Robert Ford (outlaw)
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Robert Newton Ford (1860–June 8, 1892), was an outlaw sensationalized by assassinating Jesse James in 1882.
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[edit] Assassination of Jesse James
By the winter of 1882, the gang of outlaws led by Jesse James had been greatly reduced due to deaths, captures, and men abandoning the gang. James was running short of cash, and was happy to recruit the young Charley Ford and his brother, Robert, to assist in the robbery of the Platte City Bank. The Ford brothers posed as cousins of Jesse James, but were in fact unrelated. James asked the Ford brothers to move into his house in St. Joseph, Missouri in order to keep himself better protected. Unfortunately for James, the Ford brothers' plan was not to rob the bank, but to collect the $10,000 bounty that had been placed on James's head by Missouri Governor Thomas T. Crittenden.
On April 3, 1882 Charles and Robert Ford were in Jesse James' home in St. Joseph, Missouri. After eating breakfast, the Fords and Jesse James went into the living room. Jesse took off his guns. Before sitting down he noticed a crooked picture on the wall, and stood on a chair to straighten it. Bob Ford took advantage of the opportunity, and shot James in the back of the head.
Robert Ford wired the governor to claim his reward. He then turned himself in to the law for protection, but was dismayed to find that instead of receiving a reward, he was compensated with a small percentage and a charge of first degree murder. The brothers were tried and convicted for the murder. They were sentenced to death by hanging but within two hours were granted a full pardon by the Governor of Missouri. Ford was known for the rest of his life as a traitor and a coward.
Robert Ford's description to Governor Thomas Crittenden on how he killed Jessie James (April, 1882)
"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 (Walsenberg, Creede and Soapy Smith)
Bob Ford earned his living by posing for photographs as "the man who killed Jesse James" in the dime museums of the west. He moved to Colorado where he opened a saloon-gambling house in Walsenberg, Colorado. After silver was found in Creede, Colorado, Ford closed his saloon and moved where he felt he could make better money in his gambling house business.
By the time Ford arrived in Creede, the good choice lots in the business district were already occupied. He would have to wait for a location to become available before he could open up for business. On the eve of Easter, 1892, Ford and gunman Joe Palmer, a member of the Soapy Smith gang, were drinking and proceeded to shoot out windows and street lamps along Main Street. Soapy Smith helped Ford and Palmer escape before they could be arrested. The two men were banned from returning, but with the help of friends and business partners of Palmer and Smith, they were soon allowed to return. Ford was able to obtain a lot and on May 29, 1892 he opened Ford's Exchange, said to be a dance hall, but no records exist. Six days later, on June 5, the entire business district, including Ford's Exchange, was burned to the ground in a major fire. Ford erected a small tent saloon until he could rebuild.
[edit] "Hello Bob": 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 away. O'Kelley said "Hello, Bob," and as Ford turned around to see who had addressed him, O'Kelley shot Ford with both barrels, killing him instantly. O'Kelley came to be known as "the man who killed the man who killed Jesse James." There is speculation by some historians that Soapy Smith was somehow involved with Ford's death, perhaps talking O'Kelley into the act. Ford was buried in Creede, and was later exhumed and reburied in his home state of Missouri.
[edit] Other Robert Ford References:
In the Bob Dylan song "Outlaw Blues" he is mentioned. "Well I look like a Robert Ford/But I feel just like a Jesse James"
The 1975 Elton John song "I Feel Like a Bullet (in the gun of Robert Ford)" refers to a betrayal in a romantic relationship that is metaphorically likened to Jesse James' assassin.
