Sordid true-crime story connected to Jesse James
Friday, April 9, 2010
“The Love Pirate and the Bandit’s Son: Murder, Sin and Scandal in the Shadow of Jesse James” by Laura James, Sterling Publishing Co./Union Square Press, 2009, $19.95.
“Jesse James: Last Reel of the Civil War” by T.J. Stiles, Alfred A. Knopf, 2002, $27.50.
By Lynn Bonney
Special to The Gazette
What’s more fun than a sordid true-crime story of a beautiful woman who collected rich husbands and enemies before she was murdered? Perhaps it’s the story of such a beautiful woman whose lawyer was the son of an infamous renegade, a lawyer who just may have killed his client?
The story can be improved only by setting it close to home, in the untamed Kansas City of the 1920s.
And that’s what awaits readers of “The Love Pirate and the Bandit’s Son: Murder, Sin and Scandal in the Shadow of Jesse James.”
Author Laura James, who is not related to THAT James family, tells the story of Zeo Zoe Wilkins, a child of poverty who defined herself as a femme who was truly “fatale.” An unusually intelligent girl, she lied about her age and enrolled, at 17, at the Kirksville (Mo.) College of Osteopathic Medicine. In addition to pursuing her degree, she immediately set her sights on marrying a rich man — and she wed twice before graduation. Her marriages, six in all but twice to one unfortunate husband, left her well-off financially when she settled in Kansas City. That is where she died in March 1924, the victim of a brutal killer.
After devoting the first half of her book to Dr. Wilkins, the “Love Pirate,” author James turns to the “Bandit’s Son,” Jesse Edwards James, only 6 years old when he saw his father die of bullet wounds in the family living room. The younger James had a troubled life, as could be expected, but he had tried to change his fate. He completed law school in Kansas City, graduating with high marks — something of a surprise, considering his inept performance in courtrooms.
When Wilkins needed a lawyer, saying she was in fear for her life, she got in touch with James, who set about acting on her behalf to secure the return of money she said was coming to her from a previous husband. After her death, he testified at the coroner’s inquest, offering little help to the authorities.
Author James intimates — although she cannot offer proof — that Jesse James played a role in his client’s death. Citing a likely sexual liaison between the two, coupled with James’ need for cash, she proffers the likelihood of his guilt, but the death remains unsolved. Nonetheless, she has written an entertaining account of these two larger-than-life figures. (Inexplicably, she refers to James as a “junior,” although he bore a different middle name from his father’s.)
For an account of the elder James and his world, step into the library stacks and pick up “Jesse James: Last Rebel of the Civil War,” by T.J. Stiles. This book, a “Notable Book” choice by the American Library Association in 2003, is a fascinating story of Jesse Woodson James and the turbulent Missouri of the 1850s, ’60s and ’70s. Stiles sets the James family into a tension-rife environment before, during and after the Civil War, making them real people coping with social, economic and political change. The book fills in many of the gaps left by textbooks and goes a long way toward explaining the facts behind the lore.
• Emporia Public Library staff and volunteers write “On the Shelf.”