America 1881: Legend of the West

If you asked Americans in the 19th century what kind of person Jesse James was, different people would give you different answers.

People in the east will say that he is a robber who robs trains and banks and kills people without batting an eye; Dickenson in the southern states will tell you that he is a hero who resisted the Union;

Some people at the bottom will worship him and think that he is a grand thief who robbed the rich and gave to the poor, but most of the people he robbed will hate him to the core.

Everyone's stance is different, so there are mixed reviews and different opinions on him.

But in the eyes of Jesse James's mother, her son was no big deal.

She never cared what he did outside, she only knew that he bought a ranch for himself near Dodge City.

The old lady is almost sixty years old this year, and she still works in the pasture day after day.

She milked cows and delivered calves. In her spare time, she sat at the door of the house, mending clothes and looking into the distance.

It's just that she never quite understood why her son couldn't live in a big pasture and insisted on staying in the wilderness.

"Jack!" she shouted to a cowboy shoveling cow dung not far from him.

This young man named "Jack" came to the ranch not long ago. He is dull and doesn't like to talk, but he is very hardworking and meticulous in doing things, which makes him very popular with the old lady.

Jeffries, who went by the pseudonym "Jack", heard someone calling him, straightened up, threw the manure fork aside, wiped his hands on his clothes, and walked towards the old lady.

The old lady stood up, picked up the clothes in her hands, looked back and forth, and then put the clothes on the stool she was sitting on.

She turned around and walked into the house.

After a while, the old lady came out of the house, holding a pile of washed clothes in her hand.

"Jack, go take a trip and give these clothes to my son."

Jeffries was ecstatic in his heart.

It seemed that the old lady was finally going to tell her where Jesse James was hiding.

But there was no change in his expression, he was still so dull and confused.

He shook his head.

"Oh, look at my memory, I forgot that you are new here." The old lady helped her forehead.

She told Jeffries the specific location, then stuffed the clothes into his hands and showed a kind smile:

"Go, go, why is this kid always so stupid?"

After watching Jeffries' back disappear from sight, the old lady sat back on her stool and continued to sew the next piece of clothing.

"Who is that?" A cowboy who was repairing the cattle fence straightened up and looked into the distance.

In the distance, a group of people appeared.

The location here is very remote, not on the path of passers-by, and the pasture is not very rich, so few strangers come here.

The old lady also stopped what she was doing and narrowed her eyes.

"Is it Jesse?" She couldn't see clearly.

However, when the group of people approached the ranch, the expression on the cowboy's face changed.

"It's Detective Pinkerton!" he shouted, rushing to a box next to the bullpen.

His gun was on the box.

However, as soon as he finished speaking, a row of bullets was fired at him.

The cowboy was shot and fell to the ground.

"Stand where you are, don't move!" Donovan held his gun and took the lead in riding into the pasture. "Whoever moves first will die first!"

The other two cowboys did not dare to act rashly. They raised their hands because the barrels of the guns of the detectives who rushed in were almost stuffed into their mouths.

Tom and the remaining detectives rushed into the house, and soon a woman's scream came from the house.

Less than a minute later, Tom appeared at the door of the house, pulling a woman by her hair.

Apparently, Jesse James was not at the ranch.

"Don't touch my daughter!" the old lady shouted at Tom.

"That stinky bitch bit me!" Tom reached out his hand to Donovan angrily.

"Where is your son, Jesse James?" Donovan ignored Tom and asked the old lady directly, "He is a criminal and we are arresting him. I hope you will not cover up and treat him like this. not good."

"My son is not a criminal!"

To Donovan's surprise, the old lady was very calm and just stared at the detective coldly.

It seemed that this was not the first time she had seen such a formation.

Donovan looked the old lady up and down, smiled, then shook his head and walked towards the other two cowboys:

"Same question, where is Jesse James hiding?" The detective's intuition led him to judge that he might not be able to extract any valuable information from this old lady.

So he changed his goals.

Both cowboys shook their heads.

They really don't know.

Donovan looked around and found that the informant who had contacted White before was not here.

"You can go now," he said to the two cowboys.

"Sir, can we really leave?" a cowboy asked a little doubtfully.

Donovan said nothing.

The two cowboys looked at each other, started to move their feet, and then walked towards the stable with three steps and two turns.

However, before they had taken a few steps, gunfire rang out behind them.

One cowboy was shot in the leg and fell to the ground on the spot. Seeing that the situation was not good, the other cowboy spread his legs and ran towards the stable.

However, Donovan had already reset the hammer of his revolver, and shot another cowboy in the waist.

He stepped forward and shot each of the two men on the ground twice.

The magazine was empty, and there were two more cowboy corpses on the farm floor.

"That's really stupid." Donovan glanced at the corpse and mocked.

That's when Jesse James' sister began screaming, her voice echoing through the wounds across the ranch.

"Donovan, what should we do next?" Tom slapped the screaming woman with his backhand.

Blood flowed from the corner of the woman's mouth, and she cried even louder.

"Set up an ambush and wait for Jesse James to come back," Donovan said.

"Then, what if he keeps hiding and never comes back?" Tom continued to ask, "I'm afraid we don't have that much time. White finds out and comes back to disrupt our plan."

"Then set it on fire." A grin appeared on Donovan's face. "I know him. If he is really nearby, he will definitely come."

"What if he chooses to run away directly, or is not nearby?"

"Are you being arrogant? Where are there so many problems?" Donovan's patience was finally exhausted by Tom, and he yelled at his partner.

Tom, shut your mouth.

And on the other side.

Jeffries took the clothes the old lady handed him and rode towards Jesse James' hiding place.