Robbery at Corydon

Three siblings are on the run in the Southeast right now. It’s been reported they’ve robbed a couple of banks. Their motivation for the crime spree has not been revealed as of yet. The news seldom if ever gets things right and I’m guessing the why isn’t as interesting to the talking heads as the act anyway. I’m not condoning what the sister and brothers have done, but a thousand hurts sometimes drives people to do unspeakable things. I can’t help but wonder what happened. Was it a lust for fame? What damaged their souls? If this were the late 1800s, Dime Novel authors would be scrambling to write about their exploits. Jesse James once said, “All the world likes an outlaw. For some damn reason they remember them.” The professional outlaws of the Old West planned their robberies just as efficiently as military high command plans an important campaign. To rob a train involved three functions, usually two men to each. One duty was the mounting of the engineer’s cab, covering the engineer and fireman, and throwing water into the firebox, thus “killing” the engine. Another was the covering and intimidating of passengers and train crew. The third and most important as far as proceeds and danger were concerned was the tapping of the express car, usually well-guarded by shotgun agents, some of whom would fight to the death. Of course, the quicker the surprise attack, the more successful the robbery. The Dalton Gang always gambled for these positions before each robbery, thus seeking to expel favoritism and jinxes. Probably the most sensational bank robbery the James-Younger gang ever pulled was at a small county-seat town named Corydon. Jesse had probably planned the whole thing minutely. He chose this particular day because there was to be a big gathering on the courthouse lawn for a political speaking. Now everybody turned out to things of that kind in those days – interest and people ran riot, anything was likely to happen. Loudmouthed orators bellowed to open-mouthed hypnotized audiences, and when the cheering started everyone went berserk. Seven young men rode into Corydon, dressed in their Sunday-go-to-meeting clothes with potato bags slouchily flung across their saddle pommels ostensibly to buy provisions for the week and carry back to the farm. They had dressed up for the occasion of the speaking. That was all – that was what it looked like, and no one paid any attention to them. When the crowd became assembled on the courthouse lawn and some candidate began bombasting away with vehement gesticulations, three of the horsemen quietly entered the bank and found the cashier all alone. They covered him from head to toenail with six-shooters, took his keys to the safe, extracted some $40,000 which they dumped into the “potato” bag, bound the cashier and gagged him, and calmly walked out remarking about the weather. They, too, wanted to hear the speeches, or they wouldn’t have bound the cashier – they never did at any other of their robberies. They sat on their horses, as was common, on the outskirts of the crowd. When the speeches were over they made their get-a-way. The James-Younger Gang was motivated by their hatred for the north and the government as a whole. Man can be driven to do a lot that isn’t right when they feel pushed into a corner. Me, I’m just praying to get through the deep hurt involving my brothers. The only thing I’d be driven to do beyond reason is take my own life. I don’t want to hurt anymore. I don’t want anymore threatening emails sent to me. I want to be here only mildly more than I want to die trying to escape.