Jesse James Home Saint Joseph Missouri
Family legend says Jesse and Frank James were my uncles several generations back, from tracing my family history it is more likely that
they are cousins, but either way I grew up hearing stories about them.
A few years back when we lived on Fort Riley in Kansas we decided
to take the short trip to Saint Joseph Missouri to see the home were Jesse
James was shot and killed.
The small white and green home that Jesse lived in with his
wife and two young children under the assumed name of Tom Howard was originally
located at 1318 Lafayette Street at the top of a hill overlooking Patee house. The
home was later moved closer to the highway for a tourist attraction before
being moved back two blocks from its original location. This house now sits on
the grounds of Patee house and is operated by the Pony Express Historical Association. Patee house was a luxury hotel in Jesse James day and is now a museum.
Jesse James was just 34 years old when he was shot in the
back of the head by fellow gang member Bob Ford. Bob Ford had hoped to collect the reward
money being offered for the capture of Jesse James. After breakfast on 3 April 1882 Jesse James stood on a chair to
straighten a picture on the wall, brothers Bob and Charley Ford were behind
him, they pulled their guns, hearing the click of the gun Jesse started to turn
and Bob shot him.
Jesse James wife Zee was in the house when her husband was
shot and ran into the room hearing the gun fire. The Ford brothers tried to say
that the gun had gone off on accident and dashed out of the house to send a
telegraph to make notifications of Jesse James death.
A coroner’s inquest, an autopsy, and photographs of the body were
taken after the assassination. Afterwards Jesse’s body was taken to Kearney Mo
for burial on the farm where he had been born. The Ford brothers were taken into custody, charged
with murder and sentenced to hang, but they were later pardoned by Missouri Governor
Thomas Crittenden ( hmm perhaps he is also a relative, I best add him to my
research).
A few weeks after Jesse James was shot and killed the owner
of the house he had been renting a Mrs.. Henrietta Saltzman moved back into the
house and began to charge visitors 25cents to visit the place where Jesse James
was assassinated and a chance to see the bullet hole in the wall. It is
reported that she sold “fake” bullets claiming they were the one that had
killed him as well as selling splinters of wood from the house and plaster from
the bullet hole. The original bullet hole would have been rather small but years of scavengers have left a rather large hole.
Years later after claims were made that Jesse James had
staged his own death and remained alive his remains were exhumed and DNA tests were
run from a tooth inside the grave against known ancestors. The DNA proved that
the body in the grave was indeed Jesse James. Interestingly they also found
that the bullet that killed Jesse James had never exited his skull making it so
it could not have left the famous bullet hole in the wall. Theory has it that
the hole in the wall came from a shot that Charley Ford fired.
The house now holds various artifacts from Jesse James life
and death to include a replica of his skull showing the bullet wound, a stick
pin he owned, handles from his coffin, gold fillings from his teeth and a bullet
that was found in his right lung.
Jesse James headstone reads… Devoted Husband and Father Jesse
Woodson James Sept 5, 1847
Murdered Apr 3, 1882 by a traitor and coward whose names is
not worthy to appear here.
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