On this day, 135 years ago...

The coward, Robert Ford shot and killed notorious Wild West Outlaw, Jesse James.

Jesse James' father was a minister, hemp farmer, and founder of a college. During the California Gold Rush, he traveled to California to preach to crowds of people on the journey, but perished from cholera before returning home. Jesse was 3 years old. His mother went on to marry an abusive second husband, and a third husband, a physician, with whom she had four more children.

Jesse’s brother Frank had an affinity for Shakespeare and wished to attend college. Instead, he became involved in bushwhacking- the Confederate guerillas- when the Civil War erupted. Authorities rode out to the family farm, hanged Jesse's stepfather and horsewhipped Jesse in a failed attempt to retrieve information on Frank. By 16, Jesse joined his brother in the guerilla efforts and is alleged to have participated in several brutal massacres on civilian towns in Missouri. After the war, Jesse and Frank turned to bank and train robbing. A journalist acquaintance of Jesse helped craft his folk-hero status as a Robin Hood figure. Historians now believe his gang did not share their loot with the poor, but rather kept it for themselves.

Jesse was shot twice in the chest over the years and made numerous narrow escapes including one in which his horse jumped the chasm in Devil's Gulch Park. He committed many robberies in broad daylight in public, which added to the James gang’s notoriety. According to legend, Jesse was well-dressed, spoke politely, and made up his own curse words. Near the end of his life, he planned one final robbery to save enough money to settle down on a farm.

A young man by the name of Robert Ford was enamored by stories of the James gang, and at 18, finally met James himself. Soon after, Ford joined the gang and witnessed two members nearly kill one another in a shoot out. Ford intervened by shooting one of the two shooters and was subsequently arrested for murder. He was released from jail with the understanding that he would assassinate Jesse James to receive immunity and would also receive a monetary reward.

And so, Bob paid Jesse a visit at his farm where the men dined on a meal and devised plans to rob a bank. As the legend goes, Jesse climbed a chair to adjust a framed needlepoint picture on the wall, sewn by his mother. It was at this moment Bob cocked his pistol and raised it. At the sound, Jesse started to turn, but was unable to avoid the shot. The bullet entered his skull under his right ear and instantly took the outlaw's life.

Things didn’t turn out so well for Bob either. He was not tried for either murder, but failed to receive the full $10,000 reward he was promised. His cowardly reputation proceeded him and caused him to move with some frequency. One day as he was walking out a door, someone said “Hello Bob,” and as he turned he was blasted away by a sawed off shot-gun. He died instantly.

If Jesse had lived to talk about the events in which Bob shot him, on April 3, 1882, he would have probably used his favorite made up curse and called Bob a “dingus.”Then, of course, he would have shot him dead.