Robert Newton Ford was just 19 years old when he shot Jesse James in the back of the head on April 3, 1882, in St. Joseph, Missouri—an act that made him famous, reviled, and ultimately a marked man for the rest of his short life. Ford had grown up admiring James for his Civil War record and criminal exploits. He finally met the outlaw in 1880, and by the spring of 1882, with the James gang depleted by arrests, deaths, and defections, Jesse believed he could rely only on the Ford brothers.
A $10,000 bounty had been placed on Jesse James by Missouri Governor Thomas T. Crittenden, and the Ford brothers had already decided to collect it instead of taking part in a planned bank robbery. Jesse was living in St. Joseph under the alias Thomas Howard when he invited the Fords to help rob the Platte City Bank.
Unbeknownst to him, they had already surrendered to authorities and reached a secret deal with the governor—a full pardon in exchange for Jesse’s life. On the morning of the killing, Jesse read in the newspaper that fellow gang member Dick Liddil had confessed to involvement in a murder. He grew suspicious of the Fords for never telling him about it, but instead of confronting them, he climbed onto a chair to clean a dusty picture above the mantel. Robert Ford drew his gun and shot him.
After the murder, the Fords were indicted, pleaded guilty, and were sentenced to death by hanging—all in a single day. Governor Crittenden granted them a full pardon just two hours later. Public opinion turned sharply against the brothers. Robert Ford was widely viewed as a coward and a traitor, despite the fact that many at the time believed Jesse should have been stopped by any means necessary.
Ford briefly profited from his infamy, posing for photographs at dime museums and appearing on stage with his brother Charlie in a touring show that reenacted the murder. Charlie Ford died by suicide in 1884, terminally ill with tuberculosis and addicted to morphine. Robert Ford and Dick Liddil moved to Las Vegas, New Mexico, where they opened a saloon. During that period, Ford allegedly engaged in a shooting contest with José Chávez y Chávez, a comrade of Billy the Kid, and lost.
In 1889, Ford survived an attempt on his life in Kansas City when an assailant tried to slit his throat. He eventually settled in Colorado, where he opened a saloon and gambling house in Walsenburg. After silver was discovered in Creede, he moved there and opened another establishment called Ford’s Exchange. Six days after opening in May 1892, a major fire destroyed the entire business district, including his saloon.
Ford set up a temporary tent operation while planning to rebuild. On June 8, 1892, three days after the fire, a man named Edward O’Kelly walked into the tent, said “hello, Bob,” and fired both barrels of a shotgun as Ford turned to see who it was. Ford died instantly. O’Kelly, who never explained why he did it, was sentenced to life in prison.
The sentence was later reduced to 18 years, and he served only about nine years after a petition with 7,000 signatures and a medical condition led to his release. O’Kelly was killed in 1904 while attempting to shoot a police officer. Robert Ford was 30 years old when he died—the man who killed Jesse James, himself killed by a man who would become known as the man who killed the man who killed Jesse James.