We had a wonderful concert at the Nobles County Arts Center in Worthington last night. In our post-concert discussion, we had some questions which I promised to follow up on today. So here goes!
Q- Where is Camptown? (as in Stephen Foster's song, Camptown Races)?
A - It's in Pennsylvania, near Athens and Towanda, where Foster lived as a young man.
Q- After the Jesse James' failed attempt to rob the Northfield bank, how long was it before he was murdered by one of his own gang members?
A- Jesse James escaped capture in Northfield in 1876. Six years later, on April 3, 1882, he was shot in the back in his own home in St. Joseph, Missouri, where he had taken on the name of Thomas Howard.
The governor of Missouri had promised Robert Ford and his brother a $10,000 reward for the murder of Jesse James, and after the murder they turned themselves in, but instead of the reward they were found guilty of first degree murder and sentenced to death by hanging. The governor then gave them a full pardon, but only a fraction of the reward money.
Q - What happened to Jesse's older brother, Frank?
A - Five months after Jesse was murdered, Frank surrendered to the governor of Missouri, with the understanding that he would not be extradited to Northfield. He said he was tired of the bandit life, and
tired of being hunted. He was tried for two murder / robberies in Missouri, and was acquitted. He worked at many jobs, including as a shoe salesman, until he died at age 72, in 1915.
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One other interesting footnote about "Camptown Races": Although the song has not been collected in tradition in Minnesota, it was a popular enough tune to be used for several other songs. One of the songs it was used for was "The Banks of Sacramento" (also known as "Ho for California!"), which we know was sung by Great Lakes sailors on their voyages. One of the earliest traditional versions of the song was published by Captain John Robinson in 1917 in a Minneapolis publication called "The Bellman."
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