Sunday, Miss Victoria and I drove to Atlantic to meet Jim's folks for lunch at our favorite restaurant and B & B, the SF Martin House. (Jim had an emergency situation for work in Virginia and had to be gone over the weekend)
Larry and Judy just got back from Hawaii for Nicholas' homecoming from the War, so they had lots of fun stories to share, as well as a couple of super sweet Pineapple for me!
We heard all about Nick's homecoming, their day at the beach and all the fun with the grand kids, as we thoroughly enjoyed another mouth-watering meal at the Martin House! You really must try it sometime!
After a couple of hours of visiting and stuffing ourselves, Vic and I headed back home, but not before stopping to look at the log cabin in a park nearby. It was built in 1863 by a 26 year old school teacher. It's only 14 feet by 18 feet! What's really amazing is that that 9 of his 10 children were born AND raised in this cabin!!
Then we stopped near Adair, Iowa to take a look at the place where Jesse James and his gang are credited with the first train robbery in the West. Here's a little history for ya from a brochure located at the site:
Jesse James and his notorious gang of outlaws staged the world's first robbery of a moving train the evening of July 21, 1873, a mile and a half west of Adair, Iowa. The gang had learned that $75,000 in gold would be coming from Omaha/Council Bluffs. Jesse sent his brother, Frank James, and Cole Younger to Omaha to learn when the gold shipment was to reach there. Jesse, and the rest of the gang camped in the hills in the Adair area. Finally, Frank James and Cole Younger got their tip that the gold shipment was on its way east and they brought the report to Jess who had made plans for the train robbery. On the afternoon of the robbery, the bandits stopped at the section house and obtained some pies and other food from Mrs. Robert Grant, wife of the section foreman. In the meantime, the other bandits broke into the handcar house, stole a spike-bar and hammer with which they pried off a fish-plate connecting two rails and pulled out the spikes. This was on a curve of the railroad track west of Adair near the Turkey Creek bridge on old U.S. No. 6 Highway. A rope was tied on the west end of the disconnected north rail. The rope was passed under the south rail and led to a hole they had cut in the bank in which to hide. The gang didn't believe in killing anyone at that point and intended for the train to halt, but it didn't. Instead, Engineer John Rafferty slammed on the air brakes and the train derailed. Two cars went on their sides into a nearby ditch. Other cars laid on their sides. Engineer John Rafferty of Des Moines was crushed by the engine and instantly killed. Fireman Dennis Foley was also seriously injured. Some reports say he died later of his injuries.
Two members of the gang, believed to have been Jesse and Frank James, climbed into the express car and forced John Burgess, the guard, to open the safe. In it they found only $2,000 in currency--the gold shipment had been delayed at the last minute. They collected only about $3,000, including the currency and loot taken from the passengers, in the world's first robbery of a moving train. Alarm was sent by a telegrapher to Des Moines and Omaha, and soon the news was spread all over the nation. A train loaded with armed men left Council Bluffs for Adair and dropped small detachments of men along the route where saddled horses were waiting. The trail of the outlaws was traced into Missouri where they split up and were sheltered by friends. Later the governor of Missouri offered a $10,000 reward for the capture of Jesse James, dead or alive. On April 3, 1882, nine years later, the reward reportedly proved too tempting for Bob Ford, a new member of the James gang, and he shot and killed Jesse in the James home in St. Joseph, Missouri.
Jessee and Frank Jameshttp://www.rits.org/www/histories/jjstory/JJ.html -article that appeared in a special edition of the Rock Island Argus newspaper on August 7, 1985, called "Iron Horse Days", and was entitled "Jesse James got his start on Rock Island Lines". It's an eye witness account of a man on the train -an interesting read!
"The Assassination of Jessee James", with Brad Pitt as Jesse James, is a really good movie depicting Jesse's life: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qp2ppYB9fDo
So that was our day of LUNCHING AND LEARNING! Hope you found it as fun and interesting as we did!
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