September 17, 2024
Today is Ed Mell's birthday which is fitting because tonight there is a memorial service for him at the Phoenix Art Museum. A full report tomorrow.
Meanwhile, on Saturday there will be a memorial for Jana Bommersbach and on Friday, in Kingman, there is a memorial for my childhood friend Bill Blake.
Word comes from Minnesota that Chip DeMann has passed in Northfield. Here is a blog post from ten years ago:
Northfield, Minnesota Where The James Gang Met Their Match
One of the secrets to a really great historic road trip is having a great guide. In my case I had Minnesota Mike Melrose who worked at True West Magazine back in 2000. I told him I wanted to do a road trip to Northfield and together we put it together. We flew into Des Moines, rented a car and drove to his parent's house in Charles City, Iowa. Had a great dinner (sorry you can't do this, the corn on the cob was fantastic), then we took off for Minnesota, stopping in Forrest City, Iowa, where I was born, then across to Thompson (where my grandparents had a farm), Swea City, Fairmont, Estherville and up into the Land of Ten Thousand Lakes. Thanks to Chip DeMann, Northfield, has the best Old West reenactment of a bank robbery on horseback I have ever seen. Thanks to Chip he joined us for the James-Younger Escape to Dundas, Millersberg, Shieldsville, Kilkenny (where they were unhorsed), Waterville Marysburg, Mankato and finally, to Hanska Slough, outside of Madelia, Minnesota where the Youngers were captured. I highly recommend this blow by blow roadtrip if you are interested in Jesse James, Cole Younger and tough Norsky's who beat them at their own game.
"They took the whole road."
—An eyewitness to the James-Younger gang riding out of Northfield with their collective tale between their legs.
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