Old West outlaw made a nice haul in Longview
By Van Craddock
Cole Younger was accustomed to taking money from people. The famous Old West bandit made a profitable haul when he rode into Longview in 1909.
This time, however, he didn't need a six-gun. Folks were willing to shell out good money to hear Younger talk bout his exploits with Frank and Jesse James.
Cole Younger had served with the James boys as Missouri guerillas during the Civil War. After the war, Cole and his brothers, Jim and Bob, teamed with the Jameses to rob banks and trains. The James-Younger Gang became the best-known outlaw band in the United States.
In September 1876, the gang tried to rob a bank in Northfield, Miss. It didn't go well. The outlaws were shot to pieces. Frank and Jesse James escaped but Cole and his brothers were wounded and captured. Cole was sentenced to 25 years in a Minnesota prison. He was paroled in 1901.
Younger returned to his hometown of Lee's Summit, Mo., where he wrote his autobiography and became an attraction at local fairs, horse races and Wild West shows.
In 1909, Younger was approached about going on the lecture circuit. He wrote a speech titled "What My Life Has Taught Me" and began to make appearances throughout the Midwest and Southwest.
Advance advertising for Younger's lectures told residents that the reformed desperado "will picture to you the boy reared of good, honest parents. How he became a victim of circumstances … He will explain to you why he was forced to live the life of an outlaw, which caused him to live 25 years in a prison cell. He will tell you of his prison life, his pardon and restoration to citizenship."
Younger arrived in Longview on Dec. 19, 1909. A large crowd gathered in Smith's Upstairs Opera House on Bank Street in downtown Longview to hear the outlaw-turned-lecturer.
"A man has plenty of time to think in prison," Younger told his audience, "and I might add that it is an ideal place for a man to study law, religion, Shakespeare. However, I would advise you not try to get into prison just to find an ideal place for the particular studies."
The Longview Times-Clarion said, "From first to last his audience was in full sympathy, judging from the close attention and applause."
But another East Texas newspaper was less than impressed. A week after Younger's Longview appearance, the Mineola Monitor said:
"Cole Younger ought to be satisfied at being pardoned out of the penitentiary without punishing the people by lecturing to them, at so much per head. If he really wants to do good in the world, he can find a hundred better ways than delivering a poor lecture to a bored crowd."
The paper called the lecture "disappointing" and accused Younger of "making capital out of meanness."
Younger did quite well financially with his talks. In 1910, he used his lecture proceeds to buy a house in Lee's Summit. In his later years, Younger sat on his front porch and regaled neighbors with tales of his Civil War and gang exploits.
The old outlaw made news in 1912 when he was robbed of $95 by a pickpocket while attending a William Jennings Bryan lecture at Lee's Summit. The New York Times said:
"(Younger) declares he does not mind the loss of the money, but he hates to be a victim."
Cole Younger died in 1916 at the age of 72.