Even though he died more than 140 years ago, American outlaw Jesse James has remained hugely famous.
The story of his life and death – at the hands of ‘coward’ Robert Ford – has been told in print and on screen on dozens of occasions.
But now, a California man believes he has chanced upon a never-before-seen photo of James that for decades lay forgotten tucked inside a family heirloom.
Antique shop owner Dale Ball claimed he found the image in an old book passed down from his grandfather.
The two-and-a-half-inch tall photo has allegedly been dated to between 1870 and 1874 – when James was in his late 20s.
Mr Ball enlisted the help of James expert Ron Pastore, who compared the features of the man in the image with known photos of the outlaw.
The results led Mr Pastore to tell Mr Ball that he had the ‘real McCoy’.
Mr Ball said: ‘I was blown away. We started researching, and sure enough, there was no question.’
A California man believes he has chanced upon a never-before-seen photo of American outlaw Jesse James that for decades lay forgotten tucked inside a family heirloom
Outlaw Jesse James (pictured above left and right) was shot and killed in 1882 by Robert Ford, a member of his gang who had been secretly hired as a hitman
James became a folk hero in his home state of Missouri after waging a guerrilla campaign against Unionists during the American Civil War from 1861 to 1865.
Following the war James gained celebrity status by holding up banks, stagecoaches and trains.
He was shot and killed in 1882 by Ford, a member of his gang who had been secretly hired as a hitman by the state governor Thomas Crittenden.
Mr Ball, 55, has no idea how his grandfather, Richard Marks, came to possess the image that is believed to be James.
His relative, who died in his mid 90s in the 1990s, was known in the family as ‘Dirty Dick’.
The photo was inside an old green book which had always been in Mr Marks’ home, first in California and then upstate New York.
Inside the book, an old register of deaths, Mr Ball found a series of tintype photos, also known as ferrotypes. One image stood out.
It wasn’t until 2019 that Ball realized what he had – when he started selling antiques and showed the image to dealers.
Antique shop owner Dale Ball claimed he found the image in an old book passed down from his grandfather
The photo pictured on top of the old book that it was found in
‘One of them looked at my photo and said, “Holy c***, that’s Jesse James”,’ Mr Ball said.
Also found was an image of what is believed to be James’ older brother, Frank.
To authenticate the images, Mr Ball turned to Mr Pastore, who has was involved in a university-led exhumation of remains once-thought to be the bandit.
Mr Pastore has authored books about James and has taken part in TV documentaries on the robber.
He also has a huge collection of Wild West outlaw photographs.
Using other photos of James, Mr Pastore claims Mr Dale’s photo has the tell-tell physical features of James.
These included: a cleft in his eyebrow, a sagging eyelid on the outer right side, a flat nostril on the right side, fat buckles below the corners of his mouth and large eye orbits and irises.
Also found was an image of what is believed to be James’ older brother, Frank
He also noted that the shoulders of the man sloped at the same angle as James and his ear appeared to be the same shape.
His head height, nose, mouth and chin are also said to have matched when overlayed with a certified James image.
Mr Pastore, 71, admitted he was initially sceptical.
He said: ‘I told Dale, “I’m going to study this and do a preliminary test before I agree to do the evaluation because I don’t take them if I don’t think it’s going to be a positive outcome,” he recalled.
‘And it took me a couple days and I went ahead and did some preliminary work on it and it had a good score.
‘I called him back and said, “Yes, I think you’ve got the real McCoy here.” So we ran it through the evaluation process. The overlays are really impressive.
Mr Pastore added: ‘One of the things I keep in mind when I’m looking at photographs of Jesse James is that he was an outlaw and was trying to disguise his identity.
‘But he has some very unique facial characteristics,’ he explained. ‘The face is not symmetrical, one nostril is different than the other. One eye is different than the other.
Mr Ball with the family heirloom, an old register of deaths. Tucked inside the pages was the photo
James has been portrayed several times on screen, including by Brad Pitt (above) in 2007 film The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
‘And so that’s part of my evaluation process was looking at each facial feature independently and then seeing it as a whole.’
Jim Weigl, auctioneer and owner of Blue Box Auction Gallery in Norfolk, Virginia, described the photo as a ‘remarkable piece.’
‘The nature of what we do is connect people that have amazing, interesting, unique items with people who collect interesting items.
‘The nature of our auction determines the true market value of the individual item. We recently sold two soup bowls recovered from the wreckage of the Titanic.
‘An important part of what we do is to present the information from what we have and utilize third-party and in-house experts to determine the legitimacy of the item.
‘Dale’s Jesse James photo is an absolute part of American history and an absolutely fascinating piece.’
‘To have a photo like this, with solid provenance and authentication, is a dream,’ Ball said.
‘I grew up watching Westerns with my grandparents – Clint Eastwood films, all the classics.
‘I never imagined I would own something like this. It’s truly astonishing.’
As he contemplates the future of the Jesse James photo, Ball remains in awe of its significance.
‘This photo deserves to be seen,’ he said.
The rise and fall of Jesse James: How legendary American outlaw met his end
Jesse James rose to notoriety during the American Civil War when he and his brother Frank led a Confederate guerrilla force against the Union in their home state of Missouri.
After the war they fell into a life of crime – robbing banks, stagecoaches and trains as they rode in different gangs.
Jesse’s fate was sealed following a disastrous bank robbery in Northfield, Minnesota, when many gang members were captured or wounded.
They had chosen the Minnesota town because it was small and thought to be peaceable but most importantly there was only one bank. Newspaper stories had reported that a new safe and time lock and two heavy doors for the vault had just been added to First National’s building.
But this didn’t put the gang off. They reasoned the threat of a gun would be enough to persuade most men to unlock a vault. It just meant that all the money in town was in one place and if there was enough of it to make it worth investing in a such security, there was enough to make it worth robbing.
According to a detailed account of James’ life by the historian Mark Lee Gardner, the day they rode into Northfield, September 7, 1876, they were ‘at the top of their game.’
But the bank staff resisted. Frustrated, gang member Frank James fired shots above bookkeeper Joseph Heywood’s head.
Outlaw Jesse James pictured in his coffin after he was shot dead by Robert Ford
In the smoke and confusion a colleague, though he had been shot, made a run for it, bringing more shots from the robber. Soon everything began to unravel.
The town was alerted to the raid taking place. All of their money was held in that building – and all uninsured. They decided to fight.
The gun battle lasted less than 10 minutes. Panicked, the gang members who had been keeping watch dashed amid bullets as locals fought back.
Historian Mr Gardner stated: ‘While the townspeople were shooting to kill, the outlaws’ shots were really meant to frighten, to scare away, to buy time – at least in the beginning.’
Keeping watch outside as panic grew, Cole Younger signalled the retreat: ‘For God’s sake,’ he shouted. ‘Come out. They are shooting us all to pieces.’
When it was over robbers Clell Miller and Bill Chadwell lay dead in the street. Bookkeeper Joseph Heywood had a bullet in his head and another local had been killed in the frenzy outside. The gang’s haul totalled just $26.60 ‘in coin and crip.’
Bob Coles had been hit. They left, six men on five horses and for the next 14 days evaded capture in what became the largest manhunt in US history.
More than 1,000 men chased them across marsh and woodland. Cole Younger later recalled: ‘We suffered in those fourteen days a hundred deaths.’
Jesse managed to slip away and live in St Jo under a false name, unaware there was a $10,000 bounty on his head.
But one morning, as the 34-year-old Jesse climbed on a chair to straighten a picture, he was shot in the back of the head by his fellow gang member Robert Ford.
Ford shot James down as he stood to adjust a picture in the parlour of his home.
James was paranoid after a life on the run and had invited Ford and his brother Charles to live with him and his wife Zee and protect them.
‘Meet me in Kansas City tonight or tomorrow. I have my man,’ Ford’s telegram said to Thomas Crittenden, Governor of Missouri.
Crittenden had placed a $10,000 reward on Jesse, and $40,000 if he was taken alive, but no one really believed Jesse James would be taken alive.
Instead James, the man who had survived shooting battles and daring raids, died as he had lived; by the bullet and for bounty.
