THE ASSASSINATION OF WILD WEST OUTLAW JESSE JAMES AS FIRST PRESENTED TO THE PUBLIC
THE ASSASSINATION OF WILD WEST OUTLAW JESSE JAMES AS FIRST PRESENTED TO THE PUBLIC
Seven (7) 1882 Manitoba Free Press newspapers covering the assassination of Jesse James. All are in vg condition, consistent with age and disbound.
1. MANITOBA DAILY FREE PRESS. VOL. VIII WINNIPEG FRIDAY, APRIL 7, 1882. NO. 399. 8 pgs. Dbd.
April 7, 1882. Page 1, 6 col.
The Body of Jesse James.
“St. Louis, April 6. A dispatch from Kearney, MO., near which town is the home of Mrs. Samuels, says the train bearing the remains of the once dreaded bandit, Jesse James, arrived at that place about one a.m. this morning, having been detained at Cameron. Quite a number of people were at the depot, and the scene was a very pathetic one. Mrs. Samuels could not restrain her feelings, and talked a good deal about the manner in which her son had been killed. The party went directly to the Kearney Hotel, where Dr. Samuels met them. The body was taken to his office, the casket opened, and the crowd admitted to look. Mrs. Samuels and Jesse’s widow entered with the children at 2 a.m. The scene was terrible. There were shrieks, moans and curses, and Luther James, Johnny Mills, Dr. Samuels, and their friends tried to get the old lady away from the body, but before she and Mrs. James got to bed all the friends present had looked at the remains and identified them as those of Jesse James. There was a big crowd in town all night; the excitement was intense, though not openly manifested. At day-light the sky cleared and though the sun rose upon roads deep in mud, horsemen began coming from every direction. At an early hour the coffin still lay with uncovered lid upon the upturned box in the office of the hotel and was the magnet of attraction. Each new comer hovered near it as if by instinct. The morning trains are bringing fresh arrivals and the scene is that of a swarming fair day.”
2. MANITOBA DAILY FREE PRESS. Vol. VIII WINNIPEG MONDAY APRIL 10, 1882. NO. 241. 7 COL. 8 PGS. Dbd.
April 10, 1882. Page 7, 2 cols, no.1 and 2.
THE FAMOUS JESSE JAMES. A Sketch Of His Life.
“St. Joseph, Mo. April 4. A great sensation was created this morning by the announcement that Jesse James, the notorious bandit and train robber, had been shot and killed here in St. Joseph. The news spread with great rapidity, but most people received it with doubts until investigation established the fact beyond question. Then the excitement became more and more intense, and crowds of people rushed to that quarter of the city where the shooting took place, anxious to view the body of the dead outlaw and to learn the particulars…….” “A reporter viewed the body at the undertaker’s when it was being photographed. He was A FAIR LOOKING MAN, apparently forty years old, with a broad forehead, and his physiognomy was that of an intelligent as well as that of a resolute and daring man. The house where James lived and in which he was killed has the appearance of an armory. A number of guns and pistols, including repeating rifles and a needle gun, navy revolvers with a good store of ammunition were found there. Jesse was in the habit of wearing two belts with a brace of very fine revolvers and twenty-five extra cartridges…...The Ford brothers claim that they are detectives and that they have been on James track for a long time. It is believed they were with James in the Blue Cut robbery, and that they were influenced in killing him by a hope of getting the reward which has been offered for James dead or alive, by the government and by the express and railroad companies….”
The article continues with a long minute by minute description of the Northfield raid.
3. MANITOBA DAILY FREE PRESS. Vol. VIII WINNIPEG FRIDAY, APRIL 14, 1882 no. 245. 7 col. 8 pgs. Dbd.
April 14, 1882. Page 4, col. 1.
“The exploits of the James brothers, their long immunity from arrest, the plot which resulted in the death of Jesse, and finally the manner in which his murder has been received, afford a disagreeable illustration of the difficulties under which justice is dealt out to criminals in Missouri and its neighboring States. There is no doubt that time and again the bandits were saved from arrest by sympathizing neighbors, who regarded their exploits as something to be admired. Again there seems to be no doubt that the assassination of Jesse was arranged by the Governor of Missouri, the sheriff of the county in which the outlaw resided and the Ford brothers, the latter of whom will be either acquitted or pardoned. The arm of justice must be weak indeed when it is forced to strike through the medium of a hired assassin. And since his death the robber and murderer has been exalted by the local press and people to the place of a hero and martyr, while on the man who slew him are heaped execration and obloquy without stint.”
4. MANITOBA DAILY FREE PRESS. Vol. VIII WINNIPEG TUESDAY, APRIL 18, 1882. NO. 248 7 col. 8 pgs. Dbd.
April 18, 1882. Front page.
The Ford Brothers.
“St. Louis, MO. April 17. A report has just gained circulation here that the Ford Brothers, who killed Jesse James were hanged at St. Joseph this morning. The inquiry proved this to be false, but elicited the fact that the grand jury had found an indictment against them for murder in the first degree to-day at noon, and about an hour later the boys were brought into court, pleaded guilty and were sentenced to be hanged on the 5th of May.”
5. MANITOBA DAILY FREE PRESS. VOL. VIII – NO. 249. WINNIPEG WEDNESDAY, APRIL 19, 1882. 7 col. 8 pgs. Dbd.
April 19, 1882. Front page. The Ford Boys are mentioned twice as to their whereabouts after their capture.
The Ford Boys.
“Kansas City, April 18. – The Ford boys, Bob and Charlie, arrived in this city from St. Joseph this evening, brought in by Marshall Timberlake and Cat. Craig. There was a large crowd at the depot, but the boys were quietly smuggled away. It is understood that Bob Ford will be taken to Ray County to-morrow to answer a charge of killing Wood Hite.”
6. MANITOBA DAILY FREE PRESS. Vol. III – No. 250. WINNIPEG THURSDAY, APRIL 20, 1882. 8 pgs. 7 col. Dbd.
April 20, 1882. Front page. Most of col. 6 and 7.
A WILD AND RECKLESS RIDE. Escape of Jesse and Frank James after the Fatal Raid on the Northfield Bank.
“The following is from the history of the James brothers’ exploits from a special correspondent of the Chicago Times, who had been investigating the secrets of their lives. In this raid upon the Northfield bank were the Younger boys, the James boys and Clel Miller. They were well fed and splendidly mounted. They turned away in the land of the Yankee and sung songs and chatted as they rode and planned for the money that was in the vaults of the Yankee. They dashed with whoop and yell and wild hurrah. They perhaps stirred their memories preparatory to it with the recollections of Lawrence, when Quantrell, from his splendid charger, whistled a hornpipe of the barrel of his pistol which women prayed over the dead bodies of their husbands and babes. Anyway they went to Northfield as if they had been going to a dance, And what a dance it turned out to be! Where the music was the ringing of the change of the coffers, and the steps were the galloping of steel heels upon the earth, and the song of the riders for booty and the jingled of their spurs upon the air were the accompaniments. When it was over THE NEWS SPREAD LIKE THE FIRES which thread a western prairie in the autumn…..”
7. MANITOBA DAILY FREE PRESS. Vol. VIII – No. 252. WINNIPEG SATURDAY, APRIL 22, 1882. 8 pgs. 7 col. Dbd.
April 22, 1882. Pg. 4 – Col. 2
The history of Jesse James’ murderers subsequent to the consummation of their treacherous plot fits in charmingly with the whole narrative of the Missouri desperadoes exploits and escapes. With commendable promptitude the Ford brothers were brought before the grand jury and indicted for murder in the first degree. They made no defense, but pleaded guilty, and were straight-way sentenced to be hanged on the 19th of May. Then stepped in Governor Crittenden with a conditional pardon, for having made a compact with the criminals he could not well allow them to suffer the penalty …..They have of course, by the removal of the great outlaw, earned their pardon for this crime also, (i.e. the murder of Wood Hite), should they be found guilty by the jury. The moral to be deduced from the whole business is that law and justice are administered in Missouri with feeble hand, and that public opinion in that State is in great need of remodeling.”