Wikimedia Commons Robert Ford posing with the gun he used to kill Jesse James. Frank Triplett wrote about James as a "progressive neo-aristocrat" with "purity of race". By now, James legend had reached its zenith, while Robert Ford was viewed as a loathsome creature. [2] James continues to be one of the most (in)famous figures from the era, and his life has been dramatized and memorialized numerous times. In June 1892, a man named Edward O'Kelley walked into his saloon, offered him a quick greeting ("Hello, Bob") and then shot him dead with a sawed-off shotgun. The Ford Brothers Indicted, Plead Guilty, Sentenced To Be Hanged, And Pardoned All In One Day", "Asdeewhere Jesse James's ancestors originatedCounty Kerry, Ireland", "Lost River has unique history, role as 'urban oasis', "Logan County Tobacco & Heritage Festival 2017", Gangs and the Military: Gangsters, Bikers, and Terrorists with Military Training, Primary sources and essays by Jesse James biographer T. J. Stiles, Official website for the Family of Jesse James, A 1901 newspaper interview with the Younger brothers, Death of Jesse James with pictures from the National Archives and Library of Congress, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Jesse_James&oldid=1149394970, The Jesse James Bank Museum, on the square in, First National Bank of Northfield: The Northfield Historical Society in. As followers of William Quantrill and "Bloody Bill" Anderson, they were accused of committing atrocities against Union soldiers and civilian abolitionists, including the Centralia Massacre in 1864. The bank was owned by Republican former militia officers who had recently conducted the first Republican Party rally in Clay County's history. His wife and two children were in a nearby room. The James gang had been greatly reduced in numbers by that time; some had fled the gang in fear of prosecution, and many of the original members were either dead or in prison after a botched bank robbery in Northfield, Minnesota. Because the gang received support by many former Confederate soldiers in Missouri, they eluded the Pinkertons. Anxious at being so close to the man they intended to kill, they nevertheless managed to keep cool as they waited for the right moment to strike. I was for Billy all the time." . The James and Ford brothers were popular subjects of Western films in the 1940s and 1950s: The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, I Feel Like a Bullet (In the Gun of Robert Ford), "New Facts on the "Blue Cut" and Glendale", "One more shot at the legend of Jesse James", "Jesse James Wanted Poster Goes Up for Auction", "Death of the man who killed, the man who killed Jesse James", "Jesse James's Murderers. The annual Victorian Festival in Jersey County, Illinois, is held on Labor Day weekend[91] at the 1866 Col. William H. Fulkerson estate Hazel Dell. .css-m6thd4{-webkit-text-decoration:none;text-decoration:none;display:block;margin-top:0;margin-bottom:0;font-family:Gilroy,Helvetica,Arial,Sans-serif;font-size:1.125rem;line-height:1.2;font-weight:bold;color:#323232;text-transform:capitalize;}@media (any-hover: hover){.css-m6thd4:hover{color:link-hover;}}Pablo Escobar. During the Civil War, the border state of Missouri was home to bitter fighting in which both sides of the conflict regularlymurdered prisoners and civilians alike, mutilated enemy dead, looted property and livestock, and left towns and homes ablaze. Jesse James "I'm not afraid. O'Kelley was sentenced to life in prison, but his sentence was subsequently commuted because of a 7,000-signature petition in favor of his release, as well as a medical condition. Nonetheless, the crime was discovered, and Ford was arrested. Ford was also promised the $5,000 bounty placed on James head. Heaton Bowman Funeral Home, 36th Street and Frederick Avenue. [2] He held six slaves and more than 100 acres (0.40km2) of farmland. The Cold-blooded Assassination of Outlaw Jesse James By: Oisin Curran Jesse James lies dead in his coffin, cut down in the prime of life by his close friend, Robert Ford. Jesse James and his brother Frank served for the Confederate Army before embarking on criminal careers in the Old West. Following the raid, public support for Jesse and Frank increased, and the Missouri state legislature even came close to passing a bill offering the men amnesty. But although the heists seemingly marked a return to glory days for the notorious outlaw, the world had changed around him. .css-47aoac{-webkit-text-decoration:underline;text-decoration:underline;text-decoration-thickness:0.0625rem;text-decoration-color:inherit;text-underline-offset:0.25rem;color:#A00000;-webkit-transition:all 0.3s ease-in-out;transition:all 0.3s ease-in-out;}.css-47aoac:hover{color:#595959;text-decoration-color:border-link-body-hover;}Jesse James was no hero, despite what the dime novels depicted, nor did he have a charitable Robin Hood complex as some may have suggested. THE JAMES-YOUNGERS. We're doing our best to make sure our content is useful, accurate and safe.If by any chance you spot an inappropriate comment while navigating through our website please use this form to let us know, and we'll take care of it shortly. As they left, one shot the unarmed cashier Heywood in the head. Ten years after James's death, Ford was himself the victim of a fatal shot to the neck by Edward Capehart O'Kelley in Creede, Colorado, dying at only 30 years old. On July 21, 1873, infamous outlaw and American folk figure Jesse James robbed his first train in Adair, Iowa with the help of his posse, the James-Younger Gang. The body buried in Kearney, Missouri, marked "Jesse James" was exhumed in 1995 and subjected to mitochondrial DNA typing. Nightly he performed in the stage show Outlaws of Missouri, where he delivered his version of Jesse James final moments. In the end, the gang killed the bank cashier and a passerby, while two bandits were shot to death by townsfolk before the rest of the outlaws fled. Historians have speculated about the identity of the shooter but have not reached consensus. In the case, Daniel Smoote asked for $223.50 from Frank and Jesse James to replace a horse, saddle, and bridle stolen as they fled the robbery of the Daviess County Savings Bank. After the train robbery, Jamess brother Frank James had also decided to retire from crime and moved East, settling in Lynchburg, Virginia.[4]. Joseph Whicher, an agent dispatched to infiltrate Zerelda Samuel's farm, was soon found killed. James had two full siblings: his elder brother, Alexander Franklin "Frank" James, and a younger sister, Susan Lavenia James. Ford erected a tent saloon to operate from temporarily until his former establishment could be rebuilt. Earlier that year, Bob Ford had arranged with Missouri'sgovernor to take down Jesse in exchange for a reward. The atmosphere was volatile, with widespread clashes between individuals and between armed gangs of veterans from both sides of the war. [19][20][21] O'Kelley was subsequently killed on January 13, 1904, while trying to shoot a policeman. James's two previous bullet wounds and partially missing middle finger served to positively identify the body. On April 3, 1882, Jesse James was shot and killed by Robert Ford, a new recruit to the gang who hoped to collect a reward on James's head and a promised amnesty for his previous crimes. Later in 1876, Jesse and Frank James surfaced in the Nashville, Tennessee, area, where they went by the names of Thomas Howard and B.J. Woodson, respectively. . Bob Ford operated a tent saloon in Creede, Colorado. [14] Others have argued that Jesse was at the time still bedridden with his wound and could not have participated. [3] This area of Missouri was largely settled by people from the Upper South, especially Kentucky and Tennessee, and became known as Little Dixie for this reason. The county counted more slaveholders and more slaves than most other regions of the state; in Missouri as a whole, slaves accounted for only 10 percent of the population, but in Clay County, they constituted 25 percent. Farmers raised the same crops and livestock as in the areas from which they had migrated. The 1869 robbery marked the emergence of Jesse James as the most famous survivor of the former Confederate bushwhackers. Barred by law from offering a sufficiently large reward, he had turned to the railroad and express corporations to put up a $5,000 bounty for the delivery of each of them and an additional $5,000 for the conviction of either of them. [10], The JamesSamuel family sided with the Confederates at the outbreak of war. To carry out the robbery, the gang divided into two groups. [38][39], Allan Pinkerton, the agency's founder and leader, took on the case as a personal vendetta. Robert was not yet well acquainted with James, but Charley had worked his way into the outlaw's good graces. Ford proved a worthy disciple, staying by Jesse's side as his paranoia worsened. Robert Ford, who's idolized Jesse James since childhood, tries hard to join the reforming gang of the Missouri outlaw, but gradually becomes resentful of the bandit leader. In 1879, after three years of lying low under an assumed name in Tennessee, James was ready to resume the life that brought a rush of adrenaline, a place in the newspaper headlines and an infusion of cash. By reading the daily newspaper, James had just learned of gang member Liddil's confession for participating in Hite's murder and grew increasingly suspicious of the Fords for never reporting this matter to him. Three men entered the bank, two guarded the door outside, and three remained near a bridge across an adjacent square. The gang attempted to rob the bank in Northfield at about 2pm. The Ford brothers also enjoyed a brief taste of celebrity as the killers of the notorious outlaw, even reenacting the experience in a stage show. Zerelda and her childrenJesse, his older brother and future partner-in-crime Frank, and younger sister, Susanwere plunged into perilous financial straits. James's original grave was on his family property, but he was later moved to a cemetery in Kearney. [4], Frank James eluded capture and was believed to have joined the guerrilla organization led by William C. Quantrill known as Quantrill's Raiders. In response, he moved on and established a saloon in Las Vegas, N.M. Edwards, his old enabler, no longer responded to his mail, seemingly content that many old Confederate colleagues had risen to positions of power around the region. And Mr. and Mrs. Howard, their two children and their cousin Charles Johnson strolled to the second Presbyterian Church to attend the 10:00 service. From banks to train robb. In the biography, "Jessie James: Last Rebel of the Civil War," written by T.J. Stiles was about a man named Jesse James who spent most of his life participating in criminal activity. Robert Newton Ford (January 31, 1862 - June 8, 1892) was an American outlaw who killed fellow outlaw Jesse James on April 3, 1882. Wikimedia CommonsFord was promised the $5,000 bounty once he killed James, but received only a fraction of the amount when he did. [25] On May 23, 1867, for example, they robbed a bank in Richmond, Missouri, in which they killed the mayor and two others. [22] On June 13, 1866, in Jackson County, Missouri, the gang freed two jailed members of Quantrill's gang, killing the jailer in the effort. The brothers denied the charges, saying they were not in Daviess County on December 7, the day the robbery occurred. He fell ill and returned home soon afterward. [35], The gang's later train robberies had a lighter touch. But the new gang was not made up of battle-hardened guerrillas; they soon turned against each other or were captured. January 31, 1874. [5] After Robert's death, his widow Zerelda remarried twice, first to Benjamin Simms in 1852 and then in 1855 to Dr. Reuben Samuel, who moved into the James family home. Catching the James brothers became a personal mission for Allan Pinkerton, an abolitionist who had aided slaves on the Underground Railroad, uncovered a plot to assassinate President-elect Abraham Lincoln and gathered military intelligence for the federal government during the Civil War. Ames was a stockholder in the bank, but Butler had no direct connection to it.[45]. After breakfast, they moved into the sitting room to discuss Jesses plan to rob the Platte City, Missouri Bank. Graney's song is a potent evocation of Ford's tortured psychological state after he killed the notorious Jesse James. The dirty little coward who shot Mr. Howard (James alias) and laid poor Jesse in his grave.. Some of Sam Bass' last words. Daniel Rennie is a freelance writer residing in Melbourne, Australia. Except for Frank and Jesse James, the JamesYounger Gang was destroyed.[47][48]. Luckily Governor Crittenden stepped in two hours after the trial and as promised granted the brothers a full pardon. He is known to have returned to Missouri in the spring. HISTORY reviews and updates its content regularly to ensure it is complete and accurate. The Republican-dominated Reconstruction legislature passed a new state constitution that freed Missouri's slaves. Dyer, Robert. Ford wasted no time in establishing a tent saloon in its place. In early January 1882, Bolton met with Crittenden, who agreed to spare Liddil from prosecution for his testimony against the James boys. [46] The James brothers eventually split from the others and escaped to Missouri. Jesse Woodson James (September 5, 1847 April 3, 1882) was an American outlaw, bank and train robber, guerrilla and leader of the JamesYounger Gang. Some of the neo-Confederate movement regard him as a hero. Russellville, Kentucky, the site of the robbery of the Southern Bank in 1868, holds a reenactment of the robbery every year as of the Logan County Tobacco and Heritage Festival. The James brothers were most active as members of their own gang from about 1866 until 1876, when as a result of their attempted robbery of a bank in Northfield, Minnesota, several members of the gang were captured or killed. The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford 2007 Stars: Brad Pitt, Mary-Louise Parker, Brooklynn Proulx, Dustin Bollinger Genre: Biography, Crime, Drama Rating: R Runtime: 160 minutes The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford is a 2007 American revisionist Western film written and directed by Andrew Dominik. Hoping to keep the gang alive, James invited the Fords to take part in the robbery of the Platte City Bank in Missouri, but the brothers had already decided not to participate; rather, they intended to collect the $10,000 bounty placed on James by Governor Thomas T. Crittenden. With Brad Pitt, Mary-Louise Parker, Brooklynn Proulx, Dustin Bollinger. The robbery netted little money. The Chicago-based agency worked primarily against urban professional criminals, as well as providing industrial security, such as strike breaking. Updated: August 23, 2018 | Original: December 8, 2014. However, instead of scolding the Fords, James walked across the living room to lay his revolvers on a sofa. [56][57][58] [14], As a result of the James brothers' activities, Union military authorities forced their family to leave Clay County. He was just 18, and along with his older brother, Charles, he joined the James Gang. Rather than dying in a hail of gunfire during a heist, the legendary Jesse James met his end on April 3, 1882, shot in the back of the head while dusting a picture on the wall of his rented home in St. Joseph, Missouri. Robert Ford : Used to be nobody could sneak up on Jesse James. James noticed that a picture was hanging crooked on the wall, and turned his back on Bob to adjust it. [67], The theme of survival was featured in a 2009 documentary, Jesse James' Hidden Treasure, which aired on the History Channel. James grew suspicious of other members; he scared away one man and some believe that he killed another gang member. Sheriff James Timberlake and Marshal Henry H. Craig, who were law enforcement officials active in the plan, were awarded the majority of the bounty. Jesse is believed to have shot and killed the cashier, Captain John Sheets, mistakenly believing him to be Samuel P. Cox, the militia officer who had killed "Bloody Bill" Anderson during the Civil War. James himself wrote letters to newspapers in which he defended his actions. Shortly afterward, the state militia shot Clement dead. The high tensions in politics accompanied his outlaw career and enhanced his notoriety.[30][33]. It is believed that the gang burned 14 Rice County mills shortly after the robbery. Before he died, Lull fatally shot John Younger. During the 1869 bank robbery in Gallatin, the incident that first brought Jesse public notice as an outlaw, he shot and killed the banks cashier in an act of revenge, thinking the man was Samuel Cox, commander of the pro-Union militia troops who had murdered guerrilla leader Bloody Bill Anderson in October 1864. Jesse was born in Clay County, Missouri, on September 5, 1847, to Zerelda and Robert James, hemp farmers who owned six slaves. [42][43], Across a creek and up a hill from the James house was the home of Daniel Askew, who is thought to have been killed by James or his gang on April 12, 1875. Robert Ford drew his weapon and shot James in the back of the head. [64][65] Public opinion was divided between those against the Fords for murdering Jesse and those of the opinion that it had been time for the outlaw to be stopped. [44], Cole and Bob Younger later said they selected the bank because they believed it was associated with the Republican politician Adelbert Ames, the governor of Mississippi during Reconstruction, and Union general Benjamin Butler, Ames's father-in-law and the Union commander of occupied New Orleans. [59] The governor's quick pardon suggested he knew the brothers intended to kill James rather than capture him. Frank and Jesse James mother, Zerelda Allen Pinkerton (left) with President Abraham Lincoln and a Union general during the Civil War, Find History on Facebook (Opens in a new window), Find History on Twitter (Opens in a new window), Find History on YouTube (Opens in a new window), Find History on Instagram (Opens in a new window), Find History on TikTok (Opens in a new window), Getty Images / GraphicaArtis / Contributor, https://www.history.com/news/7-things-you-might-not-know-about-jesse-james, 7 Things You May Not Know About Jesse James. Who Is Suspected Pentagon Leaker Jack Teixeira? "I wasn't the leader of any gang. Inside, the outlaws turned to flee. Jesse James was a lad that killed many a man He robbed the Danville train He stole from the rich and he gave to the poor He'd a hand, a heart, and a brain Jesse was a man, a friend to the poor He couldn't see a brother suffer pain And with his brother Frank he robbed the Springfield bank And he stopped the Glendale train Poor Jesse had a wife, a Jesse James : [last words] Don't that picture look dusty? Meanwhile, James' legend continued to . This sentiment clashed with the general public opinion at the time of James's death that it had been time for James to be stopped by any means. He never explained his motive for the murder. 2 Samuel 23King James Version. This influenced how the population acted during and for a period of time after the war. [73] During the Populist and Progressive eras, James became an icon as America's Robin Hood, standing up against corporations in defense of the small farmer, robbing from the rich and giving to the poor. None of James's biographers accepted them as plausible. The five bandits outside fired into the air to clear the streets, driving the townspeople to take cover and fire back from protected positions. In the course of a single day, the Ford brothers were indicted, pleaded guilty, were sentenced to death by hanging, and were granted a full pardon by Governor Crittenden. In the 1880s, after James's death, the James Gang became the subject of dime novels that represented the bandits as pre-industrial models of resistance. As Ford turned to see who it was, O'Kelley fired both barrels, killing Ford instantly. Confederate guerrillas murdered civilian Unionists, executed prisoners, and scalped the dead. Bob remained at the cottage and slyly migrated from room to room. By the spring of 1882, with his gang depleted by arrests, deaths and defections, James thought that he could trust only the Ford brothers. After he married, he migrated to Bradford, Missouri and helped found William Jewell College in Liberty, Missouri. Initially, Bob was charged with the first-degree murder of both Wood Hite and Jesse James, while Charles was charged as his accomplice. Missouri governor Thomas T. Crittenden assured Ford that he would receive a full pardon for the murder of Hite and James. The report, prepared by Anne C. Stone, Ph.D., James E. Starrs, L.L.M., and Mark Stoneking, Ph.D., confirmed that the mtDNA recovered from the remains was consistent with the mtDNA of one of James's relatives in the female line. [36] Twins Gould and Montgomery James (b. The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford: Directed by Andrew Dominik. Raised in the "Little Dixie" area of Western Missouri, James and his family maintained strong Southern sympathies. After a brief failed marriage to a wealthy, older man, Zerelda returned for good to her first husbands farm with her children, married again in 1855, and proceeded to have four more children. [11] Allowed to vote and hold office again, former Confederates in the legislature voted to limit the size of rewards the governor could offer for fugitives. Wikimedia CommonsJesse James open casket funeral. Things escalated when they both drew their guns and shot each other. Leo Sayer has married his partner Donatella Piccinetti in an intimate home ceremony. Frank and Jesse failed to appear in court, and Smoote won his case against them. James moved his family to St. Joseph, Missouri, in November 1881, not far from where he had been born and reared. Meanwhile, former Union officer Thomas Crittenden began his tenure as Missouri governor in 1881 with a promise to bring James to justice. He and his brother Charley, both members of the JamesYounger Gang under Jamess leadership, went on to perform paid re-enactments of the killing at publicity events. Merry, moody, fey, unpredictable. [11], These men were the likely culprits in the first daylight armed bank robbery in the United States during peacetime,[20] the robbery of the Clay County Savings Association in the town of Liberty, Missouri, on February13, 1866. "Outlaw Gangs of the Middle Border: American Social Bandits,", This page was last edited on 11 April 2023, at 23:39. Jesse's Own Words Jesse James took a hand in building his own . Meanwhile, Bob Ford became an unwanted celebrity. But biographer Ted Yeatman found a letter by Pinkerton in the Library of Congress in which Pinkerton declared his intention to "burn the house down. But he was forced to leave there too. Another less glamorous claim is that Robert Ford was a pariah, and the few customers that did turn up, only did so to pick fights. He stormed into Fords tent saloon armed with a 10-gauge shotgun. Both were sentenced to hang. For a period, Robert earned money by posing for photographs as "the man who killed Jesse James" in dime museums. He was 30. Senators from the state, former Confederate military commander Francis Cockrell, and former Confederate Congressman George Graham Vest, were identified with the Confederate cause. 4,125 words Jesse James was a man He was known throughout the land He was bold, he was bad, but he was brave; But that dirty little coward That shot down Mr. Howard Has gone and laid poor Jesse in his grave . Yet, it is the last four letters in James, the "ames" that bears a strong likeness to Jesse's. Read one of Jesse's original stories here: http://jessejamesphotoalbum.com/a-deck-of-cards/ [18] Six days later, the entire business district, including Ford's Exchange, burned to the ground in a major fire. After the deadly heist, an influential pro-Confederate newspaper editor in Missouri, John Newman Edwards, befriended Jesse and went on to promote the former bushwhacker as a hero and defiant Southern patriot of the Reconstruction era. They were nervous and bored, looking for opportunity, and feeling restless. Ford never told the audience that he had shot James from behind. 1878) died in infancy. Public opinion turned against the Fords for betraying their gang leader, and Robert was seen as a coward and traitor for killing James. The conflict split the population into three bitterly opposed factions: anti-slavery Unionists identified with the Republican Party; segregationist conservative Unionists identified with the Democratic Party; and pro-slavery, ex-Confederate secessionists, many of whom were also allied with the Democrats, especially in the southern part of the state. The James brothers made a name for themselves as bank and train robbers,. This extended a measure of protection over the JamesYounger gang by minimizing the incentive for attempting to capture them. Hoping to conceal the crime, he buried Hites body a mile from the house. . Lewd, cocky and dangerous, the "D-O-double G" and his partner Billy Gunn became one of the most decorated duos in WWE history and an unforgettable part of WWE's Attitude Era during their reign over . Olivet Cemetery in Kearney, Missouri, where the remains had been transferred in 1902 from the original burial site on the James family farm. However, if the Ford brothers thought they would be welcomed as heroes they were dead wrong. Hearst Magazine Media, Inc. Site contains certain content that is owned A&E Television Networks, LLC. Now there was a problem Ford had just killed Jesse James cousin. In the spring he returned in a squad commanded by Fletch Taylor. Instead of confronting them, James walked across the living room and laid his revolvers on a sofa. The implication that the chief executive of Missouri conspired to kill a private citizen startled the public and added to James's notoriety. Popular portrayals of James as an embodiment of Robin Hood, robbing from the rich and giving to the poor, are a case of romantic revisionism as there is no evidence his gang shared any loot from their robberies with anyone outside their network. Robert Ford later said he believed that James had realized they were there to betray him. The robbers inside the bank were thwarted when acting cashier Joseph Lee Heywood refused to open the safe, falsely claiming that it was secured by a time lock even as they held a Bowie knife to his throat and cracked his skull with a pistol butt. [54], On April 3, 1882, after eating breakfast, the Fords and Jameses went into the living room before traveling to Platte City for a robbery. Much of the dramatic build-up to the Civil War centered on the violence that erupted on the KansasMissouri border between pro- and anti-slavery militias. With Jesse James as the most public face of the gang (though with operational leadership likely shared among the group), the gang carried out a string of robberies from Iowa to Texas, and from Kansas to West Virginia. After the passage of the KansasNebraska Act in 1854, Clay County became the scene of great turmoil as the question of whether slavery would be expanded into the neighboring Kansas Territory bred tension and hostility. On the night of January 25, 1875, he staged a raid on the homestead. His wound and could not have participated had arranged with Missouri'sgovernor to take down Jesse in exchange for a,... Adjust it. [ 45 ] the public and added to James 's notoriety. [ 30 ] 33! See who it was, O'Kelley fired both barrels, killing Ford instantly Ford was as. 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