Jesse James

---

Now, listen, friend. The railroad's

gonna come right smack through your land

and there ain't a thing you can do to stop it.

But, mister, a dollar an acre.

I paid $15 an acre for it.

And then there's my home

and the barn and the crop.

Take it or leave it, friend.

But if you won't sell,

we'll call in the government.

They'll confiscate your land

and you'll get nothin'.

But if that's the way you want it...

- What'll I do?

- I don't know.

- Mister. Mister!

- Here he comes.

- Mister...

- Well?

I reckon, if that's the way

they're gonna do it...

Now you're talkin' sense.

- Can you write?

- No, sir.

Here. Put your mark right there.

I'm telling you, lady. If you won't sell,

the government'll take it.

You can save a lot of trouble

by signing now.

It's so little - $2 an acre.

But if that's the way it is.

Don't sign it, Ma. Please don't.

Let's see a lawyer first.

- You're wasting your time, son.

- Let's see one anyway, Ma.

We can go to town and see Judge Harvey.

He'll tell you what to do.

- Wait till you see him. Please.

- Right here, ma'am.

I suppose it can't hurt

to talk to somebody first.

You don't mind waiting

till tomorrow, do you?

Well, it won't do you any good,

but whatever you say, ma'am.

No hard feelings, son.

Why, no, sir.

Tryin' to hold us up?

- Tryin' to jack up the price, are you?

- Leave him alone!

No, no, please!

Leave him alone! Don't hurt him!

- I'll sign. I will, right now.

- Don't sign it, Ma.

I will.

Right there, ma'am.

Howdy, bud.

Sir?

I just said howdy.

Howdy.

- What's your name?

- James. Jesse James.

- You own this farm?

- No, but my ma does.

- Where is she?

- Up at the house.

Thanks, bud.

Morning.

Good morning, ma'am.

- Are you the lady that owns this farm?

- Yes, I am.

My name's Barshee. I'm with the railroad.

We're comin' through this way, you know.

I heard so.

I wanna get this deed signed up.

If you'll just put your name right there.

- For nothing?

- No, no.

We're payin' $1 an acre,

just like to everybody else.

Everybody's gettin' the same thing.

Seems mighty little, don't it?

I can't help that, lady. That's all you'll get,

so you might as well sign up now.

You mean right this minute?

Look, lady. We ain't got

all day to hang around here.

You either take what I'm offering or you'll

get nothing. We get your land just the same.

I wouldn't dream of signing a thing like that

without talking to some lawyer about it.

Are you gonna waste my time

with some jackleg lawyer?

Your land's the same as anybody else's.

Well, there's no use talking.

I'm not gonna sign that thing right now.

Lady, I don't wanna

have any trouble with you.

Didn't you hear her say no?

Said she wasn't gonna sign.

- Who are you?

- That's my son, Frank.

Well, you're so smart,

how would you like the government

to condemn this land and take it for nothing?

Wouldn't like it.

You better understand that I'm doing you

a favour when I offer a dollar an acre.

We don't want no favours.

- Maybe you'd like to go to court about it.

- Might at that.

Well, you folks have it your own way.

All right, son. No hard feelings.

Frank!

Kinda tricky, ain't you?

Yeah.

- Get him, boys.

- No, Frank! Frank!

I ain't a-scared.

You ain't gonna all jump on him, are you?

Back against the wall, you fellas.

Hands out of your pockets.

- Wanna fight him, Frank?

- Frank, don't.

- If you keep them others off my back.

- They won't do anything, will you, fellas?

- Jesse, stop him. Stop him.

- Sorry, Ma. He started it.

Please, Jesse. Don't let him.

Frank!

Jesse, stop 'em. Stop 'em!

He's gonna get hurt.

Looks to me like he's got enough.

- Who's next?

- Think you can lick 'em all, Frank?

I'll fight 'em or wrestle 'em one at a time

and pile 'em up under the tree.

You'll do nothing of the kind.

You men, get away from here!

Jess!

Well, if he ain't the tricky one.

Get off this land, all of you!

Move along.

And jump!

But we're still gonna get this land

just the same.

Jesse!

- I'm all right, son.

- What happened?

- I don't know. It went black...

- Come in the house.

- What happened?

- She fainted.

- I didn't. I just gotta lay down.

- You better get Doc Hall.

Pinkie!

- Pinkie!

- Yes, sir?

Get on your mule and go after Doc Hall.

- Yes, sir.

- And, Pinkie...

Then get to all the farmers

this side of Liberty -

Mr Crump, Mr Clayton, Mr Thompson -

all of them.

Tell 'em there's an important meeting

here tonight.

- Tell 'em to come without fail.

- Yes, sir.

And furthermore...

if the St Louis Midland

don't know the way its agents

are swindlin' the farmers,

it's high time they found out...

Comma.

...because it's the goldangedest,

dad-blastedest, con-sangedest outrage

ever perpetrated on a law-abiding citizenry

in the whole history of the world.

Paragraph.

Trouble, by gravy.

Uncle Rufe...

- You want me to take those cusswords out?

- I guess so.

You want to swear out warrants

for their arrest?

I'm charging Frank and Jesse James

with assault with attempt to murder.

- Too bad they didn't finish it.

- Jesse?

Yes. While my back was turned.

Nice shootin'.

If you'll swear in me and my men as deputies,

we won't bother you any more.

We'll bring in these buckaroos ourselves.

Tonight.

- It's Jesse. He's in trouble.

- No! What did he do?

Uncle Rufe!

You know them cusswords I told you

to take out? Put 'em back in.

Uncle Rufe! Uncle Rufe!

What we gotta do is chip in some money -

whatever we can afford -

and send down to St Louis for a lawyer.

We bought our land, built our homes

and raised our crops.

If we give 'em up,

we got a right to a fair price.

You're right.

- We don't want any trouble, Jesse.

- Not unless they start it, Ma.

We need somebody that knows the law

to tell us how to protect our rights.

- Jesse's right. We need a lawyer.

- Jesse! Frank!

Jesse! Frank!

Jesse! Frank!

You boys must get outta here. They got

a warrant and they're headed here now.

You got to skip out.

I told Pinkie to get your horses ready.

- Nobody going to arrest me.

- I ain't gonna run.

- Now, listen...

- Listen to the major, Frank.

You ain't got a chance. The St Louis Midland's

got this whole state hogtied.

They got the police, the courts, everything.

A trial now would be ajoke.

The railroad has too much at stake

to let two farmer boys bollix things up.

- We can defend ourselves.

- Jesse...

- Well, sure, Ma.

- Do what the major says. He's right.

You just gotta hide out till I can get the

governor or somebody to give you a fair trial.

- If we run away...

- Jesse, please go like the major says.

If you don't, it'll mean trouble.

I couldn't stand it. I'm not well enough.

- Massa Frank.

- Please go.

The horses are ready at the back gate.

All right, Ma, if it makes you feel better.

- Be awful careful, son.

- Don't worry, Ma.

- Take care of him, Frank.

- Yes, Ma.

- Bye, Jesse.

- Bye, Frank.

- Goodbye, Ma.

- Pinkie'll know where we are.

Pinkie...

Yes, I knows where it is.

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