Al J. Jennings

Short Biography

Al J. Jennings was born on November 25, 1863 in v*rginia, USA as Alphonso J. Jennings. He was an actor and writer, known for Beating Back (1914), The Lady of the Dugout (1918) and Song of the Gringo (1936). He died on December 26, 1961 in Tarzana, California, USA.Trivia (12) Jennings was a real cowboy who gained notoriety in turn-of-the-century Oklahoma by robbing banks and trains. After being caught and imprisoned several times, he turned "straight" and journeyed to Hollywood to make movies, becoming not only an actor but also a producer.Brother of Frank Jennings.President/General Manager of Al Jennings Production Co., New York City/Los Angeles, CA, a film production company formed in 1918.Owner of Al Jennings Feature Film Co.Al and his brothers Frank, Edward and John, were the sons of judge J.D.F. Jennings.Al and his brothers started in the banditry business in the mid-1890's (while working as cowboys), having met outlaws who were later members of the Bill Doolin gang. They were strictly small timers at first, using fake marshal badges to extort toll money from cattle herders in the Oklahoma Territory.Al claimed to have killed eighteen men, shooting them in the throat, so they couldn't talk back. There is no record, however, of Al Jennings having ever killed anyone.In addition to robbing trains, the colourful Jennings also sidelined as an evangelist and, having studied law and being admitted to the bar, in 1892 served as district attorney in El Reno, Oklahoma.Always best at promoting himself and spinning wild tales of his exploits as a Wild West outlaw (even writing two books about his fictitious history), Al supported the claim of another fraud, J. Frank Dalton (1947-1951), who claimed from 1935 to be the real Jesse James. Dalton's claim proved to be fraudulent (among many discrepancies, Jesse had lost his left middle finger while riding with Quantrell, Dalton still had his). Moreover, Al had never met the real Jesse James who died in 1882, long before Al embarked on his criminal career.In 1914, Al decided to run for the post of Governor of Oklahoma, declaring "If elected I promise to be honest for a year, if I can hold out for that long". His electoral defeat came as no surprise...Shortly after finishing his prison sentence, Al saw the landmark western movie The Great Train Robbery (1904), filmed 'on location' in New Jersey and New York's Central Park. This gave him the idea to get into the movie business and tell those guys what the Wild West was 'really like', as told by the man who bested Jesse James in a gunfight, robbed more trains than anyone and killed more men than Billy the Kid.Al's exploits as a would-be outlaw read like chapters from 'The Gang that Couldn't Shoot Straight'. His entire career lasted a mere 108 days, ending in his meek surrender. He saw one gunfight in which nobody died. The most comical event took place on October 1 1897: Al, Frank, Little Dick West and the O'Malley Brothers stopped a southbound train eight miles from Minco, Oklahoma. Al tied several sticks of dynamite together and placed them alongside the safe in the baggage car. In a scene reminiscent of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969) (famous line: "Used enough dynamite there, boy?") Al explained to Frank that one needed lots of dynamite to "dent a big safe like that". Alas, the baggage car exploded in a hail of splinters and nothing remained of the safe, let alone any cash. The robbers had to content themselves with fleecing the passengers of assorted jewelry, even taking a pair of boots off a travelling salesman. In the end, Al's biggest haul from train robberies amounted to no more than $27 and a jug of whiskey!.Alphonso J. "Al" Jennings (November 25, 1863 – December 26, 1961) was an attorney in Oklahoma Territory who at one time robbed trains. He later became a silent film star and made many appearances in films as an actor and technical adviser.Biography Jennings settled in El Reno, Oklahoma Territory and served as Canadian County, Oklahoma prosecuting attorney from 1892 until 1894. In 1895 he joined his brothers, Ed and John, in a law practice at Woodward. In October of that year Ed Jennings was killed, and John Jennings wounded, in a shootout with rival attorney Temple Lea Houston.Jennings left Woodward following Houston's acquittal in 1896 and wandered before gaining employment as a ranch hand in the Creek Nation. While working near present Bixby in Creek County, Jennings joined an outlaw band. The justice system's failures enraged him and encouraged him to resist it. During the summer and fall of 1897 the desperados, often referred to as the "Jennings Gang, " composed of Frank and Al Jennings, Little Dick West, and Morris and Pat O'Malley, robbed trains, general stores and a post office, with little monetary success. Two of his most publicized robberies were the August 16, 1897 robbery of a Santa Fe passenger train located three miles south of Edmond, Oklahoma and the October 1897 robbery of a passenger train near Chickasha, Oklahoma. When attempting the Edmond robbery, the gang unsuccessfully attempted to break into a Wells-Fargo safe. After the dynamite failed to blow up the safe, the gang made their getaway. No one was killed during this robbery, but Jim Wright, a passenger who refused to surrender his valuables, had part of his ear shot off. The Chickasha robbery was not significantly more successful. Although the gang was unable to break the safe, they were able to obtain some goods from the passengers, including a bottle of whiskey and a bunch of bananas. The gang's most successful robbery was the Berwyn train robbery, which occurred a few miles north of the Texas border. This robbery allowed the gang to obtain thirty thousand dollars worth of loot. These robberies are the only crimes that historians agree the gang committed. In his semi-autobiographical novel Jennings himself remembered that the law often accused him of various crime that he did not commit. One of these dubious allegations was that he murdered two men in Dennison, Texas. When committing robberies, Jennings followed his personal code of honor. He refused to rob from women or preachers. When he was not robbing, he spent much of his time hiding from the law in Snake Creek in the Creek Nation. Eventually, he became unable to retain his outlaw lifestyle. Jennings was wounded by law officers on November 30, 1897, and captured one week later on Carr Creek near Onapa in McIntosh County, Oklahoma. In 1899 Jennings was sentenced to life in prison, but, due to the legal efforts of his brother John, his sentence was reduced to five years. He was freed on technicalities in 1902 and received a presidential pardon in 1904 by President Theodore Roosevelt. Then in 1906, he married Maude Jennings.Jennings became a celebrity. In 1904 William Sydney Porter, better known as O. Henry, published the short story "Holding Up a Train, " a story inspired by Jennings's career. Jennings himself was the actual author of this story. In 1913 Jennings wrote Beating Back, a novel loosely based on his outlaw life. This novel portrayed the law as persecutors of the innocent and Jennings as an honorable lawbreaker who possessed immense skills in horsemanship and marksmanship. To coincide with this novel, the Saturday Evening Post wrote a series of interviews with Jennings that perpetuated the same messages as his novel. He re-created one of his bank robberies in the 1908 film The Bank Robbery. In this film, Heck Thomas assembled a posse, chased and captured the bank robbers. Bill Tilghman was the director, James Bennie Kent was the cinema-photographer, and the Oklahoma Natural Mutoscene Company was the producer. The film was shot in Cache, Oklahoma and at the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge, with Quanah Parker having a bit part. A bystander thought that the bank was really being robbed and jumped out a window to run for the police. Jennings made several public appearances and told various stories of his alleged prowess with a gun. Supposedly, he could shoot a tin can thrown through the air. His personal friends claimed that Al Jennings actually could not hit the side of a barn.Jennings moved to Oklahoma City in 1911 and became active in politics. In 1912 he won the Democratic nomination for Oklahoma County attorney, but he lost the general election. In 1914 he made an unsuccessful run for the office of governor of Oklahoma. Enjoying the popularity of his starring role in the 1914 film adaptation of his 1913 biography, Beating Back, Jennings campaigned openly about his past and won votes with his honesty. One of six democratic candidates, he finished third in the primary behind James B. A. Robertson and Robert L. Williams.Jennings wrote another book, Through the Shadows With O. Henry, which was published in 1921 by NY Burt. It details his friendship with the short story writer, then known only as William Sydney Porter, from a few years before they were sent to the Ohio State Penitentiary (on charges arising from separate incidents), until sometime after their release from prison within a few years of each other, and a subsequent meeting in New York.Retiring from law and politics, Jennings moved to California and worked in the motion picture industry making Westerns. A film biography of him was made in 1951, Al Jennings of Oklahoma, with Dan Duryea in the title role. Jennings also worked as a traveling evangelist and warned the public against making the choices that he made. He died in Tarzana, California, on December 26, 1961 aged 98. He is interred in the Oakwood Memorial Park Cemetery in Chatsworth, California.