Cole Younger the three Youngers (Cole, Bob, and Jim) did not. They and another gang member, Charlie Pitts, waged a gun battle with a local posse in a wooded ravine along the Watonwan River west of Madelia, Minnesota. Pitts was killed, and Cole, Jim, and Bob Younger were badly wounded and captured. Cole, asked about the robbery, responded, "We tried a desperate game and lost. But we are rough men used to rough ways, and we will abide by the consequences." Cole, Jim and Bob pleaded guilty to their crimes to avoid being hanged. They were sentenced to life in prison at
Bob Cole (composer) or Cole’s changing ideals in black musicals – he desired to test out another path in vaudeville plays and songwriting In 1899, Cole met two brothers from Jacksonville, Florida. who paved the path of the rest of his career in show business: his partnership with James Weldon and J. Rosamond Johnson, especially J. R. Johnson, lasted until his retirement in 1911. As Thomas L. Riis claimed, Cole’s “association with the Johnson brothers indicated that Cole was turning away from coon-song composition” (140). There was little evidence as to the reason behind Cole’s drastic shift from traditional “coon songs”; one possible