April 3, 1882: The Death of Jesse James

April 3, 1882: Jesse James is killed at his home in St. Joseph, Missouri. He was 34 years old.

Although Missouri never seceded from the Union, it was a slave State, and there was a lot of Southern sympathy there. Jesse and his older brother Frank James were Confederate guerillas during the American Civil War, riding with traitorous murderers like William Quantrill and "Bloody" Bill Anderson. The brothers participated in the Centralia Massacre in Centralia, Missouri on September 27, 1864, led by Anderson, where 123 people were murdered, military and civilian alike.

On February 13, 1866, in Liberty, Missouri, the James brothers robbed the Clay County Savings Association. It was the 1st daylight armed bank robbery in America during peacetime. In their attempt to escape, 17-year-old George Wymore was shot and killed, to eliminate him as a witness.

On May 23, 1867, they robbed a bank in Richmond, Missouri. This time, they killed 3 people, including the Mayor. In 1869, the brothers joined with Cole Younger and his brothers, forming the James-Younger Gang. In 1873, they began robbing trains, although they were not the 1st peacetime train robbers in America.

Jesse James was a Southerner and a redneck. How rednecky was he? He was so rednecky, he married his cousin. No joke: His father and his wife's mother were siblings. Her name was Zerelda Amanda Mimms, and she became known as Zee James. They married in 1874, and had 3 sons, including twins who died in infancy, and a daughter.

The James-Younger Gang went north, and on September 7, 1876, they tried to rob the First National Bank in Northfield, Minnesota. But, hearing gunshots -- the Gang killed the cashier and a bystander -- the locals decided to fight back. Gang members Clell Miller and Bill Stiles were killed; while brothers Cole, Bob and Jim Younger were all shot, but survived, and were captured. The James brothers managed to escape unhurt. To this day, the City of Northfield has as its slogan, "Jesse James Slipped Here." (As opposed to "slept here.")

After that, despite being only 28 years old, Jesse's days as a top-flight crook were over. Recruiting new gang members was hard. He and Frank headed south, where they figured they would have a more sympathetic audience. But the South's recovery from the economic hardships of the Civil War was still woefully incomplete, and so their robberies there weren't as lucrative.

They found another pair of brothers, Robert and Charles Ford. (Contrary to one of the legends about Jesse, the Fords were not his cousins.) By 1881, it was pretty much over. Frank settled in Virginia, and Jesse and the Fords, now the entirety of Jesse's gang, went back to western Missouri from whence they came.

But, as we would say today, there was a mole in the organization. Robert Ford was negotiating with the Governor of Missouri, Thomas T. Crittenden, and made a deal. Crittenden was prohibited by law from offering a reward for killing either of the James brothers, but he talked the railroad companies into offering a $5,000 bounty (about $136,000 in 2022 money) for bringing them in, dead or alive; and, if alive, an additional $5,000 after they were convicted.

On April 3, 1882 -- a little over 5 months after the Gunfight at the OK Corral in Arizona, and 9 months after the killing of Billy the Kid in New Mexico -- Jesse and Zee James, and Robert and Charles Ford had breakfast together at the James home. According to Robert's account, Jesse went into the living room, and saw a picture above the mantle. It was dusty, and he decided to clean it. As he stood on a chair, his back turned toward the brothers, Robert took out his gun, and shot Jesse in the back of the head.

Robert Ford

The Ford brothers turned themselves in. Not only did they not get their reward, but they were charged with first-degree murder. Within one day, they were indicted, tried, convicted, sentenced to be hanged... and pardoned by Governor Crittenden. They got their pardon, but never their reward. The Fords might have been the most honorable people involved in the whole sordid affair.

After his death, the legend of Jesse James grew. Many of the movies about him were sympathetic, treating Robert Ford as the villain of the story. Southerners saw Jesse as a Robin Hood figure, robbing from the rich (banks and railroads) and giving to the poor. Like so many postbellum Southern legends, this was a lie: He never shared his ill-gotten gains with anyone other than the members of his gang.

As with Billy the Kid, and the later outlaw Butch Cassidy, for decades thereafter, men came forward claiming to be a still-living Jesse James, hoping to cash in on his fame. All such claims were debunked.

Charles Ford died of tuberculosis in 1884. Robert was himself shot and killed in 1892. Jesse's widow Zee lived until 1900; his brother Frank, until 1915; his daughter Mary, until 1935; and his son Tim until 1951. Tim had 4 daughters, and in 1898, was accused of getting into the family business. He was arrested for train robbery -- and acquitted. He and Mary later served as consultants on movies made about their father. Like her father, Mary had 3 sons and a daughter, and the James family line continues.

Over the years, a wide range of actors have played Jesse James, including such legendary good guys as Roy Rogers, future Lone Ranger Clayton Moore, and future Superman George Reeves. Others include Tyrone Power, Dale Robertson, Audie Murphy (twice), Robert Wagner, Robert Duvall, Kris Kristofferson, Rob Lowe, Colin Farrell, and, most recently, in 2007, Brad Pitt in The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, with Ford played by Casey Affleck.

On February 2, 1973, 89 years after the death of Jesse James, and with the possibility that some people who knew him were still alive, the ABC sitcom The Brady Bunch aired the episode "Bobby's Hero." Bobby Brady (played by Mike Lookinland), then age 12, tells his father Mike (Robert Reed) and stepmother Carol (Florence Henderson) that his hero is Jesse James. The Brady couple discover that he's been reading books and seeing movies about Jesse, and discovering that those sources treat him as a hero.

They find Jethroe Collins (played by Burt Mustin, born in 1884, just 2 years after Jesse's death), an old man who tells Bobby, "Jesse James killed my father." That night, Bobby has a nightmare where he, Mike and Carol are on a train, wearing Wild West clothes, and the train is robbed by Jesse. Since this was the 1970s and a sitcom, and a kid was in the room, the censors wouldn't let them show actual guns, let alone gunshots. So Gordon DeVol, playing Jesse, points his finger and Mike and Carol, and says, "Bang! Bang!" And they play dead. Bobby wakes up, and realizes that Jesse James was no hero.

However, since it was only a dream, and his parents weren't actually killed, Bobby Brady did not become Batman. Nor has Mike Lookinland ever played Batman.

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April 3, 1882 was a Monday. The baseball season wouldn't start until May 1. Football was out of season. Basketball didn't exist yet. And hockey barely did. So there were no games on this historic day.