MASARYK UNIVERSITY

Faculty of Education Department of English Language and Literature

The Analysis of Selected Western Archetypes: Case Study of Jesse James

Master's Thesis

Brno 2018

Supervisor: Wrtitten by: Mgr. Zdeněk Janík, M.A., Ph.D., Bc. Filip Hanzlík

Prohlášení: Prohlašuji, že jsem diplomovou práci vypracoval samostatně, a že jsem použil pouze uvedené zdroje. Souhlasím s uložením mé práce na Masarykově univerzitě v Brně v knihovně pedagogické fakulty i s jejím zpřístupněním ke studijním účelům.

Brno, 11. listopadu 2018 Filip Hanzlík

Declaration: I declare that I have created my thesis independetly and that the only sources I have used are those listed. I agree with the deposition of my thesis at Masaryk University, Brno, at the library of Faculty of Education and with making it acessible for study purposes.

Brno, 11th November 2018 Filip Hanzlík

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Aknowledgments

I would like to thank my supervisor Mr. Zdeněk Janík for his patient, kind and important advice as well as his guidance that was provided while working on my thesis.

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Abstract

The goal of this master's thesis is to examine whether the portrayal of selected archetypical roles that appear in western movies is faithful to their historical source. The thesis is divided into two parts with the first one selecting the archetypes and further comparing them to their historically accurate versions, the selected archetypes are the cowboy, the outlaw, the native american. the lawman and the prostitute. The second part then deals with a case study of Jesse James, a notorious outlaw of the Old West with three selected sources being analysed for their portrayal of the character as well as the moments of demise of this outlaw.

Keywords

Western movies, Cowboys, Outlaws, Prostitutes, Lawmen, Jesse James, Wild West, Old West

Anotace

Hlavní úkol této diplomové práce je vyzkoumat, zda-li jsou vybrané archetypické role které se vyskytují ve westernových filmech věrné svým historickým předlohám. Tato práce je rozdělena do dvou částí, v první jsou selektovány archetypy a následně srovnávány s jejich historicky přesnou verzí. Vybrané archetypy jsou kovboj, bandita, původní američan, zástupce zákona a prostitutka. Druhá část se věnuje případové studii Jesse Jamese, proslulého bandity z dob divokého západu. Jsou vybrány tři zdroje a je analyzován o jejich vyobrazení povahy a momentu úmrtí tohoto bandity.

Klíčová slova

Westernové filmy, Kovbojové, Banditi, Prostitutky, Zástupci zákona, Divoký západ, Starý západ

4 Table of Contents 1.Introduction ...... 6 1. 1. Stereotypical American Western Movies ...... 7 2.Western Character Archetypes ...... 8 2. 1 Selected Archetypes ...... 10 2. 1. 1. 1 Fictional Archetype: The Cowboy ...... 11 2. 1. 1. 2. Historical Accuracy: The Cowboy...... 13 2. 1. 1. 3. Conlcusion: The Cowboy ...... 16 2. 1. 2. 1. Fictional Archetype: The Outlaw...... 16 2. 1. 2. 2. Historical Accuracy: The Outlaw ...... 18 2. 1. 2. 3. Conclusion: The Outlaw ...... 20 2. 1. 3. 1. Fictional Archetype: Native Americans ...... 20 2. 1. 3. 2. Historical Accuracy: Native Americans ...... 23 2. 1. 3. 3. Conclusion: Native Americans ...... 28 2. 1. 4. 1. Fictional Archetype: The Lawman ...... 28 2. 1. 4. 2. Historical Accuracy: The Lawman ...... 32 2. 1. 4. 3. Conclusion: The Lawman ...... 36 2. 1. 5. 1. Fictional Archetype: The Prostitute ...... 36 2. 1. 5. 2. Historical Accuracy: The Prostitute ...... 37 2. 1. 5. 3. Conclusion: The Prostitute ...... 39 2. 2. Selected Archetypes: Conclusion ...... 39 3. The Case Study of Jesse James: Introduction ...... 40 3. 1. The Life and Death of Jesse James ...... 41 3. 2. Selected Sources ...... 45 3. 2. 1. 1. The Character of Jesse James in the Writings of John Newman ...... 48 Edwards ...... 48 3. 2. 1. 2. The Death of Jesse James in the Writings of John Newman Edwards ...... 52 3. 2. 1. 3. Conclusion: the Writings of John Newman Edwards ...... 53 3. 2. 2. 1. The Character of Jesse James in the Movie The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford ...... 53 3. 2. 2. 2. The Death of Jesse James in the Movie The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford ...... 56 3. 2. 2. 3. Conclusion: The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford ...... 57 3. 2. 3. 1. The Character of Jesse James in the Book Jesse James, My Father ...... 57 3. 2. 3. 2. The Death of Jesse James in the Book Jesse James, My Father ...... 60 3. 2. 3. 3. Conclusion: Jesse James, My Father ...... 61 3. 3. The Case Study of Jesse James: Comparison and Conclusion ...... 61 4. Conclusion ...... 63 Appendix ...... 65 List of Figures ...... 66 Works cited ...... 77

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1. Introduction

Western as a genre has caused so many misconceptions about the era it is supposed to depict that it would be safe to say it has created a mythical version of the history of United States, or at least some of its southern parts. The genre itself originated during the era it is depicting with dime novels being the very first westerns. Although usually being distributed as historically accurate, most, if not all, dime novels have greatly dramatized and/or romanticized the events and characters they were supposed to depict. (Slotkin)

Despite its United States origin, many different countries have contributed to this genre as well, most notably Italy with so-called "Spaghetti Westerns," the popular example being The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966). During the 20th and 21st Century, various strange mutations of the Western genre have occured, such as the weird western (a combination of western and fantasy, horror or science fiction elements), space western - a western set in space with cowboys riding robotic horses, using energetic weapons etc.) or ostern, created in Eastern Europe during the communist era. Unlike the American westerns, osterns depicted the Native Americans as friendly people just defending their land and way of life. (Staples 319 - 329)

Although categorization and specification of various western subgenres seems to be very clear and simple, defining the western genre itself is not. While comedy, horror or drama can be defined by the emotional responses they are supposed to cause, Western is not linked to any specific emotion. (Staples 319 - 321) According to Edward Wragg, "To describe a film as purely a western is to reduce a film to its location." (Hobsbawm, Eric"The myth of the cowboy") This statement is also further supported in the book Wild West Movies (Newman), which states that western is a genre set in the second part of the 19th century in American West and depicts the stories of various gunslingers, cowboys, outlaws, adventurers etc. Asking anyone with no formal education in genres about western would result in answers very similar to this definition, meaning that in the mind of the public, the western genre is therefore categorized by its environment.

Several Western archetypes have crystalized over the time, most notably the cowboy. (Hobsbawm, Eric"The myth of the cowboy") This thesis is divided into two main parts, the first one describes and analyses selected archetypes, then compares them to their real historical counterpart if any

6 existed. The second part is dedicated to a broad case study of several selected sources that depicted the very last day of the infamous outlaw Jesse James as well as his character. The sources will include the writings of John Newman Edwards, the outlaw's biografy written by his son and the movie The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (2007) . All the sources versions of Jesse James' demise will be analysed and compared to each other.

The aim of this thesis is to evaluate how realisticaly did the USA depict its very own history on the big screen, therefore the archetypes in the first part of this thesis will only be selected from American western movies and then compared to their historically accurate versions. The reason behind the choice of the last moments and character of Jesse James as a detailed case study is that James is considered the most iconic figure of the Wild West1 with probably the greatest amount of mythos surrounding his whole life (Stiles). Despite being a merciless robber and murderer, Jesse James was sometimes depicted as a kindhearted Robin Hood of the Wild West who stole from the rich (mostly northerners) and gave to the poor (usually southerners), this intentional inaccuary has its roots in the pen of the editor John Newman Edwards. (Woog 49) The goal of the second part of this thesis is to find out how the depiction of Jesse James' character changed among the various sources as well as the details of his eventual demise.

1. 1. Stereotypical American Western Movies

Most American (these stereotypes usually apply to westerns made in different coutries too) western movies take place in the late part of the 19th Century in the American frontier. (Dirks, Western Films) (Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia) Frontier as a definition means the area at the edge of the colonized world. In the case of America, historians define various frontiers but the folklore, myths and media are usually focused at the part west of Mississipi River, a region also called "the Wild West." (Weiser, The American Frontier.)

Some movies that are considered westerns do not take part in america at all, examples of such movies are Tears of the Black Tiger (2000) (Set in Asia) and even Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior (1981) (a post-apocalyptic western set in Australia). Nonethless, labeling such movies westerns is inaccurate at best, according to its definition, western movies are defined by their environment,

1 In this thesis, the term "Wild West" is mostly used for the fictional version of the 19th century in the US while the term "Old West" mostly refers to the real one. However, sometimes one or the other term is used to refer to both of them, therefore context is always neccessary.

7 which is the southern part of USA during the late 19th or early 20th century as has been already mentioned in the chapter before.

A stereotypical western plot involves a form of a fight between order and chaos, such a fight may involve various forces. The most typical ones are man against nature, a white hat cowboy versus a black hat outlaw or the European settlers fighting Native Americans (with the latter being unfairly portayed as violent savages). Elements of such movies always involve guns, hostile environment, horses and honor. (Dirks, Western Films) (Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia) A shining example of such movie is High Noon (1952) with the plot including a marshal (law and honor) facing a group of violent outlaws alone (chaos and evil). (IMDb, High Noon)

The protagonist is usually a honorable cowboy wearing a stetson hat, dressed in leather and denim while riding a faithful horse. He is slow talking, has a strong moral compass and his weapon of choice is usually a .45 revolver in a pistol belt. Depending on the plot, the antagonist might either be a dishonorable and unhygienic outlaw, a group of Native Americans or nature itself. (Dirks, Western Films)

However, some modern American westerns are not faithful to these stereotypes anymore, blurring the line between good and evil. Such westerns are called revisionist westerns and their protagonists usually involve various antiheroes – either characters motivated by personal gain, former outlaws or some form of avengers. Native Americans are being portrayed much more accurately and important themes in such westerns can include slavery and racism. Although these controversial topics were an important part of the US history, they are completely absent in old classic american western movies.

Both classic and revisionist american westerns share several traits, with the most prevalent being the environment and some character roles such as cowboys, outlaws, lawmen etc. The difference is only in the depiction of such roles, with old classic westerns portraying them in a completely black and white manner, while the modern revisionist westerns blur the lines between the alignment of the roles, usually resulting in a much more accurate portrayal.

2. Western Character Archetypes

8 Several articles describing the western genre can be found in various sources. Most, if not all of them mention some of the genre defining stereotypes stated in the previous chapter. Besides these sterotypes, some archetypal character roles are also mentioned in the articles. Since one of the goals of this thesis is the analysis and comparison of some archetypal character roles with their historically accurate counterpart (if any), some of such articles will be inspected for mentions of the roles.

In the article "The Evolution of the Western Genre" by C. J. Perry in the FilmSlate Magazine, cowboys are mentioned with the good white hat versus evil black hat stereotype, so are Indians (Native Americans) as their natural enemies and bandits (also called outlaws) being pursued by horsemen. Statements about the portrayal of the protagonist as an idealistic hero slowly changing into a pragmatic antihero are also supported by C. J. Perry backed with the example of Clint Eastwood playing "an unlikable anti-hero" in several post World War II spaghetti western movies. This article also mentions a farmer going vigilante and a gunslinger who was a former murderer for hire. (Perry, Evolution of the Western Genre)

On the website amc filmsite, in an article dedicated purerly to the western genre, several character roles are mentioned – a cowboy, Native Americans, gamblers, cattle drivers, prostitutes, a lawman, a gunslinger and a farmer. A list full of genre defining signs is also included in this article (as previously stated – western is made by its location), including the saloon, the stable, the small-town main street, etc. (Dirks, Western Films)

The Vintage news site has an article debunking several Wild West myths, which naturally can not be achieved without mentioning some of the stereotypical character roles of this era. The article itself starts with the mentioning of outlaws, cowboys and Indians. This article is further focused on exploration of these stereotypical roles. (Harvey, Wild West Was Not Wild at All: Truths about the Old West That Westerns Got Absolutely Wrong.)

Standout Books, a publishing service website has published an article called "The 3 Golden Rules Of Writing A Western." In the first paragraph, cowboys on their horses are mentioned and further marked icons of the American West in a term of culture. According to this source, unlike aliens, vampires or pirates, cowboys are linked to a concrete place in a concrete time – the American Old West. (Wood, The 3 Golden Rules Of Writing A Western)

9 The most direct and exhausting list of western roles can be found on the webpage tvtropes.org, just to mention some – a cowboy, a gunslinger, an outlaw, a bounty hunter, a sheriff, the Natives etc... (TV Tropes, Western Characters)

As observed in the mentioned sources, some of the character roles are found in virtually every of them. Every single article dedicated to the western genre lists the cowboy or some of its subtypes such as the gunslinger. Usually right after the cowboy, the outlaw is mentioned as the cowboy's dark counterpart – sometimes called the bandit or the black hat cowboy. As the one-dimensional enemies of the cowboy usually serve the Indians (Native Americans). Cowboys, outlaws and Native Americans form a stereotypical trio of the Wild West. All these characters will be further inspected - their stereotypical version, their portrayal in the selected movies and their historicaly accurate counterpart.

Although usually operating as secondary characters - gamblers, traders, prostitutes, sheriffs, deputies, farmers and other characters defined usually by their profession are also mentioned in articles dedicated to the western genre (and present in the movies, novels or pulp magazines). From the secondary cast, two archetypes will be inspected in the same way the cowboy, the outlaw and the Indians will be. These archetypes will be the sheriff and the prostitute.

The sheriff was chosen because although not every town has a gambler, a trader or hypothetically even a farmer, every town has its own lawman and the form of the law is one of the most important topic in the Western genre, or to be more accurate – the absence of it.

The reason for the choice of the prostitute is the fact that all of the previously mentioned stereotypical roles defined by their profession are almost completely masculine (or, as depicted in the fiction – purely masculine) with the prostitute being the only purely feminine profession.

2. 1 Selected Archetypes

In this chapter, every previously selected archetype will be analysed and compared with their historically accurate counterpart (if any). As the very first step in the analysis of each stereotypical character role, a description of the defining traits will be formulated and divided into three subchapters – appearance, mentality and social role. If there is a single trait that defines the role, it

10 will also be mentioned in the very beginning of each selected chapter.

Appearance will include clothing style, hair cuts, accssesories and other things visible from the outside.On the other hand, their mentality will be inspected as the general way of thinking, values and moral compass of these characters. The social role subchapter (what was the role of the character when viewed in the context of the community they were part of) will investigate the character as a part of the society and what is their function in it.

After formulating a complete description or the fictional archetype, the real life counterpart of such character role will be described. The fictional archetype and the real life counterpart will be further compared.

2. 1. 1. 1 Fictional Archetype: The Cowboy

Being a relatively complex archetype, it is virtually impossible to state one character defining trait that would make a cowboy what he is. However, many accounts dedicated to this question exist with probably the most accurate being that a "cowboy" is the manifestation of the freedom, individualism, honor and "the ways of the Old West" itself. (Hobsbawm, The myth of the cowboy) According to Standout Books (a publishing service), a cowboy represents the clash between the old Wild West with the new civilization, someone unable to adapt to the new ways but still having his own ways and experience that is valuable and relevant to the new generation. (Wood, The 3 Golden Rules Of Writing A Western)

Despite the name of the archetype, the cowboys of popular fiction do not neccessarily have to do a job associated with cattle. In fact, they are often seen doing various professions such as a bounty hunter (Django Unchained (2012)), a likable train robber (Butch Cassidy and Sundance Kid(1969)) or are technically unemployed (Unforgiven (1992)) . Appearance

In American popular fiction (and usually in fiction originating in different countries as well), cowboys are almost entirely caucasian men, usually wearing a hat – the most popular choice associated with them being the ten-gallon Steston hat. Around the neck, a typical cowboy usually wears a bandana. The clothes can vary dramatically, ranging from a simple shirt with jeans to a

11 stylish cowboy leather outfit. Typical cowboy boots are moccasins with spiky spurs to force the horse forwards. A horse, or "a faithful steed" is also another completely unseparable feature of practically every single cowboy in popular fiction. Another such iconic trait is the revolver (typically Colt. 45) in a gunbelt filled with ammo. Additional feature of a typical cowboy might include a lasso, used to catch its target. (Dirks, Western Films)

Mentality

A typical cowboy will usually value his freedom while being a very strong individualist. He can be seen wandering from town to town, seeking adventure and at the end of it, riding into the sunset. According to Newman (1990), a cowboy is the direct descendant of knight errant. Such a nomadic wanderer is also fair and good natured, often being compared to Robin Hood, elevating him to a folk hero status. (Slotkin 294 – 295) Patriotism and being respected by the authorities or townsfolk are also a very important traits of the mindset of a typical cowboy, as well as a strong sense of personal justice. (Gene Autry's Cowboy Code.)

When it comes to fighting, the stereotypical American cowboy will always fight fair and even take part in the worse end of an unfair battle, facing more enemies at once while defeating each of them with single shot. An unforgettable scene of many classic western movies is the typical drawing duel with the cowboy always letting the enemy draw first. The shooting skills of a cowboy are near legendary. (Popik, Gunslinger)

Social Role

While being an individualistic nomadic wanderer, a cowboy does usally not have a single social role such as a farmer, a gambler or a prostitute. Usually, a cowboy is needed when there is a form of injustice and the law itself is not able or willing to deal with such a treat or misdeed (Newman). Hypothetically, it can be assumed that the social role of an archetypical cowboy is the hero of the people, much like Robin Hood.

This conclusion is based on the fact that in most classical American Westerns, a cowboy is usually the one eventually defeating a threat in various forms – either a bunch of bandits, an evil outlaw that is his dark counterpart or a horde of Native Americans. Despite sometimes being employed, the job of a cowboy is only secondary to the story and his significance for the society itself.

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2. 1. 1. 2. Historical Accuracy: The Cowboy

The term "cowboy" has originated in the time of the Civil War and it was used for the guerilla fighters that were also stealing cattle because of the anarchy that comes with war, making it far easier to get away with crime. It was therefore used in a derogatory sense. The term has lost its original meaning with the creation of dime novels, which have slowly shaped the mythical version of the cowboy, described above. Such stories were often labelled as historically accurate, resulting in a massive romatization that many people consider historically accurate even to this day. (Angew 83 -85)

Appearance

The cowboy culture comes from Mexico with the original cowboys being called "vaqueros," therefore despite being considered an American invention, it is actually an adoption of the Mexican culture of cattlemen, including the appearance. (Livingston, The History of the Vaquero) (Hobsbawm, The myth of the cowboy) Also the masculine caucasian cowboy stereotype is not really accurate, as a minority of them were either African Americans2 (usually released slaves) or Mexicans (the original cowboys).

Hats were very popular during the late part of the 19th century, however the typical ten-gallon Stetson hat seen in many western movies was not as popular as it seems. The most popular choice for a hat during this period was the bowler hat and according to the historical sources including the photos, it seems that everyone wore any hat they were able to get. The reason for the preference of various hats instead of the ten-gallon Stetson was probably the fact that this hat was too heavy and thus impractical. However, in the later part of the second part of the 19th century, Stetson became moderately popular because of their use by the Union Cavavalry. (Snyder) Also, the cowboys did not wear the hats all the time because during the scorching summer days, the best option was to take the hat off. In addition to the hat, most cowboys had big mustaches.3

Cowboys are usually seen wearing a shirt, sometimes a coat, however from the historical photos it

2 See Figure 1 in the Appendix 3 See Figure 2 in the Appendix

13 is difficult to decide what kind of material are their pants made of but most likely it is cloth as well. The clothes were supposed to be practical rather than following a certain fashion trend. The low- slung gunbelt filled with ammo also did not exist at that time, its creation dates to the 1950s. (Popik, Gunslinger) The boots of a typical cowboy were usually made from leather. Spurs existed and were used at this time, however, the cowboys did not wear them all the time and usually put them on the boots only while riding their steed, as they could be removed and walking without them was much more comfortable. (Spurs, History and Use)

One of the most surprising things for a person not formally educated in this field is the fact that camels also were a part of the Old West.4 As they were much more fit to whitstand the scorching summer days, they were imported from the Middle East. (Trimble, Camels in the West)

Probably the greatest misconception about the Wild West is the rampant use of a revolver. Fact is that the revolvers of this era were terribly inaccurate and required a very long time to be loaded, because every chamber had to be filled with gunpowder separately. The gun did also heat up a lot when it was fired, making its use painful and unreliable. This started changing with the Samuel Colt's invention of the Peacemaker. This revolver could be loaded simply by throwing the used bullets out of the cylinder and replacing them with the new ones. (Popik, Gunslinger)

The actual weapon of choice was usually a coach gun, which was a short shotgun that was used mostly by the guards of stagecoaches, another popular weapon choice was the Winchester rifle. The reason for prefering rifles over pistols was the fact that they were much more accurate, deadlier and easier to load. (Popik, Gunslinger)

This does not mean that pistols were not used at all, some outlaws and gangs used revolvers but they were great exceptions. One of such exceptions is Clay Allison or the James brothers. The James brothers were usually using several loaded revolvers at once, shooting as many projectiles before they threw the empty gun away and took a loaded one as they could, hoping for the best. (Popik, Gunslinger)

There were also strict gun laws in most towns, requiring the people to put their guns away so they could not kill each other with them in the town, which would result in chaos and panic. This has

4 See figure 3 in the Appendix

14 resulted in an armed conflict in Tombstone in 1881 when a few people refused to put their guns away. Despite this, an armed conflict including guns was rare in the Old West and the gun control laws were followed very strictly. (Washington Post, Rick Santorum's misguided view of gun control in the Wild West)

Mentality

Since every individual is unique, the most I can do is provide some trends that were common among the cowboys during this era. The cowboys were usually very simple people at best and criminals at worst. Fact is that they were terribly unskilled with almost everything (including guns) and despite their name (which has a derogatory origin), they did not know much about cattle either. The actual cattle experts were called cattlemen. (Popik, Gunslinger)

No special sense of individual justice, strong patrioticism or Robin Hood mentality is mentioned in any credible historical source. The main goal of a typical cowboy was survival which was hard enough in the hostile and unforgiving environment. They were usually doing everything they could to stay alive while having no actual specialization or training, which often meant being exploited for a negligible fee by actual cattlemen or farmers as the most inferior workers. This has often led to the point where many of the cowboys turned to a life of crime, ranging from thievery and ending with murder. (Angew, 83 – 85)

Their hygiene was also almost completely absent and their nutrition lacked any vegetables, often resulting in health complications such as diseases, food poisoning or rotten teeth. In a house of a typical cowboy, a bed full of fleas and bedbugs could be found and since people did not know about the spread of the germs, they often shared unwashed plates and glasses. (Trimble, Hygiene in the Old West)

Worth of mentioning are also the quick draw duels often seen in many western movies, as well as one cowboy killing several outlaws with surgical accuracy. Fact is that only two such duels happened during the whole period of the Wild West with the first one being Wild Bill versus Davis Tutt in Deadwood and the second one included Jim Courtright versus Luke Short. Also, such duels were not considered a personal thing but were viewed as a criminal act and lawsuits were held after each of these duels. No cowboy (and probably any rationally thinking person) would ever face more than one opponent at once by his pure will, unless he absolutely had to. (Popik, Gunslinger)

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Social Role

Since cowboys were the lowest class of the society right above outlaws and beggars, their role was secondary at best. They did not help to shape the society, culture or economy, nor were they settlers, architects or farmers. Since they had virtually no actual skill, they were used as a form of cheap labor by the specialists. For example, it was normal for a cowboy to earn only 90 dollars for working for three months. Most of this money was spent on beer, whiskey or prostitutes. In war, they were usually serving just as guerilla fighters (notably the "Bloody Bill" Anderson, a leader of a guerilla group). (Angew, 83 – 85)

Their significance was much higher at the other end of the society when they turned to crime because it was the most lucrative way to earn money with their absence of skills. In fact, the line between a cowboy and an outlaw is virtually nonexistent as many cowboys were outlaws as well. Notable examples are Billy the Kid, Butch Cassidy or Ike Clanton. Because of the writers of dime novels of their era who have romantized their stories, the significance of these people as mythical characters is great, being now included in many songs, movies or literary works of ficiton. (Angew, 83 – 85)

2. 1. 1. 3. Conlcusion: The Cowboy

Despite being portrayed as a nomadic and patriotic hero of the people and adventurer, the historically accurate cowboy was nothing more than someone desperately trying to survive in the hostile world of the Old West while lacking any professional skill or specialization, thus often ending either exploited or turning to crime. Absolutely everything about the cowboy archetype became highly idealized, starting with the clothes and ending with the shooting skills.

The ones responsible for this idealization are the original dime novelists as well as future movie directors who frequently used the fictional archetype version of the cowboy. However, in some modern western movies, this heroic archetype is no longer being followed and is either replaced with an anti-heroic version (The Unforgiven 1992) or various traits such as the race are also being challenged. (Django Unchained 2012)

16 2. 1. 2. 1. Fictional Archetype: The Outlaw

Much like the cowboy archetype, the outlaw can be a complex figure as well. However, a character defining trait of such archetype is the fact that he engages in criminal activity, thus earning the title "outlaw." Usually, outlaws are the antagonists of the classical american western movies but the protagonist can sometimes be an outlaw as well (when stealing from the rich and giving to the poor in the Robin Hood fashion – which is technically a crime) (Slotkin 293). In fiction, outlaws usually operate from a secret basement hidden somewhere in the woods or mountains and only go out at night to rob stagecoaches or trains. The term "gunslinger" is also sometimes associated with outlaws and to a lesser with cowboys as well, this term will be further analysed and evaluated. (Popik, Gunslinger)

Appearance

In some articles dedicated to western movies, the terms "white hat" and "black hat" can be found with the white hat usually meaning the protagonist (cowboy) and black hat being the antagonist (outlaw). These terms mean exactly what they stand for – the protagonist wearing a white hat and the antagonist wearing a black one. Origins of this trope date to the movie The Great Train Robbery (1978) with its memorable last scene. Despite being considered a stereotype, it was never quite popular or frequent to portray outlaws in black hats (and the heroes in white ones), this conclusion is therefore probably just a result of selective memory. (Laskow, The Counterintuitive History of Black Hats, White Hats, And Villains)

The appearance of an outlaw is usually similar to that of the cowboy, sometimes they might have darker clothing or seem more unhygienic but none of these traits was ever frequent to use just for the outlaw. Unlike the cowboy, the outlaws can be seen wearing their bandanas as masks during robberies but even this is not exclusive for them.

Mentality

Unlike the cowboy, the outlaw's main motivation is usually pure personal gain at the expense of innocent civilians. He is therefore willing to rob, abduct or murder people, something a true cowboy would never even consider doing. Their preference of crime can vary from robbing trains to banks, usually being depicted as a matter of taste and preference.

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Depending on the story, an outlaw can either be a part of a gang (in contrast with the hero, who is usually a lone cowboy) or alone. However, they are usually seen to be members of an outlaw group lead by the smartest or simply most dominant member. The nature of the group can vary from the uncomforming guerilla fighters that simply love to cause mayhem to pragmatic villains trying to maximize their gain. An example of such movies is High Noon (1952)

In most classical western movies, the outlaw is usually the only one who can compete in shooting skills with the cowboy, being only sligtly worse and getting killed in the fair duel despite being allowed to draw first. Sometimes the cowboy is able to defeat a whole gang while letting them draw first, a shot per life. (Popik, Gunslinger)

Social Role

Being an outcast engaging in criminal activity, the role of an outlaw is almost always detrimental to the society. The severity of the danger depends on many factors, such as what kind of criminal the outlaw is (a thief, a robber, a murderer...), how frequently does he terrorize the innocent civilians or what is his main target (stagecoaches, trains, banks...). The innocent civilians usually fear the outlaw (or the whole gang) and tell exaggerated stories about their cruelty or skill to each other, fueling the panic even more.

2. 1. 2. 2. Historical Accuracy: The Outlaw

The term "outlaw" might seem self-explanatory – a person operating outside the law, however this is not the case. It actually means a person that is no longer protected by the law and thus can be killed without legal consequences. A good demonstration of this are the typical Wild West wanted posters, depicting the face of the criminal, the severity of their crime and the price on their head, "dead or alive." If such a person would still be protected by the law, the only way how to bring them to justice would be alive.5 (The Law Dictionary, Outlaw)

The term "gunslinger" which is often used today to describe many infamous outlaws such as Butch Cassidy, Jesse James or Billy the Kid did not actually exist during the Wild West era. According to Barry Popik, it came into existence with the movie Drag Harlan (1920). The gunmen of the Wild

5 See Figure 6 in the Appendix

18 West era were commonly called "shootists." (Popik, Gunslinger)

Appearance

In reality, outlaws were indistinguishable from other members of society, the same way todays (2018) criminals are. Just like in the movies, outlaws could be sometimes recognized by either having a bandana over their face or having their face completely covered, one notable example is William "Brazen Bill" Brazelton6.

Mentality

Outlaws were usually desperate people with no actual skills, murderous psychopaths (Billy the Kid) or, in the latest part of the 19th century, former guerilla fighters who could not get used to the fact that the world around them is changing (Jesse James). However, some of them were very intelligent and had impressive knowledge as well as skills, a notable example is the Wild Bunch that included Butch Cassidy and the Sundace Kid.

The philosophy of most outlaws included spreading exaggerated rumours about themselves, making them look much more dangerous and skilled than they really were (or much more likeable, to the point when the outlaw portrayed himself as a victim), so their victims would be more likely to surrender to them. Billy the Kid was notourious for claiming that he has killed about twenty one men, while in reality the number was most likely as low as four. (Brothers, Fact vs. Myth)

The same goes for the James-Younger gang and essentially every violent outlaw. This tendency was further fueled by journalists who knew that the more impressive stories they write, the greater the sales. Probably the most famous example of this is the relationship between John Newman Edwards and Jesse James. Thanks to Edward's effort, Jesse became a national hero of the South, a Robin Hood protecting the southerners from the opression by the North, stealing from the rich and giving to the poor. (Woog 49)

Social Role

6 See Figure 4 in the Appendix

19 Much like in the movies, some outlaws actually operated from a secret base hidden in the woods. However, they did not opress one town over and over again, this would make them predictable and thus easy to get caught. Most outlaws also did not rob banks at all, according to some sources – only very few bank robberies happened during the whole era of the Wild West (Chalakoski, Despite What Everyone Thinks, Bank Heists Were Almost Nonexistent in the Wild West). The reason for this was the fact that the sheriff's office was usually right next to the bank and the banks had massive vaults to hide the money in, making such action almost suicidal with very low chances of success. Notable exception is, again, the Wild Bunch with Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, who were literally crazy, lucky and skilled enough to get away with such an action. (Hendrix- Komoto, Bank Robberies in the West)

Most outlaws robbed stagecoaches or trains, as they were full of unarmed civilians and outside of the town (thus without any armed authority), there was a great chance that the victims would not even try to fight back and rather surrender. It also eliminated the risk of being interrupted by a Sheriff, a Marhsal, their deputies or an angry mob of vigilante towns people. (Slotkin 238)

Despite usually being just criminals robbing innocent people of their hardly earned money and endangering their lives, some of them were perceived as heroes by ordinary townsfolk. This was mostly due to novelists and journalists, who presented their higly inaccurate stories as historical facts. (Slotkin 238) With little to no way (and probably, motivation) how to verify the claims stated by such populists, most ordinary people simply believed them. Ironically, it was comforting them that someone somewhere is watching over them.

2. 1. 2. 3. Conclusion: The Outlaw

While still being idealized to an extent, the fictional outlaw archetype is much closer to his historically accurate version than the cowboy. While the clothing of an archetypical outlaw is usually historically inaccurate, his mentality as well as the role in society partially matches those of his real counterpart. Ironically, the fictional outlaws are viewed as a clear danger and threat by the ordinary townspeople while in reality, some outlaws were either during their lives or after their death viewed as heroes of the people or victims of the system.

2. 1. 3. 1. Fictional Archetype: Native Americans

20 Two stereotypical types of Native Americans exist in classical western movies, the almost naked savage cannibal and/or rapist and the stylish noble warrior covered in feathers. Both use a bow as their primary weapon of choice and in the same fashion as everyone else in the Wild West, have their horses. (Churchill 47)

According to Jacquelin Kilpatrick, three stereotypes of Native Americans exist with the first one being mentally oriented, the second sexually and the last spirtually. (Kilpatrick) The first two stereotypes are similar to the savage and cannibal stereotype with the mentally oriented one depicting Native Americans as of low intelligence, simple and bloodthirsty savages and the sexually oriented as aggressive animal-like creatures whose only desire is enslaving and raping white women. The spritually oriented stereotype depicts them as shamans who are close to nature and base their whole culture on a simple ancient religion.

Appearance

Since there are many Native American tribes, the appearance varies among the classical western movies, depending on which tribe are they supposed to be a part of. However, there are some traits exhibited by almost all Native Americans, regardless of their supposed tribe or whether they are the savage or spiritual stereotype.

Virtually all Native Americans are depicted as people with feather headdress and braided hair, regardless of the gender. Another universal traits include riding a horse and using the bow as their primary weapon of choice, tomahawks are the secondary one. The way they further dress depends on many various facors, such as which of the two (or three) stereotypes they are supposed to represent, from which tribe they are and mostly – a pure chance. Fact is that the director often did not know what were the defining traits, clothes or traditions of certain tribes (such as the Sioux, the Apache, the Comanche...), resulting in various impossible combinations of clothes and accessories. Therefore the most I can do is to provide an incomplete overview of what could the possible warderobe of a stereotypical Native American include. (Transnoodle, The Brilliant Way Native Americans Fought Racism In Westerns)

Such warderobe could include a vest, linen clothes, breechcloth, moccasins, homemade jewelery, pants made from leather or cloth for men, long dresses for women or a completely naked chest (for men). And also, the wide spreading feahtered war bonnet, they are also further depicted as dirty, not

21 taking physical care about themselves. One such impossible combination of clothing is described by Robert J. Conley in his book Cherokee Thoughts Honest and Uncensored:

[The chief] has just come out of his tepee wearing a Sioux war bonnet (both northern plains items), draped in a Navajo blanket (Southwest), beside a beautiful stream in which is parked a birchbark canoe (Ojibwa from Wisconsin or Minnesota). Oh yeah. There is a totem pole (Northwest) standing beside the tepee.

Mentality

Depending on the stereotype, two basic mentalities exist – the aggressive savage and the primitive spiritual. Since the spiritual stereotype appeared in later movies as a positive way of discrimination, only the savage type will be inspected as this thesis focuses on classical american western movies.

The savage Natives usually attack in a horde of absurd numbers, screaming war chants. They are further represented as having no real personality, only a set of very negative traits. These include treachery, disloyalty, cruelty and basically every single negative trait the director was able to come up with and how did they fit the story. (Aleiss) (Williams, How Hollywood Whitewashed the Old West)

Native Americans are also represented as being of inferior intelligence and having limited learning abilities as well as no real morals, killing strangers on sight including women and children. How far are they willing to go in their cruelty depends mostly on the story, ranging from aggressive bloodthirsty savages to outright cannibals, rapists or slave masters. (A Man Called Horse (1969))

They are also sometimes depicted as being aggressive and tracherous even to each other, not just the honorable and civilized white cowboys. Whenever in a movie the white man somehow becomes a part of a Native tribe (usually by abduction) and the viewer gets an insight into the way the Natives function among themselves, they are depicted as primitive, uncivilized and following barbaric traditions. Also, when anyone becomes a part of their tribe, there is no way back for them other than escape or death, meaning the Natives do not give their members a free will to leave. (The Searchers (1956)) One of the most stereotypical trait of savage Natives is also scalping – the act of cutting a part of the human scalp, usually with hair. (Martin, Scalping: Fact & Fantasy)

Social Role

22

The Native Americans in classical western movies serve just as targets to shoot at as well as a constant threat to anyone who dares to come too close to them or be at the wrong place in a wrong time, sometimes they simply oppose civilization (but not as a protection of their land but because they are barbaric and want to destroy everything that is unknown to them). ((Stagecoach (1939)), (The Searchers (1956)), Cheynne Autumn (1978)) Depending on the movie, the threat they present might vary from ruthless death to torture, rape, cannibalism or abduction. However, this is usually all they represent and also their only function in the society of the Wild West – they are simply a threat.

They are often degraded to an animal or even a thing, meaning they are less than humans and killing them is an honorable act. In some movies, the white men even desecrate their corpses, either to avoid them to go to their version of afterlife or just from pure hate against their race. (The Searchers (1956))

2. 1. 3. 2. Historical Accuracy: Native Americans

Native Americans are often called Indians, the reason for this is the fact that when Columbus discovered the continent of America, he thought that he is in Indies, a part of Asia. (Wilton) Most of the above mentioned stereotypes were taken from the Indians of the Great Plains, mostly things like the war bonnet, the tepee or the pipe. Buffalo Bill even picked the Sioux as his favourite due to their appearance as well as riding skills.7

Appearance

Providing an average or universal appearance of Native Americans is virtually impossible as there were numerous tribes with various cultures. Neverthless, a fact is that they rarerly wore any headdresses at all, the reason for them wearing such accessories in the movies is that their wigs would fall off during their aggressive attacks. Another such common and widespread myth is them wearing feathers all over their bodies all the time, in reality for most of the tribes feathers were sacred and only meant to be worn during special ceremonies. (Young, Why I Won't Wear War Paint and Feathers in a Movie Again)

7 See Figure 7 in the Appendix

23

Since there were so many tribes, I am going to describe the clothes and accessories of the three selected tribes of the 19th century to provide a rough image of their diversity. (TeAchnology, What Were the Major Native American Tribes?)

Appearance: The Apache8

The Apache tribe originally used buckskin to create their clothes with a yellow coloring, using mineral paint, adding beadwork. In the late part of the 19th century, cloth slarted slowly replacing buckskin. Both genders wore various types of moccassins. (Fort Sill Apache Tribe, Traditional Clothing)

Men usually wore a triangular shaped shirt with fringes, made of buckskin with parts of the hide hanging on both sides, forming a bib. Under the waist they usually wore a breach cloth with a belt. Sometimes they could be seen wearing leggings with fringes but that was relatively uncommon. The Apache men were one of the few tribes who actually wore headbands. (Fort Sill Apache Tribe, Traditional Clothing)

Women usually wore a buckskin blouse in a poncho shape with fringes on the sides and a circular yoke that had jingles on its edges. Hald circles or triangles were cut into the fabric as well, they also wore a skirt that was sewn from two buckskin pieces with the tail of the deer at the bottom. In the later part of the 19the century, the women started to wear clothes created from colored cotton calico. (Fort Sill Apache Tribe, Traditional Clothing)

Appearance: The Sioux9

In the Sioux tribe, women were the ones creating the clothes to wear for both genders. Their material of choice was usually buckskin and buffalo skin. Both genders also wore a cape over their shoulders and paint, porcupine quills or beadwork was usually used to decorate the clothes, usually to create various geometric patterns. (Alchin, Native American Indian Tribes)

8 The Apache tribe was chosen because it is the most well-known tribe by the public. (Alchin, Native American Indian Tribes) 9 The Sioux tribe was chosen because it was the largest one. (Alchin, Native American Indian Tribes)

24 Men usually wore breechcloth, buckskin tunnics with fringes or shirts and leggings. During the winter or rainy days the Sioux men wore heavy buffalo robes and cloaks. The Sioux tribe men were one of the Native Americans who actually wore the feathered war bonnets (with eagle feathers) as a symbol of honor. The feathers on their bonnest were usually trailing to the floor. (Alchin, Native American Indian Tribes)

Women were usually wearing dresses that were long to their knees with leggings that were also covering the leg to the knee but from the bottom. Similar to the men, during the winter or rain, they wore buffalo cloaks and robes. Their dresses were heavily decorated with signs, beads, symbols and other marks. The women of the Sioux wore their hair in two braids. (Alchin, Native American Indian Tribes)

Appearance: The Cherokees10

Similar to the previous tribes, buckskin was also one of the most popular material for the Cherokees, as well as bark fabric. Their clothing was further influenced by the European imigrants, mostly as a result of trade. (Alchin, Indian Tribes)

Men wore breechcloths, moccassins and leggings and they actually shaved their head to leave a scalplock. Tattoos and painting on the body and face were also a common practice among the Cherokees. The chefs wore a long cloak created from feathers. Women wore a knee-lenght skirt made from a bark fabric or buckskin. Later in the 19th century, they started wearing a blouse made in a poncho style. (Alchin, Indian Tribes)

An interesting feature of the Cherokee tribe was the Booger mask, a mask with carved exxagerated expressions, they were used in the Booger Dance. Such masks were meant to represent either animals or non-native people and their name comes from the word "boogieman," coined by the white settlers. (Alchin, Indian Tribes)

Mentality

Since every person is unique and being a Native American is not an occupation, social status or a

10 The Cherokees were chosen as they were a rare example of a non-nomadic tribe. (Alchin, Indian Tribes)

25 personal choice, it is impossible to provide an average, typical or universal mentality of a Native American. However, various tribes were associated with certain traits and values, therefore I am going to provide a short overview of such traits among the same tribes as above.

Mentality: The Apache

The Apache were a nomadic tribe of hunters and gatherers with a warrior like mentality, meaning they were in a good physical shape (they were mostly endurance oriented) and not afraid to go in a fight, sometimes even starting it. Men were the ones hunting for food and women cared about the settlement. They did not just surrender their land to the newcoming European imigrants but rather defended it. During the beginning of the 19th Century, the Apache were in conflict with the Mexicans and this was so severe that they promised a safe and free way through their lands to the Americans when they went to war against the Mexicans. (Alchin, Native American Indian Tribes)

Mentality: The Sioux

Similar to the Apache, the Sioux also were hunters and warriors, they were often at conflict with other tribes and the US army. The men of the Sioux were also not scared to go in an open conflict as well as in very good physical shape, usually strength oriented. They were wandering the Great Plains hunting for buffalo, which were sacred to them as they provided them with clothing, food and mateiral to build their tepees. They were also highly religious, with their religion being based on Animism – a central idea of it is that everything naturally ocurring on this world, animals, rocks, water, have their spirits. The tribes of the Great Plains believed in the Great Spirit (Manitou). Various rituals, such as the Sun Dance ritual, were also an important part of their culture. (Alchin, Native American Indian Tribes)

Mentality: The Cherokees

Unlike the other mentioned tribes, the Cherokees were considered a "civilized" tribe (non-nomadic and with an alphabet using symbols for letters), however its people were either hunters or farmers (in contrast to the gatherers of the nomadic tribes) and when the American colonists came, they did not fight them back but rather adopted some parts of their culture (mostly clothes and later even architecture and religion), even got infected by unknown diseases. The Cherokees also had a school system as well as a juristic system implemented in their society. (Alchin, Indian Tribes)

26

Social Role

Since this thesis is mostly centered around the early Wild West, the role of the Native Americans will be considered from the view of the European colonists.

Intitially, the Native Americans helped the original pilgrims survive the first winter while becoming infected by their various diseases such as the measles, killing a lot of them. During the era of the Old West (19th century), the white settlers were originally not at war with the Natives, only with the most hostile tribes. The colonists were usually trading with them, especially the fur trade was profitable and since the Native Americans knew the surroundings very well, they were often offering their service as a guide to the newcoming settlers in exchange for goods. (DiLorenzo 229)

However, later as the colonies started to expand a lot and the gold rush started, the white settlers wanted to get the Natives into reservations so they could claim their land and mine all the gold, often resulting in conflict, unfair trade or the infamous "Trail of Tears." Therefore, the idea of the Natives attacking the white settlers at sight is as incorrect as the Natives attacking other Native tribes at sight. The conflicts were rarely so open and only about 1% of Natives died in direct armed conflict with the white settlers, most of them died of indirect causes such as malnutrition or disease. Neverthless, the ways the immigrants used to get rid of the Natives were questionable at best. (DiLorenzo 229)

The ways the Whites used to achieve their goals of the Natives removal were less and less indirect, resulting in an open "removal of the Plains Indians" right after the war. Some Plains Indians (the tribes inhabiting the Great Plains) were forcibly transported into some Oklahoma reservations, some were enslaved and forced to work on the railroad and the most defensive were simply killed. (DiLorenzo 231 – 232)

Since there were so many tribes around the whole continent, the short summary of the destiny of the Native Americans I have provided is simplified at best. Depending on where on the continent the Natives were and of what mentality, their destiny could vary. The three selected tribes will be again used as short case examples.

27 Social Role: Apache

The Apache initially had a treaty with the US Army, allowing the americans to mine on their land, the treaty was later broken when the miners attacked the Apache leader Mangas Coloradas. The Apache started to defend themselves against the attacking miners, the leader of the Apache was later captured and killed. Although they were fighting the white men, eventually they surrendered to them in 1886 and were transported into reservations in New Mexico, Oklahoma and Arizona. (Alchin, Native American Indian Tribes)

Social Role: The Sioux

The Sioux defended the Great Plains against the white imigrants. In 1887 the Dawes General Allotment Act sold the Indian lands, including the lands of the Sioux, to the white settlers. In 1890 Battle of Wounded Knee was the very last great fight in which the Sioux were included and their members massacred, the surviving members were transported into reservations, mostly in South Dakota. (Alchin, Native American Indian Tribes)

Social Role: The Cherokees

The Cherokees had their settlements in a giant area which is now the states of western North and South Carolina, southwest Virginia, northern Georgia, Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississipi, northern Alabama and the west of Florida. Right after the War of Independence, the Cherokee tribe fell a victim to The Indian Removal Act (1830, signed by Andrew Jackson) which forced them to walk among the Trail of Tears into an Oklahoma reservation. Although relatively non-violent, many members of the tribe died on the trail because of malnutrition, disease or other causes. (Alchin, Indian Tribes)

2. 1. 3. 3. Conclusion: Native Americans

Unlike the two previous archetypes, the Native Americans were degraded to a one-dimensional version of themselves while actually having a much richer and complex culture than the European settlers. All their tribes, history and society was merged and reduced into a horde of either violent barbars or primitive spiritual shamans. This degradation partially mirrors how the colonists slowly started perceiving the Natives as the time progressed and their colonies thrived, simply as an

28 obstacle of the cilizitaion that was reduced to a life in colonies while being reduced to a barbaric horde in the stories.

2. 1. 4. 1. Fictional Archetype: The Lawman

Unlike the previous three archetypes, there is not a single general lawman stereotype. The most used law figure in classic western movies is the sheriff, however, a (town) marshal or a sheriff's deputy can sometimes be witnessed as well. Niether of these positions has a single common estabilished stereotype.

The main defining trait of such archetypes depends on their position. A sheriff in classical western movies is a local authority figure, supposed to uphold the law in the town while a deputy is a person he has chosen as his right hand. A sheriff is either elected by the people of the town or chosen by the county officials. In some movies, a town marshal is usually sent by the federal government to solve a concrete problem in a certain town, such as getting rid of an outlaw group. (TV Tropes, The Sheriff)

Appearance

Regardless of their position, the lawmen of the Wild West usually wear the same kind of clothing like cowboys and the townsfolk. Since there is no formal dress that would distinguish them from the ordinary people (or certain functions between themselves), they wear a badge on their chest with their position written on it (such as sheriff, deputy, marshal...). The badge is almost always star shaped and five to nine-pointed, made of tin, gold or an unspecified metal. 11

Mentality

Although there is not a single estabilished stereotypical portrayal of these roles, there are some stereotypes regarding their portrayal, depending on their role in the story. Unlike the previous three stereotypes, the sheriff is not strictly a positive or a negative role, despite being an authority figure. Some stereotypical portrayals of the sheriff in classical western movies have crystalized and their mentality will be inspected further in the chapter.

11 See Figure 5 in the Appendix

29

The Sheriff Subarchetype: The Retired Hero

When being a heroic figure, the sheriff is usually too old to deal with a certain problem, such as an outlaw group, therefore searching for help from his friends or townspeople. Such a character usually displays the traits of honesty, fairness, courage, bravery etc. It could be said that this version of a sheriff is just an old cowboy that has already settled down, since their traits are very similar. Examples of the archetype include Sheriff John T. Chance (Rio Bravo 1959), Sheriff Hodges (Johny Reno 1966) and Sheriff John Steele (The Big Stampede 1932). (Berman, The Top 20 Sheriffs in Movies and Television)

The Sheriff Subarchetype: The Well-intentioned extremist

This archetype is usually in a gray moral area, trying to keep the law and peace in town by any means neccessary and with an iron fist. Such a sheriff is usually not the main protagonist or antagonist of a movie but a supporting character. This subtype of an authority figure will usually demand both the citizens and the visitors of his town to get away their guns. If they do not obey the order, they can be either forced, brutally punished or killed by the authority figures of the town. Examples of the subtype include Sheriff Little Bill (Unforgiven 1991) or Sheriff John Langston (Silverado 1985).

The Sheriff Subarchetype: The Corrupt Sherrif

When the sheriff is either a main antagonist or just a negative supporting character, he will almost always portray this stereotype. Such a sheriff uses his power and position for his own personal gain, sometimes even cooperating with an outlaw or a whole gang of them. The motivation behind the actions of the corrupt sheriff can vary from a desire for power or popularity to financial gain. Examples of such sheriff include Sheriff "Blue Tom" Hendricks (Rio Lobo 1970), Sheriff Cobb Langston (Silverado 1985) and County Sheriff John Beham. (Tombstone 1993)

The Marshal

In the movies, a marshal is usually sent by the federal government to take care of a certain problem and his authority surpasses that of the sheriff but only when dealing with the problem he is sent for

30 to solve. Most marshals in the movies are level-headed, calm, rational and focused at the problem they are supposed to take care of. Sometimes the movies fail to distinguish betweed a sheriff and a Marshal. (Weiser, Lawmen of the Old West.)

Examples of such marshals include the Marshal of Daughtery (Django Unchained 2012), U. S. Marshal Johny Reno (Johny Reno 1966) and Town Marshal Will Kane (High Noon 1952).

The Deputy

Probably the most negatively stereotypized authority figure is a deputy, which is someone who was hired either by a sheirff or a marshal to aid them in their duty. Most deputies are portrayed as immature, unintelligent, clumsy or just generally incompetent. Examples include deputies from Rio Bravo (1959), Silverado (1985) and High Noon (1952).

Social Role

As an authority figure, a lawman would be expected to take care about the law and order in their town. Neverthless, their motivation and the role in the story determines their role for the public, the thing all fictional lawmen have in common is that they have an official power. In this subchapter, the social role of all mentioned stereotypes will be described.

The Sheriff Subarchetype: The Retired Hero

In the movies, this type of sheriff usually has a single dangerous problem to solve, such as a group of outlaws terrorizing his town. Therefore, he serves as a form of protection and is supposed to find a final solution for the problem. His people rely on him and depending on the movie, they can either stay to aid him or leave him in fear that they might get killed, letting him to take care about the problem alone. Summarized, he is viewed as the one to turn to for solution when the town is in danger. (Rio Bravo 1966, The Big Stampede 1932)

The Sheriff Subarchetype: The Well-intentioned extremist

Unlike the previous archetype, this type of sheriff is usually not concerned with one single problem but rather with keeping the town calm and peaceful at any cost. This is usually achieved by keeping

31 the townspeople unarmed while making sure that any visitors to the town also remove their weapons. The townspeople usually respect or even like such a sheriff because he keeps them safe and view his iron fist as a neccessary evil to uphold the peace. Summarized, such a sheriff is viewed as someone who the people can rely on to keep the peace. (Unforgiven 1991, Silverado 1985)

The Sheriff Subarchetype: The Corrupt Sheriff

Both previous archetypes are usually more or less liked by their people, which is rarerly the case when it comes to this archetype. A typical corrupt sheriff will not have the well-being of his town as his main interest, usually using his power to get what he is trying to achieve, neglegting or misusing his townspeople in the process. Depending on the movie, when the people know about his corruption, they are usually afraid to speak about it publicly and fear such sheriff. When they do not know about his hidden motives, they view him according to his public picture. Summarized, such a Sheriff is directly or indirectly detrimental to the town. (Rio Lobo 1970, Silverado 1985, Tombstone 1993)

The Marshal

Since a marshal is usually called to take care about a certain problem, his role is similar, if not identical to that of "The Retired Hero" sheriff archetype. However, a marshal called specially to the town does not have a personal bond with the townspeople, meaning he is usually perceived in a more formal manner but respected neverthless. (Django Unchained 2012, Johny Reno 1966, High Noon 1952).

The Deputy

The role of a deputy is usually secondary at best, meaning his impact on the public is minimal to none. Although he is supposed to be the sheriff's or the marshal's right hand, his stereotypical uselessness make him just another ordinary citizen, only with a badge. (Rio Bravo 1959, Silverado 1985 and High Noon 1952)

2. 1. 4. 2. Historical Accuracy: The Lawman

The lawlessness seen in many classic Westerns is an inaccurate phenomenon at best, as the lawmen

32 of the Old West were usually trying to do their best to keep peace in the town. However, since the law enforcement used to be very basic, vigilantism was a common occurence. Neverthless, solving any personal problems by duelling or other non-official means was considered a crime and could be punished. (Agnew 177)

Just like in the classic western movies, there were several law enforcement positions with different functions. A sheriff was elected by the county residents and was supposed to take care and uphold the law in his town and all his official power applied only in that single town. A marshal was sent by the federal government to solve a specific case (also similar to the movies) and his authority and power applied everywhere and surpassed that of the sheriff. However, when the problem was solved, marshal's power ended there. Both sheriffs and marshals could hire deputies to help them in their duty and a deputy could be anyone but there were some restrictions that will be discussed. (Deziel, Difference Between a Marshal & a Sheriff in the Old West)

Appearance

Similar to the classic western movies, there was no distinctive clothing for any of the functions, meaning a badge was the only physical feature to distinguish a lawman from an ordinary citizen. The badges also were star-shaped and could be anywhere from five-pointed to ten-pointed but six- pointed were by far the most popular and are the ones mostly associated with the Old West sheriff. Worth to note is also the fact that both sheriffs and marshals could design their own badges and the material used for their creation was usually scrap metal or Mexican coins.12 (Deziel, Difference Between a Marshal & a Sheriff in the Old West)

The name "sheriff" probably comes from the Middle Age era of England, where a shire-reeve was a person responsible for keeping order in the shire, which is a precusor to todays counties. (Trimble, Difference Between a Marshal & a Sheriff in the Old West)

It is not clear how did the hexagram (a six-pointed star) travel its way from Middle Age Kabbalah to the American Old West but suggestions exist that the people of the American frontier knew the medallions of knights and English bobbies and tried imitating them. In the medieval era, the

12 See Figure 8 in the Appendix

33 hexagram symbol was also used to treat various diseases, injuries and poisonings as well as serve as a protection against the evil spirits and dark magic. (Calame, Behind the Shield)

Mentality

As a representative of the law, all these functions required the ones in charge not to be afraid of killing or being killed since their duty was sometimes very dangerous. As a result, many lawmen were outlaws, murderers or shootists as well at some point of their life since they were not afraid of taking lives of others or risking their own and this position allowed them to settle down and have at least some steady income. Such former outlaws (some even became outlaws after they were in a law enforcement position) either made a good law enforcer because they were skilled with guns or just used their new position to cover their crimes, thus sometimes resulting in being lynched by the vigilante mob. (Hineman, Becoming a Lawman in the Wild West)

Social Role

Despite possessing some amount of potential danger, fact is that all the above mentioned lawmen positions included mostly administrative work and keeping the town clean from potentialy rabid wild animals, trash and drunk people in public. Most of them also did not receive no other form of salary than a small percentage of the money the ones they arrested were fined or the rewards put on the heads of wanted men, resulting in many lawmen having second jobs. (Weiser, Lawmen of the Old West)

The Sheriff (Social Role)

A sheriff had to be liked by his townspeople otherwise he would not be taken seriously by them and could become a victim of vigilante justice, especially if he used the position to cover his crimes. He could as well use his weapon when neccessary, mostly when someone, including himself was in danger or when the townspeople or visitors refused to hand their guns to him. A good example of this is Sheriff Cape Willingham who ordered five men to hand him their guns, all but one did so. Willingham then brought his shotgun and with the last man reaching for his revolver, the sheriff simply pulled the trigger. (Agnew 180)

34

For a long time, there was not a clear set of sheriff's duties and most of the things a sheriff had to take care of were very mundane, including the collection of taxes and filling papers for the country court. Also cleaning the streets from trash, the inspection of cattle or elimination of pests but not all sheriffs had to do these tasks. No actual qualification, standarts or previous experience was neccessary to become a sheriff. (Agnew 180)

In 1882, Sheriff David Cook wrote the very first set of rules and duties for sheriffs, which became widely adopted as a standart for this position. These rules included never hitting a prisoner with a gun because it (the gun) might become disabled, not arresting anyone when not being sure whether your authority allows you such action or never trusting prisoners as they are generally very dishonorable people. (Cook)

The Marshal (Social Role)

A federal marshal works as an enforcer of the rule of the federal courts and such position exists since 1789 as a part of the Justice Department. Their jurisdiction applied everywhere, since they were employees of the government, but could use it only to fullfil the tasks they were contracted for. A typical task of a marshal would be apprehending wanted criminals and their authority surpassed that of a sheriff. The criminals they were usually sent after included mail robberers or deserters from the army, which were federal crimes. A marshal was usually not sent to solve local crimes unless they were ordered to do so and their help was requested by the local authorities. (Agnew 180)

When the searched outlaw crossed the borders of the county, several marshals formed a posse to go after him. An example is a posse created by Wyatt Earp, known as the Earp Vendetta Ride. Earp named several gunmen and friends deputies in 1882 to pursuit the ones he suspected killed his brothers. The posse followed the suspects through several states, killing most of them. County Sheriff Behan, a friend of some of the posse's victims, then tried to arrest Earp and his posse for murder but failed to do so. (Agnew 180)

The duty of a town marshal was maintaining the town jail, removing drunk people from the streets, keeping the administrative work such as docummenting arrests and tax collection or shooting stray dogs to prevent rabies. His duty was very similar, if not identical, to that of a sheriff. (Agnew 180)

35

The Deputy (Social Role)

A deputy could be chosen either by a sheriff or a marshal (federal or local) to help them in their actual task or to fulfill their duties when they were occupied with a task they had to fully focus on such as searching for hidden criminal groups. Anyone could become a deputy but the lawmen usually prefered skilled gunfighters. If a deputy killed a wanted criminal, he had to prove his actions by photographing his dead body and bring it to his superior, this is the reason why so many photographs of dead outlaws exist today. (Agnew 180)

2. 1. 4. 3. Conclusion: The Lawman

While the other archetypes in this thesis had one idealized version that can be easily compared to their historically accurate counterpart, the same can not be stated about the lawmen, since they were usually portrayed in a way that fit their role in the story, resulting in several various subtypes of such archetype. The most idealized and inaccurate subtype of the sheriff is the "retired hero," which is essentially just a retired cowboy that has settled down whilte both the "well-intentioned extremist" and the "corrupt sheriff" were relatively similar to some of the real sheriff figures of the Old West. However, like any other archetype on this list, their clothing was always hisorically inaccurate, which applies to the marshal and deputy as well.

Although some repeated traits and sings have been discovered, the marshal did not occur in the mainstream fiction often enough to state and describe one or more frequently used stereotypes, therefore any conclusion about the accuracy of his portrayal as an estabilished archetype in fiction would be precipitous.

On the other hand, the deputy is technically incomparable to his historically accurate counterpart because almost anyone could become one without any specialization or training. This means that the negatively stereotypized portrayal of an immature, unintelligent or clumsy deputy could be true in some deputies but not others.

2. 1. 5. 1. Fictional Archetype: The Prostitute

The stereotypes about prostitutes of the Wild West originated in the puritan nature of the settlers,

36 viewing women as completely lacking any sexual desire, thus perceiving prostitutes as victims of society who had no other chance in life than to turn to prostitution (or who need a quick and large amount of money to support an ill family member etc...). Such positive stereotyping provided them with an acceptable explanation of the phenomenon of prostiution as they only viewed men as lustful and sinful. (Ditmore 20) (Haywood 530)

Appearance

In the movies, the prostitutes are usually seen in a saloon, being dressed as elegant and decent as possible, often including a hat, a corset, stockings, a skirt, high-heel boots and are sometimes seen waving a fan in front of their face. The color of their dress can vary from black to blue to red. ( Lackmann 83)

Mentality

Being a stereotype with puritan origins, such prostitute is usually a victim of the society with no other chance how to make living. Naturally, she hates her profession and if she had a chance, she would quit immediately. Commonly, such a prostitute can suffer from either an alcohol or morphine addiction to get partially away from her fate. There are usually several admirers who compete for the heart of the prostitute, telling her that they will save her one day. If the final fate of the prostitute character is known, she usually undergoes a redemption either by marrying a man who brings stability in her life or by dying, usually as a result of a sacrifice for someone or a suicide attempt. (Goldman 2) (Butler and Siporin 92 – 95)

Social Role

Being a prostitute, the role in society of such character is determined by her occupation, which is providing sexual services to paying customers. Usually, the prostitute knows her regular clients and if there is a main heroic figure in the story, she might as well be interested in becoming his wife as a direct way out of her misfortunate lustful life. (Hassard and Holliday 124)

2. 1. 5. 2. Historical Accuracy: The Prostitute

Most prostitutes were sex workers simply by choice rather by neccessity with the main motivation

37 between such decision usually being making quick and large amounts of money as well as having freedom that most women did not have at that time. (Barnhart 2)

Fact is that most women in the Old West had no real rights, the role of most women was perceived very straightforwardly – a mother and a housewife. They could not legally own any properties and were even considered a property of their husband. Women were not allowed to drink alcohol, have sexual intercourse outside of marriage, use any form of birth control or even walk alone in public. The only women who were allowed to perform all these things were the prostitutes, or as they were called during the Old West period, the soiled doves. (Russel 111)

Appearance

Most prostitutes were usually dressed in long dresses of any color, trying to be dressed as fashionable and elegant as possible. The clothing was not revealing at all, sometimes even to the point where it covered the neck too, ironically being even more decent than stereotypical saloon ladies seen in movies. However, this was not the case for all of them and some did in fact wear a slightly revealing clothing. (Barnhart 23 – 28)

Overall, there was not a typical or standardized dress for prostitutes, a fact that irritated the Denver Council who passed a law that required the prostitutes to wear yellow ribbons so they could be immediately distinguishable from other women. This eventually turned against the council as the prostitutes dressed themselves completely in yellow to prove that they are not ashamed by their profession, leading to the cancelation of this law. (Russel 118 – 119)

Mentality

Most prostitutes chose this occupation because it provided them with a relatively easy life full of personal freedom at the cost of some shaming from the public society. Unlike women who were not sex workers, the prostitutes of the Old West were economicaly independent. They also wanted to get some properties for themselves such as clothes or a house without being dependent on a husband. (Haywood 30)

However, the data on how much money did a prostitute make in this era is conflicting as some sources claim that the prostitutes did not make much while others state that they got rich relatively

38 quickly with prostitution but this might be a question of personal values as well as the location and exact time. (Russel) (Mackell, Jan, Soiled Doves)

Most prostitutes ended their life either voluntarily by suicide, died by alcohol or other drug overdose or were killed by a disease. Naturally, the diseases they contracted were mostly sexually transmited such as syphilis and chlamydia. (Mackell, Jan, Soiled Doves)

Social Role

The main role of prostitutes is given by their occupation – provide sexual services in exchange for money or other goods. Providing sexual pleasure to a paying customers however was not the only service they had to provide, sometimes the customers just wanted a moment of companionship and diversion. (Dary 212)

As the sensationalist media, the news sometimes targeted prostitutes and labelled them as unwomanly abominations, unacceptable failures or the ones who fell. Despite all the shaming by the puritan based society, their services were highly demanded. (Butler and Siporin 90)

2. 1. 5. 3. Conclusion: The Prostitute

The clothing of a fictional prostitute is probably the most historically accurate (this does not mean it is completely accurate) from all the stereotypical archetypes analysed in this thesis, so is thier social role. However, their mentality is what underwent a major idealization in the puritan minds of the settlers which is different from the other archetypes which were originally idealized in fictional writings of the dime novelists. The puritans could not comprehend the fact that women also have sexual needs and could be willing to sell their body from their own free will, resulting either in public shaming or an explanation of this phenomenon through the creation of this "victim of the society" archetype that further transferred into the fiction as well.

2. 2. Selected Archetypes: Conclusion

Although most people without formal education in history or cinematography usually suspect that classic western movies depict at least a little idealized version of American history, they might also

39 think that the portrayal of some of the analyzed archetypes is historically accurate to some extent. However, the extent of idealization in classic western movies (and even the original dime novels) is much higher, to the point where classic westerns no longer portray a fictional story in a factual environment but a fictional story in a mythical age, similar to fantasy stories set in a magical Middle Ages.

Ironically, the most iconic and American archetype of the wild west – the cowboy, is niether historically accurate nor an american invention. An unskilled, unhygienic and desperate rogue was transformed into a stylized patriotic hero of the people. The line between a cowboy and an outlaw is absolutely clear in the fiction but blurry at best in reality and the fictional outlaw archetype is much closer to the historically accurate cowboy than the cowboy's idealized version.

To further idealize the cowboy, a whole race of Native people with all their tribes, cultural practices and beliefs was degraded into a horde of aggressive savages trying to fight the civilization brought by the european settlers as violently as possible with the cowboys being the only ones able to stop them from doing so. This reduction of a whole race with many various subcultures manifested itself in the movies where they were dressed in clothes of many tribes and what they said in the movies was absolutely irrelevant. Their role was just supposed to look and speak "Indian," with no distintion betweed the tribes as if they did not exist.

The portrayal of the supporting roles was sometimes much more faithful to their original historical counterparts. From the three subtypes of the sheriff archetype, only the "retired hero" was a highly idealized version of an actual and average sheriff, which is probably caused by the fact that such sheriff is essentially just a retired fictional version of a cowboy. The portrayal of prostitutes was essentially historically accurate with just their motivation and life philosophy being changed to be acceptable by the puritan minds of their time – thus originally being idealized directly by the ordinary townspeople, not by the dime novelists or movie directors.

To finalize the conclusion (this part of the thesis), USA has essentially created its own mythical version of their history, the same way Europe has created the magical Middle Ages. The most American hero was neither real nor an American invention at all. The Wild West was also not as lawless and violent, revolvers were unreliable, camels also were an important part of this era and the Natives were victims rather than murderers. On a side note, some sources even go as far as saying that the actual Wild West is in the USA now with its gun-related violence including the mass

40 shootings.

3. The Case Study of Jesse James: Introduction

The first part of this thesis was dedicated to examining how faithful was the USA in the portrayal of its own history in classical western movies. This part is dedicated to a case study of Jesse James and the way he was portrayed in supposedly biographical books and movies. The reason behind the choice of Jesse James is the fact that by many, he is considered the most iconic and infamous figure of the Wild West and his life was immortalized by many writers and movie directors. (Woog 7)

However, not the whole life of Jesse James is the center of this thesis but only the way his character was portrayed among various sources, as well as the day of his assassination by Robert Ford. Also, all the chosen sources are supposed to be partially or completely biographical and thus historically accurate to examine how and if did his character and story change when written or directed by different authors. Jesse's character was chosen as one of the main interests in this thesis because during his life, he was already portrayed either as a hero of the people by some (most notably the editor John Newman Edwards) or one of the worst people to ever live by others. The day of his assassination was chosen because it became one of the most memorable moments of his era, even becoming a theater play with Robert Ford, Jesse's assassin, reconstructing this one moment on stage several times together with his brother Charles. (Yeatman, “Jesse James.”)

To put in perspective how influental was Jesse James, a few examples of some of the works dedicated to him or including his character will be named. Among the biographical works are Jesse James Was His Name by William A. Settle, Jesse James, My Father by Jesse James Jr. or Jesse James: Last Rebel of the Civil War by T. J. Stiles. (Sherill) Some of the movies dedicated to him are The Long Riders (1980) directed by Walter Hill, Jesse James at Bay (1941) directed by Joseph Kane and The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (2007) directed by Andrew Dominik.

Some dime novels are also worth mentioning as they were the second most important medium that started transforming Jesse James into a legend. Such dime novels are for example Jesse James' Mid- Winter Lark, or The Plundering of the Iron Mountain Train, by William Ward (published in 1909) (McLachlan, Civil War Horror) or The James Boys and their Outlaw Band of Border Bandits in Old Missouri published in 1904 by the same author. (Amazon, The James Boys and Their Outlaw Band

41 of Border Bandits in Old Missouri) Worth to mention is also the fact that a traditional folk song about Jesse James was created and first recorded by Bentley Ball in 1919 with numerous other interprets recording their own versions of this song. (Polenberg)

3. 1. The Life and Death of Jesse James

Before analysing any of the selected sources or making conclusions, it is essential to provide an unbiased and as historically accurate summarization of Jesse's life as possible. The following articles will provide a short overview of his childhood, crimes and death. Since his life was pieced together by many various historians and some parts are open to speculation to this day, only the confirmed parts will be included and roughly described. When an unconfirmed or tenative part will be described, this fact will be mentioned to prevent spreading of any misinformation.

Jesse James was born in September 5, 1847 in Clay County, Missouri. He had two siblings, Frank and Susan, and others who did not survive their infancy. As southerners, the Jameses owned six slaves and a huge field for farming. Jesse's mother Zerelda was a dominating woman and his father Robert died when Jesse was only three years old.13 (Stiles)

During the Civil War, the Jameses were on the southern side and both Jesse and his older brother Frank became guerillas known as bushwhackers under the leadership of William "Bloody Bill" Anderson where Jesse suffered his first serious injury in the chest. After becoming guerilla fighters, the brothers took part in various atrocities including the Centralia Massacre or ambushing, killing and dismembering of Major Johnosn's unarmed Union troops. (Settle 28 - 35) Because of these questionable deeds, the James family had to leave the Clay County and moved into the Territory of Nebraska. (Settle 40 - 41) Here the brothers became guerilla fighters under Archie Clement and Jesse was hit in his chest for the second time. (Yeatman 45 - 75) When Jesse was recovering from the second wound at the house of this uncle, he became interested in his cousin Zerelda "Zee" Mimms and they started a relationship lasting nine years that ended with them marrying and giving birth to two children. (Settle 28 – 35)

After the Civil war ended, both James brothers turned to crime, the reasons why vary among the historians from thirst for adventure to revenge to the North. One of their very first confirmed robberies was that of a bank in Russellville, Kentucky which they robbed together with Cole

13 See Figure 10 in the Appendix

42 Younger. However, Jesse became publicly known after he and his brother went to Gallating, Missouri and on December 7, 1869 robbed the Daviess County Saving Association. While not confirmed, it is highly likely that Jesse shot dead the cashier Captain John Sheets, thinking he is Samuel P. Cox, who had killed Willam "Bloody Bill" Anderson. This murder mistaken for revenge and the fact that both James brothers escaped unharmed attracted newspaper and labeled them outlaws the very first time with a reward put on their capture. (Stiles 190 - 206) Six months after this robbery, founder and editor of the Kansas City Times, John Newman Edwards, tried to prove Jesse's innocence by publishing one of the first letters he received from him, starting and alliance between the two. (Settle)

The James brothers then joined the Younger brothers and several other former Confederate (southern) guerillas and started forming what would be known as the James-Younger gang. This period was the peak of their criminal activity, robbing stagecoaches, banks, trains and even a fair in several states including Texas, Kansas or West Virginia. What separated this gang from other such criminal groups was their tendency to carry out their crimes in front of whole crowds of people. (Stiles 236 - 238) When robbing trains later in their active period, they tried not to threaten any passengers and only steal the money and other valuables from the safe. John Newman Edwards highlighted this fact to further idealize Jesse James into a kind of a folk hero who stole from the rich and gave to the poor. (Stiles 207 - 248) In 1874, the Pinkerton National Detective Agency conspired to burn the James' farm, throwing an unspecified explosive device inside, resulting in the death of Jesse's half-brother Archie and loss of one of his mother's arms. (Yeatman 128 - 144)

The gang was nearly completely destroyed on September 7, 1876 during an attempt to rob the First National Bank of Northfield in Minnesota with only the James brothers remaining free and alive. After this horrible failure, they moved to Nashville, Tennesse and introduced themselves by aliases Thomas Howard (Jesse) and B. J. Woodson (Frank), while Frank wanted to give up crime for good, Jesse was eager to continue as this was the only way of making living he knew. He quickly put together another squad but this time it was not former guerilla fighters but inexperienced novices and after a short series of crimes, most of the new members were either arrested or killed. The new members also frustrated Jesse and did not really earn his trust, resulting in him becoming more and more paranoid, probably even killing one or more of them. (Stiles 324 – 325)

Because of their crimes in the Tennesse territorry, the gang became scared of getting too much attention from the local authorities and thus went back to Missouri in 1881 with Jesse moving to St.

43 Joseph and Frank to Virginia. While Frank gave up crime for good, Jesse wanted to do so too after one last robbery and his only two companions were supposed to be Charles and Robert Ford. The Ford brothers were the only members of his previous gang he trusted. While Charles already took part in some of the robberies, Robert was new and Jesse was his idolized hero he knew from all the dime novels and articles written by John Newman Edwards. (Stiles 351 - 373)

Jesse invited the Ford brothers into his new home where he lived together with his wife and two children. Ironically, the Ford brothers made a secret trip to Missouri Governor Thomas T. Crittenden and negotiated a contract that they will bring Jesse to justice in an exchange for a reward and a full pardon of their previous crimes. (Knowpia, Robert Ford (Outlaw))

When eating breakfast together with the Fords on April, 1882, Jesse found out from the newspaper that one former gang member, Dick Liddil, made a confession of participating in the murder of Jesse's cousin, Wood Hite. He and the Ford brothers then both went to the living room and Jesse put his revolvers on a sofa, it was the very first time the Fords saw him unarmed. Jesse then noticed that something was wrong with a picture on the wall and put a chair under it to fix the problem. When standing on the chair with his back turned to Fords, both Charles and Robert drew their guns but Robert was the one firing the lethal shot in the back of Jesse's head, ending the outlaw's life.14 (Yeatman, 264–269). (Stiles 363–375)

Jesse's body was positively identified and his death became a national event of huge proportions, filling all the newspapers and with crowds visiting his house to view the outlaw's dead body conservated in ice. The Fords were at first sentenced to death but two hours later, all charges were dismissed and they eventually received a full pardon and a fraction of the reward put on Jesse's head. (Ries) With Jesse so idealized, the public started slowly viewing Robert Ford as a coward that killed a national hero for profit, resulting in him receiving a lot of hostility and eventually being killed by Edward O'Kelly by a shotgun blast in one of his saloons. (Ries)

Even when described without any bias, it is hard to feel much sympathy for Jesse James as he was in fact a robber and a murderer, stealing hardly earned money from innocent people. Also, any claims elevating him to a folk hero are either not confirmed or already debunked as there is zero evidence that Jesse or any other gang member ever shared even a fraction of their loot outside their

14 See Figure 9 in the Appendix

44 criminal group. The day and circumstances of his assassination might seem clear from this unbiased description but many details are, in fact, still shrouded in mystery and were therefore not even mentioned in this chapter. Such details include the reason why Jesse put his guns on a sofa, whether the picture was dusty or awry, what did the Fords say to his wife when she found out that Jesse was murdered etc. The way and comparison of how these details are described in the following selected sources is the main interest of this part of the thesis, together with how Jesse was portrayed as a character.

3. 2. Selected Sources

In this chapter, the selected sources will be introduced as well as the reasons behind their selection. Although an immense amount of popular as well as historical sources exists on the behalf of Jesse James, only a very few of them are suitable for the goals of this part of the thesis. Because the life of this infamous outlaw was processed by so many authors with many different motivations behind creating such works, several versions of Jesse James exist within the literary and historical heritage.

When deciding how to pick the right sources to compare their versions of Jesse James, it is essential to realize that the myth was initially created by one single man – John Newman Edwards created the "Robin Hood" version of Jesse James in his newspaper articles as well as his other writings. While John Newman Edwards was the original creator of the southern folk hero Jesse James, many other dime novelists, writers and self-proclaimed historians have further fueled this questionable heroic status of this infamous outlaw. While many nourish the myth to this day, only one man has initially created it while presenting his work as a factual source of information. Therefore, his writings will be analysed and compared with other sources to examine how does the Jesse James of John Newman Edwards stands compared to other sources. (Trout, John Newman Edwards (1839 – 1889))

Since the writings of John Newman Edwards are well-known to be heavily biased in favor of the southern Confederacy that has lost the Civil War and were created during and shortly after the life of Jesse James, an unbiased source created with perspecitve and as long as possible after the oultaw's death could provide a fairly different version of the outlaw. While one of the most accurate biographical sources about the outlaw is Jesse James Was His Name by William A. Settle Jr; the work more suitable for this thesis is the movie The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward

45 Robert Ford (2007) directed by Andrew Dominik and based on a novel of the same name by Ron Hansen written in 1983. The Dominik's movie was preferred before the Settle's book because it was created later (thus a chance is that more data was available on the behalf of Jesse James, allowing for a more accurate research, especially for the novel it is based on) and based on a novel that inspected whether the folk song mentioned previously in this thesis was historically accurate, essentially performing a historical research. Another reason is the fact that the descendants of Jesse James have rated the movie as the most accurate work about Jesse James ever created. (Becker, The James Family Chimes in on The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford) The movie was preferred before the book because such media allows for a more vivid depiction of both Jesse's character and his assassination.

All sources dedicated to Jesse James that are created either by historians or fiction writers are supposed to portray Jesse as a historical or mythical figure without having any closer relations to the outlaw (with the slight exception of John Newman Edwards who was probably a friend of Jesse James) but one single source. The source is Jesse James, My Father written by Jesse James Jr. While the pro-southern sources such as writings of John Newman Edwards or various dime novels are supposed to fuel the initial myth of Jesse James being a folk hero and the actual historians are trying to discover the true and factual version of the outlaw's life, the biography of the outlaw written by his son is mostly supposed to portray Jesse James as a person, a father and a loyal friend of many (James 3 - 4), thus providing the most unique version of the outlaw.

In the subchapter of this chapter, all three sources will be introduced in more detail with explaining the motivation behind their creation as well as who was their creator and their probable or proved factual reliability or lack of it.

The Writings of John Newman Edwards

John Newman Edwards was an adjutant of general Joseph O. Shelby during the American Civil War and a pro-southern newspaper editor that has founded the Kansas City Times. As a pro-southern journalist, Edwards has transformed Jesse James from an outlaw into a folk hero and a victim of the circumstances that have led him to a life of crime. (Trout, John Newman Edwards (1839 – 1889))

Since Edwards was mostly a journalist, two of his only available articles today that deal with Jesse James will be used, as well as his book Noted Guerillas or, The Warfare of the Border. The articles

46 are "A Terrible Quintette" published on November 22, 1873 and "The Killing of Jesse James" published during April 1882.

"A Terrible Quintette" is an interview with the James brothers and other members of the James- Younger gang. Since the article is mostly an interview, it provides an authentic self-reflexion of the outlaw Jesse James himself. However, because of this and the fact that John Newman Edwards had a strong pro-southern orientation, the source is more of a cooperative way between the editor and the outlaw himself how to transform Jesse James in a folk hero via the power of print than a reliable and unbiased source of the outlaw's life and therefore has to be taken with a grain of salt. Not the whole article is available, only a relatively short fragment of it but it provides enough data to be considered a relevant source. The article is divided into parts with each outlaw getting the place to speak for himself and the preface is written by John Newman Edwards himself. (Edwards, A Terrible Quintette)

"The Killing of Jesse James" is as the name suggest an article dedicated to the assassination of the notorious outlaw by infamous Robert Ford. The article itself does not provide much of a detail of the scene and is more of Edwards' grief upon the death of the outlaw than an informative article, however it does still contain important data on how Edwards viewed and valued Jesse James or how he wanted the public to remember his memory.

Noted Guerrillas or the Warfare of the Border is a book first published in 1877 that contains accounts of lives, deeds and characters of several well-known guerillas of the west and their leaders including for example William "Bloody Bill" Anderson, the Younger brothers and the James brothers. Being the richest source from John Newman Edwards available, it provides enough data to form a complete picture of the outlaw Edwards wanted Jesse James to be viewed as.

Movie: The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford

Since the movie The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (2007) is based on a novel published by Ron Hansen in 1983, the novel will also be shortly discussed before introducing the movie. (Haygood, Taking Aim at Jesse James & History)

The novel is based on a classical folk song that celebrates Jesse James as a folk hero that was despicably killed by the cowardly Robert Ford from behind. As the novel explores the reality behind

47 the folk song, it reveals Jesse James and his gang as just another criminal group of the outlaw times that stole purely for their profit and never shared their loot outside of the private circle. (Hansen) The novel was well received and is considered one of the most historically accurate works on the behalf of the outlaw. (Faulkner, Past Winners & Finalists)

The Andrew Dominik's movie was first released on September 21, 2007 featuring Brad Pitt in the role of Jesse James and Casey Affleck as Robert Ford. As the title suggests, it revolves around the circumstances that led to the legendary killing of the infamous outlaw. Dominik's intention for creating this movie was to create a dark experience examining both fame and infamy. (Horn, With Both Barrels)

Book: Jesse James: My Father by Jesse James Jr.

Jesse's son Jesse Jr. was six years old when his father died, at that time having idea about what is going on or who his father really was, he did not even know his own real name. As he grew older, he learned about the reputation and renowned status of his father. As a son of the infamous outlaw, Jesse Jr. kept a high sentiment for his father and, according to his own words, read every single source that was relevant on the behalf of Jesse James available. (James 3)

After suppossedly reading all the sources regarding his father, Jesse James Jr. concluded that niether of them is even remotely reliable, portraying his father as a ruthless killer that would kill for the sake of adventure. (James 3) This claim itself is highly suspicious since the writings of John Newman Edwards already were in circulation and well-known, especially to the southerners, when Jesse James Jr. was born and his claims do not correlate with the version of the outlaw John Newman Edwards shaped.

Neverthless, the motivation of Jesse James Jr. to write the book Jesse James: My Father was twofold with the first being the potential for a financial gain as many people close to him claimed that were he ever to write a book regarding his father, they would buy it. The second and probably more important reason was to shed light on who his father really was in his eyes, thus portraying him as the person he remembered him to be from his fragmented memories and narration from various family members. (James 4)

Although Jesse James Jr. could have had some memories of his father, he did not perform any

48 research nor was he critical and neutral while writing his book, providing a highly sentimental outlook regarding the life of the notorious outlaw. Therefore because of these factors, his work can not be taken as a historically very accurate.

3. 2. 1. 1. The Character of Jesse James in the Writings of John Newman Edwards

Newspaper Article: A Terrible Quintette

In the part dedicated to the robbery in Iowa, a statement is made by Edwards that not a single source so far has been accurate in its description of the character and deeds of Jesse James and the rest of the James-Younger gang. To put this statement in perspective, the James-Younger was an outlaw group consisting of experienced southern guerillas that have turned to crime as their main source of profit, ambushing and robbing stagecoaches, trains and banks. This has naturally led to them being a center of several newspaper articles exposing them as dangerous criminals. (American Experience, Newspaper Accounts) Being a pro-southern journalist and probably a good friend of the gang, all these claims are dismissed by Edwards. (Edwards, A Terrible Quintette)

Two factual mistakes are made by Edwards in the part dedicated to the James brothers, further reducing the credibility of the article. It is stated that Jesse's father was named Thomas when in reality his name was Robert. Another mistake is the claim that Jesse's sister married a man from Arkansas, while in reality her husband Allen Parmer was not born there and they moved and settled down in Texas. (Edwards, A Terrible Quintette)

It is then described how Jesse James, sixteen years old, was tortured and threatened by the Federal soldiers that have hung his stepfather, Dr. Samuels from a tree. While the fact that his stepfather was tortured this way for information extraction regarding the hiding guerilla gang is confirmed, the lashing of young Jesse James is a pure speculation to this day. (Settle 7 – 28)

Throughout the whole article, a claim is repeatedly made by Edwards that all the gang members were victims of circumstances driven to crime by the Civil War although it is never explained how the war forced them to crime. Similar to this repetitive statement, the reader is also often reminded that the friends and family members of the James brothers were loyal to them, never betraying them for money. Although this statement itself is true, Edwards immediatelly concludes that this loyalty

49 was the result of their innocence without giving any other evidence. (Edwards, A Terrible Quintette)

Jesse and Frank James are then described by Edwards as a contrasting duo with Jesse being the optimistic, energetic force with a face of a school girl, penetrating blue eyes and great endurance, complimenting others whenever they come by and smiling at everything. Jesse's shooting skill with a revolver is then also praised as being one of the fastest and deadliest in contrast with his cheerful nature and innocent looks. It is also clearly explained that niether of the brothers will ever be arrested alive. (Edwards, A Terrible Quintette)

After Edward's description of the two brothers, Jesse James gets a chance to speak for himslef and in the short fragment of the article, depicts an attempt to kill him made by five soldiers. The attempt was made during a winter night when Jesse James was recovering from one of his two wounds in the chest, not being able to properly walk. The outlaw provides a detailed description of his heroic and surprising counter attack with him carrying a revolver in each hand, shooting bullet after bullet at both sides, killing two of the five men and wounding another two. According to the outlaw's own words, the surprise factor of his counter attack was so severe that niether of the soldiers fired a single shot. (Edwards, A Terrible Quintette)

While this narration might be true, demonstrating the outlaw's shooting abilities, it is then strangely stated that the four wounded men were taken inside of the house and taken care of. While this claim is probably supposed to prove the benevolence of the outlaw's family, even taking care about the wounded enemy, there are several problems with this statement. First, the attempt was made by five milita men with two getting killed by Jesse's own hand, leaving only three alive with two of them wounded. While this numeric mistake could be just a simple typing error, it is previously stated that the three survivors fleed on their horses, making the whole claim nonsensical. Because of the inconsistence of this statement, it is also possible for it to be just a result of poor expression. (Edwards, A Terrible Quintette)

Newspaper Article: The Killing of Jesse James

Despite being an article dedicated to the moment of the assassination of the notorious outlaw, it provides much more data on how Edwards praised James as a hero than actual details about the murder. The article begins with Edwards cursing Ford and praising James as being a wonderful

50 outlaw forced into the life of crime by fate. Similar to the previously analysed article, it is also stated several times that Jesse did what he had to do because of the war without any detailed explanation of what are these statements based on. Jesse's decision for the life of crime is being defended by stating that a price was put on his head, making him hunted and cast away from society, essentially forcing him into a life ouside of the the legal norms. The fact that the price was not put on Jesses's head arbitrarily but because of his previous crimes is conveniently omitted by Edwards. (Edwards, The Killing of Jesse James)

Strong but unfounded conclusion is suddenly made by Edwards that Jesse James did not commit a single crime that would deserve to be punished by death. The author then progresses into blaming the whole commonwealth as being guilty of assassinating its own citizen before proving that he is definitely guilty of those crimes he was accused of. (Edwards, The Killing of Jesse James)

A small mispronouncing error is made further in the article – Dick Liddil's surname is written as Little. For the most part, the article is Edwards blaming the whole commonwealth as being full of murderers, highwaymen and prostitutes or cursing Ford's cowardice in the whole plot. However, a few more statements on the behalf of Jesse's character can be found in which Jesse is described as being used as a scapegoat for every single crime from Iowa to Texas. There is some truth to this statement however, because many outlaw groups have used the public infamy of Jesse James to their advantage and have introduced themselves as the James-Younger gang, pinning their crimes on them. (James 93 – 94)

Book: Noted Guerillas or the Warfare of the Border

With the book being over four hundred pages long and containing a lot of data regarding many guerillas, the focus of this subchapter will be at the last chapter dealing with the lives of the guerillas after the Civil War was lost by the south. The main reason for this decision is the fact that the second part of this thesis deals with the image of Jesse James during his criminal years which came after the war.

At the very beginning of the chapter it is stated that the James brothers were mercilessly hunted after the war for they were not afraid of the northerners. The article progresses into claiming that no men ever tried to become ordinary citizens again as hard as the James brothers did. Despite this essentially being the only point of the article, several lines of text are used for this expression with

51 Edwards claiming that they also sacrificed a lot for peace and tried to put the past behind them. Although this is partially true for Frank James, it does not correlate with the decisions of Jesse with him being the initiator of the gang's constant revival. (Edwards 448)

Further in the chapter, the period of Jesse's life when his wound was slowly healing is described by Edwards with Jesse James portrayed as a weakened victim that was barerly able to mount a horse but kept his guns near in case of an enemy attack. A few lines later, the attempt of five soldiers to attack Jesse mentioned above is described with similar details and emphasized heroism, it is stated that the three surviving soldiers disappeared on their horses. This attack and Jesse's defense is used by Edwards to support his claim that during "those times," bad men were serving in the name of law and used this excuse to do "bad things," further victimizing James. However, since there was already price on Jesse's head because of his previous criminal activity, it is a matter of pure opinion whether his persecution was a "bad thing." (Edwards 449 – 450)

The chapter then progresses to a highly romanticized description of the James brothers as having more friends and sympathy from the public than the law enforcers despite being cast out of the society and having prices put on their heads, yet not being afraid to die. It is then depicted how polite and humble they are, never drinking whiskey or instantly killing in self-defense. With the James brothers being proven murderers and robbers, the chapter grows in absurdity to the point of saying that while the James brothers were outlaws, they were not criminals. The statements about them never boasting and being humble can easily be disproved by the fact that they purposely performed some of their robberies in the front of the public to get the most attention, as stated previously in this thesis in the chapter dedicated to the life of Jesse James. (Edwards 450)

The part of the chapter dedicated to the James brothers concludes with Edwards claiming that the reason behind the James brothers becoming persecuted is the fact that they refused to submit to the new regime and thus driving them into resistance, resulting in them becoming outlawed. (Edwards 450)

3. 2. 1. 2. The Death of Jesse James in the Writings of John Newman Edwards

Article: The Killing of Jesse James

52

With this article being the only source from John Newman Edwards dealing with the killing available, it will be the only source regarding the assassination analysed. Because of the highly emotional character of the article, most statements regarding the details of the acutal killing are vague at best with most space dedicated to cursing the cowardice of Robert Ford. (Edwards, The Killing of Jesse James)

All the details given by Edwards can be summarized in one paragraph. The murder was done for money by Robert Ford so the ones included in the plot could get their share of the reward put on the outlaw's head with Ford killing James from behind when Jesse was unarmed. No exact details are given. (Edwards, The Killing of Jesse James)

3. 2. 1. 3. Conclusion: the Writings of John Newman Edwards

The pro-southern bias of John Newman Edwards manifests itself in all the writings analysed with Jesse James being purposely portrayed as a victim and being credited with various honorable attributes. Such romantization is supposed to transform an ordinary outlaw into an honorable cowboy unjustly persecuted by the vicious northerners.

The way Edwards uses to achieve this goal is manipulative and questionable with him often making empty and unfounded conclusions he then further uses to build arguments on. This way he was able to shape the folk hero Jesse James, an honorable and humble cowboy that has the sympathies of the public while being persecuted by the malicious law enforcers.

3. 2. 2. 1. The Character of Jesse James in the Movie The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford

At the very beginning of the movie, Jesse James is introduced by the narrator as calling himself Thomas Howard, a cattleman or commodities investor with a grown beard so the public will not recognize him. Jesse's physical state is also described, with having two incompletely healed bullet wounds in the chest and one more in the thigh, also missing a part of his middle finger and having a condition called "granulated eyelids" that causes him to blink more than usual. It is also stated that Jesse James considers himself to be a southern loyalist and the Civil War never ended for him, not regretting any of his numerouc crimes. All the claims made in the movie are historically accurate

53 and Jesse's injuries were used to identify his dead body. (Settle)

In a scene where Robert Ford tries to impress Jesse James for the first time with his knowledge regarding the James brothers, he is quickly interrupted by Jesse who completely ignores the content of Ford's expression, telling him that he (Jesse) does not care who will go with him. As stated in the part dedicated to short biography of Jesse James, the original James-Younger gang composed of experienced guerilla fighters while the revived gang included mostly inexperienced novices, supporting this Jesse's statement.

The movie continues with a train robbery in the Blue Cut near Glendale Missouri and has the whole gang aiming guns at the travelers while wearing Ku Klux Klan masks with Jesse James throwing away their packages while searching for money. Eventually, Jesse finds the safe defended by the safe guard, forcing the guard to open it, only finding a small amount of money. While forcing the guard to open the safe, Jesse hits him with his gun and after the robbery, forces the guard to go on his knees while hitting him again, sending the guard to the ground with a bloody wound in his head. Jesse then aims at the defenseless guard with his gun as if he was about to kill him with Ed Miller shouting at Jesse to not kill the guard. Jesse responds with telling Ed that he should not tell him what he can do.

While the robbery is generally thought to be a failure with only a small amount of money found, thus being historically accurate, it is not known whether Jesse James abused the safe keeper the way he does in the movie. (Peter, Jesse James And The Blue Cut Train Robbery)

Half an hour into the movie, Robert Ford and Jesse James are sitting on rocking chairs with both of them smoking cigars. Ford then tells Jesse that he has a newspaper article with him so he could use the information in it to recognize Jesse from Frank and reads it aloud. The article turns out to be "The Terrible Quintette" analysed above with Robert reading the part describing Jesse, then telling to the outlaw that he has several dime novels from R.W. Stevens near his bed. Jesse's only response is "They"re all lies, you know," shattering the whole image of him being a folk hero, surprising Ford.

The whole movie has Jesse slipping into worsening paranoia, the first scene clearly demonstrating the severity of the outlaw's mental state is his visit of Ed Miller. When conversating with Ed, Jesse

54 notices the strange and overly cautious behaviour of the gang member, inviting Miller to go for a ride with him. Later in the movie it is revealed that during the night, Jesse let Ed go in front of him on his horse, shooting him in the back, resulting in his death. The supposed reason for this murder stated by Jesse was Ed's unusual behaviour, alerting Jesse that Ed is probably plotting to get the reward put on Jesse's head together with Jim Cummins. However, the real fate od Edward T. Miller is a matter of speculation to this day with Jesse James killing him being only one of the theories. (Ensminger, The Jesse James Gang: What Happen to Them, Old West Kansas)

In the following scene, Jesse recruits Dick Liddil and they both travel to the house where Jim Cummins is supposed to live, however they only meet Albert Ford, a small boy and a cousin of Robert and Charles Ford. However, when they ask the small boy about Jim, they are told that Cummins left and nobody knows when he is about to return back. Unsatisfied with this answer, Jesse catches the little boy, throws him on the ground, beats him and threatens him with tearing his right ear if he does not answer the question correctly. When James and Liddil are about to ride away from the house, the movie has Jesse burst in tears, probably a result of his despair and worsening mental state. The viewer is then informed by the narrator that Jesse is sick with a lung condition, insomnia and also turning to superstitions for advice.

A scene that has Jesse dining with the Fords and several other people follows. During the dinner, both Charles and Jesse are ridiculing Robert who desperately tries to impress James with revealing the similarities between him and Jesse James with no avail. Throughout the whole scene, Jesse sits at the head of the table with his behaviour being overly confident while others clearly respect or outright fear him, contrasting with Robert Ford who is never taken seriously. After the dinner it is revealed by Jesse that his ridicule was supposed to be a test to know which of the Ford brothers he should recruit for more robberies, choosing Charles.

On his travels with Charles Ford, Jesse's worsening mental state is manifesting itself with James confessing to Ford that he is behind the disappearance of Edward Miller. Another symptom of Jesse's psychological decay is him openly asking Charles whether he ever considered suicide. The reason behind prioritizing Charles Ford over other gang members as his confessor is probably Charles' lower intellect as Jesse is not scared that the older of the Ford brothers would make any conclusions that could potentially endanger him. This hypothesis is further supported in the movie with Jesse saying to Robert Ford: "[Charles Ford] is so ignorant he couldn't drive nails in the snow but he is sort of easy to be around." Another important statement is made by Jesse when Charles is

55 trying to convince him that he should recruit Robert as well by telling him that Bob thinks highly of Jesse: "All of America thinks highly of me;" meaning that Jesse James is well aware of his fame and folk hero status.

Eventually, Jesse agrees on recruiting Robert Ford who is currently working in a grocery store but instantly agrees on joining James and Charles, leaving his job. When the Ford brothers are alone, Robert reveals to Charles that he has made a deal with the authorities to kill Jesse James. Witnessing the Ford brothers without his supervision infuriates James, shouting at them that never again are they allowed to go anywhere without his permission, proving his paranoia is getting even worse, not trusting even his own recruits. This part of the movie mirrors the reality relatively well as the Fords were already plotting to get the reward put on the notorious outlaw's head when they were recruited by him. (Knowpia, Robert Ford (Outlaw))

When spending night with the Ford brothers in St. Joseph, Missouri, James is planning a robbery and consluting it with Robert Ford. When giving detailed instructions to Robert, Jesse suddenly grabs him him, putting a knife on his neck and shouting at Ford dramaticaly. After releasing the younger Ford brother from his grip, James bursts into psychotic laughter, further ridiculing Robert Ford. Such impulsive outbursts are a clear proof of Jesse losing the last bits of his sanity, probably a result of insomnia, paranoia and the fame he can not handle properly.

Both Jesse and Robert remain awake during the following night, lying in bed with Ford trying to reach for a gun that could easily kill Jesse, who responds with telling Ford that he should remain in bed, proving that Jesse is not getting enough sleep because of his paranoia. The viewer is then further ensured by the narrator that the notorious outlaw is masking his inner decay by acts of courtesy and cordiality which is then proven in the next scene where a gift and apology is given by him to Robert Ford – a Colt. A part from an article by John Newman Edwards is then cited by James, that he (Jesse) only trusts two men in ten thousand and even around them is cautious with Jesse admitting to Ford that he was recently feeling cornered. Such inability to fall asleep and sudden acts of kindness towards those who were recently confronted by him are a proof of Jesse's feeling of uncertainity about everyone.

3. 2. 2. 2. The Death of Jesse James in the Movie The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford

56 April 3rd, 1882, the James family is eating breakfast together with the Ford brothers with Jesse reading the newspaper, finding out that Dick Liddil has been arrested three weeks ago. Surprised that the Ford brothers did not tell him about it even though they were with Liddil during that time, Jesse remains speechless.

The Fords then both go to the living room where they prepare for the moment that is about to come with Robert sitting on a rocking chair and Charles on a bed. The scene then has Jesse walk into the living room asking "You two ready?" Slowly walking past Robert Ford, Jesse looks out of the window saying that he should better remove his guns so the neighbours will not notice them even though he was wearing them outside on a daily basis.

After putting his guns on a sofa, Jesse looks at a picture of a horse in the room, saying: "Don't that picture look dusty?" and stepping on a chair to supposedly clean it with a duster, turning his back to the two brothers. Both Charles and Robert prepare their revolvers with Robert finally firing a shot in Jesse's head, sending his instantly dead body to the ground. The whole scene feels more as an execution than and assassination and then has Jesse's wife rushing in the room to discover her husband's dead body with Robert saying that the gun went off accidentally.

3. 2. 2. 3. Conclusion: The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford

Jesse James of Andrew Dominik is a paranoid criminal that is slowly slipping into states of depression and unpredictable episodes of anger, laughter or crying. To achieve his goals, he is willing to do desperate deeds such as beating children, threatening others or killing his own gang members from behind as he did to Edward Miller. He is feared even by most members of his gang who are not loyal to him and several of them were about to get the reward put on his head with Robert Ford eventually achieving this goal.

Despite him becoming more psychologically weakened with every passing day, Jesse is trying to preserve his reputation of being a legendary outlaw with him presenting himself as a confident and strong man as can be seen whenvever people are around. Jesse opens himself only to Charles Ford and later to his younger brother, Robert.

The movie is concluded with a scene that has Jesse James finally understanding the Ford brothers

57 are plotting to kill him. Instead of confrontation, he decides to surrender himself to them with him lying his guns on a bed and then purposely turning his back to the Fords, eventually getting assassinated and preserving his legendary status.

3. 2. 3. 1. The Character of Jesse James in the Book Jesse James, My Father

The whole book is divided into several chapters that are dedicated either to the life of the outlaw or that of the author. Since this chapter analyses and then compares the image of Jesse James only, the chapters dedicated to the author will not be included as will not be the parts dedicated to Jesse's times as a guerilla, only those dealing with his criminal years, character traits and death.

In the preface of the book, a claim is made by Jesse James Jr. that a horrible injustice has been made to the memory of his deceased father and that no source has ever credited him with all his positive character traits such as honesty or kindness. It is then further stated that the character of the notorious outlaw has been transformed from that of a human that has only killed in self-defense to a merciless abomaniton that would murder people for the sake of adventure. (James 3 – 4)

A chapter where young Jesse recalls all the memories of his father follows where the reader is informed that the Jameses called themselves Howards for protection and that young Jesse James was called Tim without knowing the real name of either family member or his own. The chapter has the author remembering how his father wished good luck to Sheriff Murphy who organized groups that were supposed to catch the famous outlaw. However, neither the Sheriff nor the group knew how Jesse James looked like, therefore not recognizing him whenever he was talking to the sheriff in front of them. Jesse James is repeatedly credited with traits such as courage and a good sense of humour in the book with this memory being the first practical example of it. (James 5 – 18)

It is also revealed that the notorious outlaw was very cautious, disguising himself with beard and limping. Additionally to his disguise, Jesse James was sometimes paranoid to the point where he has nearly killed several people out of fear that they are after him, including a sheriff and several chiefs of police. Usually it took only someone he did not know to go near his house to make the outlaw paranoid and his guns ready. The arsenal he kept in his house included a shotgun, two revolvers and a winchester rifle, never leaving his house with the revolvers hidden under the coat or

58 the winchester rifle in the umbrella, all these weapons were fully loaded all the time. (James 5 – 18)

Jesse James Jr. remembers his father as being very kind to his whole family and always in a good mood, often playing with young Jesse or talking about his supposed adventures during the Civil War. One such play the son recalls is when they both were on their horses and father showed him how he charged at enemies during the war with a revolver in both of his hands, shooting rapidly with unloaded guns to demonstrate it. (James 5 – 18)

The loyalty of Jesse's friends is also brought up with several examples backing such claim. One of such examples is a priest that recognized the James family but did not give the information to the authorities despite the fact that he could easily earn twenty thousand dollars for the arrest and conviction of the outlaw. Such priest had no previous relations to the Jameses, meaning his decision was based on a respect he already had for the outlaw. (James 5 - 18)

After the war, the outlaw was wounded and his recovery was complicated when he was lying in bed, hiding in a house in the northern part of USA. A scene with Jesse shooting with both hands at Federal soldiers that surrounded the house is depicted by his son. According to the author, there were six soldiers and none of them was either harmed or killed but this courageous act of Jesse was enough to make them flee in terror. Because of his injury, it was thought on several occassions that the outlaw's life is going to an end with him repeatedly saying that he does not want do die or be buried in a northern state, forcing his mother to take him back to the south where he insisted on marrying his cousin despite his mother strongly disagreeing with the idea of Jesse marrying anyone. At the very end of the chapter, several pages from John Newman Edward's book Noted Guerillas or the Warfare of the Border are cited as being authentic and true, meaning Jesse James Jr. was familiar with the writings of John Newman Edwards. (James 61 - 73)

In the chapter dedicated to his life as an outlaw, several heroic deeds done by Jesse James are described. The very first one is Jesse meeting an old lady who begs him for five hundred dollars she desperately needs so she can pay her dept. The outlaw conveniently has exactly that amount of money with him and asks the lady whether she is able to fullfill the administrative work after paying the dept so everything will be done correctly, the lady confirms and Jesse gives her his money. After paying her dept, Jesse aims a gun at the recipient and demands exactly five hundred dollars, receiving them. Another example of the outlaw's supposed heroism is him preventing a mob of caucasian people from lynching an afro-american, providing him with a fair trial instead. It is

59 then also depicted how Jesse James was able to defeat a man holding a shotgun with his bare hands. (James 74 – 82)

An interesting but unsupported statement is made in the book that there are only two photos of Jesse James in the world and both of them were in the ownership of his family, however there already were several photos of the outlaw during that time with new ones being occassionally discovered to this day. (Dailymail, Historic Jesse James Photograph with Killer Robert Ford Proven Authentic)

During the last days alive, Jesse James played several practical jokes on his son with his most favourite being sending his (the outlaw's) friends dressed as detectives to his house and they would tell little Jesse that his father was killed or arrested. The author also remembers a time where a sheriff visited their house searching for the outlaw who in response invited the Sheriff for dinner and befriended him. Another honorable trait is then attributed to the oulaw when the author describes how his father always reminded other family members that they should not want anything from their slaves as long as they have at least something to eat. It is also said that the slaves refused to accept their freedom when slavery was abolished and rather preferred to stay with the James family instead. (James 89 – 94)

3. 2. 3. 2. The Death of Jesse James in the Book Jesse James, My Father

At the beginning of the chapter dedicated to the moment of Jesse's killing, it is revealed by the author that most of his information on this topic comes from his mother and grandmother as well as his own blurry memories. 3rd of April 1882 is described as a wonderful sunny day, both the author, his father and the Fords visited the author's grandmother before returning home. (James 14)

Jesse James was in a good mood, playing with his daughter and son on the way home while being armed under his coat. After returning to their home in St. Joseph, both the Fords and the Jameses ate breakfast together and after they were finished with it, Jesse walked into the living room where he removed his revolvers and threw them on the bed. According to the author, it was a warm weather and they were too heavy and tiresome to wear and such act was an evidence that Jesse trusted the Fords enough to unarm himself for the very first time in their presence. Another supposed reason for this gun removal was the fact that the neighbours could easily spot the guns and during that time in most towns strict gun control laws were held, as mentioned previously in the first part of this thesis. (James 16 – 17)

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When unarmed, Jesse James noticed a picture hanging awry and put a chair under it so he could step on the chair and fix the picture. While he was brushing dust from the picture, the Fords had the opportunity they were waiting for the whole time and Robert Ford was the one who aimed his gun at the outlaw's back and shot him in the head, killing Jesse instantly. Jesse's wife and both children rushed in the room to witness their father lying on the ground with blood running from his head. A crowd of people that heard the shot gathered around the house from the whole town and Jesse James Jr. thought that these are responsible for the death of his father, therefore he decided to take the shogun they kept in the house and tried to aim at as many people as possible before the gun was taken from him by his mother. (James)

3. 2. 3. 3. Conclusion: Jesse James, My Father

Jesse James according to his son was a lighthearted and good natured father that had many honorable traits such as kindness, fairness, honesty and the ability to easily become friends with anyone, including the authorities. He also posseses a strong will to live as proven with the injuries he was able to survive depsite being given almost no chances.

In a fight, Jesse James is willing to go after more than one opponent even when injured, using his superior shooting skills. There are many heroic deeds done by the outlaw, even saving slaves from being lynched. All of his friends, excluding the Fords, were always loyal to him for the long twelve years a huge price was put on his head, never betraying him. According to the author's version, Jesse James was outlawed for he did not want to conform to the North and give up his southern ideals.

Despite being written by his son, there are several problems in this book such as the fact that Jesse James Jr. was only six years old when his father died, meaning he could not remember much and most he knew was from his parents and grandparents who probably highly idealized the outlaw. Most details and acts of heroism in this book, such as saving the slave from lynching, can not be verified today as there are no records of such actions.

The author also states at the very beginning of his work that there is not a single true source on behalf of his father while clearly being familiar with the writings of John Newman Edwards and

61 even confirming the authenticity of Edwards' sources.

3. 3. The Case Study of Jesse James: Comparison and Conclusion

Three sources were analysed for their portrayal of Jesse James with greatly different results, highly depending on the relations and biases of the authors. Since no verified source or psychological analysis of Jesse's character traits exist, this topic is only a matter of speculation, giving a lot of space for romantization and idealization. In the following lines, all the different portrayals of the notorious outlaw will be shortly compared and speculations will be made.

Being a pro-southern journalist and a friend of Jesse James himself, John Newman Edwards has created an unfairly outlawed hero who is of kind and brave nature while being extremely effective and lethal in combat. Contrasting to Edward's Jesse, Dominik's version of the bandit is a paranoid criminal that slowly loses the remains of his sanity. The most light-hearted view on the criminal was provided by his own son in a form of a good-natured and caring father that would go to heoroic lengths to protect himself and others.

It is also necessary to note that all the three authors viewed Jesse James from different perspectives. John Newman Edwards has helped to create a public image of the outlaw and his (however romanticized or distorted) role in the society while Andrew Dominik has focused at Jesse's function within his social circles other than family and Jesse James Jr. provided the outlaw's portrayal from the viewpoint of his family member as well as his image within his (the outlaw's) family circle.

The final result of their portrayal highly depends on the initial reason for portraying the outlaw. Jesse James of John Newman Edwards was tailored to fit the pro-southern propaganda, Andrew Dominik's intetion was creating a melancholic experience dealing with the problems of fame and infamy while Jesse's own son did not want the public to think that his father was a psychotic murderer.

While most of the claims regarding the deeds of the outlaw can be historically verified to a limited extent, making the Dominik's movie the most superior work from all the three analysed, Jesse's character will probably stay shrouded in mystery.

62 The details regarding Jesse's final murder were known only to the Fords who sadly did not provide any book or other source than their theater plays before their demise. Edwards did not describe any details but mentioned that Ford killed the notorious outlaw from behind to stress the cowardice of the assassination as well as the "fact" that no one would stand a chance facing Jesse James in a fair combat. Dominik portrayed the murder as an execution that served to bring the outlaw an eventual peace from his endless paranoia and preserved his legendary status while Jesse James Jr. described the murder mostly as an assassination and expressed how much his father had to trust the Fords to put his guns on the bed and turn his back to them.

4. Conclusion

Despite all archetypes analysed in this thesis being based on historical roles or occupation, all of them were idealized to fit the stories they were part of. The more prevalent or important a role generally was, the stronger the idealization as seen with the Cowboy, Outlaw or Native Americans. The cowboy was elevated from an unskilled individual depserately trying to survive to a patriotic hero always fighting for the right cause. Altough the outlaws of the Old West usually were cowboys or even lawmen in different points in their lives, the mythical Wild West has them clearly distinguished from the cowboys, creating a black and white world where good and evil are not a spectrum. Whereas both the fictional cowboy and the outlaw are relatively civilized, the Natives are nothing but a horde of primitive savages trying to stop the civilization from expanding or destroy it entirely, which is a complete degeneration of a rich culture to serve as background villains.

The other two archetypes – the Sheriff and the Prostitute – were also idealized but not as heavily as the three previous ones, probably because their roles in the stories are usually (but not always) secondary. Three subtypes of the Sheriff archetype were extracted, each one serving a different role in the story while the Prostitute is probably the most historically accurate as only her mentality and reasons behind the choice of this profession were idealized to fit the puritan mentality of the white immigrants.

Although the reason behind the idealization is not being a point of this thesis, a few ideas are worth mention. All the analyzed archetypes in this thesis were idealized already in the era they were part of, mostly in the works of dime novelists with USA generally being known for its patriotism,

63 puritan nature and gun culture. All the archetypes can be viewed as a manifestation of such mindset as it imagines itself with the cowboy being the heroic ideal and the outlaw symbolizing the things such culture was afraid of – unneccessary violence, anarchy and preying on the less fortunate. The Natives were degraded into mindless hordes to fit the idea of the white settlers brining order and civilization into a wild and hostile land.

While this trio of the archetypes serves to portray the way the white settlers viewed their role in history – pure Europeans bringing civilization into a land full of violent anarchy while protecting themselves from the ones interested only in themselves – the other two archetypes can be viewed as a demonstration of how the settlers perceived the role of law and sex workers in their society. The fictional lawmen usually had either supportive or detrimental role in a society that follows its own moral principles and in correlation with the puritan nature of the settlers, the idealized prostitue was forced into her profession by fate and if she had a chance, would immediately leave it behind. And in correlation with the above mentioned gun culture, weapons are used to solve problems or conflict.

As a practical example, the life of Jesse James was used to demonstrate the idealization on a historical character. Despite being an outlawed criminal who would rob innocent people for personal gain, the South has created its own romanticized version of Jesse James being a folk hero with two of the analysed examples providing such version of the outlaw. In correlation with the whole phenomenon, Jesse James was being idealized already when he was alive, mostly through the dime novels and writings of John Newman Edwards. When viewed as a story of a cowboy, Jesse James was a hero and the Northerners were the villains desperately trying to stop Jesse James who would not conform to the Northern cause.

Despite being considered historically accurate to some extent by many, the true nature of the Old West is very different from its version usually depicted in fiction. Where Europe has honorable knights, dark wizards and dragons creating epic stories in the mysterious woods, the US has patriotic cowboys, despicable outlaws and aggressive Indians wandering the scorching desert. A romantic but largely untrue image.

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Appendix

65

List of Figures

Figure 1 – Afroamerican cowboys riding their horses Figure 2 – Butch Cassidy and Wyat Earp Figure 3 – Camels in the Old West Figure 4 - William "Brazen Bill" Brazelton Figure 5 - Sheriff Little Bill Daggett (Unforgiven 1992) and Sheriff John T. Chance (Rio Bravo 1959) Figure 6 - Authentic wanted posters of Butch Cassidy and Billy the Kid Figure 7 - The division of various Plains Indian tribes during the 19th century Figure 8 - Authentic Deputy Sheriff and Town Marshal badges Figure 9 - A woodcut depicting Ford killing James from behind Figure 10 – Jesse James

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Figure 1 – Afroamerican cowboys riding their horses

Source:

67 https://darqsidenerdettes.com/black-cowboys/

Figure 2 - Butch Cassidy (left) and Wyat Earp

Sources: https://www.biography.com/people/butch-cassidy-9240908 https://truewestmagazine.com/wyatt-earps-embarrassing-moment/

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Figure 3 – Camels in the Old West

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cariboo_camels#/media/File:Cariboo_camel.gif

69

Figure 4 – William "Brazen Bill" Brazelton

Sources:

70 https://i.pinimg.com/originals/68/73/33/687333bfb3dd0ed5da3f2fba6e86abff.jpg

Figure 5 – From left: Sheriff Little Bill Daggett (Unforgiven 1992) and Sheriff John T. Chance (Rio Bravo 1959)

Sources: https://keithandthemovies.com/2014/06/01/5-phenomenal-movie-sheriffs/ http://www.greatwesternfurniturecompany.com/our-picks-top-5-john-wayne-westerns/

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Figure 6 – Authentic wanted posters of Butch Cassidy and Billy the Kid

Sources: https://www.ebay.com/itm/9-WESTERN-WANTED-POSTERS-James-Cassidy-Sundance-Dalton-

72 Billy-the-Kid- MORE/201168835338?_trkparms=aid%3D222007%26algo%3DSIM.MBE%26ao%3D2%26asc%3 D20160323102634%26meid%3Daf40a0d373424997ab06bb5e13f80035%26pid%3D100623%26rk %3D3%26rkt%3D3%26mehot%3Dag%26sd%3D201150446160%26itm%3D201168835338&_trks id=p2047675.c100623.m-1 https://truewestmagazine.com/wantedbilly-the-kid-wanted-poster/

Figure 7 – The division of various Plains Indian tribes during the 19th century

73

Source: http://americanhistory.si.edu/buffalo/map.html

Fugure 8 – Authentic deputy sheriff and town marshal badges

Sources:

https://shcivilwarantiques.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/000_3179.jpg https://shcivilwarantiques.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/000_3164.jpg

74

Figure 9 – A woodcut depicting Ford killing James from behind

75

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesse_James#/media/File:Robert_Ford_shooting_Jesse_James.jpg

Figure 10 – Jesse James

76

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesse_James#/media/File:Jesse_james_portrait.jpg

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Movies

Tarantino, Quentin, director. Django Unchained. Alliance, 2012.

Hill, George Roy, director. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. Twentieth Century Fox Film Corp., 1969.

Eastwood, Clint, director. Unforgiven. Warner Bros., 1992.

Crichton, Michael, director. The Great Train Robbery. Dino De Laurentiis Company, 1978.

Zinnemann, Fred, director. High Noon. United Artists Corp., 1952.

Edwards, J. Gordon, director. Drag Harlan. Fox Film Corporation , 1920.

Silverstein, Elliot, director. A Man Called Horse. Paramount, 1970.

Ford, John, director. The Searchers. C.V. Whitney Pictures , 1959.

Ford, John, director. Stagecoach. Released through United Artists, 1939.

Ford, John, director. Cheyenne Autumn. Warner Bros, 1964.

Hawks, Howard, director. Rio Bravo. Warner Bros. Pictures, Inc., 1959.

85

Springsteen, G. R, director. Johnny Reno. A.C. Lyles Productions, 1966.

Dominik, Andrew, director. The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford. Warner Bros., 2007.

Wright, Tenny, director. The Big Stampede. Distributed by Vitagraph Pictures, 1932.

Hawks, Howard, director. Rio Lobo. Cinema Center Films, 1970.

Kasdan, Lawrence, director. Silverado. Columbia Pictures, 1985.

86