Jesse James
was a very well known outlaw in the mid to late 1800’s. He was also very popular for his big heists
and gang activity. Jesse James was born
on September 5, 1847, and mysteriously died on April 3, 1882. Jesse James died on the 5th, but he might
have staged his death. Jesse James was
supposedly killed by Bob Ford, a fellow member of Jesse James’ “Younger Gang”,
yet there are many theories and stories of how Jesse James lived on to be one
of the slyest outlaws of the West. Did
Jesse James actually get killed by one of his gang members, or did he stage his
death to get a break from the law? These
are some of the questions that will get answered through this paper.
Jesse James was pretty normal when
it came down to his personality. Jesse
James lived off of his hyperactiveness (“Jesse James Personality
Profile”). Because of this, Jesse James
was always very fidgety and led to him always being on the go (1). Whenever Jesse would think of something to
do, this hyperactive trait would fuel Jesse James into doing whatever he
believed was right (1). Jesse James
loved physical exercise as well as a good dose of mental exercise here and
there (1). Because of this, Jesse James
loved being outdoors to explore the wilderness, and enjoyed eating wild game
from hunting and other outdoor activities (1).
Jesse James always required a lot of extra curricular activities, yet
just taking a break from everyday, life like walking, around was a power house
for Jesse James (1).
Jesse James
always strived to be the best in all circumstances (“Jesse James Personality
Profile”). Jesse James was
Entrepreneurial and progressive, which made him very good at enterprising
(1). Jesse James was also very
ambitious, and this led to him to be a very good leader over his followers
(1). Jesse James was also known for
overcoming any dilemmas that came before him (1). All of these traits combined
sometimes led to stubbornness, which led to problems because Jesse did not want
to try to make fixes or make compromises (1).
Because of these traits and personal qualities, it made it hard for
anyone to try to convince Jesse to think outside of his mindset or his plan
that he has in mind (1). It would have
made Jesse’s life a lot easier if he would have just listened to other people's
opinions. Jesse James also was very
interested in truth, or whatever question or problem that he wanted to solve
(1). Jesse James, given any question of
something going on, or even questions to life, always tried to figure things
out by piecing together things like a puzzle, or going straight to the source
are some examples of what Jesse James would do to try to solve mysteries (1).
Another
thing that Jesse James always acquired was time alone to think and reflect upon
what was going on currently in his life (Jesse James Personality Profile). Jesse James required this alone time, because
it gave him time to hypothesize (1).
Because Jesse required this time alone, it was very hard for him to be
able to keep a personal bond with anyone that he cared about or wanted to be
friends with (1). This made marriage
very hard for Jesse James because he required a lot of time away from his wife
to be able to think about his future ideas and current problems (1). Being a “lone wolf”, was something that Jesse
wanted to be, not what he had to be.
This led to Jesse James being even more stubborn than he had to be,
because this led to him making ideas that were never overlooked by anyone else,
making him very passionate and overall stubborn (1).
Jesse James
was also very popular with the people around him (Jesse James Personality
Profile). Jesse James was a lot of the
time known as the life of the party (1).
Using his wit and knowledge, Jesse loved to perform in front of an
audience to make people laugh and overall just have a good time (1). When Jesse balanced his stubbornness with his
outgoing character traits, Jesse could actually be very enjoyable to be around,
making the people really enjoy themselves and the others around them (1). Even though Jesse could be the life of the
party, being around other people often reminded Jesse of the comfort of being
alone has given him (1). Jesse’s social
life was kind of like a cycle, swapping from being alone to wanting to be around
people to laugh and have a good time (1).
Even though Jesse liked being alone from his social life, it often led
to him wanting relationships, which led him into being lonely (1). Many people would also often feel
uncomfortable around Jesse because he was such a loner (1).
Jesse James also feels as if he
needs to control and run the world (Jesse James General Characteristics). Jesse James has what most people would call
atlas syndrome (1). Jesse James feels as
if he has the whole world on his shoulders, and that it is his fault for the
things that happen around him (1). Jesse
takes his relationships very seriously in the sense that he worries about
everyone else's problems, which make his life a lot more difficult (1). Because Jesse worried about everyones
problems, he overcame adversities very easily from all of the practice received
by helping other people, which led to Jesse becoming a good leader (1). Because Jesse loved helping others, he saw
the good that came out of it, making him emotionally tired as well as being
physically tired (1). Because Jesse was
such a nurturer, he didn't have enough time to really take care of himself
physically and emotionally (1).
Jesse
always took safety first (Jesse James General Characteristics). Because of this, Jesse always liked to stay
consistent with everything that he did, making sure that nothing could happen
that he was unsure of (1). Whenever a
new way of doing something came about, Jesse would be very cautious when
starting to do these things, for Jesse had a huge urge of security (1). He is also very retentive, not changing from
his ways once he starts a pattern or project (1). Though Jesse was cautious, he did not always
choose the most productive way to do things, because he was too worried about
everyone's security and personal needs (1).
There is a point to where Jesse needed to forget about being so worried
about something happening and really worry about what is going on to make
something better or more efficient.
These traits led to Jesse James being kind of lazy sometimes, because
Jesse never wanted things to change (1).
Jesse James was very passionate to get things done his own way, but
sometimes he lacked the little bit of initiative that he needed (1).
There are a few of conspiracy
theories that have come about Jesse James’s questionable death. The first theory comes up with a theory that
Jesse James staged his own death so that he could get away from the law and his
friends (David Meyer). A man that went
by the name of John James, claimed to be Jesse James in 1931 (1). Once arriving to the town of Jesse James’
residency, he started to spread word to people in the town that he was in fact
the man who the people thought had died in 1882 (1). He said he had returned to Excelsior Springs,
Missouri, to come visit his family and his old friends (1). Actually, John James, did the best he could
to try to stay away from anyone who was related or even a friend of Jesse
(1). He seemed as if he was only in the
town for the fame and attention (1).
John James’s stay consisted of himself
pretty much just trying to make friends with the media (1). The media started to ask John James questions
about who was actually killed by Ford(1).
John explained how he had made the plot to kill Charlie Bigelow as a
cover up for himself, because Charlie looked very similar to Jesse James
(1). Once the James family got wind of
what was going on, they instantly tried to track down who they thought was an
imposter(1). John James said John was
just a cover up name and how he didnt mean to make them upset by faking his own
death (1). Jesse James’s daughter in law
talked to John, and she refused to believe that he was actually Jesse James
(1). Stella James even continued to ask
questions about the James family that John was unable to answer (1). To find out the true answer if John James was
really the man, Jesse James, Stella produced one of Jesse James’s old boots and
asked John to put on the boot as proof of being Jesse (1). The boot did not fit, and the Theory was
called off as just a man who was an imposter (1).
This next theory is very similar to
the previous theory with a kind of twist.
A man by the name of Bud Hardcastle claims that Jesse James lived to the
age of 103 and lived a long peaceful life after faking his death in 1882 (Jim
Etter). Hardcastle thinks that Jesse
also used Charlie Bigelow as someone to sacrifice in place for himself dying
making Jesse James’s escape seamless (1).
Hardcastle believed that it wouldn't be a hard decision to use Bigelow
as someone to take the spot for Jesse, because he was an enemy of Jesse and
would be someone who also looked like Jesse James (1). He also claims that this is true because
Frank James, Jesse’s brother, and Robert Ford, Jesse’s opposed killer, went on
to start a saloon business in Colorado (1).
Hardcastle claims this is good evidence, because if Robert Ford actually
killed Jesse, then why would him and Jesse’s brother be good friends and be
able to run a saloon business in Colorado (1).
This conspiracy is very different
from other theories because there is actually very good evidence to believe
that Jesse James actually did fake his death.
Even Hardcastle himself states, "People can say what they want to,
but I know about what I know, and I've checked it out. And I've probably put
more research into this than anybody else ever has” (Jim Etter). Hardcastle believes once Jesse James got out
of town and secured his getaway, he went by the name of J. Frank Dalton
(1). After a long time of peace and
alone time, J. Frank Dalton was spotted
in Lawton, Texas and proclaimed to be Jesse James (1). Dalton later died in Granbury, Texas, and he
was buried there with his tombstone labeled Jesse James (1). He also states that to this day that you can
go visit this tombstone in Granbury, Texas, where it even says Jesse’s birth of
September 5, 1847, as well as his death in 1951, making Jesse James 104 years
old. Even the name on the tombstone says
Jesse Woodson James (1).
The story that many people consist
to believe in is what is historically stated by most news medias of that
time. This is that Jesse James was
actually killed by Robert Ford (Jesse James is Murdered). Many people believe that during a major
robbery, a good amount of Jesse’s men were either injured or captured (1). This led to Jesse James having to find a new
group of gang members (1). This is what
people think led to Robert Ford, Jesse’s cousin, to doing what what most people
think he did (1). This theory states
that Jesse James was hosting a meeting, involving his new personnel, planning
to make another robbery, when Robert James shoots Jesse James in the back while
fixing the position of a painting hanging on the wall (1). People say this is the most accurate theory,
because everyone is selfish when it comes to money. If you didn’t necessarily like someone, it
would be very easy to kill the and get the reward money if you didn’t really
care about them anyway (1).
Many people were not comfortable
with believing this, so in 1995, under court order, Jesse James’s body was
exhumed to see if it was really Jesse James buried in missouri (Exhuming Jesse
James for DNA). The people who exhumed
the body compared the DNA of two maternal family members of Jesse James’s
sister’s great grandson, and great great grandson (1). However, when they exhumed the body in 1995,
the body was poorly preserved and the observers said there was not enough
acceptable DNA to be examined (1). But
this is not the only time the body has been moved or dug out of the ground (1). This was actually the second time that the
body was taken out of the ground (1).
The body was dug up in 1978 from the original gravesite and was moved to
where it is today (1). In 1978, 4 teeth
were collected and a few hairs from the opposed Jesse James’ remains (1). First off, they had to make sure that the
teeth and hair collected in 1978, actually came from the body exhumed in 1995
(1). The teeth and hair matched the HV1
samples from the body, meaning that they belonged to the body that was exhumed
in 1995 (1). Once the teeth and hair
were confirmed to be collected from the body exhumed in 1995, they tested the
DNA to the maternal family members (1).
The results came back to be a match (1).
Twenty-six out of thirty people that I randomly sampled, believe that
the body was in fact the body of Jesse James.
Did Jesse James actually fake his death, or did he make an incredible
escape that the world will never forget?
Jesse James was a very well known
outlaw in the mid to late 1800’s, and he is thought to be one of the greatest
outlaws of the west. To this day, he is
also very popular for his big heists and gang activity. Jesse James was born on September 5, 1847,
and mysteriously died on April 3, 1882.
Jesse James died on the 5th, but there is still a chance he staged his
death. Jesse James was claimed to have
been killed by Bob Ford, a fellow member of Jesse James’ “Younger Gang”, yet
over many years people have created ideas that have become full conspiracy
theories about one of the best outlaws of the west. Did Jesse James actually get killed by one of
his gang members, or did he stage his death to get a break from the law? All of previous theories just talked about
are things that the reader can decipher what is true in their own opinion.
Works
Cited
Etter, Jim. “If Jesse's Not Shot,
What? Theory Says Outlaw Died of Old Age.” NewsOK.com,
NewsOK, 25 Mar. 1991,
newsok.com/article/2351717/if-jesses-not-shot-what-theory-says-outlaw-died-of-old-age.
“Exhuming Jesse James for DNA: DNA
Extraction to Find Out If a Body Belongs to Jesse James.” Bright Hub, 30 Aug. 2009,
www.brighthub.com/science/genetics/articles/47093.aspx.
“Jesse James Is Murdered.” History.com, A&E Television
Networks, www.history.com/this-day-in-history/jesse-james-is-murdered.
Meyer, David. Did Jesse James Fake His Own Death? - Guerrilla Explorer. 12 Nov.
2015,
www.davidmeyercreations.com/mysteries-of-history/guest-post-did-jesse-james-fake-his-own-death/.
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