Went down to the station, not to many days ago
Did something I’ll never do again-----
Got down on my knees and delivered up the keys
To Frank and his brother, Jesse James
(Chorus)
O, Jesse leaves a wife, she’s a mourner all her life
And the children, they were brave---
But the dirty little coward, he shot Mister Howard,
And he laid poor Jesse in his grave.
O, Jesse was a man and a friend to the poor,
He would never see a man suffer pain,
But with his brother Frank, he robbed the Chicago bank,
And he stopped the Glendale train.
(Chorus)
Oh the people in the west, when they heard of Jesse’s death,
They wandered how he came to die,
It was Ford’s pistol ball brought him tumbling from the wall
And it laid poor Jesse down to die.
(Chorus)
Now Jesse goes to rest with his hands upon his breast,
And the devil will be upon his knees,
He was born one day in the county of Clay
And he came from a solitary race.
(Chorus)
This song it was made by Billy Gashade,
As soon as the news did arrive,
He said there was no man with the law in his hand
Who could take Jesse James when alive.
(Chorus)