The Murder of Jesse James - The Room Where It Happened
“I had hope, however; I had been wounded seven times during the war, and once before in this same lung; and I did not believe I was going to die.”
- American Outlaw, Jesse James
Jesse James survives shootouts, bullet wounds and the ravages of they American Civil War… but his murder, and the shadowy series of events leading to a gun aimed at the back of his exposed head at his home in St. Joseph Missouri, that’s a story worth telling.
I walk past the green shutters and elongated windows of the Jesse James house… surprisingly, it’s got great curb appeal - I won’t lie; a young couple could move in tomorrow…
If not for the eerie feeling you get when approaching the entrance… you know instinctually, something happened within those walls…
It’s akin to the feeling you get when you’re about to enter a hunted house, you don’t want to enter but your friends push you forward…
I grasp the handle and open the time tested door.
Who was Jesse James?
He’s been called an outlaw, the “Robin hood of the West”, a killer, iconic, a fighter for justice, a hypocrite, overly romanticized, a veteran, simply a bad man…
Each successive retelling of the story of Jesse James stretches, reshapes, reduces, enhances, the man behind the myth…
This ambiguity is exensuated by the fact that Jesse hardly left a single authenticated account of himself… so we’re left to fill in the blanks with perceptions and retellings
Whatever your perception, Jesse James was a man with a story.
“In your hands, my dissatisfied fellow-countrymen, and not in mine, is the momentous issue of civil war.”
- Lincoln’s First Inaugural Address, March 4, 1861
This is the in which world Jesse James was brought up; one of increasing tensions, mistrust and seclusionism.
Born to a southern pastor, Robert James and his wife Zerelda in September 1847, Jesse quickly developed an attachment to the southern way of life leading up to the civil war.
As soon as he could, Jesse left the family hemp farm, which was worked by 6 slaves, to follow his brother Frank and fight for the Confederacy in 1864.
At 16, young Jesse joined a bloodthirsty guerrilla fighting group led by “Bloody Bill” Anderson.
Perhaps its during this impressionable time where Jesse James forms his … intense, worldview:
My pistols, however, I always kept by me.
- Jesse James
Along with “Bloody Bill”, James participated in multiple atrocities during the war, including the Centralia massacre, in which 22 unarmed Union soldiers were butchered and civilians were left to deal with their mutilated bodies.
This collective bloodlust continues until the war ends on May 13th, 1865.
With the fighting finished, many guerrilla fighters and confederate veterans return to civilian life, but Jesse… he felt no peace… he’d been bayoneted, beaten, shot at and had lost what in his mind was a just cause and reasonable cause, it wasn’t … but for Jesse James …
The fire was lit there was no going back.
The wooden floors are old. I step further into the house. Two doorways provide glimpses into separate rooms. One appears to be a bedroom the other, is larger and contains scattered furniture.
I enter the large room…
0_04 - 0:14
Introduction to the house
A pause…
It’s more museum than a home now… I think to myself, as recordings play on…
Various photos line the walls illustrating events throughout Jame’s life. The alarmingly detailed wallpaper behind each frame provokes a sense of unease.
GUN SHOT
“Jesse fell to the floor dead…”
It happened in this room… I now realize….
My eyes gravitate up towards a framed bullet hole impeded in the wall…
“We are not thieves … We are bold robbers. I am Proud of the name, for Alexander the Great was a bold robber, and Julius Caesar, and Napoleon Bonaparte.”
- Jesse James
With the war at an end and Ill reasoned ambition…
Jesse, along with his brother Frank and others began to rob banks, stagecoaches and trains.
It’s at this time, the early 1870’s, where Jesse began to craft his “Robbin hood esce” righteous outlaw persona.
He presents himself as a hero; only stealing to provide for those under the new repressive Northern Republican let government.
- A ballad circulating shortly after Jesse James was murdered…
Although, it must be said there is was and remains no evidence … he gave any of his ill-obtained gains to the poor, or indeed, to anyone but Jesse James himself.
But because Jesse and his gang could rob with relative impunity - because remember this is shortly after the war in areas sympathetic to the lost confederate cause…Jesse began to believe his own invulnerability…
Echo -
I did not believe I was going to die.”
Echo
But as is so often the case with self icurasonian individuals,,, a life without limits is destined to produce powerful enemies …. Sooner or later, you must fall.
In a show of zealous confidence, Jesse’s gang robs a bank in Northrield, MN.
Or, more accurately, tries to.
In the shootout two men die, others are ran down captured.
Only Jesse and his brother Frank make it out unscathed.
The brothers flee south under false names, Frank - disheartened by their brush with death settles into a quit life ,,, But Jesse seemed unwilling or perhaps unable to accept such a life.
Jesse has long seen himself as a heroic southern outlaw, a force willing to fight against northern oppressors, and for some time that persona worked…But times change…
More than a decade had gone by since the end of the civil war, reconstruction had essentially failed and confederate sympathizers now held a strong grip over Missouri politics, where Jesse now resided.
Those now in power no longer needed or wanted to tolerate Jesse’s antics.
Stripped of this toleration and support, Jesse was vulnerable.
But still Jesse forges on, choosing to form a new gang - not one of ex-confederates, those loyal to Jesse as was the case with his first gang, but a group of loosely aligned associates … in it, solely for the money.
This move would prove to be a fatal mistake for Jesse, for inside this new gang a person waits, who in collaboration with Missouri’s new anti crime governor, Thomas Crittenden, would lead to his death.
Crowd noises…
“Missouri cannot be the home and abiding place of lawlessness of any character. “
The inaugural address, Missouri governor Thomas Crittenden”
Crowd noises
Where previous governors turned a blind eye to Jesse, Crittenden got straight to work, successfully convincing railroad and express company leaders to sponsor a 10,000 reward for the capture of James…
Much greater than the previous 300 bounty…
I’ll now allow some time for you to guess what happens next….
Yep, correct.
Two brothers at the fringe of the James Gang, Bob and Charlie Ford smelt opportunity.
With no real loyalty towards Jesse and a desire for money the brothers act.
It’s January 13th, 1882,
The brothers meet with the governor and negotiate a compromise.
If they kill Jesse, they will collect the reward and Crittenden will pardon any and all crimes committed…
The deal was made.
Now the only thing left to do, was to carry out the murder.
My gaze is drawn from the bullet hole as three others enter the room.
Up until now, it had seemed relatively spacious. Only now do realize how tight this room can be with others…
Play
On April third Jesse was in this room with two gang members….
Outré
I slight feeling of claustrophobia washes over me…
The Ford brothers arrived at the house on April 3rd, meeting with Jesse to fill them both in, on a robbery the gang was planning for April 4th, the very next day.
Accounts differ with what happened when they arrived, but one detail of the moment remains constant…
After a lull in the conversation, there’s silence…
In that silence, the brothers must have been contemplating the timing and approach to the murder…
Jesse turns his back on the brothers…
The following silence was palpable…
Foot steps
The brothers glance at each other - sweat lining each forehead.
Jesse steps on a chair to either dust or straighten a painting on a wall…
BANG!
THUD!
A bullet is put in the back of the brain of Jesse James.
The Tombstone of Jesse James Reads:
“Jesse W. James, Dies April 3rd, 1882, Aged 34 years, 6 months, 28 days, Murdered by a traitor and a cowered whose name is not worthy to appear here…”
I did not believe I was going to die.”
Jesse James survives shootouts, bullet wounds and the ravages of they American Civil War, but through it all he behaves as a man who sees death around any corner.
….
Who is Jesse James?
He’s been called an outlaw, the “Robin Hood of the West”, a killer, iconic, a father, an adamant racist, overly romanticized war veteran…
Each successive retelling of the story of Jesse James stretches, reshapes, reduces, enhances, the man behind the myth…
He seems to be all of these things and none of these things all these years later …
Who is Jesse James? You tell me.