One Red Thread

First, props to real actors.  We blocked for two hours and I'm practically falling asleep writing this from being so drained.  

Second, I like this. The scene we worked is really cool.  And Jesse James is (or was) a really incredible figure in history.  A real commanding figure in rooms, who read body language and knew everything that was happening.  He was calculating and confident.  Confident enough to turn his back on someone with a gun, knowing he was in control and had the power.  He was a master of the psychological principle that "when at least two people are in a room, there is always a struggle for power."  Jesse just won. Always.  I would say he even won when he was shot by Robert Ford.  He took off his gun belt and willingly walked to another room with his family in the house and turned his back after realizing exactly why Ford was there.  Ford even recalled that it was the first time he had ever seen Jesse without his guns on.  Jesse chose to let his wall down and keep his quick hand off the trigger.  He died winning the power in the room.

On 8th October, 1879, Jessie James and his gang held up the Chicago & Alton Railroad at Glendale, Missouri and stole $6,000. This was followed by other raids, in one, at Blue Cut, Missouri, in September, 1881, the gang killed the conductor and a pensioner. The governor of Missouri, Thomas Crittenden, now responded by offering a reward of $10,000 for the capture of Jessie James.

Robert Ford, a member of the Jessie James gang, contacted Governor Crittenden and offered his services in order to gain this reward. On 3rd April, 1882, Ford visited Jessie James in his home and when he stood on a chair to straighten a picture on the wall, he shot him in the back of the head. Ford was found guilty of murder and sentenced to death. Two hours later he was pardoned by Crittenden and given his reward.