Outlaw Jesse James' Birthplace, Death House & Grave

[Music] so hi welcome to another episode of History ERS today we're going to be doing a tour of various Jesse James sites here in Western Missouri I'm in Kerney or Carney Misouri at Mount olivit Cemetery and uh this is the final resting place of the famous Outlaw Jesse James he was actually exhumed in 1995 so they could do some DNA tests to determine whether or not he was actually buried here and they had like a 97% uh probability from the DNA results that Jesse James is the one who's buried in that spot over there let's go check out his grave and we'll talk about a little bit about Jesse [Music] James so right now myself and my son Brandon are the only ones here in the cemetery and it's a Saturday so I'm just not sure how many people take interest in Jesse James anymore but his grave is over in this direction this is a pretty good clue right here Jesse James and then there's a marker over here I see with his name on it this is the obviously the older part of the cemetery now you all probably know that a member of Jesse James Gang a man by the name of bod Ford decided that he wanted the $10,000 reward posted by the governor of Missouri so Dead or Alive bring back Jesse James he was actually living in St Joseph Missouri under assumed name of Tom Howard with his wife and his two children well Bob for knew where he lived he decided he was going to just shoot Jesse James in the back of the head while he was straightening a picture on the wall in his house there for many years 16 years he went throughout the country robbing banks and trains and all kinds of things from Texas all the way up to Northfield Minnesota where they had the disastrous raid on the bank up there they generally targeted banks that were owned by Republicans now Jesse James was obviously a Confederate sympathizer and some bad things were done to him in the name of the Union cause so buried here with Jesse is his wife zeralda Mims who was the first cousin of Jesse James A lot of people don't know that Jesse James father was a devout Christian he went out to California to have a Ministry for all the miners that flocked to California he got to California and developed Chala and he died there there he's actually buried in an unmarked grave in Placerville California left his family without a father obviously now Jesse went to church as well he was raised in the church and he also wanted to be a pastor like his father but things turned out far different I mean he he did a 180 he just went completely the opposite way now Jesse James is actually buried right next to his stepfather Dr ribbon Samuel he had married Frank and Jesse James Mother zeralda In 1855 he was born in Owen County Kentucky in 1828 and he attended medical school in Cincinnati practiced medicine in Missouri before their marriage he turned to farming her place in Clay County Missouri 1863 he was hanged three times by Union troops who were searching for Frank James and William quol he almost died and suffered brain damage Jesse was also beaten as they tried tried to get information on his brother 1875 the Pinkerton firebomb the family Farmhouse and their search for Frank and Jesse doctor Samuel's son Archie was killed and zeralda was severely injured he died in 1908 after spending 6 years at the State midal Hospital in St Joseph Missouri What a Sad Sad thing that happened to this family and here's Jesse's mother serala Samuel died in 1911 here's the grave of Jesse James step brother Archie Samuel born July 26 1866 and he was killed by a bomb January 26th 1875 that bombing just infuriated Jesse James caused him to go on a rampage against the pinkertons as well as the Republicans who were against the Confederate cause now I don't know if it's poetic justice but uh Jesse James liked to steal things and it looks like some people here have stolen a piece of his grave marker that chipped away parts of it maybe for a souvenir but uh you can tell that obviously was chipped away a number of places there it's a little known fact and maybe it's a disturbing fact but the Democrats in the Missouri State House were opposed to the reward that the governor had set out for Jesse James they were sympathetic to the cause and part of it was because of the bombing that took place at the James Farm they were really upset about it they kind of had some sympathy for Jesse James and they really didn't want anybody to be going after him because of the reward so they actually succeeded in attempts to whittle down the amount of the reward that Governor crit denan offered and it ended up being about $10,000 reward I'm sure that there's many others who deserve to be visited on this day however we are going to visit the birthplace of Jesse James about 3 miles away from here pretty cool old Cemetery I wonder if they're related to Merl it's funny what some people will put on their grave markers can you guess what he was uh into so Jesse James is buried over here but off in the distance is a Sonic and a McDonald's crazy how Modern Life has crept up right next to Old West history so apparently when they dug up Jesse James they kept parts of the coffin that he had been buried in and they are a display in St Joseph Missouri at the house where he was killed all kinds of weird maab things that they have on display and hope to get to [Music] it [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] a [Music] paintings illustrate Frank and Jesse's involvement with contrails Raiders a renegade ban of Confederates who terrorized Western Missouri and eastern Kansas so in this display case we have Reverend James pocket watch Jesse James J Tire attack and Jesse James collar button but also the Jessie James shotgun boots that Jesse James wore when he was killed wow he was killed in these boots so we literally died with his boots on here's the last Bridal used by Jesse James how cool is that that's supposedly a neck warber these are the personal effects of Alan Parmer who was one of the Raiders who married Jesse James younger sister Susan James these spurs and riding gloves are reportedly some that Jesse James rode with I'm going to see how my son measures up to the James King yeah Mom's taller than you come on that is the original Jesse James grave marker and there's the lid of the casket that he was buried in that they pulled up in when it was a 1995 yeah when they dug them up during the exam they took these pieces off the coffin and there's this chair there's a feather duster that he was holding when he was shot are you kidding me wow oh my gosh that's the picture he was straightening in when he was killed unbelievable when Jesse James robbed the Northfield Bank in Minnesota he was shot and this is a bullet that was removed from his body had uh I believe it was a bullet that he sustained at Northfield this black dress belonged to Anna Rolston James wife of Frank James another case features some of her possessions including a purse and a [Music] mirror Jesse James grew up exploring these creeks and these Woods the reconstructed house is up here and this is the original burial spot of Jesse James such a very cool area my son BR tagged Along on me today he didn't know a lot about Jesse James and I would adventure to say that most Americans don't know a whole lot about Jesse James and I passed American US History yeah and you passed that says so much about the state of our education system in America not that not that Jesse James was the most important topic but I think a lot of people are interested in famous criminals it's so peaceful today here so this is the Reconstruction of the J home Zelda left this house to Frank James after her death in 1911 well we're going to we need to go around to the porch dad just recorded a whole bunch of History hunters and then realized his microphone was off my microphone system failed here but I was explaining how Jesse's mother would sell to visitors a rock from her son's grave for a order to raise money until her death in 1911 when she ran out of rocks she would just fetch some more in the nearby Creek it was also reported that she would carve Jesse's initials onto the handles of old pistols and sell them to gullible visitors I was under the assumption we could go in but this is how their bedroom look you cannot go in I believe it's Recon constructed though another bedroom reconstruction or not this is kind of how they uh sawed the wood and then patched it up in between looks like this would be the kitchen so hard to see I'm sorry there's a tour going on behind me but this was the actual spot where Jesse James was originally buried his mother owned the farm and had him buried here natural place right but this is kind of like the uh the rocks that were on on the grave that she would actually sell to visitors who wanted to come out here and have a souvenir from the grave there were some people out here earlier taking pictures by this grave site but I wonder if they thought that he was actually buried in the ground here he's not he was moved later to the KY Cemetery that we visited earlier but he was in the ground here for quite a while and this is a uh reconstruction marker I guess you would call it this would have been the same place look at that devoted husband and father Jesse Woodson James September 5th 1847 murdered April 3rd 1882 by a traitor and coward whose name is not worthy to appear here and on this side beloved wife and mother zeralda Amanda James 1845 to 1900 and if I stand here it's approxim timately of where the earlier picture that I saw was taken there's a very tall tree here planted right here on this same location where he was buried now as everybody in 1840s 1850s before the Civil War in Missouri you had slaves if you had a farm and uh you know it's not right obviously but the Reverend Robert James came here from Kentucky to Klay County in 1840 he had six slaves here he lived on the farm Charlotte the oldest remained in service of zeralda Frank's mother Frank and Jeb's mother throughout her life in December 1869 Ambrose who was a young boy was believed to have warned the James Brothers of been approaching Sheriff's posi and assisted in their escape during The ill- Faded Pinkerton raid of January 1875 Charlotte and two of her children abrose and Perry were sleeping in the kitchen during the explosion Charlotte suffered a minor injury Perry was recorded as a motto and it's believed that Dr Ruben Samuel zala's third husband fathered Perry little uh dirty secrets in the closet following a mancipation Perry continually returned to the farm and sometimes he stayed here following his first wife's passing in the 1890s Perry returned to help zeralda manage her home and farm he remarried again had two daughters D and Aly and moved to Liberty Missouri where he became a leading member in the v community and we get to peek in here and see kind of what they lived in compared to what the the farm owner owned the slave owner owned very tragic part of our nation's history represented here now right here is a plow and it represents the fact that 15-year-old Jesse James was plowing a field near this location in 1863 when malicious soldiers surrounded him and demanded information on the whereabouts of his brother Frank James they wanted him desperately when Jess refused to answer the soldiers whipped him then he ran to the house down there and found that his stepfather was brutalized he was basically strung up to try to hang him and uh he was tortured he suffocated and then they tried to get the information from the family but it did not uh did not work the violence and the hatred of the civil war led Jesse to join the gorilla forces imagine this is the same ground that Jesse James tilled I don't know about you but if you visit the homes of famous people I've been to George Washington carage place here in the ooso Missouri I've been to Jack London's house I've been to John M's house I've been to president's houses Harry Truman's house and they always seem a little bit more real after I visited their location now I'm never justifying violence but you can sense why Jesse James took the course that he did keep in mind he wanted to be a reverend he was baptized in the cury Baptist Church his father went to California to become a minister as well and died there but uh I don't know it gives you a different perspective on people just imagine Jesse Jims out here working minding his own business when some really rough people came by and did some unspeakable things to the family understand Dr Samuel was mental patient the rest of his life because of what they did probably starved oxygen enough to his brain to cause brain damage but I did see that uh incident on the movie Frank and Jessie right over here is the well you would uh come out here and pump that for water I'm not sure if this is where the actual Well site was that's a grinding wheel I can't can't imagine that this is original I know it's not but this is what you'd have to do you'd have to come out here wind rain snow and sleep hail hot summer to relieve yourself there was a two hleer here I don't know about you but the idea of going next to somebody else at the same time oh I can't imagine that Zera was too happy with her son leading a life of crime for 16 years something tells me she probably thought it was justified I understand she lost an arm or use of her arm in that blast that the Pinkerton agents inflicted when they came here kind of a dirty deal now there's some debate as to whether or not Alan Pickerton really wanted to kill Jesse James or just blow up the house but uh some documents have been found that indicate that yeah his intent was to kill Frank and Jesse James thinking they were in the house and they weren't in the house innocent people were in the house so as you can tell we've made our way to St Joseph Missouri and this is the house that Jesse James lived in and the house that he was killed in it's a museum it was not here when he was shot it was located up the street a little bit two blocks away on Lafayette Street which uh is also marked with a marker indicating where it was I think this house has been moved uh twice this is the third location thankfully it's been preserved I think it closes at 4:00 so we got to get in there and take a look at it famous Jesse James house where Jesse James was killed I put it on a hill kind of like where it was situated at the time he was killed and we'll just go up the steps and see what we can find up here it's right next door to the Pony Express Museum which I don't think we have time this says Jesse James home Outlaw Jesse James was shot and killed in this house April 3rd 1882 it was then at 1318 Lafayette on the hill above the Pate house it was moved here in 1977 Jesse James home given to the Pate House Museum and over the Pioneers who contributed to the building of St Joseph can you imagine this the actual house that Bob Ford walked into to murder Jessy James by the looks of it it's been painted quite a bit hasn't it all kinds of little markers here tombstones from the 1850s Russell Cemetery south of St Joseph which was bulldozing the 1970s front parlor where Jesse James was killed it's important to note that the house does not contain the original furnishings nor the wall covering so was this location of the house right here where the assassination took place why is that the way it is oh the big hole Yeah the big hole when it's right up in its original location uhhuh and people were going through there they were carving pieces out of the wall for soon many okay this is a replica of the gun used to kill Jesse James when he was killed Jesse James was reportedly standing on a chair which we showed you earlier to straighten out or dust a frame on the wall we initially understood that the artwork on display at the James Farm Museum was the actual piece but the staff at the Death House said theirs was the needle point that Jesse was tending to at the time of his murder yeah so this is this is the original piece a display inside the home turn Museum gives details about the 1995 exlamation of Jesse James body performed under the direction of forensic scientist James E stars of George Washington University although it was widely accepted that Bob Ford killed James to collect the Bounty some have insisted that Ford had murdered another man to help James in his ruse a claim bolstered when a centenarian named Jay Frank Dalton claimed that he was the real Jesse James in 1948 to put to rest the wild speculation that James wasn't killed that day in 18 1982 the James family requested their famous ancestor to be dug up for a DNA sample DNA material from the body was compared with the DNA from descendants of Jesse James daughter Mary Susan James the DNA results showed a 99.7% matchup and proved Frank Dalton to be a liar when the grave was meticulously opened last seen 90 years prior the wooden casket had collapsed and compressed into a thickness of about 6 to 8 in artifact from the exclamation on display include the diamond-shaped obsidian tie pin buried with Jesse James handles from the casket the broken glass that was the viewing window on the casket and the casket emblem that read at rest before the remains were returned to the Grave a plaster reproduction of Jesse's fractured skull as well as his teeth were made notes Here indicate that the teeth had gold fillings and that he possibly gritted his teeth a lot the biggest surprise came with the skull which was broken into 32 pieces when reconstructed it showed the bullet did not exit the skull and did not hit the wall of the house what then caused the Bullet Hole in the Wall well it's possible that Charlie Ford took aim at James and missed or that Bob Ford fired a second round during his lifetime Jesse James had been shot several times with at least two bullets remaining inside his body they were retrieved during the exhumation of the grave the bullet on display here was fired by a Union soldier and had entered the right lung of then 17-year-old Jesse James as he was in the process of surrendering outside of Lexington Missouri in May 1865 look at all the porches of Jessie James up here this one would be the most common that we know of today actually about l it's been about 4 years ago I come in on a Friday and the glass was busted out a door back here they couldn't get in because of the gra they busted that window they got in there they busted the case out took some letters and they took the sign the guy called back within 6 months and said if he if he brought it back it was a young kid he brought it back they would they file charges on him and our curator told him no so he brought it back the curator did call the cops but it took him 45 minutes to get here what kind of letters did he take it was there's some letters still in the case in there from Frank James turn know the letters yes okay these are not replicas the one with Frank no I think it's this one here but uh the kid that brought it back about 8 months after he brought it back him and another guy got caught up the street Robin broke into a house up there and the kid that was with him ratted him out that he done this and he ended up getting 5 years that's supposedly Frank James gun supposedly the shoes supposedly were Frank's the Shaving mug was Jess's the glasses down here were Jesse's mothers and this is supposedly wore by Frank James the rattlesnake tie oh that's that's interesting so we got ushered up because it's time for them to close up but we got to see some interesting things here so we went up a couple of blocks to this location on Lafayette Street it's on a hill here St Joseph Missouri and for some reason I always thought this house was on a hill but according to this this is where the house was this is the lot where Jesse James was murdered it's crazy but didn't imagine it like this Jesse James Hill Outlaw Jesse James was killed here April 3rd 1882 by Bob Ford House is now on the grounds of the Pate House museum two blocks south this hill has been lowered more than 50 ft okay wow so there was a hill here why did they mess with history like that I mean the house they should have left it here they should have left the just as it was I mean if you're going to be you know purist in terms of historical preservation don't mess with it that's my motto when words spread throughout town the Jessy James was killed crowds walked to the house on the hill for weeks in time it was a tourist attraction with a charge to enter in 1939 the home was jacked up and moved from its original location on Lafayette Street to the Belt Highway to draw curiosity Seekers it remained there for 38 years until 1977 when the home was donated to the poy House Museum and moved to its present site it's literally top of the hill well 50 ft I mean the neighboring property is uh it must have been lowered too I don't know about you but that's always disappointing when I hear about stuff like that you know when I see that things have been altered so much that it doesn't even resemble the way it looked back 1882 when he was shot and killed here with the legend of Jesse James having grown to a larger than life status it's easy to lose sight of the collateral damage to others his murder would overshadow the lies of his widow and two surviving children who lost their father zeralda Amanda James was plunged into prolonged depression and would never remarry she became a recluse wearing black whenever she left the house however she remained devoted to the caring of her two children Jesse Edward James 7 and Mary Susan James who was just three although she was poor Mrs Jesse James refused to sell her story to magazine and book publishers her health took a marked decline in 1900 and at the age of 55 she died November 13 1th 1900 over 18 years after Jesse's death after her Burial at Mount Olivet Cemetery Jessie's mother decided to have him relocated to be by her side in 1902 after his father was killed Jesse Jr was thrust into the role of trying to provide for his family at an early age when he was 11 James Jr became the breadwinner of the family by operating a cigar and tobacco store inside of the lobby of the Jackson County courthouse in Kansas City Missouri it's reported that one of his customers was future President Harry Truman who by the way once handled guns belonging to Jesse James the jameses would be haunted by the stigma as being an outlaw family when a train was robbed outside of Kansas City in 1898 authorities tried to pin the job on Jesse James Jr but the 23 year-old was not a criminal and he was acquitted of the charge a year later James Jr wrote a book in titled Jesse James my father it was built as the first and only true story of his adventures in 1900 just before the death of his mother he married Stella Macwan in Kansas City the union bore four daughters Jesse Jr became a lawyer and moved to Los Angeles in 1926 and opened a law practice as well as a restaurant called the Jesse James cabin the woman in front of the establishment holding a shotgun is Jesse Jr's daughter Ethel Rose the business was located at 11950 Washington Boulevard in Los Angeles his emotional health suffered from Financial failure and in 1948 due to his mental issues he was committed to the Norwalk State Hospital in Norwalk where he died at the age of 75 he is buried in Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale Jesse James daughter Mary Susan James was only 3 years old when her father was murdered she later married Henry Lafayette bar on November 6th 1901 won and gave birth to four children including a daughter who died as an infant in 1913 Mary was only 56 when she passed away in Kansas City on October 11th 1935 she is buried with her husband in the fair viiew Cemetery in Carney Jesse James last granddaughter died in 1991 more than a century after the famous Outlaw Jesse James death on the day of the murder Bob Ford was at the James house while Jesse made plans to take him to Plat City for a robbery Bob Ford with the encouragement of brother Charlie decided to kill James then and there with his wife and children in the house sentiment against Ford was widespread someone even tried to slit his throat in Kansas City the day after Christmas in 1889 he became a stage actor recreating the dly deed he later moved to Colorado where he opened a saloon and gambling parlor in Wallenberg and then went into business in Creed on June 8 1892 Edward o' Kelly entered Ford's tent Saloon with a shotgun as Ford's back was turned o' Kelly said hello Bob Ford spun around to see who it was and o' Kelly fired both barrels killing Ford instantly Bob for was laid to rest in Creed initially until his remains were moved and reinterred at the Richmond Cemetery in his native Richmond Missouri inscribed on his grave markers of the word the man who shot Jesse James [Music] this one's kind of hard to believe but this little tiny Cemetery contains the remains of Frank James brother of Jesse James this is William Hill Park given to Jackson County as a public park by Joe lle Hill in memory of his father Pioneer resident of Jackson County this is actually named after William Hill who is buried right over there with Frank James the odd thing about this cemetery is that there's a park here and the cemetery it's just a little section of it over here I mean this is no bigger than a residential yard but there's Cemetery right here and there's Frank James Alexander Frank James and his wife an Ralston Alexander Frank James 1843 to 1915 his wife Anna she was from a wealthy family who lived not very far from here 1853 to 1944 look how many pennies have been placed on this grave on her side I wonder wonder if that's a commentary on the families here I do have to say that for such a legendary Outlaw such as this guy there's not much fanfare in this neighborhood for his grave which is kind of puzzling to me because Frank James was probably just as big of a criminal as Jesse James only he didn't get shot now he was the one who spent his retirement years showing off the farm he would charge an ad mission to see the James farm that we showed you earlier and I guarantee you that if Frank had met the same faith that his brother Jesse met that he would be hailed as this Great Western outlaw like like his brother as a side note I understand that an was devastated after Frank died she said that her life was over basically and that was in a letter that I saw that she had written to somebody another thing should be noted is that his ashes are buried here not his body although he lived much of his life as a violent outlaw Frank James had been raised as a Preacher's Son surrounded by books and during his youth developed a love for the works of Shakespeare in May 1861 Frank James joined a Confederate unit and fought at at the Battle of Wilson's Creek he came down with measles and was left behind and captured by Union Soldiers after taking the oath of allegiance to the United States he was allowed to return home he later joined the infamous Guerilla Raiders William Clark control and William Bloody Bill Anderson and participated in various assaults on Union troops after the Civil War Frank James returned to the family farm by 1869 the James brothers were involved in a series of bank robberies and murders for the next decade Frank intermittently lived the life of an outlaw and private citizen following the failed bank robbery in Northfield Minnesota on September 7th 1876 in which two robbers were killed along with two citizens the James Brothers settled in Nashville Tennessee living under aliases Frank lived with his wife Anne Ralston and Son Robert under the Alias of BJ Woodson and raised Hogs and race horses Frank wanted to leave behind his criminal ways despite being coaxed by Jesse 6 months after Jesse was killed Frank turned himself over to Missouri governor Thomas crit denan he reportedly unbuckled his gun belt and declared to the governor quot I want to hand over to you that which no living man except myself has been permitted to touch since 1861 and to say that I am your prisoner Frank James stood trial for robberies in Missouri and Alabama but was acquitted he was never extradited to Minnesota for the Northfield raid and literally got away with murder in his final 30 years years Frank James worked a variety of jobs including a shoe salesman in Nevada Missouri a burles theater ticket taker in St Louis and a telegraph operator in St Joseph he inherited the Family Farm after his mother's death in 1911 offering tours for 25 cents ahead there he died at the age of 72 on February 18th 1915 an he kept the Comm remains of her husband in a bank vault for decades she died July 6th 1944 in 20 days later the ashes of both were buried in hillpark Cemetery please leave us a comment about uh this episode if you liked it we'd like to hear about that and if you could give us a thumbs up we would appreciate that as well tell your friends about history Hunters thank you so much [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] p

Channel: History Hunters

Views: 92,467

Keywords: Outlaw Jesse James, Western folklore, Frank James

Id: d9reZwO9vMk

Length: 40min 2sec (2402 seconds)

Published: Sun Sep 24 2023