2/18/05 Dear John & all: The article you published about Jesse James brings back lots of memories. My maternal grandmother, Maud Riley Kennedy, heard the shot that killed Jesse James. She was living about a city block away in St. Joseph at the time, & was 7 years of age. I knew her & even knew her mother (i.e., my grandmother). My maternal great-grandfather, John Titus Flinn (1843 - 1915) was a carpenter & home-builder who, in fact, built the little home in which James was shot. He had built it for a politician in St. Joe who never subsequently lived in it but rented it to the Howard/James family. (I've seen this little house, which is on the grounds of a hotel there now). My grandmother died in 1958. By the way, my GGF, GGM, & grandmother all thought JJ was a traveling salesman (which would explain his frequent absences) & the kids in the neighborhood--my grandmother included--loved him for the candy he distributed many times during the year. It's an interesting story. I'm 75 years old & was born & raised in Kansas City, MO. I've since lived in Las Cruces, NM; Albuquerque, NM; Scottsdale, AZ; & Palo Alto, CA. Since retirement in 1992, my wife, my oldest son, & I have lived in this house in the oldest part of Rio Rancho, NM. (RR is the largest suburb of Albuquerque). Many thanks. Daniel O'Connell