On April 3, 1882, after eating breakfast, the Fords and James went into
the living room in preparation for the trip to Platte City. James had
just learned of gang member
Dick Liddil's
confession for participating in Hite's murder while reading the daily
newspaper, and grew increasingly suspicious of the Fords for never
reporting this matter to him. According to Robert Ford, it became clear
to him that James had realized they were there to betray him. However,
instead of scolding the Fords, James walked across the living room to
lay his revolvers on a sofa. He then turned around and noticed a dusty
picture above the mantel, and stood on a chair in order to clean it.
Robert Ford then drew his weapon, and shot the unarmed Jesse James in
the back of the head.
James' wife
Zerelda Mimms
ran into the room and screamed, "You've killed him." Robert Ford's
immediate response was, "I swear to God I didn't." After the
assassination, the Fords wired Crittenden to claim their reward. They
turned themselves in to the law, but they were dismayed to find that
they were charged with first degree murder. In one day, the Ford brothers were indicted, pleaded guilty, and sentenced to death by hanging, but two hours later, Crittenden granted them a full pardon.
Despite the deal that was made with Crittenden, the Ford brothers
received only a fraction of the money they were originally promised.
No comments:
Post a Comment