Jesse Woodson James was an American outlaw, bank and train robber, guerrilla and leader of the James–Younger Gang. Raised in the "Little Dixie" area of Western Missouri, James and his family maintained strong Southern sympathies. He and his brother Frank James joined pro-Confederate guerrillas known as "bushwhackers" operating in Missouri and Kansas during the American Civil War. As followers of William Quantrill and "Bloody Bill" Anderson, they were accused of committing atrocities against Union soldiers and civilian abolitionists, including the Centralia Massacre in 1864.
James's farm in Kearney, Missouri, pictured in March 2010
James as a young man
State of Missouri vs. Frank & Jesse James including indictment; capias to Clay & Jackson Counties; sheriff's returns; warrant to any sheriff or marshall of the Criminal Court in Missouri. Courtesy of the Missouri State Archives.
Jesse James's home in St. Joseph, where he was shot (currently at the grounds of the Patee House)
Bank robbery is the criminal act of stealing from a bank, specifically while bank employees and customers are subjected to force, violence, or a threat of violence. This refers to robbery of a bank branch or teller, as opposed to other bank-owned property, such as a train, armored car, or (historically) stagecoach. It is a federal crime in the United States.
A masked man poses as a bank robber during a demonstration of a German device that protected cash and sounded an alarm during a robbery (1931).
Patty Hearst takes part in the April 1974 Hibernia Bank raid with other SLA members.
Expended dye pack after a Los Angeles area Bank of America robbery, January 2, 2008. This particular pack was concealed inside a stack of twenty-dollar bills.