In early 1903, shortly after Cole Younger had been pardoned by Minnesota authorities for his part in the 1876 Northfield bank robbery, a report leaked that he and Frank James were going into partnership to purchase an interest in Buckskin Bill's Wild West Show. Contacted in Kansas City in mid-February, James confirmed the purchase.
James said the exhibition would be renamed the James-Younger Wild West Show, and he gave a few details about his and Younger's agreement with the previous owners. Val Hoffman, a wealthy brewer from Chicago, would retain part ownership in the show and H. E. Allott, the other seller, would be retained as general manager.
James said he would act in certain parts of the show, such as rescuing a stagecoach, but he made it clear that the show would not depict any of his or Younger's outlaw escapades of yesteryear. He said that, after twenty years as an upstanding citizen, he was sick of being portrayed as an outlaw. However, he didn't see anything wrong with his being associated with a wild west show as such. He was only trying to provide for himself and his wife.
Contacted later the same day at his Lee's Summit home, Cole Younger confirmed that he had bought part interest in Buckskin Bill's Wild West Show, but he denied that Frank James was his partner. Instead, he said James's role would be merely that of a salaried employee. Specifically, James would be hired as the show's arena manager.
Younger said that his role, in addition to being a co-owner with Hoffman, would be to serve as treasurer and to help manage the show. He would not be an actor in the show but would remain instead in the background. He would not appear in the arena at all.
The reason Younger emphasized that he would not have an acting role in the show was that one of the conditions of his Minnesota pardon was that he not "put himself on exhibition." He said he had agreed to such a stipulation but that he had not promised not to own or manage a show.
Younger wanted it known that he planned to run a "clean" show, and that he would not allow gambling or drinking. "We will have the best show on the road," he bragged.
When Frank James was told what Cole Younger had said, he reiterated that he was indeed part owner of the wild west show, and he produced a legal document attesting to that fact. Apparently, James had met with the previous owners after Younger did and had agreed to his role as part owner at that time.
There was some sentiment against James and Younger's wild west venture among their friends and acquaintances. They thought the two men should not remind the public of their outlaw days by associating themselves with a wild west show.
Despite the second guessing, the James-Younger Wild West Show took to the road in early May 1903. Although it drew "good crowds of the morbidly curious" in the West, it was a failure in the East, "so much so that it got back west in a hurry."
By September, Cole Younger was considering leaving the show because it was making no money. About the same time, he and James filed a suit against Hoffman for failing to properly equip the show and for refusing to drive away grifters and other riffraff. Hoffman countered by charging Younger with embezzlement in Vernon County, Missouri.
Cole claimed there was no basis for the embezzlement charge and that it was brought only in retaliation for the suit he and James had filed. Indeed, the embezzlement charge was soon dismissed, and the two former outlaws severed ties with the wild west show.
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