Jesse James

James married his cousin Zee on 24 April 1874. They both had two children, Jesse Edward James and Mary Susan James. They had twins born in 1878 but they died in their infancy only. Jesse Edward James grew up to become a lawyer and practiced in Missouri and California.

In 1882, James got prepared to go for a robbery with the Ford brothers. They went out to get their horses ready. Since it was a hot day, James removed his coat and firearms and stood on a chair to clean a dusty picture. At this moment Robert Ford shot him in the back of his head.

Jesse James was born on 5 September 1847 to Zerelda and Robert James in Clay County, Missouri. His father was a rich man, a hemp farmer and Baptist in Kentucky; he later migrated to Missouri after getting married to Zerelda. They had a big farmland and some six slaves and lived a prosperous life. James had two more siblings: Alexander Franklin and Susan James.

When James was only a young boy, his father left the family and went in search of gold into the California gold fields. Zerelda remarried after Robert left but James’ new stepfather, Benjamin Simms, treated him and his brother very badly. It is suspected that because of an unstable childhood Jesse and his brother got into a life of crime.

His mother married for the third time in 1855 to Dr. Reuben Samuel, who then moved into the James house. His mother and Samuel had four children together: Sarah, John, Fannie and Archie. They both had seven slaves in the household and helped them in their tobacco cultivation in Missouri.

In 1862, William Quantrill formed a band of guerilla fighters. James joined the gang - other members were Frank James, Cole Young and James Younger. The gang did not only attack the Union troops but also raided mail coaches, assassinated the supporters of Abraham Lincoln and harassed the anti-confederate communities in Missouri and Kansas.

In 1863, the Quantrill Raiders attacked the town of Lawrence, which is considered as the worst crimes of the Civil War. The gang killed at least 150 inhabitants of the town and set 180 buildings on fire. Within the next one year Frank James took Quantrill Raiders to Texas and he and James joined Taylor’s group when they reached Clay County. James was merely 16 years old then.

In 1864, Taylor got badly hurt and lost his right arm where a shotgun shot him. Subsequently, Jesse and Frank James joined another group led by Bloody Bill Anderson called the bushwhacker group. James got shot in the chest in the same year on one of their endeavors with the group.

In 1864, Frank was taken hold of, by the Clay County marshal, for killing more than 100 members of Major A.V.E. Johnson’s regiment. Frank told Jesse that he was the one who shot Major Johnson. They were ordered to leave Clay County. The James brothers separated, Frank went to Kentucky with the Quantrill and Jesse went to Texas with the gang led by Archie Clement.

In 1866, James under the command of Archie Clement, robbed the Clay County Savings Association in Liberty, Missouri, in daylight and that too during the peacetime in America. During the armed robbery, an innocent student of William Jewell College got shot in the streets at the time when the gang was trying to escape. It is still not clearly known if James really did take part in the robbery.

When James died, his wounds from the previous chest shots and a missing middle finger helped the police to identify his body.

Being involved in the killing of Jesse James, Ford brothers, Robert and Charles, were arrested when they called the governor to claim their reward. They were initially charged with murder and sentenced to death but were immediately pardoned by the governor himself.

James’ mother Zerelda Samuel wrote a book dedicating it to his son, ‘In Loving Memory of my Beloved Son, Murdered by a Traitor and Coward Whose Name is not Worthy to Appear Here.’

James’ wife Zee lived in poverty and died alone.

It was rumored after his death that James was not killed; Bob Ford killed someone else for James to escape and live more protected.