"The Kansas City Journal" (Missouri) Tuesday, March 3, 1908 WAS JAMES BOYS' STEPFATHER St. Joseph, Mo., March 2 --- Dr. Reuben SAMUELS, the step-father of Jesse and Frank JAMES, famous Missouri outlaws, died at the state hospital for the insane No. 2 near this city this afternoon. Dr. SAMUELS had been an inmate of the asylum for about seven years, and was about 82 years old. He had been confined to his bed for eight months, as a result of paralysis. Dr. SAMUELS was married to Mrs. JAMES, the mother of Frank and Jesse JAMES, about the close of the civil war. Two sons were born to them. One, Arthur SAMUELS, was killed in 1875 by the explosion of a bomb thrown into the SAMUELS home, near Kearney, Mo., supposedly by Pinkerton detectives. Mrs. SAMUELS attempted to roll the missile into the fireplace. Before she accomplished her aim, it exploded and tore her arm off. Arthur, aged about 7 years, was struck by flying fragments, and lived but a few hours. Another son, John SAMUELS, resides at Excelsior Springs, Mo. Dr. SAMUELS went by the name of "Bumble," as he had a mumbling way of talking. For several years prior to the breaking out of the war he practiced medicine at Greenville, Mo., an old town south of Lawson, Mo. His son, John SAMUELS, was shot in the breast at a dance at Greenville several years ago. The host, an aged man named James RHODES, feared that the dancers were attacking him in a drunken mood and fired at his supposed assailants and hit John SAMUELS. Dr. SAMUELS was noted for the mildness of his disposition and is said to have been a good man in every particular. He was at home the night his son was killed and his wife injured, but escaped unhurt. The body will be taken to either Kearney or Excelsior Springs today. Jesse JAMES and Arthur SAMUELS are both buried at Kearney. Jesse's body having been removed from the grave in the yard at the old SAMUELS home near Kearney several years ago, during a terrific rainstorm. ====================================================== (I have no connection with this family.) johnobrien@kc.rr.com ======================================================