Kansas City journal. [volume] (Kansas City, Mo.) 1897-1928, 1898-10-13
MRS. SAMUELS BITTER.
Grandmother of Jesse James. Jr.. De-
nounces His Arrest for Train
Robbery.

"Will these detectives never let us
| alone?"
| The speaker was Mrs. Zerelda Samuels,
| the mother of Jesse James, Sr. She was
| lying on the sofa in the sitting room of
| the James residence at 3402 Tracy avenue.
and as she spoke she raised the stump of
| her right arm in the air. Look on their
| work" she continued, my arm torn off,
| my little boy murdered, my son shot down
| and my husband strung up by the neck be-
| cause he would not tell something he did
| not know, and now the greatest outrage of
| all. My grandson torn away from his
business. his character ruined by these
perjured liars, with no evidence to con-
meet him with this crime other than his
name is James. l am a Christian woman,
| but 1 sometimes wonder if there is God
and If there ia how long 1 must continue
| to bear these burdens.
81 am 73 years of age, but l have suffered
| enough to make me 100, and this added
| burden is getting to be more than L can
| bear. | have watched Jesse since he was
a baby, and have taught him only that
which was good. He has followed my
teachings, and better boy or more
dutiful son never lived.
Il am not alone in saying this. Ex-Gov-
ernor Crittenden said to me only few
DAYS ago that he had watched Jesse like
| a father and felt fathers interest in him
and was satisfied that he was a good
young man. And now these detectives
are trying TO connect him with this train
robbery. Why. from their own evidence
they have shown that he could not have
| been there. Didn't one of them come to
the door of this house on the night of the
robbery and call him out of bed, pretend
ing he was looking for man named
Saunders? It was then only IL O'Clock
and that ought to satisfy them he could
not have been where the train was held
up. l don't think 1t was much of a holdup;
it was more of blowup, and the old
! 1,x,r,
the explosion occurred We were all sitting
out on the front steps. | heard the noise
and said to Jesse; whats thatE that. ~. Il don't
must have broken out again and that is
| the sound of the Spanish guns and 'hen
we all laughed.
have more sense than to believe all the
norsense that is being told. | read III
one paper that old man. Stone is accused
of being one of the robbers and that ne
went along TO hold the horses. Mr.. Stone
is 20 years of age and couldn't see two
feet in front Of him . after dark They
the next thing will be n story TO the
effect that old man Stone and / held the
Wouldn't we make a desperate lot OF
train robbers?'' and the old lady laughed
heartily At the idea of a man of 20, Il
woman of 4; and boy of q terrorizing a
train crew and blowing up a ear.
Its rather queer that these shrewd de-
tectives don't try TO keep things straight
she resumed. NOW, Idht the story OIL lIat
telegraph operator. He said the day after
the holdup that he positively couldn't iden-
tify the men who cut the telegraph wire
but a paper tonight says lie now claims
he can identify Jesse as one of the men,
As for that man Lowe, 1 wonder God
don't strike him dead for the terrible lies
he is telling. Do You think he has any con-
science or realizes the harm he is doing?
'.They haven't settled it satisfactorily
lust how Jesse got out to the scene of
the robbery and one man had the impu-
dence to suggest to me that he rode our
on his bicycle. I guess that must have
been the way OF ii; he wanted TO be Il
strictly modern leader of bandits, so he
used a bicycle instead of horse.
BY the way. can you tell me why the
papers will not quote me correctly when
talk? One paper tonight said | said that
7 would like to have all the detectives in a
pile so l could blow them TO hades. l
want to positively deny that 1 ever said
anything like that. There was n time
years ago. when l was a deal younger
that | might have shot a detective at
least L used to say so. But my son Frank
would always say. Now. mother. you know
you would do nothing of the kind. You arc
the most tender hearted woman in the
world and at the last moment you couldn't
do it..
Il do know that I often pleaded with
the boys not to kill anyone. What | did
to have all those detectives before me so
/ could show them my manned arm and
say to them, Gentlemen, isn't that enough: