To Move Jesse James' Body
- K. C. Star, 6-28-1902
The body of Jesse
James, the bandit outlaw, which has lain for twenty years in a grave in
the dooryard of his mother's home, will be dug up next Sunday and
buried in the cemetery at Kearney, Mo. Already every livery rig
in the town of Kearney has been engaged and many of the vehicles in
Excelsior Springs have been spoken for. It is expected that
thousands of people will attend the funeral.
Mrs. Samuels, mother of Jesse; Frank James, his
brother; Jesse James, Jr., his son; Mary, his daughter, and a great
many other relatives of the dead bandit will be there. The
pallbearers will be William Gregg, Frank Gregg, Sam Whitsett, Hiram
George, Hicks George and Warren Welch. These men are veterans of
Quantrell's band. They were comrades of Jesse and Frank James in
the days of border warfare. They were selected for pallbearers by
Frank James.
After Jesse James was shot and killed by Bob and
Charlie Ford in St. Joseph for a reward of $50,000, Mrs. Zerelda
Samuels, mother of the dead outlaw, claimed and received the body and
had it buried in a corner of her dooryard beneath the shade of a giant
coffee bean tree.
Three weeks ago Frank James took up his abode in the
hotel in Kearney, and induced his aged mother to rent the farm and come
there to live with him. Frank has signed another theatrical
contract for thirty weeks beginning Sept. 1, and he has decided to make
Kearney the home of his wife and mother. So it was agreed that it
would be best to take the body of Jesse from the old dooryard several
miles away and bury it beside the body of his wife and father.