Cole Younger

In the stories told about them during their careers the Youngers were often cast in the classic Robin Hood mold. It was an image they worked hard to cultivate, but it was only half true. They did steal from the rich but, as biographer T.J. Stiles wrote, “There is no evidence that they did anything with their loot except spend it on themselves.”

Cole Younger was being interviewed on this day when he said, "The people of western Missouri are, in some respects, very peculiar. We will take Jackson county where I was born for instance. In that section the people seemed to be born fighters, the instinct being inherited from a long line of ancestors."