Before the Internet, and before Atari, and before cable television… There were books. Books and two television stations and some days three if you could adjust the rabbit ears just right.
On Saturday and Sunday afternoons, It was not uncommon for my father and I to watch old grainy westerns. From what I remember, they were quite cheesy. Nonetheless there was something very comfortable about the westerns. It was very easy to know who the villains were, and very easy to be enamored with the hero.
In between the movies, I had books, toy six shooters, etc. and lived with the eternal expectation that I just might actually run into Indians in the land around my grandfather’s farm in central Missouri. One thing I was particularly enthralled with was this faux leather bound set of Time-life books… Each volume focusing on a different aspect of life in the old west. The first book of the series was the only one of any relevance. The Gunfighters.
I think I memorized every picture, enamored with the grainy photos, the guns, the maps of shootouts, the photos of hung men and their blank stares in death. It's all weird because NONE of them looked like the men in the movies.
I'm a huge fan of westerns, but hadn't really considered the role they played in my childhood. Just recently I found out that two of the more notorious gunfighters from the books and movies were buried within miles of my home. One is Frank James, the brother of a the more notorious and charismatic Jesse James and the other is Cole Younger, a member of their gang.
These ex-confederate guerrillas pioneered brazen bank robberies, participated in a particularly gruesome attack on Lawrence, KS, and branched out to stagecoach and train robberies and even robbed a fair. They were hunted for years, but embraced by locals like heroes.
It's weird what Hollywood can do to history. Frank James has been portrayed by Henry Fonda, Johnny Cash, James Brolin, Bill Paxton and freaking Leonard Nimoy! Cole has been played by David Carridine and Randy Travis (among others). It's really strange how their stories were often so twisted and out of context. It's fascinating how two guys, involved in an ISIS level of savagery were actually quite revered by the locals in the region.
I decided to make a Labor Day ride out of it, just to see what a gunslinger’s grave looks like.
I rode to the Frank James grave first. In a small stone walled cemetery located along the north edge of a large open area and skate park. It's a small 25x25 foot square walled area with an ancient iron gate, several marked graves, and I assume some that aren't marked. Interestingly, it doesn't show “Frank” but Alexander F. Supposedly it's haunted. High noon, no ghosts but a fitting time to be sitting on Frank James grave, right?
Anyway, from there I rode through Independence and then to Lee’s Summit. It would have been a nice ride aside for the block headwind that made things slow.
I found the cemetery and was overwhelmed by the sheer size and volume. Old graves intermingled with new, and no guidance as to its location, but alas it was right at the end of the first road I took. For some reason the dude had TWO headstones alongside several dead brothers and one dead mother.
So, from there… MEGA TAILWIND home so I used the time to reflect on the relative lack of fanfare that someone so infamous gets in death. Perhaps a mundane marker prevents miscreants from mucking with them. Who knows.
Good ride. I love rides that slow you down from time to time.
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