The times., 1898-11-06
OLD Home OF JESSE JAMES
Mother of the Bandit Tells an
Interesting Story.
THE DEADLY HANDGRENADE
II interrupted a Family Prayer. But
tons-Some New Revelations Con-
cernins The Death of the Famous
Outlaw.

"I was in the home of the mother of
Jesse and Frank James the morning al
ter the attack upon her house. by which
the mother of the bandits, Mrs. Samuels
(she was twice married) lost one hand
and her youngest child. a boy nine years
old, was killed." said a man now living
in New York to, a Sun reporter.
The remark came up because Of the re-
cent arrest in Kansas City of young Jesse
James, charged with the latest train hold
up in Missouri. For long time" the
former Missourian continued, Mrs. Sam
uels. her boys and the friends of the fam
lily charged the Pinkerton agency with the
manning of an old woman and the killing
of child. l know William Pinkerton
very well. and have talked more than
once with him about the attack, and l
am convinced that his agency is guilt
| less. There is no denial by Pinkerton
that he was engaged to capture the
James boys. dead or alive. The State of
Missouri would not or could not run down
the bandits. They had confederates ev-
erywhere. Why. one of the most promi-
nent merchants of Kansas City, a banker
| the Jameses, and protected them when
| they went to Kansas City. DR.. Munford.
editor of the Kansas City Times person.
ally honest and courageous and law
| abiding citizen, honestly believed the
! James boys were prosecuted, and he was
! their apoogist and their mothers friend
! and adviser So you can see why the
| capture of the bandits was no easy mat
| ter.
THE story of the Samuels family and
! the James boys is part of the civil war
history of Missouri. The bandits were
| Quantrelrs trusted outriders, and any
man who was true to the guerrilla always
had protection in Missouri. When Jesse
/ and Frank James Joined Quantreil they
were eighteen and sixteen years old, re-
! spectively. Their stepfather, DR.. Sam
| uels, an old-fashioned backwoods practi-
1 toner, was taken from home one night,
| horsewhipped. hanged to tree and left
! for dead. His wife cut him down. Jen-
| nison's Jayhawkers did the whipping and
! hanging because Samuels had Joined
posse TO drive them from the county.
/ That was the beginning of the career of
| the Jameses, which eliminated in u feud
that defied the authorities.
| II was in Kansas City the night the
| news was received of the attempt to capt
| ure the Jameses in their mothers home
| / met DIR. Munford. editor of the Times,
! who told me about it. He said he was
going over to see Mrs. Samueis, and in
| vited me to go with him. We left Kan
sas City the following morning by rail-
| and got to Kearney. Clay County. after
| q two hours run. The farm of the ban
dts people is six miles from the station.
few miles from the station, in another
| direction, the railroad touches the farm,
and the house can be seen.
| I'VE rode to the house on horseback.
At that time 1t was structure of logs
put up in the simplest manner. The up
per part Of 1t was less than half story.
and just under the caves. on the sides
and ends of the house. We're holes large
enough to admit of a rifle barrel The
| James boys were at home occasionally,
and when they were the house was bar
| ricaded and the holes were bored for the
purpose OF enabling them to make
fight If they were trapped. The family.
when the Jameses were at home. con-
sisted of DIR. Samuels and his wife. the
boy who was afterward killed, and an old
negro man and his wife. They all knew
how to shoot. And when the bandits
were in the house every member of the
family had a bunk at night near an au-
ger hole upstairs. The house Is a half
mile from the county road and cannot
be seen until one is within twenty feet
OF it.
I'VE reached the house soon after the
amputation of Mrs. Samuels' hight hand.
l. think it was. The explosion Of the
hand grenade, thrown through the win
dow of the dining room the night before.
had shattered the wrist of the right arm
| of Mrs. Samuels, and a fragment of the
shell killed her boy.
Everything the woman said and all she
did while we were there showed that she
was mistress. Without apparent effort
she unbound her wound and explained
the amputation. Then she left her bed
and led the way to the dining-room,
where the explosion occurred. With per-
feet composure she pointed to the places
where the members of the family were
| seated the night before. The servants
were in the room, and the time had come
for the evening prayer. As her husband
| was reading the chapter something crash
ed through the window. Mrs. Samuels
| kicked the ball of fire, as she called 1t,
into the fireplace, and there the explosion
occurred. She picked up her boy, who
had fallen at her feet. and, despite her
shattered wrist. she carried the lifeless
body into an adjoining Toom- To that
room she led us. The body of the child
lay on a board supported by two chairs.
The mother lifted the covelet from her
dead and showed US the wound. II she
had been showing a picture she would
have evinced no more concern. / cannot
, give you any description of her face
which would give you an idea of it. ex-
cept to say that some years later, when
l met Mrs. John A. Logan / Immediately
remembered Mrs. Samuels. There can
be no offense in this. for Mrs. SamueIs
) was also remarkable woman, and one
you would look at wherever you met
; her.
While I was looking about the
, grounds and they showed care and taste,
DR.. Munford came from the house where
he had remained for few minutes with
Mrs. Samuels, and he said to me, as
) nearly as / can remember:
The Pinkertons were in this place to
capture the boys, but the Pinkertons did
not throw the bomb The bomb was
thrown one night too late he added and
| understood from this that the boys had
. been home the night before, but he did
not say so. We rode back to Kearney
/ In the evening we went back to the farm
1t was SO dark could not see my horses
head. When we were within mile of the
i house we met a mounted posse and We're
halted. The spokesman of the posse said:
am the sheriff of Clay County, who
, are you, and where are you going?"
DIR. Munford identified himself and he
: and the high sheriff withdrew for CONSUL
: tation. After that we returned to Kear-
: ney and boarded the first train for Lib
. . erty, the ancient county seat DR.. Nun
ford was reticent. When we got to Lib
erty We walked to the county jail. AT
midnight the jaier admitted several dep
uties who had at least fifty prisoners,
nearly all young men farmers sons.
3 "It has always been a question in my
a mind whether they were arrested for
) with fho Dfnly