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Journalist, editor, and founder of the Kansas City Times (1839–1889) known for contributing to the folk hero status of outlaw Jesse James. ALS signed “J. N. Edwards,” one page both sides, 5.5 x 11, The St. Joseph Daily Gazette letterhead, April 11, 1884. Handwritten letter to Frank James, just days before he stood trial in Huntsville, Alabama, for the 1881 Muscle Shoals payroll robbery. In part: "This is probably the last letter you will receive from me before your trial, and so I need not say in it to face that trial like you have faced ten thousand dangers, and in every shape. I do not see how it is possible for us to have done any better on this end of the line. Every point has been made, and every single position of the enemy carried. The last move was a master stroke, and no one yet knows what has been done, or where they have been outflanked—I mean no one among the enemy.
One thing you have to be proud of over any man I ever saw in trouble, and that is the number and devotion of your friends. No man ever had such before, and it will be a long time before a man ever does have such again. I am very glad indeed that your wife and little boy are with you. When this trial ends in acquittal, your trouble and hers will be over. I tell you now that the Otterville business is a myth, and that no requisition can ever touch you after you once more get back to Missouri—neither now nor in the future, for four years at least.
Gen. Shelby was all ready to go to Huntsville when his step father, old man Gratz, died and Jo. was imperatively demanded at Lexington, Kentucky. He may, however, get away in time to get to you when he is needed." In fine condition. Accompanied by the original mailing envelope, addressed by Edwards to "Mr. Frank James, Care of the Jailer, Huntsville, Alabama."
Written just days before Frank James faced trial in Huntsville, Alabama, for the 1881 Muscle Shoals payroll robbery, this letter from journalist and Confederate veteran John Newman Edwards captures the intense behind-the-scenes efforts of James’s allies as well as the confidence surrounding his defense. Edwards—long a sympathetic chronicler of the James brothers—offers reassurance, hinting at strategic maneuvers carried out on James’s behalf and emphasizing the extraordinary loyalty of his supporters.
One such supporter was Joseph O. Shelby, under whom Edwards had served in the Civil War, and who had previously testified in James's 1883 trial in Missouri. Edwards's optimistic tone, predicting acquittal and dismissing other potential legal threats, attests to the coordinated defense campaign and the broader public fascination with the former outlaw. Despite his notorious name, the prosecution struggled to present solid evidence or reliable witnesses linking him directly to the crime, and James was indeed acquitted on April 25th.
The Western Americana auction of Jochen Zeitz.
