THE TRUE STORY OF JESSE JAMES
More than a century ago, the most famous man in America was the outlaw Jesse James. Equally cheered and hated at the time, Jesse's legend was born of the war between the states and depending on one's disposition he may have been considered either a demon or an avenging angel. On April 3, 1882 in a little four room house in Saint Joseph, Missouri, we are told that "the dirty little coward" Robert Ford shot an unarmed Jesse in the back of the head while he was up on a chair straightening a picture on the wall.
Although quickly arrested and deemed a coward by the public for shooting an unarmed man in the back, Ford was pardoned and set free. But justice was not to be denied to the James family and word on the street was that Jesse's brother, Frank James, was on the trail of Robert Ford, hunting for blood. It was inevitable that the two men would meet and meet they did. However, far from the expected crescendo of blazing guns and shattered bodies, the meeting between the two men simply resulted in them sitting down having a quiet chat before shaking hands and departing one another's company. Sometime later, Frank James himself would quietly surrender to Missouri Governor John S. Marmaduke. James was pardoned and became free to live out his life as an ordinary citizen with no consequences for his many crimes.
This pretty much ended the chapter for Jesse James until many decades later, in 1948, when
The Lawton Constitution
newspaper shocked the world with the headline "Jesse James is Alive". The story featured in the newspaper was based on the claims of an old man who used the name J. Frank Dalton. Dalton claimed that it wasn't Jesse James that was killed that night and that there was a whole lot more to the story than anyone knew. Among other things, he claimed that a man named Bigelow had been killed in his place and that the "death" of Jesse James was all part of an elaborate ruse. A loyal confederate to the bone, Dalton claimed (according to some) that he was the treasurer for the
Knights of the Golden Circle,
a pro-confederate group that was robbing banks to fund a second civil war where "
the South will rise again".
Dalton claimed that he and the James gang had agreed long ago that if he were ever to live to be one hundred years old, he would come clean and reveal himself.
People from all over the country came to meet the old man. Among the curious throngs that came to see him was a young woman named Ola Mae Everhard. As a young woman she had always heard she was related to Jesse James. When she heard that the notorious outlaw was allegedly alive, she was determined to meet him. She went to see him and once in his presence, she began the conversation by stating the names of her grandparents. Dalton immediately recognized the names and acknowledged them as being his relatives. This short exchange would become the basis of a special relationship that would last for many years and that would culminate in Ola becoming a caregiver for the aging Dalton.
Sometime after Dalton passed away on August 15, 1951, or perhaps prior, Ola began transcribing her notes in hopes of writing a manuscript for publication to prove that J. Frank Dalton was indeed the famous outlaw Jesse James. Once Ola passed away, her notes fell to her husband, who gifted them to Bud Hardcastle of Purcell, OK with the admonition that Bud someday prove the truth about Jesse James.
For more than 40 years since that day, Bud has kept his word and has conducted research in order to find the truth. Among his many talents, Bud is a treasure hunter and has found more physical archaeological evidence than anyone living that the story of Jesse James and the Knights of the Golden Circle are real and verifiable. Now, for the first time, he is publishing the story in its entirety.