Joe Rickards is my husband's 2nd great-grandpa. I've written about him before in a blog post, Capt. Joseph Henry Rickards. If you would like to know more about his full life, read it there. Otherwise, I'm just going to focus on the time he was sheriff in Liberty, Missouri. It was his time as sheriff that makes him a legend in my book.
Joe Rickards was elected to the office of sheriff in Liberty, Missouri in Oct 1865. He served for two years in this office after his brother-in-law, James M. Jones. In a primarily Democratic town, a Republican like Joe Rickards getting elected definitely stirred up some emotions. Jesse and Frank James were very vocal about this fact, which then caused them to come face to face with this Republican.
The following are excerpts from books and newspapers about this event. The first is an excerpt book written by James Horan called Desperate Men: The James Gang and the Wild Bunch.
There was scarcely a Saturday night the guerrillas didn't shoot up Liberty, the county seat of Clay. Calvary fashion they would gallop into town on their fine mounts shrieking their wild cries and blazing away with revolvers. Then over to Fred Meffert's saloon for a few drinks There weren't many citizens who protested. It wasn't healthy.When I first read this, I was floored. This description felt like it was taken right out of the movie Tombstone. Great Great Grandpa Joe was not to be trifled with. It's too bad he was unable to keep Jesse James in custody. It probably would have prevented the following event that took a man's life and set off the James Gang on their spree of robberies.
In the fall of 1865 a minor miracle occurred. In solid Democratic Clay County, a Republican was elected to the office of sheriff. His name was Joe Rickards, a solid, stumpy man with gray, flintlike eyes who refused to be intimidated by the "greatest revolver fighters in the country" and said so.
One afternoon Sam Holmes, a hanger-on of the guerrillas, rode up to the courthouse and shouted for the sheriff. Told the peace officer wasn't available, he said: "Dingus and the boys are over the Platte County Fair and said to tell Rickards that they're coming into Liberty tomorrow and no ***damned Republican is going to arrest them."
Late that afternoon Rickards returned to the courthouse and was immediately notified of Jesse's ultimatum. "Better leave for a trip tonight, Joe," his friends warned him. "Those young'uns are bad." "I think I'll stay around," Rickards replied quietly.
That night the sheriff visited Judge Philander Lucas of the Fifth Circuit Court of Missouri in his chambers. Judge Lucas, who administered a stern but righteous justice in the Jesse James country until the late '80s, told the story to a reporter for the Cincinnati Inquirer, on July 26, 1902.
"Joe came to me and told me of the message the James boy had sent to him. When he had finished I asked him what he was going to do. He did not say a word, but turning, gave me a very comical and significant wink. 'Joe Rickards' wink meant more than words and on the following day I remained on the qui vive to see what would happen. I did not want to see Rickards get hurt, but at the same time I relied on his good judgement to do the right thing in the right place and time. Besides it was high time that someone had taken the conceit out of those game roosters who were dropping every day or two from a four year course in bushwhacking and who were trying to turn the country upside down with their crazy exploits."
The gang led by Jesse and including Frank, Clell Miller, Jim Poole, who had led the band on their way to Texas, George White, and some other ex-guerrillas roared into town that morning. "They did so," Judge Lucas recalled, "in a very disorderly fashion, yelling and firing off their revolvers."
After driving the citizens off the streets and shattering a few signs and windows the Clay County bravos dismounted in front of Fred Meffert's saloon and went in. The jurist continued: "I looked about for Rickards and sure enough there he was right opposite the saloon, with his hat pulled down over his eyes and wearing an old overcoat in which he had never before appeared. The gang had ridden past without even noticing him. The minute they entered the saloon he followed them and drew forth from beneath his coat two six-shooters which he leveled at the gang and said: 'Throw up your hands.'
"They turned, and seeing what confronted them obeyed very quickly. Then as they did so, Joe said: 'Now then, you -- scoundrels, you said that no ***damned Republican could arrest or take you; I'll show you a trick or two about that.' "
Under the peace officer's gun a deputy relived the bad men of their artillery. The sheriff marched the sheepish gang with empty holsters past the grinning townspeople and into the courthouse where they were arraigned before Judge Lucas. The jurist recalled: "As a matter of fact there wasn't any charge against them, for what killing and robbing they had done had been committed in the war and as an act of reprisal on the enemy. After some palaver and efforts on the part of Joe to find some charge against them, we were obliged to turn them loose after a warning from Joe in the future to mind their Ps and Qs."
This was to be the first and only time Jesse James was arrested in his sixteen years as America's number one outlaw.
On the morning of February 13, 1866, the pent-up storm broke over Missouri with band of howling riders pounding their way through the streets of Liberty to commit what is the first bank robbery in the United States. The crime was accompanied by the brutal and senseless murder of a schoolboy only a few feet from his front yard.
Newspaper article about the robbery
Bank of Liberty in Liberty, Missouri
The account of the monies stolen from the Bank of Liberty
As you know, Jesse James was never apprehended and charged for this crime. There are still many who believe that either of the James Boys had anything to do with this robbery. Their mother was very adamant that her boys were innocent until the day she died.
We had the pleasure of visiting Liberty, Missouri a few years ago. We were able to take the tour at the Museum where the robbery had occurred. The story was fascinating. The bank was set up just as it would have been during the robbery. My favorite part though was walking into a room where they have photos and documents displayed, and seeing a photo of my hubby's 2nd Great Grandfather right there on the wall.
Sheriff Joe Rickards
That is the legend that comes to my mind when I think of our family. I will close this post with one last article that was published in the Daily Capital News in 1955. It was an excerpt taken from the book, Death of a Legend: Jesse James by Will Henry:
Update 7/22/19: Since writing this blog post, I have found more articles mentioning the event, but are too big to post on here. I have also been in contact with Chris from the Clay County Archives and he has assisted with contacting people and proving this story.
Newspaper clippings from Newspapers.com
Photo of Joe Rickards from Clay County Archives in Liberty, Missouri
Document of "monies stolen" from Clay County Archives in Liberty, Missouri
Death of a Legend: Jesse James by Will Henry
Desperate Men: The James Gang and the Wild Bunch by James Horan
Other sources mentioning Sheriff Joe Rickards & Jesse James Arrest:
Two Great Myths about Jesse James by Ted Yeatman published in True West Magazine
A letter in the Pinkerton Archives at the Library of Congress (In process of tracking this down)
Other Newspaper clippings referencing the books listed above
Interview with Judge Philander Lucas testifying to the event
Huge thank you to the Clay County Archives for providing a wealth of information about Sheriff Joe Rickards and to the town of Liberty Missouri for preserving the history
Update: I was interviewed by the Extreme Genes podcast & radio show host, Fisher about this topic. You can listen to it here: Episode 294 - Genie Finds Jesse James In Story Of Husband’s Ancestor
Very well written
ReplyDeleteTaking on Jesse James and his gang was quite a feat. What fun to be able to document and piece this all together. I loved this post.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much! I'm glad you enjoyed it!
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