Dalton, J. Frank

While a resident of the Roper Hotel in Marble Falls, Texas, in the 1940s, J. Frank Dalton (d. 1951) claimed to be U. S. Marshall Frank Dalton, a brother of members of the outlaw Dalton Gang and a touring member of Wild Bill Hickok's Wild West show. The real Frank Dalton was believed to have died around the turn of the 20th century. After moving to Lawton, Oklahoma, Dalton assumed the identity of outlaw Jesse James, believed to have died in 1882. Dalton's stories were supported by several newspapers, but disputed by the James family heirs, historians, and a Missouri circuit court ruling. In 1995, an exhumation of James' Kearny, Missouri, grave and DNA testing of its corpse refuted Dalton's claims.