Hi.  My name is Thomas Coleman Younger.  Most people know me as Cole Younger.  I was born in 1844, in Jackson County, Missouri.  

I’ve been a known as a Confederate guerrilla, a notorious outlaw, a bank robber, and a prison convict.  Personally, I like to think of myself as a  gentleman.

My family supported the Confederate Army during the American Civil War.  My father was murdered by a Kansas gang of  bandits who took it upon themselves to kill anyone who was against the Union.  In 1862, my brothers and I joined a band of guerilla fighters known as the Quantrill Raiders. We attacked Union troops, and murdered the captured members of the Union Army.  In 1863, I took part in the Lawrence, Kansas Massacre where we killed 150 people and burned down the town.  

After the Civil War, I became an outlaw.  With my brothers Bob and James, we joined Jessie James and his brother, Frank.  I became the leader of the James-Younger Gang.  In the years that followed,  our gang took part in twelve bank robberies, seven train robberies, and four stagecoach robberies.  Our crimes took place across seven states.

In 1876, our luck ran out.  We attempted to rob the First National Bank in Northfield, Minnesota. We killed a bank teller and the town fought back.  They opened fire on the gang and I was shot eleven times and captured.  I spent the next twenty five years in the Minnesota State Prison.  I studied religion, and started a prison newsletter called the “Prison Mirror.”   I was paroled in 1901 and pardoned of my crimes in 1903.  

I became a regular churchgoer.  I worked different jobs.  I sold tombstones and insurance, but I was never again in trouble with the law.  I traveled with Frank James and made appearances in “Wild West” shows.    I  lectured people on the evils of crime.  In 1903, I published my autobiography, The Story of Cole Younger, by Himself.  It was a best-seller. 

I died of heart failure in 1916 at the age of 72.