Paso Robles Area Historical Society

By Camille DeVaul and the Paso Robles Area Historical Society and Museum

Drury Woodson James The Outlaw's Honest Uncle

rury Woodson James is quite famous in Paso Robles.

He, along with the Blackburn Brothers, took our town from desolate hot springs to a bustling destination. But while Drury was building himself a positive reputation around town and enjoying the life of a rancher — having purchased his La Panza Rancho in 1860 — his nephews were building a very different reputation for themselves.

For Drury James was uncle to notorious outlaws Jesse and Frank James.

Jesse and Frank become members of Quantrill’s notorious raiders early in life. And in the following years, hard riding, shooting, and killing became a way of life for the James brothers.

The brothers had recently robbed a bank in Russellville, Kentucky. Legend says that following the bank robbery, Frank hid out with friends in Kentucky until the manhunt had quieted down. He then made his way to St. Louis, where he had a brief visit with his mother. Frank then made his way to San Francisco by train and then by stagecoach to Paso Robles — landing at the La Panza ranch by the summer of 1868. Jesse remained in Missouri as he had been wounded in the chest by a bullet during a previous robbery. He traveled from Missouri to New York City, and by June 1868, he left on a steamship, Santiago de Cuba, for Panama, crossing the isthmus and taking another steamer for San Francisco. Drury was reluctant to have his nephews with him in California. Unlike them, Drury was not an outlaw, his brothers were ministers, and he had worked hard and honestly to acquire his wealth and status in the Paso Robles area. One of the La Panza ranch hands, Charles Morehouse, who referred to Jesse James as “Scotty,” is quoted as saying, “He rode a fine horse and had a fine saddle and bridle and riatta. He had two revolvers with ivory handles. He carried one on the front of his saddle and one on his left hip. The only man, I think, who had a firearm in our party. I noticed he acted rather queer for a common stockman, as he never mixed up with the rest of the men. He never went out in the hill to run the

cattle into the roundup, and when the separating was done he would help hold the cattle after they were in the rodeo ground. He never did any roping. He seemed to want to be free at all times and at night when the rest of us had lain down for the night, Scotty, would go a short distance away and lay down with his saddle for a pillow. Scotty asked me how I would trade my riatta for his, and I said, ‘you don’t want mine. It is most worn out,’ so he said, ‘let me look at it,’ and I handed it to him and at the same time, he handed his riatta to me. He said, ‘your riatta will hold anything I ever expect to lasso.’ The one he gave me was a very nice one. I had it for several years and finally, someone stole it. When James was killed, a book was published. I bought one and saw the picture of Jesse James. I told my wife that is the man who gave me the riatta. I made some inquiry about this man Scotty and his cousin told me that he was Jesse James, and he was the man who gave me the riatta.” There are several legends claiming the James boys hid out in local caves and tunnels beneath the Paso Robles Hotel and under a stairwell in one of the first houses built in Paso Robles. But these legends are questionable. It is uncertain they would have needed to hide from the public eye in Paso Robles as the local citizens may not have known what they looked like. But the brothers did explore the countryside while working the ranch. A scratched inscription, ‘JESJAMES 1869,’ on one of the Carneros Rocks along the San Luis Obispo-Kern County line may be authentic. The length of the James boys’ stay in California is unknown, but there is an unaccounted period of 20 months between the Russellville holdup on March 20, 1868, and the robbery in Gallatin, Missouri, on December 7, 1869. Many robberies and acts of violence occurred in Missouri while the James boys were at La Panza, but for which they were blamed. Before Jesse and Frank returned to Missouri, John Thompson swore before a San Luis Obispo County notary that Jesse and Frank James had been at the La Panza Ranch at the time the crimes were committed in Missouri. By the end of Jesse and Frank’s stay in Paso Robles in 1869, Drury had sold the La Panza Ranch and moved into a newly built home near the Paso Robles Hot Springs on Spring Street. Living in town would not have been feasible for Jesse and Frank, and sooner or later, they would become a An authenticated liability to Drury’s reputation. It is assumed that they had worn out their welcome with Louisa James, Drury’s wife. photograph or Drury was known to be a smart businessman and good etching of Jesse citizen. But whatever the reason for Jesse and Frank’s James done departure, it was their Uncle Drury who paid for their while he was in passage on the steamship back to New York by way of Paso Robles. The Horn (Cape Horn in southern Chile).