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Files of the early West record many stories of famous and notorious characters of that period.

The Younger Brothers, hardened to the sight of bloodshed in the guerrilla border battles of the Civil War.

The Youngers established a record of bank and train robberies that have never been equaled in the West.

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Hmm.

Well, here you are, miss.

I guess folks out in Virginia don't know much about what's going on here in Missouri, do they?

What?

These cousins you're moving in with.

You know very much about them?

Should I?

Why, what's wrong with them anyway?

Come on, let's get out of here.

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Oh, come in, honey.

Welcome to Younger's farm.

Mr. Cole got your letter about a month ago, and we've been expecting you ever since.

Oh, come over here, let me take a good look at you.

Mm-mm.

A genuine magnolia blossom from old Virginia, I do declare.

Oh, but look at me standing here gabbing.

Give me those.

You must be faint and famished from traveling all that way.

You're very kind to give me such a nice welcome.

You must be Aunt Nellie.

That's right, honey.

I've been with this here family since way before the war.

And after Mammy and Pappy Younger died, I raised all them boys just like they was my own.

Ha, ha, ha.

Where are they now?

Oh, there ain't nobody home except John.

The rest of them are off down in Indian Nation at Tom Starr's place.

And you know, honey, they've been gone an awful long time.

I'm awful worried about them boys.

All right, Nellie.

I'll do.

Go get our cousins some grub.

Yes, Mr. John, right away.

I'm Cousin John.

Yes, I know.

Aunt Nellie said you were the only one here.

Now, say, what's your name that I forgot from the letter?

Frances.

Mm-hmm.

One of Uncle Rook's kids, ain't you?

Got so many kinfolk, I can hardly keep track of them.

You won't be here long?

As long as I'm welcome, sir.

I can keep the place prettied up and be real useful.

Yeah, I'll just bet you can.

Yeah, I'll pretty it up.

Come on, honey, and fill yourself up.

Put the roses back in them pretty cheeks.

Oh, don't mind him.

He don't mean no harm.

None of my boys mean any harm.

They just a might wild and mischievous, maybe.

But they ain't bad.

No, ma'am, they ain't really bad.

Whether anybody called the younger boys good, bad, or indifferent meant nothing to me.

The facts were all there in a stack of warrants a foot high,

demanding their capture for an assortment of crimes that included murder and train robbery.

For three days, I'd been hanging around on the main street of Independence, Missouri,

waiting for word from the other operative on the case.

My name's Matt Clark.

I work for the railroad as a detective.

The message on the piece of paper was all I needed to know.

It said the younger gang was down at Bell Starr's place in the Indian Nations.

Lieutenant, I hope you can understand why I'm asking you to do this.

The cavalry is the only recognized law in the territory.

How many of the youngers do you think are hidden out there?

My information says Cole and Jim.

What do you think they're down here for?

Hiding.

They robbed a bank over the Missouri line, then disappeared.

How many men do you want?

Well, they're a tough outfit.

All you can spare.

All right.

Come with me.

Cole.

We're going to have to make a run for it.

Go warn the rest of the men.

Saddle my horse and wait in back of the corral.

I'll keep them busy and give you a little time.

Come on, boys.

Where'd it come from?

Come on, boys.

We'd expected only two of them.

We were in luck.

We had a chance of rounding up the whole gang.

Come on, boys.

Somebody tipped them off, then you're exactly where we were.

It couldn't have been one of them.

They're in as deep as we are.

We can't hold them off here.

Separate and run for it.

You can make it up that draw.

Wait a minute, Jim.

What if they draw the Yankees away from us?

We'll get them.

You don't get to hold them off.

We'll keep them busy.

Get out of here.

You're going to have to do it.

I'm going to get them.

I'm going to get them.

You're going to have to do it, Jim.

They'll draw the Yankees away from us.

We'll go back down the other side where the horses are.

We'll go back down the other side where the horses are.

Most of the younger gang were wiped out,

but the two leaders, Cole and Jim,

somehow made their getaway during the fight.

It was impossible to trail them in this wild country.

It was up to Frankie to give me my next lead.

That's Mr. Jim, Mr. Cole.

That's my boys, all right.

I got the hustle, my boy.

That's my boys, all right.

I got the hustle up a mess of vittles.

My boys are powerful leaders.

Cole, Jim.

Nice to see you, boy.

How's it been going?

Not so good, John.

Not so good.

The Calvary jumped us, and we lost a lot of good boys.

Oh, you know Bill Chadwick, don't you?

Hi, Bill.

How's everything?

From Minnesota, ain't you?

That's right.

Bill's got plans for us up north.

Tell you about it after supper.

How's things been with you, John?

Any lawmen been hanging around here lately?

No, great company, though.

Cousin from back east.

Oh, the one we got the letter about?

Mm-hmm, kind of pretty, too.

Sort of glad she ain't our cousin.

She ain't?

Been in quite a spell, and I've been asking her a lot of questions.

Some of the answers she's got down pretty good,

but I ain't got the girl.

My, my, you boys sure eat a mess of business.

That was really good, Mildred.

Well, the dessert's coming in.

Come on, honey child, help me get the table cleared.

What was this you were going to tell me about Minnesota?

Bill here says that's rich farming country.

The banks up there are so chuck full of money,

they don't know what to do with it.

I ain't much hepped on it myself.

It's too far from home.

Don't mind what I say, but I'm going to have to go.

I ain't much hepped on it myself.

It's too far from home.

Don't mind what Jim says.

He'll be going all right.

The James boys already said bear for it.

I know for a fact Clell Miller and Charlie Pitts will throw in.

Well, that makes eight of the best all-around gang in the business.

Take just about a whole town to stop us.

The reason I'm not so whole hog on the idea is that, well,

you don't have friends that far north.

They don't know the back roads or the stream crossing.

They want to bring our mail to us or to shoe our horses in a hurry.

We're going to have to get this thing without some thought first.

As long as you're so interested in man talk, cousin,

come on in and make yourself comfortable.

Here, here.

What's going on in here?

About time you knew the truth, Aunt Nellie.

We've been harboring a Yankee spy.

Her?

That's right.

She's no more our cousin, and she is yours.

Oh, sweet little child.

Go on back in the kitchen and get your dishes done.

Go on, go on.

Oh, yes, sir.

What do we do with her, Cole?

Well, if we leave her, go back where she came from,

the law will be on us as sure as you're born.

If she don't get back,

the law will be snooping around to find out what happened to her.

Any way you look at it,

there's bound to be detectives swarming all over the place.

We better be hightailing from Minnesota right now.

Pack your gear and let's get to riding.

You still ain't said a word about our country cousin, Cole.

You know, I just had me a premonition, John.

I can see you two out horseback riding,

and I can see her having a real bad spill.

Yeah, a real bad spill.

I'm checking at the telegraph office,

but there is still no word from Frankie.

I decided not to wait any longer before I investigated.

I headed for the Younger Ranch.

Hey, John, meet us over at Charlie Pitts.

All right, Cole.

Please, Lord, sir, don't let us have no more trouble.

Before we saddle the horses and take that little ride,

I'd better show it to me cousin John little Faxon here.

Hey, you!

Keep your hands off of that girl.

Keep your hands off of that girl.

All right.

Drop your gun.

Go on, drop it.

All right.

Back up.

Go slow.

Go back.

Okay.

All right.

Oh!

Oh!

I keep trying to tell myself that they ain't bad,

but it ain't no use.

It ain't no use.

Maybe it was the war that turned them bad,

and maybe it was in the blood.

I don't know.

But there's one thing I don't know.

I raised them like they was my own,

and I'm gonna kill them when I'm old.

The younger boys joined up with Frank and Jesse James and went north.

Frank and I headed for Minnesota by the shortest route.

We rode into Mankato, Minnesota on September the 4th,

and after some inquiring, learned that several men,

well mounted and armed, had been hanging about the bank the day before,

but left when word spread that somebody had recognized one of the younger boys.

We alerted every sheriff within a 500-mile radius.

We didn't know it until a few minutes later,

but a robbery was taking place in this quiet little town of Northfield,

a bank robbery that was to become the most notorious in the annals of crime.

All right, let's go.

It's a robbery! It's a holdup!

Come on, come on! Hurry up in there!

Now, Frank, we need a little more time!

Get off the streets! Stay inside, you won't get hurt!

Get out of here!

Come on, come on! Miller won't make it!

Get out of here!

Inside the bank, the bookkeeper, Haywood, lay dead.

Mr. Bunker, the teller, was wounded in the shoulder.

They were brave men.

They had refused to open the vault, and the gang had gotten only what was in the till,

$50.

When I heard that the net was closing around the Youngers over near Medilla,

I rode hard for that area.

Sheriff Lipson? Matt Clark.

Glad to have you join us.

They're a holdup over there.

I've been asking for volunteers to move in and flush them out.

If we don't get them out before nightfall, this might go on for another week.

Count me in, Sheriff. I've ridden a long way to join you.

How many of them are there?

I don't know.

I wonder if Frank and Jesse made it.

I don't know.

But it's sure a high price to pay for a lousy $50.

I sure wish I could get this kid here back to Aunt Nellie.

Maybe we ought to give up.

Be lynched?

I'm not the way we came in with our boots on.

Spread out in the rocks, men.

Move in when I give the signal.

Here they come.

Come on.

We surrender.

Hold your fire.

We give up.

Stand up.

Put your hands in the air.

Stand up. Put your hands in the air.

Get nobody else. Stand up.

Bob's still alive?

So's Cole.

We'll take him in and patch him up so they can stand trial.

We won't take Charlie Pitts and Luke to trial, or they're dead.

Come on, you men. Give us some help here.

Bob was wounded in the chest.

Jim had five bullets in him and Cole, eleven.

The younger boys were not expected to live, but they proved to be men of iron.

They looked so well-bred and gentlemanly.

Reporters wondered why they ever traveled the outlaw trail.

Yeah. Yeah, the war did it to us.

We fought with Quantrell.

When peace came, there wasn't any southerner that got a break.

We had to rob. We're used to hard living.

We always had it tough.

Other men fought for the South and lost.

But they went home to lead useful lives.

Come on, Frankie.

Under Minnesota law, a person charged with murder and pleading guilty

could not be sentenced to capital punishment.

The younger brothers, therefore, pleaded guilty on November 11, 1876

in Judge Samuel Lord's Court at Fairbolt, Minnesota.

He sentenced them to life imprisonment in the state penitentiary at Stillwater.

Oh, uh, Mr. Clark.

Yes, sir?

I just wanted to find out where to send the reward money.

You come in for a share, too.

You have a local baseball club?

Sure do.

Well, then give our share to them.

That's the best way I know to keep the kids from becoming outlaws like the youngers.

Well, now, thanks.

We'd better hurry if we're going to catch that train.

Oh, I, uh, almost forgot.

This came for you just a few minutes ago.

Where did you say you were going on your vacation?

I told you, Philadelphia.

I wouldn't miss a Centennial Exposition for anything.

Well, then read this.

We've got a new assignment.

All right, so I'll miss the Centennial.

Maybe I'll be in time to catch a Kentucky State Fair.

So long, Sheriff.

All right.

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