text: [Themes: edutainment, historical, true story, western]
  
  Your name is Bill Grey and you were born in Missouri in 1840.
  
  When the American Civil War broke out you sided with your friends and family and served on the Southern side, first in the Missouri State Guard and then with Quantrill's Raiders. After both your parents were shot dead by Union soldiers in the Camp Jackson Massacre your vengeance knew no bounds and you served as a guerrilla under such men as Captain Quantrill, Bloody Bill Anderson and Little Archie Clement. You were at the Lawrence Massacre in 1863 where Quantrill's Raiders killed some two hundred Yankee men and boys in Lawrence, Kansas. A year later you took part in the Centralia Massacre where, with the rest of Anderson's band, you helped stop a train, took two dozen unarmed Union soldiers off it and shot them dead - when soldiers were sent out a few hours later your band ambushed them as well and killed more than one hundred. Following Anderson's death in 1864 and Quantrill's in 1865 you and your surviving companions surrendered at the end of the Civil War.
  
  Returning to Missouri you try to rebuild your life as a farmer on your family's lands but it is impossible: though pardoned you and your fellow guerrillas have not been forgiven for your Civil War activities and are threatened and persecuted by pro-Unionist citizens and lawmen. The victorious North controls the banks, railroad and government and in fear of your life and unable to do business with any but your fellow impoverished Southerners by 1866 you have had enough. You learn that your last surviving war-time leader Archie Clement is secretly arranging a meeting of several former-Guerrillas and when he invites you to take part you readily accept. Clement's plan is to rob Yankee banks in Missouri to show the Federal Government that though the war may be over you and your companions are still fighting back. It is this fateful decision that will be your first step down the Outlaw path, a dangerous and lonely road...
  
  In this story your fate will be determined entirely by your choices. The number of Gunfights you take part in, the people you Injure and Kill, the number of Robberies you commit and your Score (your share of the amount of money you steal) will all be recorded. Your main aim is to survive, avoiding both prison and death in order to continue your Outlaw career with a long-term goal of eventually retiring. Be careful: one wrong decision, particularly in a gunfight where any moment can be your last, will signal a sudden and fatal end to your career, prison is less of a final ending but depending on the evidence against you can either be a short term delay to your career or a decisive end to it. Your secondary aim is to build up your Score by taking part in as many successful robberies as possible, if you are part of a ten-man team that rob a bank of $10,000 dollars for example your share will come to $1,000 and this will be added to your Score. When your career ends, whether through peaceful retirement or suddenly and violently, you will be sent to the Performance Table where you can compare your Gunfights, Injured, Killed, Robberies and Score to your fellow Outlaws as an indication of how well you performed - leaving a comment at the end of the story will also enable others to see your Score.
  
  Good luck Reader, your Outlaw story is about to begin.
  
  > The First Step
  You and your fellow Outlaws meet at the James Family Farm to plan your first bank robbery. There are seven of you: your youthful leader Little Archie Clement, calm and reserved Frank James, cunning Cole Younger and his reliable brother-in-law John Jarette, the Shepherd brothers George Shepherd and one-eyed Ol Shepherd and finally yourself. You fought alongside each other for years during the War and you know from experience they are all brave and daring. It is your 20 year old leader Little Archie, the youngest and deadliest man present, who arranged this meeting and plans the robbery.
  
  "It's time for us to ride again boys," he declares to you all. "Show those Yankee carpet-baggers that there is still some fight in the South! The town of Liberty, is our target boys, we'll all ride in together. Frank, you and Cole will go in the bank, take the tellers hostage and put all the money you find in the safe into this haversack. The rest of us will wait outside, hold the horses and keep anyone from entering the bank. When you two have finished lock the tellers in the vault, come outside and we'll mount up and ride off. If the alarm is raised boys pull out your pistols and fire them into the air like we used to do in the War when we raided a town - it works wonders for keeping those Yankee shop owners and stable boys off the street! If they start shooting back clear out fast, whether we have the money or not. We'll hit the bank on February 13th, an unlucky day for Yankees but a good day for us!"
  
  On the chosen day you and your companions ride into Liberty early in the morning when there are few people on the street. With winter snow still swirling through the air you and your companions rein in outside the bank while Frank and Cole dismount and enter the bank, giving their horses's reins to the Shepherd brothers to hold. The moments seem to drag by ponderously with no sound coming out of the plain stone building in front of you. A few townsfolk are glancing at you all curiously; you reach into your right pocket and nervously clench your heavy but loaded revolver which you have hidden inside. Suddenly Cole and Frank emerge from the bank, the latter holding a bulging haversack. They walk quickly back to their horses and begin to mount up. It all seems too easy.
  
  Suddenly a voice from inside the bank shouts out "Robbery! They're robbing the bank!" As a few nearby civilians start in alarm you and your companions promptly draw out your pistols and begin shooting them into the air, yelling at people to get off the street. Two youths are standing nearby when the alarm is raised and promptly turn and start running down the street in the direction of a Gun Store. Little Archie spurs his horse after them and fires a shot at them with his pistol, which misses. "Shoot them," he shouts at you, who are closest to him. "Shoot them, they're going for the guns!" Obediently you raise your pistol and point it at one of the fleeing teenager's backs but hesitate about pulling the trigger.
  
  > shoot the boy
  Your shot hits one of the boys in the back, pitching him face-first down to the street with a cry. The other boy takes shelter in a doorway so turning your horse away you and your companions ride out of town. Using routes well-known to you all you ride your horses across the countryside for several hours, completely eluding any pursuit that might have been sent after you. Reaching a safe place you stop to count to your money and to your amazement you find that Frank and Cole have managed to steal $60,000, your share alone comes to $8,500.
  
  Little Archie is pleased but instinctively cautious. "There will be a big noise about this so it is best if we split up for a time," he declares. There is some discussion and then you all make your decisions: Little Archie is going to check into a hotel in the town of Lexington, Missouri and lie low for a while. Frank, John and Cole all decide to hide out at Cole's family farm near the town of Independence while George and Ol are going back to their own Farm near the town of St Joseph. All your companions invite you to go with them and you need to choose who to hide out with.
  
  > go with Little Archie to Lexington
  You and Little Archie travel to Lexington where you rent rooms in a hotel and lie low for the rest of the year, spending your stolen money in bars, restaurants and with sporting ladies. One winter's night in December however Little Archie's notoriety leads to an arrest attempt. You and Archie are sitting in a saloon having a quiet drink when three blue-uniformed soldiers armed with rifles approach your table. "Gentlemen, you are both under arrest," one of the soldiers declares.
  
  You and Archie glance at each other and then Archie springs to his feet, pulling a pistol from his pocket as he does so, and starts firing. The soldiers scatter, one firing back and hitting Archie in the side. You are on your feet, pistol in hand and follow Archie as he dashes across the room, hand clasped to his bleeding side, and the pair of you use the pandemonium of fleeing bar customers to escape out a side door into an alley. Several horses are tied up nearby and untying two you mount up. Archie turns and spurs his horse down the alley towards the main street while in the other direction you can see the alley opens up into a side street. You have a choice of directions.
  
  > follow Little Archie towards the main street
  As you both ride out of the alley into the main street a volley of gunshots ring out from a dozen soldiers waiting in a line. Both of you are hit several times and fall from your horses into the dust of the street. You are so badly hurt you are barely able to move, turning your head slightly you see Archie trying to re-cock his pistol with his teeth. As the soldiers approach cautiously, rifles raised, Archie rasps "I've done what I've always said I would do, die before I surrender." You are unable to speak and moments later you and your companion are both dead.
  
  > Your Outlaw Career is at an end
  This is the Performance Table where you can compare your Gunfights, Injured, Killed, Robberies, Score and Fate with those of your fellow members of the James Gang to see who is the greatest Outlaw!
  
  1: Jesse James: Gunfights: 11, Killed: 7, Injured: 1, Robberies: 21, Score: $19,900 - Killed.
  
  2: Frank James: Gunfights: 11, Killed: 2, Injured: 1, Robberies: 17, Score: $26,900 - Surrendered.
  
  3: Cole Younger: Gunfights: 6, Killed: 1, Injured: 2, Robberies: 15, Score: $26,800 - Imprisoned.
  
  4: John Younger: Gunfights: 4, Killed: 4, Injured: 0, Robberies: 7, Score: $3,300 - Killed.
  
  5: Bob Younger: Gunfights: 3, Killed: 0, Injured: 2, Robberies: 8, Score: $12,100 - Imprisoned.
  
  6: Clell Miller: Gunfights: 4, Killed: 0, Injured: 0, Robberies: 8, Score: $12,500 - Killed.
  
  7: Jim Younger: Gunfights: 3, Killed: 1, Injured: 1, Robberies: 5, Score: $2,200 - Imprisoned.
  
  8: John Jarette: Gunfights: 3, Killed: 0, Injured: 1, Robberies: 3, Score: $10,600 - Killed.
  
  9: Charlie Pitts: Gunfights: 2, Killed: 0, Injured: 1, Robberies: 5, Score: $3,400 - Killed.
  
  10: Wood Hite: Gunfights: 2, Killed: 0, Injured: 1, Robberies: 4, Score: $2,400 - Killed.
  
  11: Bill Chadwell: Gunfights: 1, Killed: 0, Injured: 0, Robberies: 5, Stolen: $3,400 - Killed.
  
  12: Dick Liddil: Gunfights: 2, Killed: 0, Injured: 0, Robberies: 4, Stolen: $1,200 - Surrendered.
  
  13: Ol Shepherd: Gunfights: 3, Killed: 0, Injured: 0, Robberies: 2, Stolen: $10,200 - Killed.
  
  14: Little Archie Clement: Gunfights: 2, Killed: 1, Injured: 0, Robberies: 1, Stolen: $8,500 - Killed.
  
  15: George Shepherd: Gunfights: 2, Killed: 0, Injured: 0, Robberies: 2, Stolen: $102,00 - Imprisoned.
  
  16: Bill Ryan: Gunfights: 0, Killed: 0, Injured: 0, Robberies: 4, Stolen: $2,800 - Imprisoned.
  
  17: Charlie Ford: Gunfights: 2, Killed: 0, Injured: 0, Robberies: 1, Stolen: $100 - Surrendered.
  
  18: Clarence Hite: Gunfights: 1, Killed: 0, Injured: 0, Robberies: 2, Stolen: $200 - Imprisoned.
  
  19: Bud McDaniels: Gunfights: 1, Killed: 0, Injured: 0, Robberies: 1, Stolen: $7,800 - Killed.
  
  20: Tom McDaniels: Gunfights: 2, Killed: 0, Injured: 0, Robberies: 1, Stolen: $2,000 - Killed.
  
  21: Tom Webb: Gunfights: 1, Killed: 0, Injured: 0, Robberies: 1, Stolen: $2,000 - Imprisoned.
  
  22: Ed Miller: Gunfights: 1, Killed: 0, Injured: 0, Robberies: 1, Stolen: $1,000 - Killed.
  
  23: Tucker Bassham: Gunfights: 0, Killed: 0, Injured: 0, Robberies: 1, Stolen: $1,000 - Imprisoned.
  
  24: Hoobs Kerry: Gunfights: 0, Killed: 0, Injured: 0, Robberies: 1, Stolen: $1,600 - Imprisoned.
  
  25: Robert Ford: Gunfights: 3, Killed: 2, Injured: 0, Robberies: 0, Stolen: $0 - Killed.
  
  Most Prolific Gunfighter: 1: Frank James / Jesse James (11 Gunfights), 2: Cole Younger (6 Gunfights).
  
  Most Lethal Hurter: 1: Bob Younger / Cole Younger (2 Injured).
  
  Most Deadly Killer: 1: Jesse James (7 Killed), 2: John Younger (4 Killed), 3: Frank James (2 Killed).
  
  Most Enthusiastic Robber: 1: Jesse James (21 Robberies), 2: Frank James (17 Robberies), 3: Cole Younger (15 Robberies).
  
  Most Successful Bandit: 1: Frank James ($26,900), 2: Cole Younger ($26,800), 3: Jesse James ($19,900).
  
  Overall Best Outlaw: 1: Jesse James, 2: Frank James, 3: Cole Younger, 4: John Younger, 5: Bob Younger.
  
  As always thank you for taking the time to read my story, please rate and if you would like others to see your score please leave a comment. Have a good day!