Cole Younger Cole Younger Thomas Coleman Younger (January 15, 1844 – March 21, 1916) was an American Confederate guerrilla during the American Civil War and later an outlaw leader with the James–Younger Gang. He was the eldest brother of Jim, John and Bob Younger, who were also members of the gang. Younger, was born on January 15, 1844 on the Younger family farm in Jackson County, Missouri. He was a son of Henry Washington Younger, a prosperous farmer from Greenwood, Missouri and Bersheba Leighton Fristoe, daughter of a prominent Jackson County farmer. Cole was the seventh of fourteen children. During the American
John Mason (outlaw) John Mason (outlaw) John Mason, (? – 1866), with Jim Henry, was one of the leaders of the Mason Henry Gang organized by secessionist Judge George Gordon Belt, that posed as Confederate partisan rangers but acted as outlaws, committing robberies, thefts and murders in the San Joaquin Valley, Monterey County, Santa Clara County, Santa Cruz County and later in the counties of Southern California. Little is known about John Mason before he joined the Mason Henry Gang. He was Southern-born and a former stage hostler who had reportedly killed several men in altercations. In the spring of 1864 the gang