, folk hero?

[Guest guest]

Jane wrote:

was also a folk hero of the Robin Hood variety.

There's folk song about him (by Woody Guthrie, I believe)

that has a refrain:

As through this world you wander,

you'll meet lots of funny men.

Some rob you with a six-gun,

some with a fountain pen.

But as through this world you wander,

as through this world you roam,

You'll never see an outlaw

drive a family from their home.

[back story: the song was written during a period

when banks were foreclosing on poor people and evisting

them forceably from homes on which they were unable to

pay exorbitant mortgages.]

I always liked Woody Guthrie, (and his son Arlo, too),

and I know a bit of his life story. He really did write of

the experiences of the common man at the time.

But as for the " Robin Hood " character of '

legend, that may have been overblown. I heard or read

a long time ago that the boys " had it in " for the

railroads, because they had evicted many people off

their lands when the railroad was built. Off course, the

Vanderbilts and whoever did use high-handed tactics

when they established railroad right-of-way. I also recall

that the gang was hard to catch because they were helped

by the people, who considered them local heroes.

This is what the World Book Encyclopedia says of him:

, (1847-1882), became one of the most famous bank

and train robbers in the history of the United States. led about

25 robberies in Missouri and several other states. The gang

also killed a number of people. Some writers described

as a hero who robbed only the rich. However, really was a

vicious murderer and thief.

Woodson was born in Clay County, Mo., and was the

son of a Baptist minister. During the Civil War (1861-1865), he and

his older brother, , joined bands of killers and thieves led by

Confederate sympathizers. After the war, and

formed a new band with their cousins, the Youngers, and began to

hold up trains, stagecoaches, and banks. In 1871, bank officials

hired the Pinkerton National Detective Agency to capture . In

1875, a bomb thrown into his mother's house killed his stepbrother

Archie and injured his mother. Some people believed de-

tectives hurled the bomb, and that was being unjustly per-

secuted.

In 1881, Governor Crittenden of Missouri offered a $5,000

reward for the arrest of or . Gang member Ford

believed he could collect the reward if he killed either brother, and

shot in the head. died the same day, April 3, 1882, in

St. ph, Missouri.