While awaiting his trial, Frank James was held at the jail in Gallatin and, apparently, attracted much public attention. The Aug. 9, 1883, edition of the Jamesport Gazette included comments made by a well-known commercial traveler from St. Joseph who made a visit to Frank James and furnished the following account for publication:

“…James looks thin and bleached, but is otherwise in good health. A great many persons go daily to see him, the great bulk of them being people from the North, who go to the jail expecting to find some sort of ferocious animal, new to zoology. They are astonished, however, to meet a tall, spare, quite-spoken man of about forty years of age, who is rather reserved in his manner, very deferential, absolutely silent as to any of his exploits, even those which were connected with the war. Indeed, the people of Gallatin say that almost all who go to the jail as his enemies come away his friends, at least willing to see him have a fair trial. James expresses himself as very hopeful as to the outcome of his trial.”