The Day Jesse James Was Killed by Carl W. Breihan

this is an old retired library book I'm guessing I bought off eBay years ago, not sure if I ever read it. it is pretty somber. Jesse is realizing that he's about obsolete. there's nothing left for him. no future. problems with Zee. he is just morose. I want him to be a dashing daredevil. but I guess we all have those days...

It's the way of a woman...they don't care so much for themselves, but then they think about the children and the future.

There was to be no place for him in this world. His worst enemies were gnawing at him-time and himself. He was a misfit. There were only three roads for the future. Death, imprisonment, or ridicule. There is no place in the world for a tame desperado; a gunman without guns is a clown. Imprisonment? Better to be a hunted animal than a caged beast. Death. When the moment arrived for this young man, named Jesse Woodson James, he seemed to accept it as inevitable, and he went without a struggle.