The Mystery of Jesse James Assassination and the KGC Treasures

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Mar 22, 2012, 2:01:57 AM3/22/12
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The Mystery of Jesse James Assassination and the KGC Treasures
By WesternHistory
http://westernhistory.hubpages.com/hub/The-Mystery-of-Jesse-James-and-the-KGC-Treasures
 
The Fate of Jesse James
Today, there are people who do not believe that Jesse James was shot and killed by Robert Ford at his home in St. Joseph Missouri in 1882. Search on the web and you're sure to find the doubters.
 
As some might already know, in 1995 the grave of James in Kearney Missouri was opened and the body exhumed. The circumstances that brought forth this rare event was a court order. sought and won by a J. Starrs. One reason this is remarkable is that at the time of Jesse Jame's death in 1882, he was positively identified including a part missing finger. In other words, in 1882 there didn't seem to be a question about who was shot and the newspapers of the day reported as much.
 
The 1995 DNA testing on the remains took several days reportedly because of the poor nature of the remains. The result was that no usable DNA was found in the remains of bone fragments.
 
DNA Testing and the James Cousin Theory
 
Tests from teeth and hair recovered in 1978 from the original burial site on the James farm did produce usable mtDNA. Testing showed that this ample was identical to the mtDNA of two maternal relatives of James.The report stated that the odds would be enormous that a non relative would have the same mtDNA. Also, it was said that a Clay County Missouri official announced that the positive DNA match had a 99.7 degree of certainty. Case closed. Not really. Although there should be no reason to doubt the maternal DNA match, the doubters contend that the scientific findings are not in complete agreement with other scientific findings. If this sounds confusing, it is. One story floated about is that the body buried in Missouri was a cousin of Jesse James either died or was shot at the same time and that because the cousin was from the maternal side the DNA would certainly match. The problem here is that i haven't found any information that a cousin died at that time. I would have expected to see some record of this from 1882.
 
Without getting too scientific because the report issued by the doubters is quite lengthy, the question centers around the sample of a supposed James relative the DNA was tested against. Whoever was used as a comparison profile would have been several generations removed, however if the relatives were indeed from the maternal side the DNA sample should be accurate.
 
The belief of the conspiracy theorists is that contrary to popular opinion, someone else was shot in 1882 and that Jesse James lived a long life and fathered more children. This of course goes against the story of Robert Ford shooting James as he was adjusting a picture on the wall. This scenario was also portrayed in the movie of several years ago. James was living at the time under the assumed name of Thomas Howard. The body that was taken to Kearney Missouri for burial was that of Thomas Howard at the time. If indeed it was James, and people at the scene have confirmed that, he was known at the time as Thomas Howard.
 
If the above isn't enough, there are still people residing in Granbury Texas, just southwest of Fort Worth, who claim the real Jesse James was none other than former Granbury resident, J. Frank Dalton. Dalton passed away in 1951 at the alleged age of 104. J. Frank Dalton's headstone reads "Jesse Woodson James". There's also an inscription on the grave marker that say "Supposedly Killed in 1882". A judge in Hood County Texas ordered the exhumation of Dalton (James?) in the year 2000. DNA testing in Granbury did not produce a match. Regardless, there still seems to be many in Granbury Texas who still believe that Dalton was really Jesse James. One reason this is so is that a grandson of the Granbury man was supposedly a dead ringer for Jesse James when the grandson was younger. It has also been said that after dalton's death in Granbury, some family photos and artifacts were found that convinced them. The problem here is that, if indeed these photos, etc existed, I'm sure they would have been displayed and i haven't seen them or know where they might be.
 
To add to the controversy, and I'm not entirely sure what this means, but allegedly, and it's on the web, that the late sheriff of Hood County Texas who examined Dalton's body after his death stated that he counted 32 bullet holes from his forehead to his knees. Of course the people who run the Jesse James Museum in Kearney Missouri totally disagree with the Granbury Texas assertions. I also don't understand how a man of 104 had those many, or any, bullet holes.
 
The KGC in the United States
 
Many may already know what the letters KGC stand for. For those who don't, KGC stands for Knights of the Golden Circle. This was a secret society tied to the Confederacy with a membership that included Jesse James, William Quantrill of Quantrill's Raiders infamy, Bloody Bill Anderson, a close friend of both James and Quantrill, and many others throughout the south and lower midwest. In essence, it was a group that proclaimed that the south would expand it's slave empire to include Mexico and parts of the Caribbean. .Historians contend that the organization began in Kentucky in 1854. Supposedly the Knights of the Golden Circle has secret codes, passwords, etc. Some have even tried to tie it to Freemasonry.
 
Members of this group were not only people like Jesse James. Indeed, there were some prominent names that have been attributed to this group. President Franklin Pierce was accused of being a member as was Sam Houston, John Wilkes Booth, and politicians from states such as Ohio, Indiana, Missouri and several other states along the north-south border. In general, the group, which changed it's official name several times was pro slavery, strong states rights proponents and during the Civil War, anti draft and pro peace. They deplored the fact that Civil War commenced. As part of this platform they of course were anti-Lincoln in just about every respect.
 
KGC Treasures
 
There are many rumors on the web and other places which contend that the Knights of the Golden Circle buried money and weapons all around the United States to use later during a war. Believers of this point out the massive wealth of many of it's members. Many also contend that Jesse james, a KGC member, may have contributed some of his loot to these supposedly hidden caches. With Booths alleged membership with this group it didn't take long for some to blame the KGC for Lincoln's assassination.
 
As of this writing there are people and groups searching for this treasure. It wasn't uncommon for some to bury their valuables during the American Civil War and there are those out there today who have admitted (if true) that they found hidden treasure. Where any terasure has been located is a mystery. I haven't found any information where an actual site has been mentioned.If you search online you may come across some sites which show rough drawn maps. You'll also find other treasure maps whose accuracy or believability might be questionable.
 
As far as the Confederacy burying gold, I was under the impression that the South was running quite low on funds near the end of the war and I'm not sure that there would be vast treasures of gold buried or hidden by them. Regardless, there remains believers that the KGC and Confederacy buried millions of dollars in gold in about a dozen states. In the late 1970's, a man from Arkansas believed that carvings he found on trees in that state have some connection to the Confederacy and the KGC and possibly buried treasure.
 
Some who believe that the shooting of Jesse James was a hoax, as mentioned above, contend that in later years he drew from his hidden caches. If you believe in conspiracy theories, it doesn't take long to draw a connection between Jesse James and the alleged KGC treasure. If the buried treasure scenario is true as well as the shooting hoax, then you might think that the man who lived in Granbury Texas until 1951 may have drawn from this treasure. There is no information that that ever occurred.
 
As of this writing, there is a question among many as to what really happened to Jesse James. Although DNA testing seems to conclude that the remains in Kearney Missouri are truly those of Jesse James, many people in Granbury Texas still believe they have proof that their past long time resident was indeed the real outlaw. As far as the KGC treasures are concerned, some people today are still searching for them.
 
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