Judge to Allow Remains of Jesse James to Be Exhumed

A scientist has won permission to dig up Jesse James’ remains for tests to prove the outlaw didn’t fake his death.

James E. Starrs, professor of law and forensic sciences at George Washington University, will be in charge of the examination.

Circuit Judge Victor Howard approved the exhumation Thursday, ordering Starrs to exhume the remains by August and rebury them within 90 days.

A 15-member team of scientists hopes to determine the caliber of bullet that killed James and the distance and angle from which it was fired. The university will pay the $5,000 to $10,000 cost for the exhumation.

The outlaw’s grave is in Mt. Olivet Cemetery in Kearney, Mo., northwest of Kansas City. His remains were moved there in 1902 from his mother’s back yard outside Kearney.

James was killed April 3, 1882, in St. Joseph, Mo., where he was living under the alias Tom Howard and posing as a cattle buyer.

The story has long been that Robert Ford, a member of James’ gang, shot him in the head to collect reward money.

But questions have lingered about whether the body in the grave is really that of James, and whether Ford acted alone or whether his brother, Charles, fired his gun at the same time.

Some contend that James was not killed that day, but went on to father more children. Results of an 1882 autopsy have been missing for years.

The tests may also settle a longstanding dispute among hundreds of people who claim to be the outlaw’s descendants.

Robert Jackson, a great-grandnephew of James’ sister, traveled from his home in Oklahoma City to attend the court hearing and will be one of three descendants to donate blood for DNA tests.

Jackson said he was puzzled by people’s eagerness to link themselves with the James family, though he ventured: “I guess infamy is better than nothing.”