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This file concerns twentieth-century claims and inquiries about whether the outlaw Jesse James had survived his reported 1882 death. The FBI's role shown here was mainly identification work and public correspondence, not an investigation of the original James gang crimes. The released records include a promotional clipping about a man claiming to be James, a Bureau memorandum comparing an Excelsior Springs, Missouri claimant with known images and concluding he was an imposter, and a 1952 memorandum about prison fingerprints and a photograph for John James, also known as John I. James and Jesse James. The OCR also shows a 1935 public letter from Black Joe, Kentucky asking for pictures of Jesse James or his gang because the writer believed an old gang member might be hiding nearby. The visible material spans at least 1935 to 1952 and includes one fully withheld FOIA page.

FBI file number: 62-96871 | Documents span: 1935-1952 | Released in 4 parts
Names in this file: Jesse James, Bob Ford, Charles Bigelow, John Edgar Hoover, John James, John I. James, L. C. Schilder
Subjects: Jesse James, identity claims, imposters, fingerprints, photographic comparison, public correspondence