Cole Younger

The Story of Cole Younger, by Himself (Illustrated Edition) (Dodo Press) Illustrated, Ill edition

Thomas Coleman "Cole" Younger (1844-1916) was a famous Confederate guerrilla and outlaw. During the American Civil War, Cole's father, Henry Younger, who reportedly was pro-Union, was killed by a detachment of Union militiamen. Younger joined the notorious bushwhacker leader William Clarke Quantrill and later became a pro-Confederate Soldier. After the war ended, he and his brothers Jim, John and Bob, joined with Jesse and Frank James to lead the James-Younger gang of Missouri bandits. Over the next few years the outlaws robbed banks and stagecoaches and on July 21, 1873, they turned to train robbery, derailing a locomotive and looting the express car on the Rock Island Railroad in Adair, Iowa. The James and Younger brothers survived for many years, in contrast to most Western outlaws, because of their strong support among former Confederates. They were caught in 1876 after a failed robbery. Cole, Jim and Bob pleaded guilty to their crimes to avoid being hanged. They were sentenced to life in prison at the Stillwater Prison on November 18, 1876. His autobiography The Story of Cole Younger, by Himself, was published in 1903.