Northfield.
Members of the Madelia, Minnesota posse
The trio all pled guilty to avoid the gallows and were sentenced to life at 
Stillwater Prison. Bob (right) died of tuberculosis in Stillwater in 1889. Cole and Jim both won parole in 1901. Cole had been an exemplary inmate, founding the prison newspaper. the historic Prison Mirror and taking heroic action that saved lives during a fire, according to the warden.
Jim Younger (below, prior to imprisonment) had only a short taste of freedom. He committed suicide 
in a St. Paul, Minnesota, hotel room less than 14 months after being released. Some speculate the cause was that under the conditions of his parole he was not allowed to marry his fiance, Alix Mueller, a woman he had met while still in prison.
Cole went on to be awarded a full pardon at age 59, starting his first civilian job at Peterson Granite in St. Paul, making tombstones. Later, he appeared in a Wild West show with fellow reformed outlaw Frank James, lectured on the Chautauqua circuit and wrote a memoir depicting himself as a Confederate avenger. At age 68, Cole Younger declared he’d found religion, repented of his evil ways, and faithfully attended the Baptist Church in Lee’s Summit until his death, March 21, 1916. He is buried in his hometown along with brothers, Bob and Jim.
The Historical Society of Lee’s Summit Museum, 220 SW Main, features an exhibit on Cole Younger and the Border War that spawned the bushwhackers as well as photographs and artifacts of the community’s early history, a recreation of its Vogue Theatre and a WPA-era kitchen. 
Housed in the historic former Post Office built in 1939 as a WPA project it contains one of the pre-war WPA Fine Arts murals entitled “ by Pastoral” by artist Ted Gilian in 1940. The museum is open Thursday and Friday, 10 to 2 and Saturday 10 to 4. Admission is free and donations to the museum are always welcome. For more information go to downtownls.org/museum or call (816) 246-6598.
© Text Only – 2017 – Headin’ West LLC – All photos – public domain or fair use.