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Update: July 25, 1999: At a hearing on July 23, 1999,"Judge Meyers of Falls Co., TX, requested specific information in Betty Duke's request to exhume the body of her great- grandfather James L. Courtney to prove or disprove that he was AKA Jesse W. James. The Judge scheduled the next hearing for September 17, 1999 at 10:00 AM.
Meanwhile a new Press Release reveals new evidences that support Betty Duke’s claim.
“Compelling evidence that Confederate soldier and bank robber Jesse James was not killed in St. Joseph, Missouri in 1882, but fled to Texas, and lived to be 96, came this week from descendants of Bob Ford, a fellow gang member, who was accused of shooting Jesse in the back of the head.
They confirmed the research done by Betty Duke of Liberty Hill, TX that her grandfather James Lafayette Courtney, who owned a blackland farm at the Blevins community in Falls Co., TX, was indeed the legendary Jesse James.
In a letter to Duke, author of the book, Jesse James Lived and Died in Texas (published by Eakin Press), Willie Ford of Shattuck, OK said that the book “affirms a family story that I have heard all my life about the “James Gang”. Ford is the grandson of Charles “Charlie” Ford; brother to Bob Ford who Missouri historians claim shot the man they identified as Jesse James.
“There is no doubt in my mind that everything you have written is the true story of Jesse James,” Ford wrote in his letter.
He recalled that no one in the family ever believed the much-reported “death of Jesse James.” According to Charlie Ford, Jesse’s “death” was planned ahead and they just waited for the right time. When approached to help capture Jesse James, Charlie and Bob Ford seized the opportunity to help their friend.
“For years,” Willie Ford wrote, “my grandpa would disappear for days at a time with no explanation. After his death, Grandma Ford said that he would go and visit Jesse James who was known as James Courtney. She said that Grandpa did not use his own name during these visits for fear of someone finding out who he was.” Ford added, “My grandpa often told how Jesse would not rob the poor and hated the railroads and how they were chased and hounded after the war in Missouri and Kansas. These stories came out of love and respect.”
Ford has a photograph of three men seated on horses, who he identified as Bob Ford and Charlie Ford, and a man he thought was Jesse James, a. k. a. James L. Courtney. Duke said it was not James L. Courtney but his son, B. C. Courtney, Sr.
Back in April 1999, Duke had filed a request for an exhumation of her great grandfather’s body buried in the Blevins Cemetery, about five miles east of I35 north of Temple, TX. Since that time an article written by her has appeared in the Texas Coop Power magazine and the Rural Arkansas magazine with combined circulation of more than a million households, and has been accepted by the state REA cooperative magazine in Alabama. This plus considerable media coverage in Texas, Missouri and Kansas has generated more information and support for her four-year family research.
Nine other supporting evidences supporting Duke’s claim have recently come in:
1. Phillip Stewart, nationally recognized authority on the James family, wrote (confirmed to) Duke that Jesse James had a childhood friend by the name of James Courtney who died in the 1870’s. (Note: There were numerous Courtneys living in Clay County, MO at the time.)
2. Jimmy G. Thornton, who moved to Falls County in 1961, told Duke that it was a common legend that Jesse James lived in Blevins.
3. Howard Smith Farmer of Falls County had also heard that Jesse James was buried in Blevins Cemetery under the name of James Courtney.
4. George A. Roming of El Paso lived in Blevins as a young man. In a notarized statement, he said he personally saw at least thirty ingots of gold weighing approximately fifteen pounds each stacked on a shelf in James L. Courtney’s barn. Byron Courtney Jr., he said identified them as being gold. He added that he personally heard Courtney and Mr. Adams arguing about the Civil War in the Litteral General Store in Blevins. He said Courtney fought for the South and Adams for the North. Roming said it was like the Civil War being fought all over again.
5. In a dairy kept by Courtney, he referred to hitching up “old John & Reb” to the wagon, contradicting testimony that he never gave his horses such a name.
6. In a newspaper column published in St. Joseph, Missouri, where Jesse James was reportedly killed, Fred Slater, after reading Duke’s book, came to the conclusion that she was right in her contention that Jesse James escaped to Texas.
7. The National Archives in Washington confirmed that her great grandfather did not receive a pension check. A member of the family opposing exhumation stated that in the 1920’s he “saw a Union check for around $100.00.”
8. The Kansas City Star, in May 1999 article reported that “two guns that had been touted by the James Farm and Museum as Jesse James’ weapons including a Colt 45 revolver that James supposedly wore right before he was killed were indeed not produced until after the “reported death of James.”
9. From John B. Barrritt Jr. of Oklahoma City, Duke received several copies of an advertisement for a Missouri mercantile firm. On one side was a photo taken after 1882 with the inscription “Jesse James Alive.” Barrett inherited this from his grandfather who knew Jesse. The Austin (Texas) Police Department forensic multi-media crime laboratory stated a study of the photos indicated that the Oklahoma photograph matched known photos of Duke’s great-grandfather.
10. In family records, a brown paper was discovered in which the author’s grandmother, Ida Courtney Dorsett, told of her father burying “gold and greenbacks” and the children finding it after his death and dividing it.
11. Gene Genturp, a former associate editor for the Kearney Courier in Clay County, MO, birthplace of Jesse James, sent Duke a notarized affidavit of the following:
“I wrote the article in the newspaper ‘s ‘special collections’ edition in which Professor James E. Starrs said a tooth collected from the James Farm Museum provided the necessary mitochondrial DNA needed to prove that with a reasonable degree of scientific certainty, the remains buried in the Mt. Olivet Cemetery in Kearney are indeed Jesse James. I never heard that any teeth found among the remains exhumed from Mt. Olivet Cemetery carried sufficient MtDNA for the purpose of Starrs’ investigation. Likewise, Starrs expressed his disappointment that no teeth were found in the Tupperware bowl unearthed from Jesse’s original grave on the farm. I have never thought to ask about the contradiction. So what about the tooth that Starrs used for the DNA testing? From where did it come?
The DNA results from the 1995 exhumation of the grave in Missouri claimed to hold the remains of Jesse James are very questionable due to the unknown origin of the teeth and hair used for testing Duke pointed out.”
Another hearing to consider the request for the exhumation of the body of James L. Courtney has been set for Friday September 17 at 10am in the Falls County courthouse in Marlin.
Note from David Hedgpeth: I have not at this time proven a direct kinship to Betty Duke, however my great-grandfather Pleasant James who died in 1893 lived in Hamilton County, TX about 50 miles from Blevins. Pleasant lived in Alabama and in Lawrence County, TN before moving to Texas in the 1870’s. Family lore says that his family was kin to and periodically visited by Jesse James. I have agreed to assist Ms. Duke in publicize her efforts. If you know of any information that might help this cause, please contact me.
If you would like to be added or deleted from a regular update mailing list please contact David Hedgpeth at mldv@juno.com and indicate your preference.
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