When In Saint Jo Here's Where You Got to Go

 May 16, 2023

   It took me over a half century but I finally made it to the Jesse James House to see the bullet hole.

   Me staring at the "bullet hole" under the sign.  

   The mystery of the bullet hole is the shot that killed Jesse did not exit his head, so all of these years we have been looking at what exactly?

   This is what the house looked like on the day Jesse James died.

The gathering crowd on April 3, 1882

  The problem with the two images of the house is that the original house, directly above, faced north and was higher on the hill. It was later moved out on to the Belt Highway next to a gas station for tourists to see, then, after a good amount of time there, it came back to this location, facing west (which is a block, or two, from the original site). If you love Jesse James, it's close enough.

   Meanwhile, in the same neighborhood you will find this,

Pony Express mural on the side of a building. 

   And another one in the downtown area.

A Union Soldier Looks at Lincoln Mural

   And, another one just down the street.

A Covered Wagon Train Mural

In Downtown Saint Jo

We stayed at the Whiskey Mansion not far away.

Photo by Mark Lee Gardner

   Mark Lee Gardner was a wonderful guide and I saw everything I wanted to see related to Jesse James and then some. I am confident it is going to inform my next book in a wonderful way.

"I had hope, however; I had been wounded seven times during the war, and once before in this same lung; and I did not believe I was going to die."

—Jesse James