Tyrades!

On a recent Saturday afternoon, 86-year-old Uncle Doug shared a bit of family lore about his grandfather (my great-grandfather).

When great-grandpa Henry Lee Gipson was four years old, a stranger came knocking on the door. The visitor introduced himself to great-grandpa and went inside to conduct his business. As he was leaving, he apologized for using a pseudonym; he confided that his real name was Jesse James!

(This was when Jesse and brother Frank were living in Nashville, and three or four years before “that dirty little coward that shot Mr. Howard” “laid poor Jesse in his grave,” as the f...