So, most of the info regarding the death of Jesse James seems to have been accurately depicted in “The assassination of Jesse James by the coward Robert Ford”(according to Wikipedia, for what it’s worth).
One thing has me puzzled though, spoilers from the movie follow here:
Jesse James gives a pistol to Robert Ford, which the latter then uses to kill the former. It seems to me that such irony (?) would be the stuff of legend and would have been more prevalent trivia than “Jesse James once shot a man for snoring” ala the Time Life book series.
I’ve yet to see evidence, or even a suggestion, about the killer using the gun given to him by the deceased, save for the film version. Any truth to this?
That makes more sense to me than the scenario played out in the movie, but my roommate is dead set at making me eat my words when I said “You’d think that a legendary outlaw being killed by a gun he gave to his assassin, would be more widely known.”
He says a coworker saw something at a museum that backed up the “given gun” scenario, but I’m not buying it.
This is as factual a question as I think I’ve ever posted to GQ, and I’m a bit surprised by the lack of responses. Is such information that apocryphal? The other circumstances surrounding the killing seem to be detailed almost down to the most pointless minutia, yet the “given gun” seems to be (to me at least) just for the movie.
The roommate says “Would Ridley Scott make up something like that?” :rolleyes:
I did not bring up Oliver Stone or any other director that may have “enhanced” history, but I’d like at least a little something to be able to retort with.
That would’ve been John Wesley Hardin, not Jesse James. I understand he claimed it, including a full description and his regrets about it, in his autobiography, but finding verification in the time I had proved difficult and not really worth the effort.
In this case, an excellent retort would be along the lines of asking him for his factual proof: eyewitnesses, or at least some sort of historical sources.
if it’s dramatic license, it’s not a new one. The same thing happens in the 1949 movie “I Shot Jesse James.”
“Recognizing the governor’s offer as a path to a new life with Cynthy, Bob determines to betray his friend. When Jesse presents Bob with a pearl-handled pistol as a gift, Bob aims it at Jesse’s back, but guilt-ridden, is unable to pull the trigger. One day, while alone with Bob, Jesse voices his dream of leading a peaceful life. When Jesse turns around to straighten a painting, Bob aims his pistol and fires, shooting him in the back.”
One web page I came across claims that the St. Joseph Gazette reported at the time that Ford had killed James with a gun he’d received from him as a gift. No idea if that was actually what was reported, but even if it was, newspapers of the day weren’t above not letting facts get in the way of a great story.
“He made a motion as if to turn his head to ascertain the cause of the suspicious sound, but too late! A nervous pressure on the trigger, a quick flash, a sharp report and the well directed ball crashed through the outlaw’s skull. There was no outcry; just a swaying of the body, and it fell heavily backward upon the carpeted floor. The shot had been fatal, and all the bullets in the chamber of Charley’s revolver, still directed at Jesse’s head, could not more effectually have decided the fate of the greatest bandit and freebooter that ever figured in the pages of a country’s history. The ball had entered the base of the skull and made its way out through the forehead over the left eye. It had been fired out of a Colt’s 45, improved pattern, silver mounted and pearl handled, presented by the dead man to his slayer, only a few days ago.”
It looks like the aritcle is authentic; the quote above appeared in the New York Times right after the shooting, although the headline writer mistakenly referred to the weapon as a rifle.
I also thought I remembered Ford using Jesse’s pistol, but Ford wrote a few first hand accounts where he described pulling out his own revolver. One is listed on his Wikipedia page, a letter to Governor Crittendon:
“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.”
I can’t find anything directly from him concerning where the pistol came from or that it was a gift like the news story claimed. On one hand if I shot a guy with a gun he’d given me as a gift I probably wouldn’t crow about it either, but it’s also possible the story could have just been a rumor going around at the time that was too good not to print.