TX Outlaw Frank Jackson
Michelle Moreland Orlando
the Sam Bass Gang. I have documented proof and the names of his
parents and grandparents.
Have done research on Frank and found lots of information.
Has there yet been any new information on whether he died in a
shoot-out in Mexico or New Mexico or did he change his name and
raise a family?
I have been contacted by people saying an elderly relative told them
that Frank was their grandfather or great grandfather and he had
changed his name and then they contact me trying to find out
information. I can't help them unless they have his parents full names
and grandparents. Had someone contact me just recently and I honestly
can't help him since I don't know what really happened to Frank after
he fled Texas.
I wish I could find out what really happened to him and if he did
change his name and raise a family, I have lots of family pictures and
information on them to share with a proven family from a name change
he made, if he did.
Michelle Moreland Orlando
Gerald Clough
You've probably seen this page with what purports to be one of his pistols:
http://www.geocities.com/Colosseum/Loge/2594/Photo%20Page%201.htm
If you want something to chase, look down to page 3 where the source of
this life history from the WPA project mentions a Frank Jackson headed
for New Mexico in 1881, three years after the death of Bass:
http://lcweb2.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/D?wpa:1:./temp/~ammem_oqjL::
You would have a better idea if your Frank Jackson could have been
called "a young man" in 1881.
Doesn't really help your problem, though, Frank Jackson being a common
sort of name.
--
Gerald Clough
clo...@texas.net
"Nothing has any value, unless you know you can give it up."
Steve Grimm
Bass and Gang" by Rick Miller. Below is that information:
The one remaining mystery of the saga of Sam Bass is the fate of Frank
Jackson, the stalwart lieutenant who sought to save Bass' life amidst a hail
of deadly gunfire. To this day there is only speculation. Jackson returned
to Denton County briefly after the Round Rock shootout, making a tentative
but futile inquiry through Jim Murphy to see if there was any chance that he
might be excused by the government for his crimes. One account claimed that
he hid out in Skagg's thicket some four miles northeast of Denton where Dr.
R.S. Ross treated him for pneumonia. Recognizing that there was no longer
any sanctuary in his old stomping grounds, Jackson likely left Texas soon
after the gunfight that killed Bass and Barnes. Where he went and what
happened to him continues to be a matter of widespread specu衍ation,
although a fair number of people stepped forward claiming to know the
answer.
In May 1881 Texas Prison Superintendent Thomas J. Goree intercepted a letter
to convict J .W. Holt from Addie Wells of San Antonio. The letter
commiserated about the illness of a mutual friend identi苯ied only as "Bud."
Goree advised John B. Jones, now Texas Adjutant General, that he had
information that "Bud" was really Frank Jackson, but there is no additional
infor衫ation about "Bud" or about the relationship of Holt or Wells to
Jackson.
Frontier Times reprinted a newspaper article in 1928 in which T.M. Willis of
Abilene, a former city judge, said that he had been a friend of Jackson and
that Jackson had returned to Denton County after Bass' death, stayed there
out of sight for about a month, then left. Willis said that Jackson worked
on an Arizona ranch under an assumed name, married and had a large family,
then moved to New Mexico in the early 1920s. Frontier Times even received a
brief letter postmarked from Mississippi in June 1927 from a man who claimed
to be Frank Jackson. Citing his age as seventy-eight, "Jackson" claimed that
he was coming back to Texas soon to try to clear himself of all charges. Jim
Gober, who lived in Denton County with Ben Key, Jackson's brother-in-law,
claimed that his brother ran into Jackson many years earlier working as a
miner in Colorado.
Thomas Rynning, who headed up the Arizona Rangers at one time and who was
also superintendent of the Yuma Prison in territorial Arizona, alleged that
a Texan imprisoned there for train robbery under the name of William Downing
was really Frank Jackson. Rynning said that he had a hunch that Downing was
Jackson, so one day he hummed a verse of "The Ballad of Sam Bass." Downing
gave him a "lightning look." According to Rynning, Dick Ware visited the
penitentiary, saw Downing and hummed the ballad, and Downing again reacted,
confirming Ware's recognition of Jackson. Rynning said that since Downing
was a good prisoner, he helped him gain his release. On his release Downing
went to Willcox, Arizona, and opened a saloon in October 1907. Less than a
year later on August 5, 1908, a drunken, raging William Downing was shot
down and killed by Arizona Ranger Billy Speed.
Another oldtime cowboy, Jack Thorpe, wrote that "Joe Jackson" fled to New
Mexico, where he lived in cow camp after cow camp under an assumed name but
known as "Jack." Friends in New Mexico were supposed to have sent feelers to
Texas about a pardon for him, but their efforts were supposedly in vain
because the Texas Rangers could not admit that they couldn't find him.
"Jack" finally died when he was past eighty years old and was buried at
Socorro, New Mexico, according to Thorpe. Western writer Eugene Manlove
Rhodes would become a champion of sorts for Jackson, claiming in
correspondence to descendants of the Key family that Jackson had adopted an
alias name, married and had several children, and entered the hardware
business.
The reward offered for Jackson as the sole surviving fugitive from the Bass
gang led to some bizarre efforts. In February 1882 it was alleged that his
whereabouts in Arizona had been determined, but efforts to track him down
had failed. In New Mexico, Santa Fe City Marshal H.J. Franklin sent a letter
dated February 16, 1882, claiming that Jackson was living there and
inquiring about any rewards. The letter fueled additional speculation about
where Jackson
could be found, and it was alleged that Jackson was taken on March 29, 1882,
at Las Cruces, New Mexico, after a serious gunfight in which one lawman was
killed and another wounded. The prisoner was returned to Dallas on Friday,
March 31, and placed in the county jail. In an interview "Jackson" talked
about the Round Rock shootout, claiming that he and Bass had shed tears when
they had to part then alleging that he had slipped into the crowd at Round
Rock and brought the dying Bass a drink of water! No more was heard of this
Frank Jackson because the entire incident was a hoax.
According to Harry N. Graves, the prosecuting attorney for Williamson County
during the administration of Texas Governor Oscar B. Colquitt from 1910 to
1915, Jackson was located in Oklahoma. Graves said that Williamson County
Sheriff Sampson Connell, who was sheriff until November 5, 1912, went to
Oklahoma to apprehend the fugitive, but the authorities there wanted a five
hundred dollar reward paid in advance and the sheriff returned empty
"handed. Graves then stated that he went to see Governor Colquitt, who
refused to grant the reward.61 No information beyond this has yet been
located but, if accurate, Graves' informationcould be a clue to the ultimate
fate of Frank Jackson.
In 1927 noted Texas Ranger Frank HaIl1er, who would insure his place in
ranger history as a participant in the ambush slaying of Depression era
killers Clyde Barrow and Bonnie Parker, was conducting an investigation in
the Round Rock area. He somehow obtained information that Frank Jackson was
then seventy eight years old and living peacefully in New Mexico. Hamer was
friends with Texas historian Walter Prescott Webb, and the two tried to
correspond with the fugitive, who promptly disappeared. The Texas Adjutant
General assured Hamer and Webb that far too many years had passed to
consider prosecution of Jackson for Grimes' murder, so they enlisted the aid
of Eugene Manlove Rhodes.
In June 1927 Rhodes urged Webb and Hamer to enlist the assistance of former
New Mexico Governor James Hinkle to intercede with Jackson for them. A
letter was obtained from the Texas governor assuring Jackson that he would
not be arrested if he returned to Texas, but Jackson refused to reveal
himself. Before Webb and Hamer could try some new tack with the aged
fugitive, Jackson reportedly died.
Several years later, in 1932, another effort was made by Texas officials to
establish contact with Frank Jackson. Ranger William Warren Sterling, the
state's adjutant general in command of all the rangers, was interested in
clearing up some facts about the Round Rock gunfight. He called on retired
Ranger Jim Gillett, who had ridden under Lieutenant N.O. Reynolds, and they
determined to work together. On April 26, 1932, former New Mexico Governor
Hinkle wrote Sterling that he thought that any information given out several
years earlier about Jackson was probably not true and that Jackson was
probably dead. T. S. "Stonewall" Jackson of Lubbock, Texas, claiming to be
the youngest and only living of Frank's brothers, wrote Sterling that he had
corresponded with Rhodes, wilo referred him to Sterling. Gillett read all of
the books by olqtitl1ers, such as Rynning, and concluded that they were not
helpful.
With the governor ready to offer a pardon, Sterling and Gillett once again
tried Rhodes, now terminally ill. Sterling's speculation, however, that
Jackson was dead ended the last official search for fugitive Frank Jackson.
On December 21, 1936, Williamson County District Attorney D.B. Wood filed a
motion to dismiss the murder indictment pending against Frank Jackson. For
justification, Wood cited tile fact that Jackson was aged if not dead and
that
even if he was alive, a conviction could likely not be obtained because
witnesses to Grimes' killing were no longer alive to prove the offense or
identify Jackson. The primary reason behind the dismissal was that the
original indictment was desired for exhibition at the Texas Centennial being
celebrated in Dallas. Until the murder case was dismissed, the indictment
could not leave the district clerk's records. On the same date District
Judge H.A. Dolan ordered that the case against Jackson be dismissed.
laro
> Bass and Gang" by Rick Miller. Below is that information:
>
Steve Grimm
"laro" <la...@idworld.net> wrote in message news:v8c6dts...@corp.supernews.com...
laro
Well, that answers my question.
Optical scanning, eh? something I've never done, but probably
should learn. Could be VERY helpful in some cases.
Thanks for the note of explanation.
David
"Steve Grimm" <sgr...@dimensional.com> wrote in message
news:3e867...@omega.dimensional.com...
greengrassa...@gmail.com
I live in Mesquite Texas.
We had a prtrate of my Great Grandfather Frank Jackson and looked behind it,we found some silver dollars dated 1872-1878. Pretty neat peice of History there.
Our folks come from just outside of Atlanta where there were only 2 families of Jackson befor the civil war. Our family was one of them. There was also a peice of property in town during the same time that The bass gang rob the train depot in Mesquite that had the tallest structure for miles and miles around.
It is saud that my family once owned this property. They where also said to have accomidated the James/Youngers when they rode into North east Texas.
Since it had the tallest structure you could see the Laws comming. Wonder if we were kin. And of course our family were southern sympathizers.
montyma...@gmail.com
rond...@yahoo.com
joebi...@gmail.com
Al was working away from the cabin one day and when he returned there was a horse standing in front of the cabin and the cabin door open. Cautiously he approached the cabin and just inside the door was a fella laying on the floor, As Al stepped in he could see the guys leg was bleeding and the fella was unconscious.
Al picked the guy up and placed him on the cot. As he looked him over the leg wound was serious and had been blown by flies with maggots eating the flesh.
It was about a sixday ride to headquarters and another three days to a doctor so Al was it. Al cleaned out the maggots and dug out a bullet in the leg. He tore up the cleanest towels he had and after putting some horse liniment on the wound, bandaged it up. The guy was in and out of consciousness for three day and delusional from fever. Al couldn’t leave him to get help so he doctored the best he could.
After the fever broke and the man regained consciousness it was about 2 weeks until he could ride. Al never asked his name or inquired about the gunshot and the fella didn’t ask questions or offer a reason for his wound.
When the guy was ready to ride he thanked Al for the help and rode away. Al didn’t know his name or anything about him, but would meet him again in about 25 years in the Arizona Territory
Al was friends with George Hunt who was a state representative at that time, 1907, and would later be the first Governor of the State. Rep Hunt asked Al to go with him to Florence, Az where thy were building the new prison and listen in on a conference they were giving to the inmates who were building the prison. Their key speaker was a man named Bill Downing who had spent time in Yuma prison. He was an ornery guy but said he would talk if it would help him in light of his life. After the meeting George introduced Bill to Al. As they shook hands Bill asked Al if he had ever worked ranches in Texas. Al said yes and was asked if he worked a line camp in 1978, again yes. Bill asked him if he remembered a young man with a leg wound and again Al said yes. Bill looked at him and shaking his hand said, I'm the fella you took care of. He never told Grandpa any name but Bill Downing, but looking up the story and history of Bill Downing and the timing of events I could almost say he was Frank Jackson.
MLE Renovations
I've been told that we were kin to Frank Jackson. So far I can't link my family with his family. It's so frustrating. I know you are probably tired of everyone that thinks they are kin to him and I'm sorry but I really am interested and would love to find out the truth. I know that my granny jackson was the sister of Lute Jackson and from what I've been told Lute was cousins with Frank. My granny lived to be 100 years old and she always told the same stories, they never changed/ Apparently she was friends with Belle Starr. My Aunt has a recipe that Belle Starr gave to my granny jackson. I remember at her 100 birthday party she still dipped snuff. Crazy!