Joseph Lee Heywood is known as the bank cashier who dared to say "No!" to Jesse James and his party of bandits and lost his life in the process. Heretofore not much was known about Heywood other than his role in the great Northfield, Minnesota bank raid. In this book, the author uses Heywood's actual military and medical records to trace the course and context of his life during the Civil War, notes his heritage, examines his decision-making during the robbery, and draws a psychological portrait of the man that is consistent with the known facts. Heywood served as a skirmisher at Chickasaw Bayou, was in the center of the attack on Post Arkansas, and participated in two bloody assaults on Vicksburg before being taken down by a life-threatening disease. The self-effacing Heywood could aptly be considered a hero even before his courageous stand in Northfield, unarmed, before violent men with guns.
About the Author: Gerald D. Otis was born in Northfield, Minnesota. He graduated from Northfield High School, attended St. Olaf College for two years, and graduated from the University of Minnesota. He earned his Ph.D. in Psychology from the University of Arizona in 1966. After completing a clinical internship at the Veterans Administration Hospital in Palo Alto, California he joined the University of New Mexico School of Medicine where he headed a research team in a longitudinal study of the career decision making process in medical students and physicians, taught classes and maintained a clinical practice. For 10 years after Dr. Otis left the University, he combined a private practice with the design and construction of sculptural furniture and computer programming. During his years as a psychologist he published results of research on incidental learning, interaction of stress and personality, family psychotherapy, physician career choice, psychological type and the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, post-traumatic stress disorder, and trends in violent death. He has received two awards from the Association for Psychological Type and several awards for his efforts at fine woodworking. Following16 years working for the Veterans Administration in Medford, Oregon, where he specialized in the treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder, Dr. Otis retired from clinical practice and now lives in Las Cruces, New Mexico with his wife Connie and two Bichon Frise dogs, Scuzzie and Brandi Alexandria. He has authored two books: Joseph Lee Heywood: His Life and Tragic Death and Paroxysm: Love, Murder and Justice in Post Civil War Washington, DC. He has also edited, with his wife, a collection of poems: Words of Grace: The Poetry of Grace McCrea Lindahl. His current project is a novel, inspired by a true story, about a man abused by legal and mental health systems in a civil commitment procedure.