The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford Page #8

He imagined himself at 34.

He imagined himself in a coffin.

He considered possibilities...

...and everything wonderful

that could come true.

He's not gonna kill us.

Yeah, he is.

Well, I'll stay awake so he can't.

You're imagining things.

Ain't gonna be no Platte City.

That's Jesse fooling with us.

Go to sleep, Charley.

Morning.

Charley.

Bob, how much did you want to eat?

I'm feeling sort of peculiar.

Why is it you're looking so interested?

You think it's intelligent

to go out like that...

...so all creation can see your guns?

Hi.

Come on, let's go see

what your mama's doing.

Timmy, get that door, would you?

- Well, you lost your shoe, sweetheart.

- Yeah, I did.

That's gonna be a problem.

They don't sell those one at a time.

We lost a shoe, Mama.

Will you put that up for Daddy,

would you?

- What you doing, you lose a shoe?

- Yeah.

It's only meant to go on top,

to complement.

Yeah, I know. Sometimes, I...

Bob, everything's getting cold!

- Where's Mary?

- She's outside, darling.

Mary?

What do you think goes on

in that noggin of his?

Nothing.

I was talking about his mind, not yours.

Oh, yeah.

Oh, I get it.

Well, hello now.

"The arrest and confession

of Dick Liddil."

You don't say so.

That's very strange.

Says here Dick surrendered

three weeks ago.

You must have been

right in the neighborhood.

Well, apparently, they kept it a secret.

If I get to Kansas City soon,

I'll ask somebody about it.

You two ready?

I will be, by noon.

There is a ship

She sails the sea

She's loaded deep

As deep can be

But not as deep

As the love I'm in

I know not if I sink or swim

The water is wide

I can't cross o'er

And neither have I wings to fly

Give me a boat

That can carry two

Both shall row

My love and I

For love is gentle

And love is kind

Sweetest flower

When first it's new

But love grows old

And waxes cold

And fades away

Like the morning dew

There is a ship

She sails the sea

I guess I'll take my guns off...

...for fear the neighbors might spy them.

Don't that picture look dusty?

What have...? What have you done?

Jesse.

Jesse?

Jesse? Jesse?

Jesse!

No!

No. Jess...

Come back. Oh, come back.

Oh, Jesse! No!

Oh, Bob. Have you done this?!

I swear to God I didn't.

It was an accident, Zee.

Come on. Pistol went off accidentally.

Put my name.

Why, what'd you do? I shot him.

You might wanna keep that.

Thank you all very much.

The resulting prints

sold for 2 dollars apiece...

...and were the models for the lithographed

covers on a number of magazines.

Soon a thousand strangers were making

spellbound pilgrimages to the cottage...

...or were venerating the iced remains

in Seidenfaden's cooling room.

The man who offered 30,000 dollars for

the body of President Garfield's assassin...

...sent a telegram to City Marshal

Enos Craig offering 50,000...

...for the body

of Jesse Woodson James...

...so that he could go around the country

with it...

...or at least sell it to P.T. Barnum

for his Greatest Show on Earth.

Another photograph was taken

of the renowned American bandit...

...nestled in his bed of ice.

And it was this shot that was most

available in sundries and apothecaries...

...to be viewed in a stereoscope

alongside the sphinx...

...the Taj Mahal,

and the catacombs of Rome.

Hello, here!

"The arrest and confession

of Dick Liddil."

Young man, I thought you told me

you didn't know Dick had surrendered.

You mean he did? I didn't know.

But I knew I had not fooled him.

And he knew, as well as I, in that moment

that I intended to bring him to justice.

But he would not kill me

in the presence of his wife and children.

And so he was smiling

to throw me off-guard.

Well, it's all right, anyway, Bob.

It was widely felt that

Bob possessed some acting talent...

...and Charley, not a jot.

That picture's awful dusty.

Charley was only expected

not to slouch or mutter...

...and to transport his sicknesses

to the alley before letting them go.

And that's...

...how I killed Jesse James.

By October of 1883, Bob Ford

could be identified correctly...

...by more citizens than could

the president of the United States.

He was as renowned at 20 as Jesse was

after 14 years of grand larceny.

You won't get your hooks into me.

That's right. That's right.

Sit next to your boyfriend. Jezebel.

Charley was increasingly superstitious...

...increasingly subject

to the advice of soothsayers...

...who promised to cure his miseries

with pipe smoke and poultices.

You been spending too much time

with Gypsies, Charley.

Sh*t.

The picture's awful dusty.

Something began to change

in Charley's stage portrayal of Jesse.

His gait seemed more practiced.

His voice was spookily similar

to the man's.

His newly suggested dialogue

was analogous...

...to a script Jesse might have originated.

He began to look at his younger brother

with spite...

...as if he suspected that

in some future performance...

...he might present himself

to a live cartridge in Robert Ford's gun.

Murderer!

Cur!

Coward!

You wanna investigate my courage?

Do you?

Find out! Find out!

Nobody.

Coward!

By his own approximation, Bob

assassinated Jesse James over 800 times.

He suspected no one in history

had ever so often or so publicly...

...recapitulated an act of betrayal.

Bob always challenged

the allegations of cowardice...

...but Charley seemed

to agree with them.

He spoke of Mrs. Zee James

as certain priests might the Madonna...

...and composed long soul-describing letters

to her...

...begging her forgiveness...

...none of which he mailed.

Charley Ford became all that his countrymen

wanted an assassin of Jesse James to be.

Jesse James was a man

Who killed many men

He robbed the Glendale train

And he stole from the rich

And he gave to the poor

He had a hand

And a heart and a brain

Well, Jesse had a wife

To mourn for his life

Three children

They were brave

But that dirty little coward

Who shot Mr. Howard

Has laid Jesse James in his grave

It was Robert Ford

That dirty little coward

I wonder how does he feel

For he ate at Jesse's bread

And he slept in Jesse's bed

And he laid poor Jesse in his grave

Well, Jesse had a wife

To mourn for his life

Three children

They were brave

But that dirty little coward

Who shot Mr. Howard

Has laid poor Jesse in his grave

I'm Robert Ford.

It was two children, not three.

Hey.

You get yourself home, son, okay?

Come on. Get out of here.

Get out of my place.

He thought, at his angriest...

...about visiting the kin

of Jesse's slaughtered victims:

Mrs. William Westfall in Plattsburg...

...the Wymore family in Clay County...

...perhaps even Mrs. Joseph Heywood

in Northfield, Minnesota.

He would go to their homes

and give his name as Robert Ford...

...the man who killed Jesse James.

He imagined they would

be grateful to him.

It was only with Dorothy Evans

that Bob spoke revealingly or plainly...

...and it was with her that he spoke of

Rate this script:5.0 / 1 vote