Meet the Past features Library Director Crosby Kemper III interviewing prominent historical figures (as portrayed by veteran Chautauqua performers) with Kansas City-area connections. On June 30, 2010, Aaron Worley portrays Jesse James, the Missouri-born outlaw who became one of the most notorious bank and train robbers in the history of the United States. Following the end of the Civil War, Jesse James and his brother Frank, along with the Younger brothers and other followers, perfected the first daylight bank robberies in the United States. The editor of The Kansas City Times and a Southern sympathizer, John Newman Edwards, promoted the actions of the James Gang as those of American Robin Hoods and popularized the brothers with dime store novels. Jesse James is credited with robbing at least a dozen banks, half a dozen trains and stage coaches, and even the fairgrounds in Kansas City, until the gang’s luck ran out in Northfield, Minnesota. Local residents killed three of the robbers and captured all three Younger brothers. Only Frank and Jesse escaped.
