DJJD: Horses Have Crucial Role in Re-enactment of Northfield's Bank Raid

Editor's note: As we ready for the 2012 Defeat of Jesse James Days, Northfield Patch will revisit some of the stories we shared during the . Look for more in the coming days.

Imagine watching eight to 10 Lamborghinis drive into . It probably wouldn’t be a sight you’d soon forget.

That’s about the impact local historian Chip DeMann says the James-Younger Gang’s tall, lean horses would have made as they entered the square on Sept. 7, 1876.

The raid on the  that day is now re-enacted eight times each Defeat of Jesse James Days weekend, and the equine actors are no less important than they were 135 years ago.

Between 24 and 30 horses take part in the performances each DJJD weekend, says DeMann, re-enactment leader, with each horse and rider generally taking part in fewer than four raids, and each performance using seven to nine human-equine pairs.

In recruiting the human half of that pair, DeMann looks for good horsemen and women, which naturally leads to raiders who own their horses, and horses with “wet saddle blankets”—those which have been ridden enough to be well-behaved and comfortable with their owners.

Also, most raid horses are quarter horses or quarter-type. According to the American Quarter Horse Association, the breed is characterized as “heavily muscled, compact horses (that) could run a short distance over a straightaway faster than any other horse.”

Key to the preparation of  is getting them used to the sound of the gunshots their riders will fire throughout the performance.

When exposing a horse to its first gunfire, DeMann prefers to have the animal in an enclosed area, moving forward. That’s because the horse’s reaction to the shot will likely be to move forward, thus directing the burst of energy safely.

It can still take a few performances, DeMann says, to find out whether a horse does or doesn’t like the gunfire. But by that time, he added, the rider has also been with the horse long enough that they can generally coax it to follow instructions anyhow.

Leaning on the veterans

Two of the DeMann family’s geldings are among the veteran re-enactors: Champ, performing about 12 years, and Red, about 10 years. The pair tend to take on two of the most challenging equine roles.

The horse of gang member Bob Younger gets tied to a post outside the  early in the raid, and then remains there unmanned throughout the rest of the performance. The 1876 horse was killed in the gunfight; DeMann said while it is possible to teach a horse to lay on its side, he’s not sure how the audience would react to a “dead” animal.

While either Champ or Red plays that role, the other often portrays Clel Miller’s horse. Miller is killed partway through the raid, leaving the horse loose. Generally, said DeMann, it will move toward Younger’s horse, tethered near the bank.

More than the spook of gunshots, DeMann said one of the humans’ greatest anticipations for the horses is the risk of slipping on Division Street, which is slick by equine standards. A horse can run up and down the street as quickly as its rider likes, but turning around requires slowing down to nearly a full stop.

To create the best footing possible, DeMann said some of the horses wear shoes with borium crystals welded on. The substance is nearly as hard as diamond. But more than half of the horses simply go barefoot.

“Natural foot is by and large the safest and the most comfortable for the horse,” said DeMann, unless it is ridden often.

Overall, the gang of 2011 hopes the skills of the horses and riders help leave audiences with an idea of what the townspeople of 1876 experienced, such as 10-year-old Maude Bill.

Maude watched as the gang members crossed over the Fourth Street bridge and move toward First National Bank. Maude was impressed not only by the men’s large hats and clean dusters, but the gang’s horses and their silver-decorated bridles.

“They came riding over the old Cannon River bridge, two by two,” she’s quoted as saying in the raid history Faithful Unto Death. “They were elegantly mounted with gorgeous saddles on sturdy horses. We saw a few of them come into the square first to look things over. We were suspicious.”

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