Rusty Saber: Controversy, conspiracy keep legends alive

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Joe McAdoo is former chairman of the communication department at Drury University.|ret||ret||tab|

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It is long past time for outlaw Jesse James to be allowed to rest in peace. Controversy has long swirled around the issue of when and where he died, under what name, and where he is buried. |ret||ret||tab|

It has been a very long time since I was a child, but I recall considerable publicity about a man claiming to be the famous outlaw. Jesse James historians will doubtlessly set me straight if I misspeak about the particulars, but I remember an elderly man saying he was Jesse James. Because of his advanced age, it was conceivable that he actually was who he said. |ret||ret||tab|

Legend has it that in 1882 Jesse was living in St. Joseph under the alias J. Frank Howard, when Bob Ford shot him in the back while he was hanging a picture.|ret||ret||tab|

That story neatly merges with the peculiar affinity Americans have for making heroes of outlaws. James was a criminal. In the public eye, he was a hero who had a wife and was trying to go straight. Bob Ford was the evil villain who shot James for the reward. A song of the day described Ford as "The dirty little coward who shot Mr. Howard and laid poor Jesse in his grave." The Ford narrative is the one most historians accept.|ret||ret||tab|

The public wanted to believe Jesse had bamboozled the world and was still alive. That's really heroic. Alas, the old man's claim couldn't be confirmed. For the time being, at least, the man buried in western Missouri was assumed to be Jesse James. |ret||ret||tab|

Americans tend to make folk heroes of outlaws like Jesse James. Billy the Kid has been portrayed as a handsome young heroic character in movies by such Hollywood leading men as Robert Taylor and Paul Newman. In reality, he was an extremely unattractive, sadistic killer. And it was Paul Newman and Robert Redford who made heroes of real-life train robbers Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. |ret||ret||tab|

Outlaws like Bonny and Clyde became bigger-than-life heroes. When notorious bandit John Dillinger was killed by lawmen, Dillinger became a folk hero and the "Woman in Red," who tipped off police, was vilified. |ret||ret||tab|

Alongside the outlaw as hero, many Americans have a fondness for conspiracies. When a celebrity dies, and the body is not put on display, rumors abound that the person isn't dead. Among the many is Elvis Presley. |ret||ret||tab|

Another is bandleader Glen Miller, lost in an airplane crash over the English Channel during World War II. His body was never found. For years, the myth persisted that he was still alive. Both Glen Miller and Elvis were immensely popular when they died. Why would either want to conspire to fake their deaths? |ret||ret||tab|

In James' case, conspiracy buffs eventually shifted to claims that after faking his death, he was later buried someplace else.|ret||ret||tab|

Until the discovery of DNA, there was no way to prove the various claims. One legitimate-sounding claim was that a J. Frank Dalton, buried in Granbury, Texas, was the real Jesse James. First, the wrong body was dug up. When the intended grave was excavated, the claim could not be supported. Conventional wisdom continued to be that Jesse's grave is in Kearney. |ret||ret||tab|

In 1995, it looked as though old Jesse could at last rest in peace. The body at Kearney was exhumed; according to an official at the Jesse James Family Farm Museum, the DNA test shows a convincing 99.7 percent probability that the bones in the grave were indeed those of Jesse James. |ret||ret||tab|

But, wait a minute. According to the Associated Press, one person is not convinced. James Pastore, owner of the new Jesse James Museum in Wichita, Kan., claims that the real Jesse faked his death, assumed the name Jeremiah M. James, and was buried in Neodesha, Kan. in 1935. |ret||ret||tab|

Conflicting DNA evidence will be shown via the History Channel this fall. It sounds like "dueling museums," with each claiming "our DNA can beat up your DNA." Isn't it time to lay poor Jesse in his grave?|ret||ret||tab|

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