Jesse James shot dead by Robert Ford (1882)

Jesse James, an American outlaw and leader of the James–Younger Gang, was shot in the back of the head and killed by Robert Ford on April 3, 1882, in St. Joseph, Missouri. Ford, a gang recruit seeking a reward and amnesty, executed the killing at James's home before the group planned to travel to Platte City for a robbery.

Episodes

Background and detail

Background. Jesse James was an American outlaw, bank and train robber, and guerrilla leader. By spring 1882, his gang was depleted by arrests, deaths, and defections, leaving James trusting only the Ford brothers. Robert Ford, born in 1861 in Ray County, Missouri, had admired James and met him in 1880 at age 18; by the time of the killing he was a new recruit to the gang. In January 1882, Ford and Dick Liddil surrendered to Sheriff James Timberlake at Martha Bolton's residence in Ray County.

The Killing. On April 3, 1882, after eating breakfast, Robert Ford and Jesse James went into the living room at James's home in St. Joseph, Missouri, originally located at 1318 Lafayette. The group intended to travel to Platte City for a robbery. James was shot in the back of the head and killed by Ford, who hoped to collect a reward on James' head and a promised amnesty for his previous crimes.

Immediate Aftermath. Following the killing, Robert Ford wired the governor to claim his reward. Crowds pressed into the house in St. Joseph to see the dead bandit. The coroner's jury returned a verdict that James died by a pistol shot in the hands of Robert Ford. The Ford brothers surrendered to authorities, were indicted, pleaded guilty, sentenced to death, and granted a full pardon by Governor Crittenden.

People involved

Sources

Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.