I grew up with the Golden Ring version, an extended "variation" of which was also recorded by Barton and Para. My family has spent a fair amount of time traveling between northern Iowa and southern Texas through Missouri and has taken the time to see a lot of James-related sites (his houses, the Gallatin Bank [now a TrueValue Hardware], etc) for amusement, although our general opinion is that they were mostly angry thugs. I don't mean that they didn't suffer at the hands of the Pinkertons or in general during the war, but a lot of families did and didn't turn out like that.

Ford was shot to death in his tent saloon in Creede, Colorado, in 1892 by man named Edward O. Kelley (sometimes O'Kelly, although I think I read somewhere that the "O" was more properly a middle initial), who was a "James associate", whatever that means. Or at least a fan.