Northfield A Western Story

Jesse James, Frank James, The Younger brothers: Cole, Bob, and Jim. Clell Miller. These are only some of the narrators of segments of the most ambitious--some said in retrospect foolhardy--bank robberies in American frontier history. Bill Stiles claims that the original idea was his. He knew Minnesota and would act as the guide through that country. Jesse was all for it. A daring robbery in a place where the James-Younger Gang had never operated and would not be expected. Jesse had brought Bill Stiles into the gang, although both Frank James and Cole Younger continued to be suspicious of him and even called him a Yankee to his face. What Jesse liked especially was that heading north to rob Minnesota banks would allow the gang to steal bona-fide Yankee money for a change. A rich carpetbagger who had almost been impeached as governor of Mississippi lived up there now. What a blow this would strike for the Lost Cause. Stiles insisted he knew all the towns: Mankato, Albert Lea, Northfield, Faribault. Cole Younger was against the whole thing, but that only made Bob Younger all the more certain that the plan was the right one. They would have to scout the area carefully, make sure they picked the right bank. Who would recognize any of them in Minnesota? They would all be strangers. Clell Miller had come of age riding with Bloody Bill Anderson during the War Between the States. That was where he had first met Jesse. Ma James doesn't trust Bill Stiles. She is the one who tells Clell Miller to watch out for Jesse and Frank on this daring raid. So begins this compelling narrative, shifting perspectives from one first-hand account to another; including gang members as well as those in Northfield whose lives would be changed forever when the James-Young Gang hit the bank. Johnny D. Boggs in inimitable fashion brings the past alive with all its drama and suspense.