Robert Ford (outlaw)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 This article needs additional citations for verification.
Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (February 2008)
This article is about an American outlaw. For other people named Robert Ford, see Robert Ford.
Robert Newton Ford

Robert Ford in an undated photograph with the weapon he used to kill Jesse James.
Born January 31, 1862(1862-01-31)
Ray County, Missouri, USA
Died June 8, 1892 (aged 30)
Creede, Colorado, USA

Robert Newton Ford (January 31, 1862–June 8, 1892)[1] was an American outlaw who gained fame by killing the criminal Jesse James in 1882.

Contents

[edit] Early years

Robert N. Ford was born in Ray County, Missouri to James Thomas Ford and his wife Mary Bruin. As a young man, he became an admirer of Jesse James for his war record and his daring career in crime. In 1880 he finally managed to meet James. Ford's brother Charles is believed to have taken part in the James gang's Blue Cut train robbery near Glendale, Missouri on September 7, 1881.[citation needed]

[edit] Assassination of Jesse James

In November 1881, James moved his family to St.Joseph. He intended to give up crime, but first wanted to stage one last robbery.[citation needed]

The James gang by now had been greatly reduced in number. James invited Charles and Robert Ford to take part in the robbery of the Platte City Bank. The Ford brothers passed themselves off in St. Joseph as cousins of James, though they were in fact unrelated. James allowed them to move into his home to keep him better protected.[citation needed]

Unfortunately for James, the Ford brothers had already decided not to take part in the robbery, but to collect the $10,000 bounty placed on James by Missouri Governor Thomas T. Crittenden. Robert Ford had been arrested for killing Jesse James' cousin Wood Hite, another gang member. Crittenden promised him a pardon if he would also kill Jesse James.[citation needed]

On April 3, 1882, after eating breakfast, the Fords and Jameses went into the living room. Before sitting down, James noticed a dusty picture on the wall and stood on a chair to clean it. James was not wearing his guns and Ford took advantage of the opportunity and shot James in the back of the head.[citation needed]

Robert Ford wired the governor to claim his reward. He then turned himself in to the law, but was dismayed to find he was charged with first degree murder. The Ford brothers were tried and convicted. They were sentenced to death by hanging, but within two hours were granted a full pardon by the Governor of Missouri. Ford then received a portion of the reward money.[citation needed]

[edit] Ford's letter to Governor Thomas Crittenden

Ford wrote a letter to Governor Thomas Crittenden, telling his version of how he killed Jesse James (April, 1882):[citation needed]

"On the morning of April 3, Jess and I went downtown, as usual, before breakfast, for the papers. We got to the house about eight o'clock and sat down in the front room. Jess was sitting with his back to me, reading the St. Louis Republican. I picked up the Times, and the first thing I saw in big headlines was the story about Dick Liddil's surrender. Just then Mrs. James came in and said breakfast was ready. Beside me was a chair with a shawl on it, and as quick as a flash I lifted it and shoved the paper under. Jess couldn't have seen me, but he got up, walked over to the chair, picked up the shawl and threw it on the bed, and taking the paper, went out to the kitchen. I felt that the jig was up, but I followed and sat down at the table opposite Jess.
Mrs. James poured out the coffee and then sat down at one end of the table. Jesse spread the paper on the table in front of him and began to look over the headlines. All at once Jess said: "Hello, here. The surrender of Dick Liddil." And he looked across at me with a glare in his eyes.
"Young man, I thought you told me you didn't know that Dick Liddil had surrendered," he said.
I told him I didn't know it.
"'Well," he said, "it's very strange. He surrendered three weeks ago and you was right there in the neighborhood. It looks fishy."
He continued to glare at me, and I got up and went into the front room. In a minute I heard Jess push his chair back and walk to the door. He came in smiling, and said pleasantly: "Well, Bob, it's all right, anyway."
Instantly his real purpose flashed upon my mind. I knew I had not fooled him. He was too sharp for that. He knew at that moment as well as I did that I was there to betray him. But he was not going to kill me in the presence of his wife and children. He walked over to the bed, and deliberately unbuckled his belt, with four revolvers in it, and threw it on the bed. It was the first time in my life I had seen him without that belt on, and I knew that he threw it off to further quiet any suspicions I might have.
He seemed to want to busy himself with something to make an impression on my mind that he had forgotten the incident at the breakfast table, and said: "That picture is awful dusty." There wasn't a speck of dust that I could see on the picture, but he stood a chair beneath it and then got upon it and began to dust the picture on the wall.
As he stood there, unarmed, with his back to me, it came to me suddenly, 'Now or never is your chance. If you don't get him now he'll get you tonight.' Without further thought or a moment's delay I pulled my revolver and leveled it as I sat. He heard the hammer click as I cocked it with my thumb and started to turn as I pulled the trigger. The ball struck him just behind the ear and he fell like a log, dead."

[edit] Colorado (Walsenburg, Creede and Soapy Smith)

Bob Ford earned his living by posing for photographs as "the man who killed Jesse James" in dime museums. He also appeared on stage, reenacting the murder, but his performance was not well received. Ford later moved to Colorado, where he opened a saloon-gambling house in Walsenberg. When silver was found in Creede, Ford closed his saloon and opened one there.[2]

On the eve of Easter 1892, Ford and gunman Joe Palmer, a member of the Soapy Smith gang, were drinking in the local saloons and proceeded to shoot out windows and street lamps along Creede's Main Street. With the help of friends and business partners of Smith, they were soon allowed to return. Ford purchased a lot and on May 29, 1892 opened Ford's Exchange, said to have been a dance hall.[3] Six days later, the entire business district, including Ford's Exchange, burned to the ground in a major fire. Ford opened a tent saloon until he could rebuild.

[edit] Ford's death

Three days after the fire, on June 8, 1892, Ed O'Kelley entered Ford's tent saloon with a sawed-off shotgun. According to witnesses, Ford's back was turned. O'Kelley said, "Hello, Bob." As Ford turned to see who it was, O'Kelley fired both barrels, killing Ford instantly. O'Kelley became "the man who killed the man who killed Jesse James." There is speculation that Soapy Smith may have encouraged the shooting.[citation needed]

Ford was buried in Creede, later being exhumed and reburied in Richmond, Ray County, Missouri at Sunny Slope cemetery.[citation needed] Ford's grave marker says "The man that shot Jesse James."

[edit] Cultural references

[edit] External links

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Library of Congress online authority catalog
  2. ^ Rocky Mountain News, 3/7/1892, p.2.
  3. ^ Ries, Judith. Ed O'Kelley: The Man Who Murdered Jesse James' Murderer. St. Louis, Mo.: Patches Publication. ISBN 0-934426-61-9. p.104