surprise, and that the people are greatly intimidated and losing
confidence in the protection of the law." He also advised
Congress that the "Cowboys" were making raids into Mexico, and
again begged for legal authority to act. On the 3rd of May, he
issued a proclamation calling upon the outlaws "to disperse and
retire peaceably to their respective abodes." In his regular
annual message on December 4, 1882, he again called attention "to
the prevalent lawlessness upon the borders, and to the necessity
of legislation for its suppression."

Such vast agitation from the operations of a band of ruffians,
estimated at from fifty to one hundred in number, and such
floundering incapacity for prompt action by public authority seem
more like events from a chronicle of the Middle Ages than from
the public records of a modern nation. Of like tenor, was a
famous career which came to an end in this period. Jesse W.
James, the son of a Baptist minister in Clay County, Missouri,
for some years carried on a bandit business, specializing in the
robbery of banks and railroad trains, with takings computed at
$263,778. As his friends and admirers were numerous, the elective
sheriffs, prosecuting attorneys, and judges in the area of his
activities were unable to stop him by any means within their
reach. Meanwhile, the frightened burghers of the small towns in
his range of operations were clamoring for deliverance from his
raids, and finally Governor Crittenden of Missouri offered a
reward of $10,000 for his capture dead or alive. Two members of
his own band shot him down in his own house, April 3, 1882. They
at once reported the deed and surrendered themselves to the
police, were soon put on trial, pleaded guilty of murder, were
sentenced to death, and were at once pardoned by the Governor.