Chapter 1 Summary

As the story opens, Jesse James is at his home on Woodland Avenue. He subscribes to several newspapers and often checks up on current events. His name is Jesse Woodson James and he was born September 5, 1847. He seldom drinks and smokes cigars but never inhales. He is missing the end of a finger on his left hand and has two "incompletely healed bullet holes" in his chest. Jesse's six-year-old son is named Jesse Edwards James but is known by everyone as Tim and doesn't know his real name. One night, Alexander Franklin James - Jesse's brother, Frank - arrives at the James home. Frank leaves the following day and Jesse leaves a day later. They meet up with cousins, Robert Woodson Hite - better known as Wood - and his younger brother Clarence. The Hites are from Adairville Kentucky. Other members of the...