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ALS in pencil, signed “Ben,” four pages on two adjoining sheets, 5 x 8, July 5, 1883. Handwritten letter to his wife, Annie Ralston James, while jailed in Gallatin, Missouri, awaiting trial for murder during a train robbery; he signs using an alias to prevent the letter from falling into the wrong hands. In part (spelling and grammar retained): “There is nothing much to add since I last wrote you I will write however to remind you that I think of you all the time. I have had no visitors at all this week and only four since you left me, and I am glad of it. Mrs. May Cox sent me over a saucer of ice cream and a bowl of cherrys this week and I of course enjoyed the cherrys and gave the cream to Mrs. Crozier. I think Mrs. Cox, the best friend we have in town, she and Mrs. Brasins. Mrs. B is now bed quite sick so Lena tells me she comes up every few days and brings me flowers. She is a good little girl. I was very much surprised the other day by a letter from Jonas Taylor from Nashville. You remember him. The Blacksmith he tells me I have many friends in that place. We have had a general…and have also whitewashed and it has improved the looks of my prison ever so much. You remember Buck Killy whom I called with M. M. Langhorn last winter and shed so many tears about his little bot that was killed. Well I see in day before yesterday times that he and his partner Ms. Freeman has dissolved this interest in this paper on account of Mrs. Killy being too intiment with Mr. Freeman and Daughters. I think one half the world is as corrupt as hell itself and the men are more to blame than the women. Women as a whole are weak and the men know it and take advantage of their weakness. There is but the one way to serve them and that is to do as Phil Thompson did shoot them dead on the spot. Mamma I know if I am ever permitted to be with you again I will be the happiest man in the world. You are the dearest little creature in all this world. How is my little man? Don’t let him forget his papa. I was sorry to see an account of M. Gossett being robbed hope he may catch the thieves I will write you again Monday I will write you ever Thursday and Monday and even three times a week if you like. Lots kisses to you and Rob goodbye, love to all.” In fine condition. Accompanied by the original mailing envelope, postmarked from Gallatin on July 16, 1883.
In September 1882—five months after his brother Jesse was murdered by fellow gang member Robert Ford—Frank James, weary of life on the run and fearing a similar fate due to the bounty on his head, surrendered to Missouri governor Thomas Crittenden in Jefferson City. After years of robbing banks, stagecoaches, and trains with the James-Younger gang, he was indicted for participating in two murders committed during a train robbery in Winston, Missouri, where the gang netted only $650. His trial began in Gallatin in August 1883 and drew intense public attention, as James had achieved near folk-hero status; the jury pool was so sympathetic that, as the prosecutor observed while reviewing potential jurors, 'the verdict of the jury that is being selected is already written.' Defended by former cavalry colonel John F. Philips, James was acquitted in September 1883, later facing and beating additional charges in Alabama. Assured he would not be extradited if he remained law-abiding, James complied, spending the next three decades in humble occupations such as farming, selling shoes, and working as a theater ticket taker—an unassuming final chapter for one of the West’s most notorious outlaws.
The Western Americana auction of Jochen Zeitz.
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