
Robert Newton Ford (31 January 1862-8 June 1892) was an American outlaw who was affiliated with the James-Younger Gang of the Wild West.
Biography[]
Robert Newton Ford was born in Ray County, Missouri in 1862, the brother of Charley Ford. He first met Jesse James in 1880 when he was 18, having admired him for his deeds during the American Civil War. In November 1881, James moved his family to St. Joseph after the Blue Cut train robbery, intending to give up on crime, and the Fords resided with James in St. Joseph. The brothers later chose to accept Governor Thomas Theodore Crittenden's $10,000 bounty on James after they killed James' cousin Wood Hite in self-defense, and, on 3 April 1882, the Fords betrayed James in the living room of his St. Joseph home, with Ford shooting James in the back of the head as James cleaned a dusty picture on the wall. The Fords were pardoned by Governor Crittenden, and Robert Ford was seen as a coward for his betrayal. Ford posed for photographs as "the man who killed Jesse James" at dime museums and re-enacted the murder on stage as part of his and his brother's touring stage show, but Charles shot himself in May 1884 rather than suffer from tuberculosis. Soon afterward, Robert Ford and his co-conspirator Dick Liddil relocated to Las Vegas, New Mexico, where they opened a saloon, and Ford lost a shooting contest with Jose Chavez y Chavez. On 26 December 1889, Ford survived an assassination attempt in Kansas City when an assailant attempted to slit his throat. Ford settled in Walsenberg, Colorado, where he opened a new saloon and gambling house. He moved to Creede during a silver rush, but his saloon burned down in a massive fire in 1892, forcing Ford to erect a tent saloon. On 8 June 1892, three days after the fire, Edward Capehart O'Kelley entered Ford's tent saloon with a shotgun and told Ford, whose back was turned to him, "Hello, Bob," before firing both barrels and killing Ford instantly.