According to a wanted poster Jess was five foot eleven inches, 175 pounds, blue eyes and brown hair. (The Lawless Seven. Season 3 Episode 13)
He was wiry with plenty of muscle, fast on the draw and quick to lose his temper. Loyal to a tee and dependable in times of trouble.
Most of the girls in Laramie seem to think he’s pretty handsome. (The General Must Die. Season 1 Episode 10)
The Early Years.
Coming from humble beginnings, Jess was born and raised on the Texas panhandle, one of seven members in his family. His parents were share farmers, working for one of the big ranchers. A raid on their property by the Bannister brothers put an end to life as he knew it when the gang burned the home Jess had lived in all his life to the ground. Four of the seven family members were killed. Three managed to escape with their lives. Jess, sister Francie and one other unnamed person. Jess was only 15 at the time and went on the drift in search of the Bannister brothers and retribution. Jess says if he had found Bannister, he probably would not have lived to tell the tale, “I was so green in those days, he would have killed me before I even slapped leather.” (Men of Defiance. Season 1 Episode 31)
During his time on the drift, Jess had many different adventures and tried his hand at a variety of work. He was just a shirt-
Dixie Howard
Having grown up on a share farm, Jess used his childhood experience to try his hand at homesteading in Willow, Colorado. Partnering up with friend, Will Tibbs, the two were forced off their land by wealthy property-
Tibbs and Jess started homesteading without Wilke’s permission, so Wilkie sent some of his ranch hands to burn out their homestead and run off all the stock. Tibbs and Jess took it to court, but the judge ruled in favour of Wilkie, saying the two had been trespassing. According to Jess, in Willow, Colorado, you can’t even take a deep breath without going through the Wilkies. It just might be their air.” (License to Kill. Season 2 Episode 9)
Jess’s time on the drift could be considered training for his future employment on the Sherman ranch. He spent time homesteading (License To Kill. Season 2 Episode 9)
He was also hired as a drover, riding with a man named Christie approximately five years before arriving in Laramie. (Lost Allegiance. Season 4 Episode 6)
Jess had also been hired as a ranch hand on the Diamond-
Roughly a year before finding his way to Laramie, Jess managed to get a stint as a deputy. The location is unspecified but at the time Jess had a shootout with a man named Bob Blayne, leaving the man’s gun hand crippled. This is the first example we have found of Jess wearing a badge. (The Violent Ones. Season 4 Episode 22)
While he was drifting the War Between the States broke out. Being born and bred in Texas, Jess fought on the side of the Confederates until he was captured by the 7th Michigan and imprisoned in a POW camp run by Captain Paul Halleck. While imprisoned, Jess met up with Johnny Duncan and his younger brother, Knute. During a botched escape attempt by Johnny, Knute and some of the other prisoners, Knute was brutally beaten and left with permanent brain damage.
Several of the prisoners – including Jess, made a pact to kill Captain Halleck once the war was over. They cut up a Confederate flag, each man taking a piece of material as a sign of their allegiance to one another. At the right time, pieces of the flag would be put back together like a jigsaw puzzle, confirming their pact had endured.
While serving time as a POW, Jess witnessed and experienced some of the atrocities most POW inmates went through. Men starved, were shot even though unarmed or left to die of their wounds with no medical attention. (The Replacement. Season 3 Episode 25)
Although Jess had fought in the Confederate army during the Civil War, there was a period after the War Between the States’ where he spent time working with the Union army under the command of Major Stanton and Sergeant Billy Jacobs. Stanton, Billy and Jess had all been in the same outfit. (Bitter Glory. Season 2 Episode 26)
Jess had also been a dispatch rider out of Fort Lincoln at the time when Major Prescott went through to Cold Creek with General Carter. (Circle of Fire. Season 1 Episode 3)
Jess had some involvement with a hospital during the war, the exact details are never revealed but he referred to it once when he recognised the smell of narcotics in some medicine bottles. “All these patented medicine bottles…there’s narcotics in that stuff. That’s what was in that package your pa sent to McClintock, Holly. I remember the smell from a hospital during the war.” (Rimrock. Season 2 Episode 21)
Jess could be considered as accident prone during his many adventures roaming the Big Open, because he also had his fair share of misadventures. He was thrown from his horse on the Kansas prairie where he lay for four days with a broken leg, before a man named Rony Bishop came along and saved him. (Glory Road. Season 1 Episode 2)
Breaking his leg was not his only misfortune, He suffered a bout of frostbite after spending five days in a blizzard where only some dedicated nursing by Annie Whitaker saved his hands and feet. (Bad Blood Season 4 Episode 10).
Jess’s army sergeant, Billy Jacobs, had carried him six miles through Mescalero country after an unknown incident. (Bitter Glory. Season 2 Episode 26)
He also managed to escape two lynchings. One of those was in Laredo where he was set up by the McCanles gang. How he managed to make his escape is unclear, but because he was not known as an outlaw, this probably weighed in his favour. (Cactus Lady)
The other time was in an unnamed location in Texas, where his escape was aided by a man named Joe Markel. Jess spent 2 years looking all over Texas for Markel so he could thank him but was unable to find him due to Markel having spent time in Yuma prison. (The Debt. Season 2 Episode 24)
Jess spoke of being bitten a couple of times by snakes, but never elaborated on the details. (The Lawbreakers. Season 1 Episode 6)
He also suffered a fractured skull at the hands of Pete Morgan, a man he believed to be his friend. Morgan stole 100.00 of poker winnings from Jess, fleeing and leaving him unconscious. Unwittingly, Pete Morgan was partly responsible for Jess finding a place to call home in the township of Laramie. (Stage Stop. Season 1 episode 1)
The Early Years -
Earning a reputation as a fast gun, Jess was found on the occasional wanted poster. (License To Kill, Broken Honor and The Lawless Seven. Season 3 Episode 13)
Whenever there was talk of what he got up to before arriving in Laramie, Jess was heard to say he was cleared of any charges and on one occasion that he’d paid for what he did. That was the only suggestion that he may have spent time in jail. (Broken Honor, Season 4 Episode 26 and The Dynamiters. Season 3 Episode 22)
Just exactly how he paid is never revealed in detail. Although, while visiting the town of Dagget, where he was seeking the truth behind a robbery of the American Mail Company, Jess told the manager of the company he had never served time anywhere. Whether or not this is fact, is uncertain, as Jess was investigating the theft of $10,000 in order to clear Markel or confirm his guilt and was anxious to get a job with the mail company. (The Debt. Season 2 Episode 24)
Jess carried papers in his wallet which confirmed he was in the clear of any charges laid against him on wanted posters, and no longer sought by the law (.45 Calibre. Season 2 Episode 7 )
The Early Years -
Jonesy once explained Jess to newly appointed stage line manager Jack Slade, who had accused Jess of having a record and being nothing more than a saddle tramp and a drifter with a bad reputation. Jonesy said, “He told us what he did when he was a young, wild kid, but now he’s grown up, he’s settled down with us. We trust him and he trusts us.” (Company Man. Season 1 Episode 21)
He fought for the Confederacy during the Civil War and was a cavalry dispatcher at some point, (Circle Of Fire”Season 1 Episode 3). He was captured by the 7th Michigan toward the end of the war. (The Replacement Season 3 Episode 25)
He was a man who loved his food and this was demonstrated quite a few times:
Squirrel Stew (Edge Of Evil Season 4 Episode 25)
Fried Chicken (Hour After Dawn Season 1 Episode 26)
Biscuits (The Mountain Men Season 3 Episode 4)
Apple Pie (sometimes with cheese.
(Stage Stop Season 1 Episode 1)
(Hour After Dawn Season 1 Episode 26)
Jess smoked cigarettes
Stage Stop” (S1 E1),
Glory Road” (S1 E2)
Trail Drive” (S1 E17)
But he soon seemed to quit about a year after arriving at Slim’s ranch.
Jess loved animals as was seen many times in how he treated his horse or played with dogs or just seemed to like to be around critters. This was seen in the very first episode -
Before arriving in Laramie Jess drifted and tried a number of different jobs:
Deputy a year before he arrived in Laramie (The Violent Ones. Season 4 Episode 22)
Drover -
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Read more of Jess Harper’s story and how Jess first met Slim Sherman
Note: Where some episodes give conflicting evidence we have used the greater weight of evidence to form our conclusions.
