Lawful James

Not many had the pleasure and luck to meet their grandparents back in the 1800s, but James was one of those lucky kids that could claim he had a happy childhood, with a loving family. The Longabaugh's were a wealthy family, settling early on the area of New Mexico, working their lands everyday, as hard as they could, until it simply started working for then, and it did extremely well. Old man Jesse Longabaugh took care of the business for the longest times, he had started it after all; his teaching to James were clear, never the illicit way, a crime life means a violent death. Young and impressionable James took it to heart, specially when the day the old man was put down for tuberculosis.

Soon after, his father, Arthur, took his father's place, he ought to keep the farm in good shape, to maintain his political connections. Old man Jesse once became quite known on the higher up groups, and for quite good reasons. But it wouldn't be as easy to replace such an impeccable man as Old man Jesse, he was severe about every distraction from his daily work in the farm; alcohol, gambling and even smoking were practices he deemed as destructive. He had prohibited his son of pursuing any when he was alive, but now, so much freedom fell on Arthur's hand, the end for the Longabaugh's wealth was almost inevitable.

James was in the university at the time, when his father started gambling the family's goods and money, his mother Margaret only explained the decaying situation of his father through letters almost a year later, for which he would only grow resentful for his father stupidity, leading his family into bankrupt. When he eventually had to go back home, because his tuition couldn't be paid any longer, he found his father on a miserably failed attempt of suicide; drunk to the bones, sobbing on the desk in his grandfather's studio, a revolver in hand. Grabbing his father by the hair, raising his head and spitting on his face, he made the shot his father was too weak to even face, putting back the gun by the grasp of Arthur's hand, so no doubt could arise.

He had wanted to be a lawyer, his mother wanted it too, so he would be able to get the the bigger cities, be someone; even though his family already was, the woman still missed it and thought it was so much more than where he had grown. However, there wasn't enough money to pay it further more, his mother, against his wishes, mortgaged the old house, which was only able to get him another year of studies, in the end, not enough to acquiring his tittle. James rested uneasy most nights, knowing his old mother was alone, now poor, as he was. His father was a great failure and he was afraid of following his steps, or worse, going against his Old Man's wishes to get through the bad times.

However, a train robbery chance hopped in front of him, he almost did the right thing, turn them down, even, betray them and letting authorities know, though, as risky as it was, he needed it, his mother needed it. So he accepted, and that's how his gunslinger life started. He became another disgrace for his family name, James could only wish his grandfather couldn't see him from above.

Known as the Lawful James, given his structured speech and knowledge in law, many robberies and murders were told he committed, however, the town couldn't hate him, as he ended up being known as a Robin Hood of sorts, helping those in need whenever possible and never stealing from them. Only the big.