Jesse James is a man who charges the imagination and lights up the past in a way few outlaws do. The man, the legend, and the myth is truly larger than life, and who proves time and again that the truth is stranger than fiction. To understand James, you have to understand his personas.
Conventional history declares that Jesse James was an American outlaw who was murdered by Robert Ford on April 3, 1882 in St Joseph, Missouri. The main problem with this assertion is that it is inconsistent with known facts about the case, and is upheld with the flimsiest of evidence - mainly that someone died.
But having a corpse is not the same as having its identity, a fact which Ron Pastore has established beyond reasonable doubt, whose research culminated in a presentation to the 2004 Annual Conference of the American Academy of Forensic Science, as well as extremely well received History documentary.
In this presentation, Pastore examined all kinds evidence indicating that James lived well beyond 1882, such evidence including material, eye witness, DNA, photographic, and other forms to create a complete picture of the man and his life. Some of the more sophisticated procedures rely on the most current sciences such as DNA and facial recognition software which establishes beyond reasonable doubt that the death of James was greatly exaggerated. Of course it was a faked death.
If James did not die, then who did? The answer to this question begins the twisted path to unwinding James' identity. Pastore concludes that the man who was killed in 1882 was Jesse's cousin Jeremiah M James. Jesse Woodson James then assumed the identity of Jere Miah James - J M James, and eventually settled in Neodesha, Kansas, dying in 1935.
Another cousin, Jesse R James, went by the alias J Frank Dalton, dying in Texas in 1951 at the ripe old age of 104. So there were two Jesse James floating around, and one Jeremiah James rotting in a grave.
So why did Jesse murder his cousin? It fundamentally solved two problems. Jesse W James was a wanted man, having been a terror in the west as a member of the James gang since the end of the Civil War. When Jesse and his brother attempted to surrender under the white flag of truce at the end of the war, the Union army would have none of it; so it fired upon the men, nearly killing Jesse.
After recovering, he vowed revenge, and to never surrender to the North. Thus he began a long crime spree which got the attention of law men far and wide.
At the same time, his cousin Jeremiah made a deal with Pinkerton to capture Jesse, word of which reached the James gang who vowed to take care of the problem by killing him. With Jeremiah dead, Jesse could assume his identity and lead a life with less publicity, something which he did by settling in Kansas and living a respectable life and raising a family.
Pastore reports that when Jesse's wife died around Christmas of 1934, it so broke James that he died shortly thereafter in 1935. Thus ended one of the most flamboyant careers in American history.
The history books will not correct the record because the establishment, like the pope, has declared itself infallible and beyond reproach. It will never admit to its lies, misinformation, and deceit. That old saying however, comes to mind - the truth will out.
While this summary of James' life does not touch on its many crazy aspects, it at least points earnest students of history in a new direction in search of the truth.
Reference
Ron Pastore, The Jesse James Photo Album, 2017, (accessed: http://jessejamesphotoalbum.com/, 10/3/2020)
Ron Pastore, Forensic Investigation: Into the 1882 Death of Jesse James, academia.edu, (accessed: https://www.academia.edu/21278067/Jesse_W_James_Forensic_Analysis, 10/3/2020)
Copyright 2020 Tony Bonn. All rights reserved.
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