Old West Outlaws - I-J

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Frank Jackson, aka: Blockey (1856-1878?) - Born in Texas in 1856, Jackson was orphaned as a boy and was trained to be a tinsmith. However, he was not very interested in the profession and by the time he was twenty he was working as a cowboy on the Murphy Ranch in Denton, Texas . The Murphy Ranch also just happened to be one of Sam Bass' hideouts. Frank's first foray into the outlaw life was when he murdered a man named Henry Goodall, a black man accused of horse theft. After the two got into an argument, Jackson shot Goodall and cut his throat. Officially an "outlaw" he then joined the Sam Bass Gang in robbing banks and trains. However, when they went to rob a bank in Round Rock, Texas on September 20, 1878, the Texas Rangers, who had been tipped off, were waiting for them. In the inevitable gunfight, gang member Seaborn Barnes was shot in the head and Bass was severely wounded. Though Bass was severely wounded, he made it to his horse and rode out of town along with the help of Frank Jackson. The next day Bass was found lying helpless in a pasture north of town and was brought back to Round Rock where he died without telling the authorities anything about where Jackson was headed. Afterwards, Frank Jackson made the ultimate escape and was never heard from again.

Alphonso J. "Al" Jennings (1863-1961) - Born in Virginia in 1863, Jennings and his family moved to Oklahoma and settling at El Reno. When he grew up, he attended law school and served as a prosecuting attorney in Canadian County from 1892 to 1894. He then joined his brothers, Ed and John in a law practice at Woodward, Oklahoma in 1895. In October of that year, his brother Ed and John were involved in a shootout with a rival attorney named Temple Lea Houston. When the smoke cleared, Ed was dead and John was wounded. When Houston, who was the son of one of Texas ' greatest hero's Sam Houston, was acquitted for murder the next year, Al left Woodward and along with another brother, Frank, the two went to work as cowboys. Before long, Al and Frank decided to turn to a life of crime. Joined by former Doolin Gang member "Little Dick" West, his brother Frank, and brothers Morris and Pat O'Malley, the "Jennings Gang" planned their first train robbery on the night of August 16, 1897. Howeve4r, after stopping the train at Edmond, they found it impossible to shoot or blast the safe open. A few nights later they tried to flag down another train by standing in the center of the tracks, but the engineer kept his hand on the throttle and roared forward, with Jennings leaping out of the way at the last moment. Another attempt a few days later had the same results. On October 1st, they tried again, blowing up a baggage car on a train stopped for water eight miles south of Minco, Oklahoma . When no money was found in the safe, they proceeded to rob the passengers. Miserable failures at train robbery, the gang then turned to robbing a store in Cushing, Oklahoma on October 29, 1897. Netting only $15, the failed gang split up. In December, 1897, Al and his brother Frank were captured by U.S. Deputy Bud Ledbetter. In 1899 he was sentenced to life in prison, but due to the legal efforts of his brother, John, the sentence was reduced to five years. He then became active in politics and publishing his biography, Beating Back, in 1913, he won votes campaigning honestly about his past. Later he moved to California and worked in the movie industry making Westerns and telling much exagerrated tales of his ribald "outlaw" past. He died in Tarzana, California, on December 26, 1961.

"Arkansas Tom" Jones - See Roy Daugherty

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