Outlaw Jesse James' ride through Southwest Mississippi

He stopped in Fayette and in Washington, near Natchez

Jesse James
Photo is from the Library of Congress.
(Click on image to enlarge.)

NATCHEZ, Miss. -- I just learned that outlaw Jesse James rode through the Natchez area in the late 1800s and committed robbery before heading over to Louisiana. According to the April 1938 issue of the New Orleans Times Picayune, James and his gang robbed stores in Fayette in Jefferson County and Washington in Adams County. Washington is just outside of Natchez. They rode off with $2,000 in cash from one store, which is equivalent to $62,835 today.

The story was shared by Judge Jefferson B. Snyder who was 80 when he was interviewed by the paper. Here’s an excerpt from the April 1938 issue of the New Orleans Times Picayune:

“This was in 1879, when Jesse James and his gang appeared in Mississippi robbing the store of Grover and Whitcomb at Washington, in Adams county.

"Shortly after the first robbery, the bandits descended upon Fayette, Miss., which is about 15 miles south of St. Joseph, and plundered the Johnson store there, taking $2000 in cash. Pursuit got too hot, so they crossed the river into Louisiana and took possession of some deserted cabins on the Kemp Plantation just below St. Joseph. These cabins had been left outside the levee when it had been moved back farther, from the encroaching river. They furnished an excellent rendezvous for the bandits and their tired horses. As soon as this hiding place was discovered, a posse assembled, young Deputy Snyder included, and started on its dangerous mission. They failed to capture the entire gang of robbers, but did manage to kill two of them. Judge Snyder loves to tell this story and with his wonderful capacity for embellishment, he makes a real ‘thriller’ of it.”