When Charles Fletcher Lummis, author of the book “A Tramp Across the Continent,” met the outlaw Jesse James’ brother, Frank James, in 1882, it was as if future America was walking by past America.
Frank James had been a role model for his younger brother, Jesse. Starting as Bushwackers, guerilla fighters for the Confederate South during the American Civil War, the two brothers were paid by robbing and plundering the countryside.
When the American Civil War ended, the James Brothers decided to continue being Bushwackers – only now they had a new peacetime name – outlaws.
There were lots of banks, stagecoaches and trains available to be robbed and money to be stolen, as well as many dead bodies left along the way.
The James brothers gained a national reputation as outlaws. A Reward was offered for their capture Dead or Alive. One of the members of their gang, Bob Ford, killed Jesse for the reward money being offered. It was the old Wild West of the movies.
But when Charles Fletcher Lummis and Frank James met in 1882, Frank James was almost 40, living on his mother’s farm near Kearney,
Missouri. His outlaw life was over, but his fame as an outlaw continued. He gave tours of the farm, making money telling tall tales of the James Gang and their outlaw adventures to passing tourists.
Charles Fletcher Lummis was just such a tourist, passing by on foot, walking across the American continent from Cincinnati, Ohio, to
Los Angeles California. He was 23 years old and filled with the energy Frank James was loosing with age.
Instead of taking the train, Lummis had decided to walk, so he could witness and write about an America, which was transitioning from the old ways to a new future, where fences were being raised and water was beginning to be controlled by Wall Street.
Lummis was headed to a small town on the west coast of America, with a population of about 11,200 people. They had a newspaper there and he had been hired to be the Editor. The small town was called Los Angeles.
In the future, Lummis edited the Los Angeles Times, became the City’s first librarian, wrote and edited stories about Southern California and founded the Southwest Museum (now owned by the Autry Museum of the West).
Frank James remained in Missouri telling his stories of his past.
Los Angeles? It is probable that Frank James never heard of the place.
Charles Fletcher Lummis’ description of his fascinating journey across the American continent is a historical treat. I recorded it as a Listen2Read audiobook. You can easily download it HERE.
Andre Stojka
Publisher
Listen2Read Audiobooks
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