"The Kansas City Daily Times" (Missouri) Friday, April 7, 1882 Kearney, April 6. --- Yesterday was a holiday at Kearney, near which is the home of Mrs. SAMUELS, mother of Frank and Jesse JAMES. Kearney is a town of between 400 and 500 inhabitants. situated on the Hannibal and St. Joe railway, twenty-four miles from Kansas City. At an early hour from all directions came people on the trains, on horseback and in vehicles, anxious to gaze upon the remains of the dead bandit. The metallic casket containing the body was taken to the Kearney house upon its arrival at 2:45 a.m. It was placed upon chairs in the office, and during the forenoon and a portion of the afternoon, was surrounded by friends, relatives and strangers anxiously peering into the pallid features. No one who claimed to know him in life doubted that the remains were those of Jesse JAMES. Photographs of the deceased in possession of "The Times" correspondent were compared with the corpse, and admitted by many of his friends to be genuine. No ill will was engendered or if any existed, those possessing it were careful not to let their passions get the better of them. It seemed to be understood by every one except the mother and wife, that the solemnity of the occasion demanded that every thing be done decently and in order. Mrs. SAMUELS, however, showed by her conversation, her gestures, and her declamations, which were loud and vehement, and given with a view to the climax, that she is a woman of great dramatic power, which, had she been educated for the stage, would have placed her in the first rank of tragediennes. The JAMES family are nothing unless dramatic or tragic. Following close upon the heels of the mother came the wife. Both used the occasion not to give vent to their grief in tears, but to orate upon every opportunity. Both showed a familiarity with the Great Ruler of the universe that one would hardly expect to discover in the near female relatives of bandits. Amid sobs and wails, which on the part of the mother were unaccompanied by tears, at least to the reporter's gaze, who looked very scrutinizingly for them, they lauded the deceased, denounced his slayers and the officers of the law and sought to stir the hearts of their friends until they would boil over with righteous indignation and anger. But all had the good sense to keep cool and no trouble resulted. These women who had condoned the lawless deeds of the dead son and husband and sided and abetted him in his crimes; who felt no pity for the many mothers, wives, sisters and children of men who had been hurried into eternity by his bullets, talked volubly of "cold blooded murder," assassination and "wickedness that God will surely punish." They seemed more touched in their pride, than shocked in their tender feelings for the deceased. He was their idol, not for his virtues and manliness, but because of his daring in attempting and accomplishing desperate deeds, and his skill in slaying his fellow men, and his luck in escaping unharmed. The mother had boasted that he was "so quick that no man could get the drop on him." To have him shot from behind while unarmed by one of his pupils in crime, whom his suspicious nature did not mistrust, was too much for her to endure. Over his coffin she announced as much. That she is humbled in her pride, her hopes shattered and her feelings outraged is also apparent. ====================================================== (I have no connection with this family.) johnobrien@kc.rr.com ======================================================