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\'ew Jesse James Is an Old Story In St. JosephSBY MBUULL CHILCOTt.■dtfor, St. Joteph (Mo.) Newt Preu.) T JOSEPH. MO., June 12.lt; AP) —When a fellow down in Lawton. Ok., turned upt recently claiming that he ,,e James, no one around St. surprised. The folks; here are accustomed to that thing. It has been going on. James has become an Amer-. legend. His connection with : ,.Neph was merely that he lived re briefly. But, unfortunately for that gave the world the\press andjaunched Eugenejon his career, Jesse James * Joseph are almost synony-jesse had the hard luck of not in the back of the head, al results, during the period „ v. tS holing up here under the name of Mr. Howard.i«r»pte City Election, was more than sixty-six i vear ogo. Jesse was shot on the mommg J April 3,1882. It was the na me hottest city election St. Joseph ever had, but hardly any-hpriv bothered to vote after It was ]Mr:;Mi that the nice “Mr. Howard’* had been everybody’s friend , h the outlaw, and that he slain for a rewardFor about fifty years the identity nrwr was questioned, so thorough was the proof at the time. About 1930 the new Jesse Jameses appeared. First off was a story from Florence, Co . to the effect that a ! there was believed w have been the real Jesse James. His blt; v.as exhumed and photographed.The iry was enough to causethe St. Joseph Gazette to go to a of trouble to hunt down thf Judge T. P. Ryan, whowas an assistant prosecutor at thetime f I he slaying, was interviewed December 13. 1931. He was con-t i that the man slain in 1882 ! e James. He described in ac’aJ the events of the fateful day.He had received a telephone call from the city marshal. (St. Joseph had telephones in 1882 though few nti* could boast of such a system.) Marshal Enos Craig reported he had two men in custody who said they ■•d Jesse James. They were the ford brothers.re Ryan described the day's including the tearful visit f p widow of Jesse James, asking * 1 ustody of the body.The Contender of I93J, ion June 22. 1932. a gentleman a op cared at the office of the News p s which had taken over thlt; Gazette, and calmly announced he was the original Jesse James. Tc prove it, he wanted reporter*—anc a photographer—to go with him tt the old James house on Lafayette street, where he would submit convincing proof, he said.The newspaper boys went, ant ne new Jesse James told his story He said it was true a man was killed in the home, but the man wasn’t JTes' He saId he and hiebrother, Frank, were riding towardIhl^ESV'u n they heard the shotthat killed the m m later identified? T Hr t0(,k $50 in *old ,ronthp b’- lt;’ the dead man, ran out Side buried a gUn and fled.Tamo 'r ?lt; PfOVe 10 y°U 1 ftm ^SSlJames I am going to dig up that gunalready hin? fiStS -n* 81111 w111 have the hii'»1 B carved with a penknife or the black handle.”much said, the man knowi s se James picked up a grub-; noe started digging in a clumj rant bushes and in practically f* me had dug up a gun. “Oen-f n. does that convince you I an iginal Jesse James?”Well, a lot of people weren’t con-■mced. The widow of Jesse James made a denial. The controversy D until July 5.1934. when Henn R’ unan. now dead, eame to thlt; -Press with a photograph. Hi y grading contractor in 1895 as part of the improvement o l ayette street the whole top o p big hill had been cut off. Th c where Jesse James was killei ; been placed on a crib and th ’ was reduced in height by twelv fifteen feet. A gun buried b p 1882 would have been a v fourteen feet under ground 1 order to be within reach 61 a grub■ wiiuuib»ng hoe in 1932.That was the last St. Joseph hesw.c mat ow. tiuoepnof the Jesse James of 1932, there have been others.A couple of years later the Elelt; h‘ 1 ” brought in a man who 1 3o-minute show every ni immg he was the original J ::arm; He discussed incident m v ]. • While he paced back torth on the stage. He hadprincipal line of talk as theater tmns heckled him. “If I’m o James, who am I,” he wc r 0VPr and over again. One ’ otter sitting through the Ji' r show twice and t n ouce. shouted -If he is J ' I’m Clara Bow.” s Carnival Without One. About that time every circus carnival company had an orig . o James. Out In Californ ■v was arrested on charge obtaining money by false prete -the false presenses being tha claimed to be Jesse James.' xoneratlon he had to prov ; a train robber and a bank bcr. It wound up in a sanity h ; at Los Angeles. Superior Ji«« WO rtugcics. DupenuThomas Gould ended the «« ^missing the proceedings, bu marking: “You’re sane but yoi a great bandit or a great think you are a mighty imposter.' ’ after year the city deijcai MIC- ws-Press received letters as his one from Vandalla. L summer we saw a carol' and my husband and 11 1 a man who said he was 1 He was in a side shot afterward we went around tc t0 1 m. He eounded real honesi 1 i he robbed the rich to gl Poor. I wonder if you ^ ’ her or not the man killed h in 1882 was really James?Joseph has tried In vain 1 its connection with Known for many yei ity of millionaires” beca fortunes founded by t 'he ’49ers, St. Josephnr vaers, m. uoscpu c Jesse. It much prefei K about the pony exprea all in vain. Two-thl i)ny express building co . ' winter while waiting for * it ion movement. The v house, moved two mile conveniently located to packs ’em in at two-
Newspaper Details
Kansas City Star
Kansas City, Missouri, US
Sun, Jun 13, 1948
Page 110
Full Page
Clipped by
Joplin P.
MO, USA 05 Aug 2024
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