The morning call., 1891-11-24
JESSE JAMES BRAIN.
1t Is Preserved In Alcohol in a
st. Joseph Doctors Office.

"a great many things have been written
about Jesse James, and at times it has
seemed to me as If the papers were taxing
their readers severely with their tireless
efforts to preserve strained interest in the
career OF the great highwayman," said a
prominent citizen of Northwest Missouri at
the Southern Hotel, st. Louis. "a certain
little post-o5is incident mas never found its
way into the press, however, and the reason
no doubt is that it has been kept an invio-
late secret among the few who were given
an opportunity to know about it for fear Of
bringing trouble on those who were re-
sponsible for it. The facts are simply
these: While Mrs. Samuels. the mother of
Jesse james, was watching like a lynx
every incident connected with the arrange
ments Tor conveying the dead desperate
from st. Joseph, the day after his death, TO
her farm near Kearney, where he was to be
buried. plumber of enterprising physicians
quietly removed his brain and put it in a jar
Of alcohol, in which condition it is now ex-
hibited, labeled or unlabeled. at one of the
st. Joseph medical colleges.
''As soon MS 1 heard of the shooting of
Jesse James," continued the narrator. II
boarded train and went to st. Joseph.
The excitement was something remarkable.
The town was full Of witnesses, officers and
idlers from Kansas City, Omaha and from
towns 200 and 800 miles away, all bent on
seeing the great highwayman and the house
sons on hand was Mrs. Samuels, Jesse's
mother You know she is woman from
whom the boys inherited much Of their ag-
gressiveness. She is General in petit
coats. Nothing escapes her, and she Is
from Kansas City, think his name was
Timberake-was to her a special object of
aversion, and it was probably due. to
this antipathy.. which to certain
extent compelled her to rely with more con-
fidence upon the st. Joseph authorities, that
the doctors owed their golden opportunity
to perform the operation that sent the high
wayman brainless to his grave. Kansas
City was green with envy that st. Joseph
should have obtained the Botoriety of Jesse
James fatal taking off, and Timberlake
was anxious to save as much for his town
as he could by giving orders to have the
body sent there for Identification, so as to
make business for the Kansas City hotels
and draw the crowds OF curious people from
st. Joseph. Mrs. Samuels did not quite see
1t in that light, nor did she comprehend
Undertakes motive. a To her his arbitrary
orders appeared in the light Of malignant
persecution OF her son. even after death, and
she set herself to watch and thwart him
at every turn. The st. Joseph authorities
were just as anxious to prolong the attend
ing scenes to their full capacity of profit ia
their own town, and for this reason natu-
rally acted In complete accord and sympathy
with the angulShed old lady. While she
was watching themovements Of the Kansas
City crowd to guard against surprises, the
Chief of Police of st. Joseph had her per-
mission to prepare the body for removal
One thing however, that the old lady was
particularly set on was that no post-mortem
examination should DO made, and this the
police authorities promised In good faith.
Just how those doctors managed it is more
than l can say, but there in a jar on shelf,
in glass Office case. was the indits brain,
the spot where the bullet had entered being
easily distinguishable by the suffuson OF
blood.
"The doctor who pointed it out to me was
land he laughed slyly when L asked him
how he had accomplished it. He invited me
| to go with him where jesse lay dead in his
coffin, and as L locked at his face l endeav-
| cred to discover the marks of the scalpel,
| but in vain. When we were out of the room
| / asked him how the brain was removed
| without leaving trace of the knife. and he
| then told me that the scalp had been cut
across the back part of the head and drawn
| forward over the brow, leaving the skull
| exposed to the action OF the saw. The top
| of the skull was carefully sawed and the
brain was removed. The scalp was then
| drawn back into its place over the CAP OF
| the skull, and when Mrs. Samueis next
| gazed uron the pale face of her son his APP
pearance was not altered in the least but
| his brain was in a glass jar. This is now
nearly ten years ago. 1 never heard again
my friend, the doctor. refer to the ma tier.
nor has any other person ever spoken of it
to me, which shows how jealOusly the secret
has been kept."-St. Louis Globe-D Democrat.