Review by markwilsonseymour

It turns out that the story is actually based on history; on 7 September 1876, the James and Younger gang did attempt to rob the First National Bank in Northfield, Minnesota. Why did a dozen Civil War thugs ride all the way from Missouri to Minnesota to rob a bank? (That's over 500 miles, not a trivial distance on horseback.) Because they'd heard, correctly, that Adelbert Ames had an account there. And why would that matter to them? Because Adelbert Ames had been appointed provisional governor of Mississippi in 1868 and, among other unpopular acts, he appointed the first black office-holders in state history. The James boys, if nothing else, had long memories, and hated Ames still, nearly ten years after the end of the war.