Jesse James I

When Jesse Woodson James "emerged" May 19, 1948, in Lawton, OK, there were doubters who thought he was staging a cruel hoax. His grandson, Jesse James III, says, "perhaps Grandpa had it coming because he stage one of the biggest hoaxes in history on April 3, 1882, when he conveniently arranged his own 'murder' and 'funeral' in St. Joseph, Missouri."

But let's set the mood and background for the St. Jo hoax. Quick with his guns, keen of mind and daring, Jesse believed in thorough planning and the St. Jo episode was one of his better exploits. Although he had been outlawed near the end of the Civil War, Jesse was a master at changing disguises, identities and businesses. He was a restless man and kept moving.

The thought of a dramatic fake "murder" hatched in his mind one dark night in 1879 in Georgetown, Colorado, where Jesse and his inner circle had a contract shaping railroad beds and grades. He had the need of a good lawyer so he sent to Missouri for a long-time friend, Thomas T. Crittenden.

As you will see, Jesse was an opportunist. This night, Crittenden, Missouri-born Jess Robert (Dingus) James, brother Dr. Frank James and his brother-in-law Coleman Younger, a civil engineer, were seated in a tent saloon having a few snorts when the midwest newspapers arrived. The big headlines screamed, 'JESSE JAMES GANG STRIKES AGAIN.'...


10... Jesse stirred in his seat. "Tom, you don't have the juice to get a full pardon for me because Jay Gould was the one who got me outlwed in the first place. I know Jay Gould one hell of a lot better than you do. He used to be a peddler with a pack on his back and walked through our part of Kentucky when I was a kid selling thimbles and thread and stuff like that . Many's the meal he ate at our plantation house. We all loved him, but Jay Gould is now Mr. Big in railroads, telgraph and high finance. He got me outlawed because, as a Rebel soldier in the war Between the States, I hijacked too much of his property. Gould's big with Rothschild and other international bankers. So, how is the governor of Missouri going to buck a big man like Jay Gould?"


11...On Saturday night, April 1, 1882, all intelligence reports were rechecked by Jesse James and his inner circle. Jesse puffed on a cigar and gazed at crudely-drawn maps in their hideout a short distance from St. Joseph. He stood up to stretch his legs. "I was kind of hoping we could have sprung the trap on the Bigelows this morning in honor of April Fools Day, but I had to make sure the Bigelows go down to the barn exactly at 8 'oclock every morning. " Then he went over the details again with his brother, Dr. Frank, uncle Bud Dalton and John Trammell.

Sunday morning, Jesse went to church in a nearby village. The Kentuck-born outlaw was a strange mixture of man. If necessary, he coul kill with no remorse. He'd scheme on business deals, but if he liked you, he'd give you the shirt off his back. Despite his hell-for-leather attitude toward life, Jesse had a highly mystical regard for religion...

...Perhaps the most illogical member of the cast was a former Union drummer boy who was in the Battle of Gettysburg. Frank Mayer, who died in 1954 at the age of 105, was "converted" to the Confederte cause and on June 25, 1876, he was with General Custer at The Battle of the Little big Horn under the name of Lt. Frank Crowe. When Custer gave the order to charge, Lt. Crowe and 16 enlisted men, all Confederate sympathizers, pulled out their secret diagonal white and gold flags and escaped the massacre, going through the Indian lines with impunity.

- Del Schrader and Jesse James III - from Jesse James Was One of His Names