The plan called for a conspiracy of silence to follow, in
which the real Jesse would escape to live out the remainer of his days in peace. The scheme involved four
bankers from four banks Jesse had robbed--to come forward and publically identify Bigelow's body as
being that of James. The plan supposedly worked. Among an array of sworn statements that were
given supporting Dalton's claims of being Jesse James, one interesting one came from a man named
Eugene Robertson, from Logan County, Oklahoma. Robertson stated that he had known and worked with
Jesse James' brother, Frank James, for several years (1910-1912) and that Frank had told him
on several occasions that his brother (Jesse) was, in fact, "still alive."
One of the more
compelling accounts came from a retired 85-year-old San Leandro, California man named Al Jennings.
Jennings was a former gunfighter who had known Jesse James. When he was taken to see Dalton,
Jennings not only identified him as being James, but James recognized Jennings as well--recalling
details about a private fast-draw contest they participated in once (in which Jennings had won).
"Boys, there ain't a bit of doubt," Jennings told reporters. "That man there is Jesse James."
It is generally accepted as historical fact, that Jesse was caught and hung at the age of 16,
but had somehow managed to escape from the rope and survived. During the Civil War, he was
captured and tortured, in an attempt to retrieve information from him. The soles of both of his
feet were burned. When J. Frank Dalton finally died--
in 1951, the sheriff of
Hood County, Texas (where Dalton was then residing) examined the body and found not only burn
scars on the soles of Dalton's feet, but a small scar (which could have been made by a rope)
on Dalton's neck. In addition, the body had "33 bullet wound scars"--suggesting, at the very
least, Dalton had been an outlaw. A recent attempt to exhume Dalton's remains for DNA testing
failed, after the wrong body was unearthed. Relatives of other cemetary residents complained,
and as a result, Dalton's remains continue to lay undisturbed...for the time being.
* While no solid proof exists connecting outlaw Jesse James with
Lincoln assassin, John Wilkes Booth, who
reportedly surfaced in
Enid, Oklahoma in 1903 (under the alias, "David George - John St. Helen")
, there are those who believe that the man in Enid who was
reported to have died as a result of suicide, may have actually been murdered by Jesse James
himself--in an attempt to keep information regarding the conspiracy surrounding Lincoln's
assassination secret. It has been suggested that the Civil War was not by accident. That it was
the brainchild of a masonic
order that came out of England, in which both Jesse James
and John Wilkes Booth were supposed members.
The Enid man had once lived in Granbury,
Texas--the same town J. Frank Dalton would eventually die and be buried in. Interestingly, Boston
Corbett, the former soldier who fired the fatal shot that killed the man in 1865 identified as
Booth, worked in the Enid area at the time of the man's death, yet never came forward to dispute his claim
of being Booth. Boston Corbett died shortly thereafter--his death was ruled a suicide.
