General Notes

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1860 Census Jackson County Missouri  Pg344/738
1870 Census Jackson County Missouri; Page 183, Family 644
1920 Census Ventura County California; E D 165, Sheet 19
Tried For Train Robbery With Jessee James Gang
In July 1880, an unlettered countryman named Tucker Bassham, from a fa
mi ly of Quantrill men, had been arrested and charged with participati
on in t he robbery at Glendale in 1879. He pleaded guilty and was sentenc
ed to t en years in the Missouri penitentiary. In March 1881, William Rya
n, ali as Tom Hill, was arrested in Tennessee and returned to Jackson Coun
ty [M O] to answer charges for the same robbery. William H. Wallace, the n
ew pro secuting attorney, persuaded Governor Crittendon to pardon Bassh
am to test ify against Ryan.
The trial of Ryan, occurring in Jacson County near the greatest strong
ho ld of sympathy for the James boys, in the latter part of September 188
1, w as the first real test of efforts to break up the band of outlaw
s. In Jack son County, east of the city limits of Kansas City, was a heavi
ly wooded a rea of several square miles, known as the Craker Neck. Ma
ny of the male in habitants were former guerrillas, and the area had lo
ng been consider ed a refuge of the James band. Glendale and Blue Cut we
re in its bounds a nd it had been the home also of the Shepherd brother
s, Bassham and Ryan.
Bassham testified that, in April 1879, Ryan had come to his place a
nd h ad suggested that he was a fool to work, for easier money could be ma
de ro bbing trains. Bassham replied that he was not interested. Bassham
's la ck of interest did not deter Ryan from returning in October two da
ys befo re the robbery at Glendale, accompanied by Clell Miller's broth
er Ed. T he two men told Bassham that Jesse James was to lead a group in t
he robbe ry of a train on the Chicago and Alton Railroad and that he had o
rdered Ba ssham to participate. At the appointed rendezvous on the nig
ht of the robb ery, Bassham testified, he met Jesse James, Ed Miller, Di
ck Liddil, Bill R yan, and "a man named Bob," identified by later confessi
ons of membe rs of the James band as Wood Hite, who rode with "Bloody Bil
l" Anders on in 1864.
Bassham, who was unarmed when he met the group, was given a shotg
un a nd a revolver, both of which he recognized as belonging to acquaintan
ces n ot in the group. Thus armed, he had helped rob the train; Jessee a
nd Ed Mi ller, he testified, were the men who had entered the express ca
r. When t he loot was divided, Bassham's share was $900, and Jessee warn
ed him n ot to attract attention in spending it. Bassham's testimony was s
ufficient ly corroborated by circumstantial evidence to cause a jury to fi
nd Ryan gu ilty and to sentence him to twenty-five years in prison.
During the trial Tucker Bassham's house in the Cracker Neck was burne
d, a nd afterward he received so many threats to his life and proper
ty th at he moved from the area without leaving information as to whe
re he was g oing.
From "Jesse James Was His Name" by William A Settle Jr. University of M
is souri Press, hardcover, 1966; pp 113-114