Re: Frank Dalton and his 1947 Confederate Veteran's Pension
-
In reply to:
Re: Frank Dalton and his 1947 Confederate Veteran's Pension
Glynda 7/21/04
Dear Glynda:
Another interesting thing about this information, is its mention of Joe Hines. According to this website, the name "Joe Hines" was an alias of Jessie Evans. This man Jessie Evans appears to be the same man that Howk refers to in the "black book" who lived in Cottage Hill, Florida and who died in the mid-1950s, a few years after Dalton's supposed death on Aug. 15, 1951. However, Howk never mentions Jessie ( Jesse ) Evans in the "black book," but instead claims that the name "Joseph L. Hines" was an alias of Jesse Robert "Dingus" James ( the "Missouri Jesse" ), who Howk claimed was born on Sept. 5, 1847 at Kearney, MO and who was thus the same man who most would identify as "the" Jesse James.
The question now becomes, was "Joseph L. Hines" the alias of Jesse Evans or the alias of Jesse Robert "Dingus" James? It is possible that the name "Jesse Evans" was also an alias adopted ( earlier ) by Jesse Robert "Dingus" James, as there seem to have been 2 Jesse Evanses who may have gotten confused with each other in some of the historical accounts. If Jesse Robert "Dingus" James was, in reality, both "Jesse Evans" and "Joseph L. Hines," then the mystery is solved.
Another possibility is that the man whose name at birth was Jesse Evans acted as a "double" for the "Missouri Jesse" ( Jesse Robert "Dingus" James ), and that Howk was trying to lead people off the track of the true whereabouts of the Missouri Jesse by claiming that the man who was really Jesse Evans ( the Missouri Jesse's "double" ) was actually the "Missouri Jesse" himself.
Here's what Howk says about this issue. From "Jesse James Was One of His Names" ( 1975 ):
( page 30 ):
" . . . The St. Joseph hoax went off without a hitch, but almost immediately tongues began to wag. Missouri-born Jesse Robert ( Dingus ) James, alias Joseph L. Hines, was recuperating from a broken leg on a Nebraska ranch in April, 1882. In May, he sent a clipping to his notorious cousin, Jesse Woodson James, in Colorado. It had appeared in the Nebraska City, Nebraska News, on April 29, 1882, and read, 'The latest sensation is a letter from a brother-in-law of Jesse James to a friend at Council Bluffs, Iowa, in which he says that Jesse James is still alive, ate dinner in his home the day the shooting of the alleged Jesse James took place at St. Joseph, Mo., and that they had quite a laugh over the affair.'"
( pages 43-44 ):
" . . . But the old man [Jesse Woodson James, the "Kentucky Jesse"], who once headed The Knights of the Golden Circle, top Confederate underground organization and one of the most efficient the world has ever known, was worried because he had lost track of his first cousin, Jesse R. ( Dingus ) James, born September 5, 1847, in Clay County, Missouri. Jesse Woodson James knew Dingus was alive, but he didn't know where.
Finally, a relative supplied the information that Dingus, 101 [in 1948], was living in Cottage Hill, Florida, under his old alias, Joseph L. Hines, and had never 'emerged,' apparently desirous of carrying the James secrets to his grave."
( page 263 ):
" . . . After the 1937 death of his brother, Dr. Sylvester F. James in Ft. Worth, Jesse [the "Kentucky Jesse"] remarked, 'I feel like the last of the Mohicans. I wonder how many more years the Lord has in store for me.' Jesse had been living in England [with his supposed daughter Gertrude "Gertie" Clark] in 1926 when his cousin, Missouri Frank James, died under the alias of Joe Vaughn at Wayton, Arkansas, while his other cousin, Jesse Robert ( Dingus ) James would outlive the old colonel, dying in Florida in the middle 1950s."
The controversy never seems to end !!!
Sincerely, and Lots of Love - -
P. K. K.
More Replies:
-
A Question for Orvus Howk
philip kromer 7/22/04
-
Correction to Post #829
philip kromer 7/23/04
-
Correction to Post #829