Court says he died in Texas in 1951
Was Jesse James shot to death in 1882?
UNION, Mo. (UPI) — Jesse James was not killed by a bullet in the back as legend has it, but died peacefully in Granbury, Tex., in 1951, according to testimony from a 1950 trial presented Thursday in Franklin County court.
The testimony, given in the court when J. Frank Dalton attempted to have his name changed to Jesse James, supports the contention of Rudy Turrill, who has offered $10,000 to anyone who can prove that the famous train robber was shot to death on April 3, 1882 in St. Joseph, Mo.
The judge in the earlier trial ruled that Dalton, then 102, need not have his name changed from an alias to a legally established name.
Mrs. Jesse James Jr., who claims to be the daughter-in-law of the bandit, is suing for the money. Judge Herbert K. Moss has ruled that only the date of death is to be established by the current trial, not the cause.
Turilli took the stand early Thursday and began relating testimony from the 1950 trial, but both lawyers and the judge finally decided to dig out the court records for a more accurate account.
Testimony from John Tramnel, a Negro who was 111 at the time of the trial, indicated that Dalton was James. Tramnel said he was a cook for the James gang for 17 years. When asked if he knew Dalton, who was wheeled into the courtroom in bed for the trial, he said, "That's the same man I cooked iohnny cakes for."
Trammel was also asked if he was at the scene of the 1882 shooting in St. Joseph, "Yeah," he said. He was then asked what he
Senate puts nomination on calendar
WASHINGTON (UPI)—With no opposition in sight, the Supreme Court nomination of Judge Harry A. Blackmun was placed on the Senate calendar Thursday with debate to begin Monday.
After the Senate Judiciary Committee approved the nomination 17 to 0, debate was expected to be brief and laudatory.
Thus, Blackman should be able to take his seat on the court when it returns May 18 from its current recess.
Blackmun, from Rochester, Minn., was named to fill the vacancy created by the resignation of Justice Abe Fortas last May 15.
The Senate rejected President Nixon's first two nominees to fill the vacancy, Judges Clement F. Haynsworth of South Carolina and G. Harrold Carswell of Florida.
Blackmun, 61, is a member of the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
Atchison colleges to become co-ed
ATCHISON (UPI) — St. Benedict's and Mt. St. Scholastica colleges jointly announced Thursday that each institute anticipates becoming co-educational in fall 1971.
A model studies program, conducted by both colleges to determine the feasibility of the move, played a major role in the decisions, Wayne Lyon, public information representative said Thursday in announcing the moves.
The Mount has been a women's college for 46 years. St. Benedict's has been a Catholic men's school since 1958.
Bigelow was an outlaw in the James gang.
shot. "I'd take it to be Charles Bigelow," he said.
6 KANSAN
Trammel, according to the court records, was next asked whether or not Jesse James had been shot to death. "Jesse ain't never died," he testified.
May 8
1970
A Robert E. Lee, who was 76 at the time of the trial, also identified Dalton as Jessie. He testified that he first met the bandit while working as a body guard for Buffalo Bill Cody at the Chicago World's Fair in 1893. He said Jesse went to the fair to see Cody and when they met, the famous showman exclaimed: "My God! You ain't nobody but Jesse James." Lee then testified that the bedridden Dalton was the same man he saw at the fair. "That's the man," he said.
While on the witness stand
Thursday, Turilli testified that he was first introduced to Dalton by Frank O. Hall, editor of the Lawton (Okla.) Constitution, in 1948. Turilli said he took Dalton to Meramec Caverns, near Stanton, Mo., and spent about 90 per cent of his time with the old man for the next two years.
He said that on Sept. 2, 1949, Col. James Davis, then 108, went to the caverns and spent three weeks with Dalton. Davis, from Nashville, Tenn., had been a friend of the James family, Turilli said, and later testified at the 1950 trial.
Turilli said during the trial, "Davis said that he was acquainted with the James family since he was 11 and Jesse was 4. He said Jesse was a member of Quantrill's Raiders. Davis said that he, Jesse James, and Gov.
Administration to stop criticizing protesters
WASHINGTON (UPI)—With student protests over U.S. intervention in Cambodia intensifying nationwide, President Nixon assured visiting university presidents Thursday that Vice-President Spiro T. Agnew and others in the administration would stop attacks on campus demonstrators.
As the White House disclosed his promise that the administration would lower its voice on student dissenters, the President flew alone to Camp David, Md., for the night to prepare for a nationally broadcast news conference at 10 p.m. EDT Friday.
The news conference, that will surely dwell on Cambodia and the wave of student anger that has engulfed and, in many instances, immobilized campuses from coast to coast, will come on the eve of a planned mass antiwar rally near the White House.
Nixon also summoned the governors of all 50 states to a White
Order given guardsmen to alarm only
WASHINGTON (UPI)—The National Guard was authorized Thursday to provide guardsmen to serve as watchmen, without loaded weapons, during weekend antiwar demonstrations.
The National Guard Bureau sent a message to the adjutant generals of all states. It said the reason for the action was that "arson, attempted arson, other damage of threat and indications of possible damage to National Guard, Army Reserve and Reserve Officer Training Corps facilities have occurred in considerable numbers in 20 states by individual saboteurs or mob action."
Signed by Maj. Gen. Winston P. Wilson, Guard bureau chief. The message said the duties of the Guardsmen should be limited to giving "alarm in case of fire or hostile action."
Mrs. Niarchos died of drug overdose
shooting." He said Davis, who died three days after that trial, identified Dalton as Jesse James and said Jesse's mother was told of the plot to have Bigelow killed instead of Jesse.
Thomas Crittendon met in the woods three miles from the place from where whoever was shot the next day."
ATHENS (UPI) — The prosecutor's office said Thursday that Mrs. Stavros Niarchos, wife of the Greek shipping magnate, died from an overdose of barbituates and not of a heart attack as first reported. Mrs. Niarchos, 44, died Monday on her husband's private island in the Aegean Sea and was buried there Thursday after an autopsy here.
Turilli added, "Davis said he saw Jesse in that house after the
House meeting on Monday to discuss the violence and threats of violence that have swept the nation following his decision a week ago to send U.S. ground combat troops into Cambodia.
Nathan M. Pusey, president of Harvard University, told newsmen after the White House meeting, "I think there will be an opportunity of testing Nixon's promise fairly soon."
PITTSBURG, Kan. (UPI)—Attorney General Kent Frizzell said Thursday that justification of lawlessness must end "in government, in the pulpit, among the media, and on ivory-towered campuses."
In a speech prepared for delivery at a meeting of the downtown Kiwanis Club, the candidate for the Republican gubernatorial nomination attacked supporters of violent civil disobedience.
Nixon calls governors to White House talks
"An ordered society cannot survive, and ours, as strong as it is, will not survive, if each individual can determine which laws he will obey, and with impunity flaunt those he finds distasteful," Frizzell said.
Call for end to violence by Frizzell
The candidate said there are injustices, outdated laws, slums, and other problems, "but we know also that our system of government is the best known to man, and without adherence to the rule of law, it cannot endure unless the law is enforced."
SANTA FE, N.M. (UPI) — President Nixon has called the 50 governors to the White House Monday to discuss "the disruption of peace, violence and potential violence throughout the nation," Gov. Raymond P. Shafer of Pennsylvania said Thursday
In making the announcement, Shafer, chairman of the Republican National Governors Conference, also cancelled the group's semi-annual meeting scheduled to open here Thursday night.
Shafer said he had conferred with White House officials who authorized him to announce that Nixon would meet with the nation's governors at 1:30 p.m. Monday.
Attendance at the GOP governors conference had dwindled because many chief executives had stayed home to cope with disorders brought on by U.S. involvement in Cambodia and the killing of four Kent State University students by National Guardmen.
Shafer said Nixon wanted to discuss with the nation's governors the current wave of violence and campus turmoil and possible ways to stop it.
Gov. David F. Cargo of New Mexico had ordered the National Guard to protect the Republican meeting against student disruptions. But, Shafer cancelled the conference when only 13 governors showed up.
At a news conference, the Pennsylvania governor pleaded for all citizens to avoid violence to "make certain reason wins out over emotion."
At the time of Shafer's announcement, the only governors present were A. Lindwood Holton of Virginia, Deane C. Davis of Vermont, and Cargo.
Among those who stayed home because of campus violence in their states were Govs. William G. Millikenof of Michigan, Francis Sargent of Massachusetts and Louie B. Nunn of Kentucky.
Shafer said about 25 of the nation's 32 Republican governors originally were expected to attend the Santa Fe conference, but earlier Thursday it was decided that this was not the time for a partisan meeting.
SPECIAL STAMP
TOENBERG, Norway (UPI) A special stamp will be issued by the post office to honor Toensberg, Norway's oldest city, when it celebrates its 1,100th anniversary in 1971. The stamp will show the city's ancient seal, dating back to the Middle Ages.
LOOKING FOR A JOB FOR THE SUMMER OR FOREVER? Contact CENCOR EMPLOYMENT SERVICES
4638 Nichols Prkwy. 756-0990
1123 Grand 421-7400
Kansas City, Mo.
Male & Female, Perm. & Temp.