Every family has thier " stories" I suppose and mine is no differant. Some stories are able to be verified and some aren't. This one can be. My mom has the newspaper that the article appeared in dated June 4, 1871. My great Aunt Stella Grizmore and her second husband lived on a farm outside of Lineville, Iowa. Like everyone else of that time, they didn't have much money. On the evening of June 3, 1871, Aunt Stella was outside doing chores. Four men on horseback rode up in a hurry. Thier horses were frothing and had been ridden hard. They asked my Aunt Stella if they could have water and hay for their horses and if they could sleep in her barn. Aunt Stella said that they could. The next morning very early, the men were already up and getting ready to ride out. Aunt Stella came outside and told them that breakfast was almost ready. She probably fixed a big," company", country breakfast. Bacon, eggs, bisquits and gravy. Aunt Stella later said " that those men didn't talk much, but ate like they was starving". The four men finished eating and got up and rode off. "Didn't even say thank you", Aunt Stella said. As she cleared the table, she found a twenty dollar gold piece under every plate. THAT was a fortune back then. The next day, the county was buzzing about the fact that Jesse James and three of his gang had robbed The Ocobock bank In Corydon, Iowa, 22 miles from Lineville. They made off with $ 6,000. The sheriff showed Aunt Stella Pictures and she was able to verify that her "company" was the James Gang. She was a celebrity in Lineville for years. There is a new movie coming out about Jesse James, staring Brad Pitt. Jesse has been known as a folk hero, a "Robin Hood" of his time. I'm not sure that's quite accurate. He was a thief and he was a killer. Jesse was born in 1847 In Clay County, Missouri, the son of a Baptist Minister. When he was 15 years old he rode with Willaim Quantrill's Guerillas, also known as QUANTRILL'S RAIDERS. They were a bloodthirsty band of Confederate Sympathizers. They raided Northern Towns. In August of 1863, Quantrill's Raiders staged a raid on Lawrence, Kansas. 150 men, women and children were killed. In September of 1864, Jesse joined the gang of "Bloody Bill" Anderson, another Confederate Sympathizer that was much crueler than William Quantrill. The gang raided the town of Centralia, Kansas, where the orders were to "rape all of the women and kill all of the men". Allegedly, Jesse's only job was to set the towns buildings on fire. Anderson was such a rabid Southerner that is is said that he carried a silk cord on which he tied knots for every yankee that he killed. Jesse was 17 at the time of that raid. Jesse broke away from Anderson and formed his own gang, to include his brother Frank. They robbed banks, trains and government buildings. Many innocent people were shot and killed or wounded, including children. In 1874, Jesse married his first cousin Zerelda ( Zee) Amanda Mimms. They had a daughter Susan that was born in 1879 but died when she was 9 years old. They went on to have three more children. On January 26, 1875, six Pinkerton ( like an early FBI) agents surrounded the home of Jesse's mother. They had been given a tip, which proved to be wrong, that Jesse was inside. The Agents exploded a bomb which killed one of his brothers and blew off his mother's arm. Jesse was 27 years old when that happened. The James Gang continued thier crime spree for many more years. In 1881, Jesse moved his family to St. Joseph, Missouri. He intended to give up crime
but wanted to stage one last robbery. He invited the Ford brothers, Charles and Robert to live with his family He felt that there was safety in numbers and he considered them to be friends. Missouri Governor Thomas Crittenden had offered a $10,000 bounty on Jesse James and the Ford brothers intended to collect that bounty. On April 3, 1882, Jesse noticed that a picture in his home was hanging crooked. He turned around to straighten it and was shot in the back of the head by Robert Ford. Jesse was 34 when he died. Robert Ford wired the governor to claim his reward. He turned himself in to authorities and was dismayed to find out that he was charged with 1st degree murder. The Ford brothers were tried and convicted and sentenced to death by hanging but within two hours were given a full pardon by Governor Crittenden. Robert Ford received his portion of the reward money.

Dear Patrick,
Out of the blue, I am missing you tonight. I have been listening to CD's that you sent me back when we were "us". Remember those days? There were bad days but so many more good days. I sometimes think about the plans that we made. We were going to rent an RV and ride around the West. Take turns driving and writing. Bounce ideas off of each other. Pull over and open the curtains and make love in the moonlight. There was a time that you were my very best friend. The other half of my heart. I never told you that you made me a better woman. I should have. I used to watch you sleeping sometimes and think to myself that I could have died right then and still have known happiness. I kept all of your messages on my machine.Years worth of "I love you's and Hi baby". I hope that you are happy now. I hope that she loves you as much as I did although I don't know how that is possible. We ended badly didn't we? You should have driven down one more time and seen for yourself. I should have asked you to do that. Neither one of us should have listened to other people. If you are in Iraq, please be safe. So many people love you, even people that you haven't met yet. I will always be thankful to you. Because of you, I know that I can love a man. Because of you, I know what happiness was. I told you my secrets and you kissed my scars. You made me whole and you made me happy. I know that you will never read this so I can say these things to you. Be safe my Patrick, and always remember how much that you were loved. Julia

Don't cry because it's over, Smile because it happened.
Dr. Seuss

What a wonderful quote to live by. It's not always easy though. I remember when I broke up with my boyfriend at 16. His parents were Air Force and they got transferred to Germany. I just "knew" that a long distance romance wouldn't work. Especially at 16. So... I bravely broke it off. I cried and cried. Thought that my heart was forever broken and I just KNEW that I would never love anyone that much again. I looked that boyfriend up on Goggle this year and called him. He is a neurologist in Michigan. We talked and we laughed. He is very happily married and we haven't talked again But.... I smiled because it happened. There have been other romances and one great love in my life since then. "Patrick " was the love of my life. He made me finally realize that I could really love someone. I have missed him for three years but today, I really remembered why It couldn't have worked. I laughed about something that we shared and he left me with something more important then he will ever know. I smiled because it happened. Losing people to death is a pain unlike any other, especially if it's a child. It seems as though THAT gut wrenching pain will never end... But one day, you remember the color of their eyes or the way that they smelled and it doesn't hurt as much. You smiled because THEY happened. Dr. Seuss gave us green eggs and Ham. He gave us the Grinch that stole Christmas and many more books that we have read to ourselves or to our children. He gave us this quote. it helps me to remember that through all the blackness of despair, one day, I will remember and I will smile.
PS: I am so sorry that I am late with responding to blog comments and other comments. The past few days have gotten away from me BUT..,Thank you..

Horrible things seem to be happening at an alarming rate. I don't know if it's just that we can hear about it now because of the media or if it's that some people have really lost their ability to feel. It just seems as though people are getting meaner. More evil. Two nights ago, in a town about 10 miles from me ( where Sharona lives), there is a pretty new WalMart. A 23 year old father of two stopped on his way home from work to get diapers and dog food. It was about 10:30 at night. His wife reported that he called her and told her that he would stop and save her a trip in the morning. He went into WalMart, watched by two men. Two men with no heart. When he walked out to get into his truck, they walked up to him and riddled him with bullets, got into his truck and drove away. Video cameras suggest that they didn't even speak to him. They just shot him in cold blood for his truck.This young man worked. He had a three year old son and a three month old baby. He had a dog. He probably was tired and thinking about getting home to rock his new baby. Perhaps he wanted to kiss his three year old and tell him a story. Now a young wife has lost her husband and two children have lost thier father. For a truck. For nothing. The two killers were caught the next morning. When murder touches a family, nothing ever makes sense again. Nothing ever feels safe again. Years ago, I worked with a doctor from The Caribean. He was a good and Godly man. We were talking one night about the state of the world ( and THIS was years ago). He said something to me that I will never forget. He said " if this world doesn't change soon, God will have to apologize to Sodom and Gommorah and God doesn't apologize". I haven't forgotten that and the world hasn't gotten any better. It fightens me. It should frighten you.

You all know how much I love to read bizarre news. Well, here's one that I found that is hard to believe.......
A German man left his dead mother sitting in her favorite armchair for two years because he could not face planning her funeral. The woman died of natural causes in the chair in July of 2005. She was 92 years old. A doctor was called to the scene when she died and gave her son the death certificate but did not report her death. Neighbors recently alerted the Police about the corpse. ( It took two years? ) The man said that he couldn't bear to move his mother and said that he never again went into the room she was in. The Police have started an investigation on the son for violating German Burial laws.